Installation - Advanced Options

Running conductor-api Under apache2 httpd and mod_wsgi

conductor-api may be run as-is for development and test purposes. When used in a production environment, it is recommended that conductor-api run under a multithreaded httpd service supporting WSGI, tuned as appropriate.

Configuration instructions for apache2 httpd and nginx are included herein. Respective package requirements are:

apache2 and libapache2-mod-wsgi
nginx and uwsgi

Sample configuration files have been provided in the repository.

These instructions presume a conductor user exists. See the Service Scripts section for details.

First, set up a few directories:

$ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/conductor
$ sudo mkdir /var/log/apache2/conductor

To install, place the Conductor WSGI application file in /var/www/conductor.

Set the owner/group of both directories/files to conductor:

$ sudo chown -R conductor:conductor /var/log/apache2/conductor /var/www/conductor

Next, place the Conductor apache2 httpd site config file in /etc/apache2/sites-available.

Set the owner/group to root:

$ sudo chown -R root:root /etc/apache2/sites-available/conductor.conf

If Conductor was installed in a python virtual environment, append python-home=VENV to WSGIDaemonProcess, where VENV is the python virtual environment root directory.

IMPORTANT: Before proceeding, disable the conductor-api sysvinit and upstart services, as the REST API will now be handled by apache2 httpd. Otherwise there will be a port conflict, and you will be sad.

Enable the Conductor site, ensure the configuration syntax is valid, and gracefully restart apache2 httpd.

$ sudo a2ensite conductor
$ sudo apachectl -t
Syntax OK
$ sudo apachectl graceful

To disable the Conductor site, run sudo a2dissite conductor, then gracefully restart once again. Optionally, re-enable the conductor-api sysvinit and upstart services.

Running conductor-api Under nginx and uWSGI

Sample configuration files have been provided in the repository.

These instructions presume a conductor user exists. See the Service Scripts section for details.

To install, place the Conductor nginx config files and WSGI application file in /etc/nginx (taking care to backup any prior configuration files). It may be desirable to incorporate Conductor’s nginx.conf into the existing config.

Rename app.wsgi to conductor.wsgi:

$ cd /etc/nginx
$ sudo mv app.wsgi conductor.wsgi

In nginx.conf, set CONDUCTOR_API_FQDN to the server name.

IMPORTANT: Before proceeding, disable the conductor-api sysvinit and upstart services, as the REST API will now be handled by nginx. Otherwise there will be a port conflict, and you will be sad.

Restart nginx:

$ sudo service nginx restart

Then, run conductor-api under nginx using uWSGI:

$ sudo uwsgi -s /tmp/uwsgi.sock --chmod-socket=777 --wsgi-file /etc/nginx/conductor.wsgi --callable application --set port=8091

To use a python virtual environment, add --venv VENV to the uwsgi command, where VENV is the python virtual environment root directory.

Networking

All conductor services require line-of-sight access to all Music/ETCD servers/ports.

The conductor-api service uses TCP port 8091.

Security

conductor-api is accessed via HTTP. SSL/TLS certificates and AuthN/AuthZ (e.g., AAF) are supported at this time in kubernetes environment.

Conductor makes use of plugins that act as gateways to inventory providers and service controllers. At present, two plugins are supported out-of-the-box: A&AI and SDN-C, respectively.

A&AI requires two-way SSL/TLS. Certificates must be registered and whitelisted with A&AI. SDN-C uses HTTP Basic Authentication. Consult with each respective service for official information on how to obtain access.

Storage

For a cloud environment in particular, it may be desirable to use a separate block storage device (e.g., an OpenStack Cinder volume) for logs, configuration, and other data persistence. In this way, it becomes a trivial matter to replace the entire VM if necessary, followed by reinstallation of the app and any supplemental configuration. Take this into consideration when setting various Conductor config options.