Deploy from Source

OpenReplay can be deployed from source. Its main components (Backend, API and Frontend) need to be built and pushed to your own container registry, before doing the installation.

The minimum specs for the machine running OpenReplay are 2 vCPUs, 8 GB of RAM, 50 GB of storage, otherwise OpenReplay backend services won't simply start. This should be enough for a low/moderate volume. If you're expecting high traffic, you should scale from here.

1. Prerequisites

  1. Install docker:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker.io -y
user=`whoami`
sudo chown $user /var/run/docker.sock
  1. Clone OpenReplay repo:
git clone https://github.com/openreplay/openreplay

2. Build Backend and API

  1. Login to your container registry using docker login <registry_url>. If you have a docker hub account, then simply run docker login.

  2. Build API and Backend components then push them to your container registry:

cd openreplay/scripts/helm
sudo IMAGE_TAG=<my_tag_number> PUSH=1 DOCKER_REPO=index.docker.io/<username> or <docker registry url> bash build_deploy.sh

3. Updates Images

  1. Create your container registry secret:
kubectl create secret -n app docker-registry my-registry-secret \
        --docker-server=MY_CONTAINER_REGISTRY_URL \ # not required if docker hub
        --docker-username=MY_CONTAINER_REGISTRY_USERNAME \
        --docker-password=MY_CONTAINER_REGISTRY_PASSWORD \
        --docker-email=no@email.local
  1. To use the components you just built and pushed to your container registry, update each component's chart by editing the following variables in its openreplay/scripts/helmcharts/openreplay/charts/<app>/values.yaml file:
  • repository: should point to MY_CONTAINER_REGISTRY_URL/COMPONENT_NAME (give your username in case of docker hub, otherwise use the container registry url)
  • pullPolicy: set to "Always"
  • tag: the value of IMAGE_TAG used when building Backend and API
  • imagePullSecrets: the container registry secret

Below is an example for the alerts service:

  image:
    repository: rg.fr-par.scw.cloud/foss/alerts
    pullPolicy: Always
    tag: "v1.4.2"
  imagePullSecrets: 
    - eyJodHRwczovL2luZGV4LJ0QUl6RTIifX0=

Install OpenReplay

  1. Open openreplay/scripts/helmcharts/vars.yaml then edit:
  • domainName: this is where OpenReplay will be accessible (i.e. openreplay.mycompany.com)
  1. Install OpenReplay:
cd openreplay/scripts/helmcharts
helm upgrade --install databases ./databases -n db --create-namespace --wait -f ./vars.yaml --atomic
helm upgrade --install openreplay ./openreplay -n app --create-namespace --wait -f ./vars.yaml --atomic

Configure TLS/SSL

OpenReplay deals with sensitive user data and therefore requires HTTPS to run. This is mandatory, otherwise the tracker simply wouldn't start recording. Same thing for the dashboard, without HTTPS you won't be able to replay user sessions.

You must therefore bring (or generate) your own SSL certificate.

  1. First, go to DNS service provider and create an A Record. Use the domain you previously provided during the installation step and point it to your machine using its public IP.

  2. If you're bringing your own certificate, create Kubernetes SSL secret using the following command: kubectl create secret tls openreplay-ssl -n app --key="private_key_file.pem" --cert="certificate.crt".

Note: If you don't have a certificate, generate one, that auto-renews, for your subdomain (the one provided during installation) using Let's Encrypt. Run cd openreplay/scripts/helmcharts && bash certmanager.sh and follow the steps.

  1. If you wish to enable http to https redirection (recommended), then uncomment the below block, under the ingress-nginx section, in openreplay/scripts/helmcharts/vars.yaml:
ingress-nginx: &ingress-nginx
  controller:
    config:
      ssl-redirect: true
      force-ssl-redirect: true
  1. Finally reinstall OpenReplay NGINX:
cd openreplay/scripts/helmcharts && ./openreplay-cli -I

4. Build and deploy Frontend

Finally, run the below comamnds to build and deploy the frontend from source:

cd openreplay/frontend
sudo bash build.sh
cp -arl public frontend
minio_pod=$(kubectl get po -n db -l app.kubernetes.io/name=minio -n db --output custom-columns=name:.metadata.name | tail -n+2)
sudo kubectl -n db cp frontend $minio_pod:/data/

You're all set now, OpenReplay should be accessible on your subdomain. You can create an account by visiting the /signup page (i.e. openreplay.mycompany.com/signup).

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues, connect to our Slack and get help from our community.

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