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Native VMBeta

Apps

Editing and removing apps

Edit app is the New app wizard opened on an existing app. Remove app takes everything that belongs to the app with it, in an order that never leaves nginx pointing at nothing.

Edit app

Choose Edit in the app page's header. The same five steps open on what the app has now: its framework, source, runtime and version, build and start commands, socket or port, limits, environment variables (secrets masked) and its address.

Everything can change except the name, which is the app's directory, service and account.

Review, then save and redeploy

The last step reads the app's files from the server and shows what saving changes as one diff: the service, the app's record, its .env and its nginx site, plus any old site and certificate that will be deleted.

Save and redeploy then runs as one job:

  1. The settings are written. Each file is copied to /var/backups/nativevm first, and the save is refused if one changed on the server since you were shown the diff.
  2. A new release is deployed with them.
  3. The address is re-pointed. A new domain gets its site, and its certificate when HTTPS is on. An address the app no longer has has its site deleted, and a preview port it gave up is freed.
  4. Certificates nothing serves any more are deleted. One that still covers a name the app serves over HTTPS is left for renewal.

Remove app

Choose the trash icon in the app page's header. The dialog lists every site and certificate that will be deleted, and every one that won't, with the reason. Type the app's name to enable the button.

Removal happens in this order:

  1. Its nginx sites are deleted, so nothing is routed to a socket about to vanish.
  2. The app is stopped, and its service, directory, account and group are deleted.
  3. Its certificates are deleted, with certbot. Nothing is asked of Let's Encrypt, so no rate limit is spent; a certificate you need later is simply issued again.

The app's .env and its sites are copied to /var/backups/nativevm/ before they go.

What belongs to an app

Native VM decides from the server, not from names:

  • A site is the app's only when everything it routes to is the app: its socket or its port. A site that also routes elsewhere is shared, and stays.
  • A certificate is the app's only when every name on it is the app's and no remaining site uses it. One that also covers another app's domain stays.

Two guards hold on the server too: a site is deleted only if it's still exactly what you were shown, and a certificate is never deleted while an enabled nginx config still names its files.