Cloud Server

Alnoda workspaces can be easily deployed in the cloud, with the simplest approach being the launch of workspaces as Docker containers.

When starting workspace on a server it is necessary to set a container environmetal variable WRK_HOST equal to the IP or the host name of the server. You can set this variable in the docker run command passing an argumentt -e WRK_HOST="<ip-of-your-remote-server>".

For example, if the IP of your server is 204.35.20.100 you will start workspace on a server with a following command:

docker run --name space-1 -d -p 8020-8040:8020-8040 --restart=always -e WRK_HOST=204.35.20.100 alnoda/alnoda-workspace

Note

Please make sure that ports from the range 8020-8040 are not blocked by the firewall.

Open browser on ip-of-your-remote-server:8020

However, when running on a cloud server with a public IP and accessing the workspace over the internet, it becomes necessary to establish a secure and encrypted connection with at least some authentication. You can do this using docker-compose. We have a companion repository with docker-compose file and instructions.

HTTPS and authentication

To launch an Alnoda workspace on a cloud server with basic authentication over HTTPS using a self-signed certificate, follow these steps:

Ensure that the server has Docker and Docker Compose installed.

Verify that ports 8020 to 8040 are not blocked by the firewall. For instance, on Ubuntu/Debian, you can run the following command:

ufw allow 8020:8040/tcp

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/bluxmit/wrk-compose.git
cd wrk-compose

Set the environmental variable WRK_HOST to the public server IP that allows access over the internet. For example:

export WRK_HOST=34.194.12

Start the workspace:

cd basic-auth-https
docker-compose up -d

Now you can open your browser and visit https://[WRK_HOST]:8020 to access the Alnoda workspace securely.

Workspace selection

By default, the latest version of the base Alnoda workspace will be launched.

If you wish to start another workspace, you can do so by setting the environmental variable WRK_IMAGE. For example:

export WRK_IMAGE='alnoda/codeserver-workspace:5.0'

This allows you to specify a different workspace image, such as alnoda/codeserver-workspace:5.0, to be used when starting the workspace.

Authentication

The default authentication credentials are as follows:

Username: admin
Password: admin

When you wish to create a new login for the workspace use htpasswd.

If you don't know how to install htpasswd in your system or on the server, you can install it in any of the Alnoda workspaces using the following command:

sudo apt-get install apache2-utils -y

Generate a new user:password pair:

echo $(htpasswd -nB <username>) | sed -e s/\\$/\\$\\$/g

Replace with the desired username. You will be prompted to enter a password, and htpasswd will generate the corresponding credentials. For example: someuser:$$2y$$05$$t2MSJSPp2V9HdLWYq9z.UeYFz2R3un9ZuiBitSjeiN3Osz6fGNZ7u.

Replace the credentials in the respective docker-compose YAML file, locate the label of the traefik service

traefik.http.middlewares.basic-auth.basicauth.users=admin:$$2y$$05$$eub6CV.CwUYCCQjNBvSf5uZnzdRmVwGZ/ncxecb9O7WxCR8aLuM3K

and replace admin:$$2y$$05$$eub6CV.CwUYCCQjNBvSf5uZnzdRmVwGZ/ncxecb9O7WxCR8aLuM3K with the generated credentials.

HTTP

Warning

Using HTTP to access workspaces on a cloud server over public IP lacks the necessary security measures as it is not encrypted like HTTPS. This approach should be avoided unless you are operating within a secure internal network.

To start an Alnoda workspace on a cloud server with basic authentication over HTTP, you can utilize a separate docker-compose file:

cd basic-auth-http
docker-compose up -d