Εvolved-5G Marketplace | Web Application

Laravel 8 Web Application for Evolved-5G Marketplace

About this documentation guide

This documentation contains all the relevant instructions and information, in order to set up the marketplace project.

It contains 2 different initialization options, the first assuming a non-docker environment (classic), and the second assuming a docker-enabled environment.

Project URL

Pre-initialization steps

After cloning the project, create an .env file (should be a copy of .env.example), containing the information about your database name and credentials:

cp .env.example .env

Take a look at the .env file that was created. You may need to update the DB_* variables, in order to set up the DB connection. Also, make sure that the APP_URL is set to the correct domain and port that you will be using. Finally don't forget to set a password for DEFAULT_ADMIN_USER_PASSWORD_FOR_SEED which will be the administration panel password of the Marketplace UI

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Installation Option #1: Non-Docker environment

First time install (setup database and install dependencies)

PHP and NodeJS versions

0. Make sure php 7.4 (or newer) and NodeJS v14 (or newer) are installed:

Node version that should be used: 14.18.1 Npm version that should be used: 6.14.5

Make sure php related packages are installed

Laravel initialization commands

After the .env file is completed, we should run all the Laravel-related initialization commands.

1. Install all the backend Composer dependencies:

composer install

composer dump-autoload

2. Run the command to set the application unique key:

php artisan key:generate

If executed successfully, it will be set in the APP_KEY variable in the .env file.

3. Then, we can set up the DB schema and populating the DB:

php artisan migrate

php artisan db:seed

4. Make the soft link from the /public/storage folder with the /storage/app/public director

php artisan storage:link

5. Install and compile all frontend npm dependencies:

npm install

npm run dev

6. Create folder /public/assets and allow the www-data user to create new folders there

Apache configuration example:

% sudo touch /etc/apache2/sites-available/evolved5g-marketplace.conf
% sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/evolved5g-marketplace.conf
<VirtualHost *:80>
       
        ServerName local-dev.evolved5g-marketplace
        ServerAlias local-dev.evolved5g-marketplace
        DocumentRoot "/home/path/to/project/public"
        <Directory "/home/path/to/project/public">
            Require all granted
            AllowOverride all
        </Directory>
       
        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

7. Make the symbolic link:

% cd /etc/apache2/sites-enabled && sudo ln -s ../sites-available/evolved5g-marketplace.conf

8. Enable mod_rewrite, mod_ssl and restart apache:

% sudo a2enmod rewrite && sudo a2enmod ssl && sudo service apache2 restart

9. Fix permissions for storage directory:

sudo chown -R user:www-data storage
chmod 775 storage
cd storage/
find . -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
find . -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;

Or run the set-file-permissions.sh script.

sudo ./set-file-permissions.sh www-data currentUser .

10. Change hosts file so local-dev.evolved5g-marketplace points to localhost

sudo nano /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1       local-dev.evolved5g-marketplace

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Installation Option #2: Docker environment

Docker initialization - Pre-installation commands

As mentioned above, the Evolved5G Project uses a total of 3 applications (code repositories) that act as services, communicating with each other.

This can (and is highly recommended to) be done via the existing Docker files that are available in each of the repositories, and that can be invoked using docker-compose.

In general, for each of the 3 repositories, it is needed to run docker-compose up --build -d in order to build the relevant images and containers, and make them available in the docker runtime.

When using Docker though, communication between containers via localhost is not possible, though. That is why in the docker-compose.yml file of the Laravel project (the project in which this Readme file is in), a step exists in which a Docker network is created.

Then, the other 2 repositories will use the same network and deploy their containers there. So, when Laravel wants to communicate with the NodeJS Blockchain integration service, it will not call http://localhost:8000, but it will need to call http://evolved5g_blockchain_sender:8000, since the name of the Blockchain Integration app container on the Docker network is evolved5g_blockchain_sender.

So, when running the 3 repositories via Docker, the .env file should be altered as such:

CRYPTO_SENDER_BASE_URL=http://evolved5g_blockchain_sender:8000/
TM_FORUM_API_BASE_URL=http://evolved5g_pilot_tmf_api_container:8080/tmf-api/

Check out the .env.example file, in order to see the 2 different configurations.

Regarding the User ID and the Group ID

When the docker-compose service runs to create the docker containers, it needs to know the Linux user ID and the Linux group ID of the current user. In most installations this will be equal to 1000, but in order to confirm, run:

id `whoami`

This command will output the uid of the user, as well as the gid of the user and the gid of the groups the user belongs to. So, update the .env file accordingly:

DOCKER_USER_ID=1000
DOCKER_GROUP_ID=1000

About the DB connection with Docker

You need first to specify a MySQL user and password of your choice in the .env file, and when the DB container is created, it will use these credentials from the .env file.

So, if you haven't specified those in the .env file, please delete the db container, add the credentials in .env, and create the container again.

Please note that since the Docker compose service that refers to the DB is called db, the DB_HOST variable in .env should also have db as a value. See an example of all the DB-related field of .env here:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=db
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=evolved5g_db
DB_USERNAME=admin
DB_PASSWORD=secret

About the different Docker setup options

This repository includes 2 different Docker setups. The first one is described in the docker-compose.yml file, and the second in the docker-compose-immutable.yml file.

The difference between the 2 files is that in the first setup option we make use of multiple containers (also called "utility" containers), while in the second option everything is packed in a single container (apart from the DB).

Docker Option #1 - Multi-container setup - Laravel initialization

Run docker-compose up --build -d in order to build all the Docker containers.

In order to run all Laravel installation-specific commands (like php artisan migrate , npm install, etc) we can use the utility Docker containers that are defined in docker-compose.yml.

Laravel initialization commands

Let's begin by installing all the backend Composer dependencies:

docker-compose run --rm composer install

docker-compose run --rm composer dump-autoload

After the .env file is completed, we should run all the Laravel-related initialization commands.

Run the command to set the application unique key:

docker-compose run --rm artisan key:generate

If executed successfully, it will be set in the APP_KEY variable in the .env file.

Then, we can set up the DB schema and populating the DB:

docker-compose run --rm artisan migrate

docker-compose run --rm artisan db:seed

Make the soft link from app/storage/ to public/storage:

docker-compose run --rm artisan storage:link

Install and compile all frontend npm dependencies:

docker-compose run --rm npm install

docker-compose run --rm npm run dev #for development environment

docker-compose run --rm npm run prod #for production environment

All the essential Laravel commands have also defined as shortcut in the Makefile that is in the root directory. So if you want to run the migrations, simply run make migrate.

Docker Option #2 - Single-container setup - Laravel initialization

In this setup, we will first build the single -monolith- container, and then we will enter the container and run all the commands from inside the container.

In order to build the container, run:

docker compose -f docker-compose-immutable.yml up --build

Now enter the Laravel container, by running:

docker exec -it evolved5g_pilot_marketplace_laravel bash

From now on, all the commands assume execution inside the container.

Laravel initialization commands

Let's begin by installing all the backend Composer dependencies:

composer install

composer dump-autoload

After that, we should run all the Laravel-related initialization commands.

Run the command to set the application unique key:

php artisan key:generate

If executed successfully, it will be set in the APP_KEY variable in the .env file.

Then, we can set up the DB schema and populating the DB:

php artisan migrate

php artisan db:seed

Make the soft link from app/storage/ to public/storage:

php artisan storage:link

Install and compile all frontend npm dependencies:

npm install

npm run development #for development environment

npm run prod #for production environment

After all the abode commands have been executed successfully, the app will be available at http://localhost:89.

How to debug

• Install and configure Xdebug on your machine
• At Chrome install Xdebug helper
• At PhpStorm/IntelliJ click the "Start listening for PHP debug connections"

About the Blockchain Integration

The Evolved-5G Marketplace makes use of the Ethereum Blockchain, in order to create digital signatures when a Netapp is bought.

In order to do so, every time a purchase is made, the app communicates with an external Nodejs REST API, that makes the request to the Ethereum Blockchain.

This script can be found in this GitHub repository: ETH Transaction Sender.

In order to install the script, clone the repository and then set up the NodeJS/Express app in order to run on the :8000 port of the host machine. Then, edit the CRYPTO_SENDER_BASE_URL variable in the .env file, so that Laravel knows where to find the endpoint. An example can be found in the .env.example file.

NOTE

If the CRYPTO_SENDER_BASE_URL variable is left empty, then the app will regard the Blockchain integration as non-functional and will not make the API call.

About the TM Forum Integration

The Evolved-5G Marketplace makes use of the TM Forum API, in order to create product offerings when a Netapp is created.

In order to do so, every time a netapp is created and is set to have a fixed price, the app communicates with an external TM Forum REST API, that stores the relevant information for the product offering.

The TM Forum implementation can be found in this GitHub repository: TM Forum API.

In order to install the TM Forum Backend, clone the repository and then use the provider Docker files in order to make it available on the :8080 port of the host machine. Then, edit the TM_FORUM_API_BASE_URL variable in the .env file, so that Laravel knows where to find the endpoint. An example can be found in the .env.example file.

NOTE

If the TM_FORUM_API_BASE_URL variable is left empty, then the app will regard the TM Forum API integration as non-functional and will not make the API call.