Basic Example

Objective

The purpose of the Basic Example tutorial is to introduce you to some of the basic RightScale concepts and demonstrate how easy it is to set up and launch a web server on the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) using the RightScale Dashboard by using our various ServerTemplates and RightScripts. Learn how to create custom RightScripts and connect to your EC2 instance using an SSH console. Upload a simple web page and web application to the web server and then preview it in a browser window. 

The Basic Example can be completed with any type of account (Free Trial, Developer, Premium). 

If you do not have a RightScale account, sign up for a Free Trial account at http://www.rightscale.com. If you are running a trial account and your EC2 time has expired, and you are not ready to sign-up for one of our pay editions, you can create an AWS account and set up a Free Developer account.  See Upgrade Your Account to learn how to sign-up for AWS and add your credentials into the Dashboard.

NOTE: If you are using a free trial account, you must activate your trial account by clicking on the link that was emailed to you from notifier@my.rightscale.com.

Step 1 - Create an Apache ServerTemplate

Let's begin by creating a new ServerTemplate and adding some scripts to it.  A ServerTemplate defines the composition and configuration of your EC2 instance. When an instance is launched from a ServerTemplate, it uses a base OS image and a series of scripts to install and configure the server as it boots. ServerTemplates help you get up and running quickly, while also giving you the flexibility to clone and customize these ServerTemplates so that you can reuse and leverage all the pre-existing assets.

Go to Design -> ServerTemplates and click the New button to create a new ServerTemplate.

NOTE:  For multi-cloud support, your buttons may be labeled slightly different, including the cloud name.  For example, "New EC2" or "New Flexiscale," etc. For this example, select the "New" or "New EC2" button.

Next you will provide some basic information about your new ServerTemplate.  

• Nickname – used to identify your server in Dashboard. Names are not case sensitive.
  Enter:apache webserver
  
• Description – brief description about your machine.
  Enter:This template installs and configures a simple apache webserver.
• Image - the Amazon Machine Image (AMI).  AMIs are the basic unit of deployment.  An AMI is a packaged environment that contains a configured Linux operating system. We recommend using our own custom RightImages which contain a lightweight server installation with all of the tools necessary to use EC2 and RightScale.
  Select: RightImage CentOS5_2V4_0_0
  NOTE: Versions prior to "RightImage CentOS5_0v3_0_0" do not support decomissioning scripts, which are introduced during the next step of this tutorial.
• Kernal image - the kernal that you want to use for your instance.
  Select: default
• Ramdisk image - the ramdisk that you want to use for your image.
  Select: default
  
• Instance type – describes the size of the EC2 instance. See EC2 Intance Types.
  Select: m1.small
• EC2 user data – use to pass data to the instances at boot or runtime. Leave this field blank.

Click Save and a confirmation screen will appear with information about the new server that you just created.

Now you have a blank ServerTemplate that you can use to build your Apache web server.

Step 2 - Create and add a RightScript to the ServerTemplate

Step 3 - Launch the web server on EC2

The template is now ready to be launched.  Click the Launch button.

Troubleshooting

If you receive an error message saying that your account has insufficient funding to perform this action, you need to verify your email address.  Go to your email account and check for an email confirmation from notifier@my.rightscale.com.  It may be in your bulk/spam folder.  When you click the email validation link your account should be activated.  Refresh and launch the server again.  If you are still experience problems, please contact  support@rightscale.com.

You may notice that the ServerTemplate has a [HEAD] label.  Since you can commit and create revisions of ServerTemplates and RightScripts, you can only make changes to the curent [HEAD] version.

• ServerTemplate – name of the ServerTemplate to be launched.
• Nickname – name of the new ServerTemplate. The ServerTemplate name is used by default.
• SSH Key – a secure key that isusing one of associated with a particular instance on EC2.
  Select: default-key
• Security Group – firewall access. Use the "default" security group.
  Select: default
• Availability Zone – specify the availability zone where the instance should be launched. 
  Select: any
• Elastic IP – specify an elastic IP address.  Select "-none-."
  Select: -none-

Verify your settings and click Launch.

Since inputs were not specified in the ServerTemplate, zero inputs are listed.

Click Launch.

The RightScale Dashboard header displays "Launched server apache" as the “apache webserver” you just configured in the Dashboard is now being launched on EC2.

Under Recent Events, you can track the status of the server's boot process. 

The "apache webserver" template that you just launched is now pending. The server will take a couple of minutes to complete the boot process.  One of the main advantages of using ServerTemplates is that they ensure that new servers are launched exactly how you configured it, everytime!  Depending how often you view the status window, after a couple of minutes you should see the instance's status progress from "pending" to "booting" and finally to "operational."  The elapsed time (Age) of each event is also displayed.

Once your server is operational, go back to the Dashboard’s main window (Home -> Dashboard, or you can click on the RightScale logo as a shortcut) to see all of your running instances.

Under Nickname, click apache webserver and you will be taken to a general information page for your running instance.

Click on the Public DNS name link to view your running EC2 instance in a new browser window.  We will reference this link again during the tutorial, so it will be helpful to keep this window open as a quick reference.

You should now see the Apache 2 Test Page in your web browser.  You should also receive an email from notifier@rightscale.com informing you that the 'apache webserver' instance is now operational.

Congratulations! You just launched a live web server on EC2! Anyone in the world can type in your Public DNS name (ex: http://ec2-67-202-46-87.compute-1.amazon.aws.com) and see the Apache 2 Test Page.

Step 4 - Connect to the instance using the SSH console

By default, the web server that you just launched is currently pointing to an Apache homepage. Let’s create our own custom landing page using the SSH console.

Go back to your instance's homepage and click on the SSH Console button to “SSH” into the machine.

You can also open an SSH window by clicking the SSH button next to the instance's DNS. 

Two windows should be launched for you.  The first is an ssh status and control window.  The other is the ssh console itself.

A couple Warning-Security screens may appear. Click Yes when you see the SSH confirmation window.

Troubleshooting

Occassionally the very first attempt at ssh will fail.  If this happens, simply close out the launched windows and attempt again by pressing the "SSH Console" button. 

NOTE: If you don't have Java configured correctly, you will need to ssh in manually by following the client setup in this guide. See FAQ: How do I ssh into my machines?

You are now logged into the instance. From this command prompt, create a file called, /var/www/html/index.html and paste the following code.

• Type: vi /var/www/html/index.html to create an index.html file in the specified directory. Click Enter.
  
• Type: i   to insert text.
• Copy and Paste (Shift + Insert) the code below and click ESC.
• Type: wq  and click Enter.

<html>
   <head>
     <title>Tutorial: Apache Server</title>
   </head>
   <body>
     <h1>Welcome to RightScale!</h1>
   </body>
</html> 

Reload your “apache webserver.” Type: service httpd restart   from the SSH command prompt. Click Enter.  Now refresh the preview in the browser window that is displaying the instance's public DNS link. Or you can go back to the Dashboard and click on the public DNS name to load the new homepage.

Congratulations! You just logged into your EC2 instance using the SSH console and manually created a custom homepage for your Apache webserver. But, wouldn't it be great if we could somehow automate this manual process?

Step 5 - Upload files to the web server

Next, you'll create a new RightScript that will accomplish the same task achieved in the previous step of this tutorial. Except this time, you will also create a variable that will allow you to display different messages.

Go to Design -> RightScripts. Click New.

• Name – Type: configure hompage 
• Script – Copy and paste the following code snippet.

#!/bin/bash
cat <<EOF> /var/www/html/index.html 
<html>
   <head>
     <title>Tutorial: Apache Server</title>
   </head>
   <body>
     <h1>$WELCOME_MESSAGE</h1>
   </body>
</html>
EOF

service httpd restart 

Click Save.  The RightScale Dashboard header status message displays "RightScript was successfully added."

Click the Script tab and look at the list of Inputs. Notice that the RightScale Dashboard automatically recognizes the WELCOME_MESSAGE parameter!  Instead of hard-coding a message, we will use the WELCOME_MESSAGE variable, so that we can use the same script to display different messages.

Now add the new “configure homepage” RightScript to the “apache webserver” ServerTemplate. But this time, add it as an operational script. Operational scripts behave similar to boot scripts, but they are not run when the instance boots. Operational scripts are run on-command once a server is operational.

Go to Design -> Server Templates. Select the apache webserver ServerTemplate.

Click the Scripts tab and select the configure homepage RightScript and define it as an operational script by clicking Add.

After we've added this new operational script, we can execute this script from the running instance page.  But, before you run the instance again, specify a new value for the WELCOME_MESSAGE parameter.

Go back to the Dashboard’s main window (Home -> Dashboard, or you can click on the RightScale logo) and click on "apache webserver."

Now click on the Script Inputs tab. Click Edit.

To define the welcome message parameter, select Text and type RightScripts Rock! and click Save.

To run this new operational script, go to the Scripts tab and click the Run button on the right.

The “configure homepage” operational script now appears in the Recent Events list.  (You may observe a brief transition from "queued" to "completed".)  Once the task is 100% completed, take another look at the server's homepage in a browser window.  (Refresh your DNS browser window.)  The message should have changed to "RightScripts Rock!"

If you accidentally closed the preview browser window, go to the Dashboard (click on the RightScale logo) and click on the public DNS link for the “apache webserver.” You should now see the following page in a browser window.

In the example above, you defined the page’s <H1> tag to display the text “RightScripts Rock!."  This was accomplished by simple variable substitution using RightScript inputs. 

Congratulations! You now you have a RightScript that will display any text message that you define.

Bonus - Upload a web application to the web server

NOTE:  The bonus section can only be completed with a Developer or pay edition of RightScale.  You cannot complete the bonus section with a Free Trial account.

tar xzf $ATTACH_DIR/webapp.tgz -C /var/www/html/ 
service httpd restart