Deploying CakePHP Applications on AppFog: A Comprehensive Guide

This guide, originally published on CloudSpring, details deploying a CakePHP application to AppFog, a Platform as a Service (PaaS), while emphasizing best practices for PHP application structure. We'll create a simple note-taking application, then organize it for optimal deployment and maintenance.

Key Concepts:

• Efficient CakePHP deployment on AppFog is achieved by structuring the application into distinct components: application code, application data & settings, and library/vendor code.
• AppFog simplifies deployment, supporting multiple languages and various infrastructure providers (Amazon AWS, HP OpenStack, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace DFW).
• A well-defined directory structure is crucial for separating application code from the framework and libraries, simplifying updates, backups, and maintenance.
• AppFog offers performance monitoring tools (CPU, memory, network traffic) and alert capabilities.

Getting Started with AppFog:

AppFog, based on Cloud Foundry, supports multiple programming languages and allows deployment across various infrastructure providers. Sign up for a free account (requires email and password) offering 2GB RAM, 10 services (100MB each), and a 50GB data transfer limit. You can also migrate your app to any Cloud Foundry-compatible service.

Creating the Local Application:

1. Download and extract the latest CakePHP version. Rename the directory (e.g., "FogNotes").
2. Make the application accessible via a web server (e.g., http://fognotes.local), setting the document root to app/webroot.
3. Create an empty MySQL database (e.g., fognotes_local).
4. Create a data directory with subdirectories config and logs. Move app/tmp into data. Ensure the data/logs directory is writable by the web server.
5. Create a symbolic link for the CakePHP console: ln -s lib/Cake/Console/cake cake

Your directory structure should resemble this:

<code>FogNotes/
    app/
    data/
        config/
        logs/
        tmp/
            cache/
            logs/
            sessions/
            tests/
    lib/
        Cake/
    plugins/
    vendors/
    cake
    index.php</code>

This structure separates application code (app), framework (lib/Cake), libraries (plugins, vendors), and data/settings (data/*).

Modify app/webroot/index.php to define the custom temporary directory:

<?php
// Custom TMP directory
if (!defined('TMP')) {
    define('TMP', ROOT . DS . 'data' . DS . 'tmp' . DS);
}
?>

Next, adjust database configuration. Copy app/Config/database.php.default to app/Config/database.php and replace DATABASE_CONFIG with:

<code>FogNotes/
    app/
    data/
        config/
        logs/
        tmp/
            cache/
            logs/
            sessions/
            tests/
    lib/
        Cake/
    plugins/
    vendors/
    cake
    index.php</code>

In app/Config/bootstrap.php, add these lines (after Configure::write('Dispatcher.filters'...) to register the data/config path:

<?php
// Custom TMP directory
if (!defined('TMP')) {
    define('TMP', ROOT . DS . 'data' . DS . 'tmp' . DS);
}
?>

And at the end of app/Config/bootstrap.php:

<?php
class DATABASE_CONFIG {
    public $default = null;
    public $test = null;
    public $env = null;

    function __construct() {
        if (!defined('APP_ENV')) return false;
        $this->env = APP_ENV;
        $config = Configure::read('Database.config');
        if (!is_array($config)) return false;
        foreach ($config as $name => $data) $this->$name = $data;
        if (empty($config['default']) || empty($this->default)) return false;
    }
}
?>

Configure::load() searches data/config for a file matching the environment (e.g., local.php, prod.php). A sample local.php is provided in the original article.

Deploying to AppFog:

1. Create a new AppFog application (choose PHP and your preferred provider).
2. Bind a MySQL service (e.g., fognotes_prod).
3. Set the environment variable APP_ENV to "prod".
4. Create data/config/prod.php, extracting database settings from the VCAP_SERVICES environment variable (as detailed in the original article).
5. Use the af utility (install instructions provided in AppFog) to push your local code (af update FogNotes).

After deployment, import the database schema (data/config/notes.sql) into your remote database using a tunnel (af tunnel). Then, use CakePHP's bake command to generate the application's models, views, and controllers. Finally, update the routing to point the home page to your notes. Redeploy using af update FogNotes.

The original article also includes FAQs covering various aspects of CakePHP deployment on AppFog, including troubleshooting, scaling, security, and monitoring.

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