qvest-task/ROADMAP.md

Roadmap

This is the implementation road map for the project. It outlines the key milestones and features in incremental steps, allowing for a structured approach to development and deployment.

Phase 1: Conceptualization and Planning

This phase will be achieved through discussion and research and will include the following steps (no code should be implemented in this phase):

1.1 Requirements Analysis

• Define the scope and requirements of the project
• Identify constraints and non-functional requirements
• Determine host environment (cloud provider, VPS, or local)

1.2 Technology Selection ✅

Decisions documented in ADR.md

• Cloud: AWS
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform
• Configuration Management: Ansible (kept minimal)
• Application Deployment: Docker + Docker Compose
• Database: PostgreSQL (self-hosted in Docker)
• Reverse Proxy: Nginx
• SSL: Let's Encrypt with certbot
• Update Automation: Diun + Custom Scripts
• Monitoring: Prometheus + Grafana (later phase)
• Logging: Loki + Promtail (later phase)
• Backup: Custom scripts + S3 (later phase)

1.3 Architecture Design ✅

• ✅ Overall system architecture designed
• ✅ Network topology planned (VPC, subnets, security groups)
• ✅ Three architecture diagrams created in docs/diagrams/

1.4 Project Structure ✅

• Directory structure planned (will create incrementally per phase)
• Documentation structure in place (docs/diagrams/)
• Naming conventions: lowercase, hyphens for files, descriptive names

Goals:

• ✅ A clear full Roadmap for the project available in this file
• ✅ Technology stack documented with rationale (see ADR.md)
• ✅ Architecture diagrams created (3 diagrams in docs/diagrams/)
• ✅ Project structure planned

Phase 1 Complete! Ready to begin Phase 2 (Infrastructure Setup).

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Phase 2: Infrastructure Setup

This phase provisions the AWS infrastructure using Terraform.

2.1 Terraform Backend Setup ✅

• Configure AWS CLI and credentials locally
• Set up Terraform backend (S3 bucket for state storage)
• Initialize Terraform working directory

2.2 Core Infrastructure ✅

• ✅ Create VPC with single public subnet
• ✅ Set up Internet Gateway
• ✅ Configure Security Group for EC2 (ports 22, 80, 443)
• ✅ Provision EC2 instance (t3.medium, Ubuntu 24.04) with IAM role
• ✅ Create S3 bucket for backups (with versioning & encryption)
• ✅ Configure Route 53 DNS records (A record: git.poll-streams.com → EC2)
• ✅ Use official Terraform AWS modules (VPC, Security Group)
• ✅ Refactored into separate files: main.tf, vpc.tf, security.tf, compute.tf, storage.tf, iam.tf, dns.tf, outputs.tf

2.3 Security Configuration ✅

• ✅ Configure SSH key-based authentication (Ed25519, generated via Terraform)
• ✅ SSH access from anywhere (0.0.0.0/0) - security via key-based auth
• ✅ Apply IAM policies (AmazonS3FullAccess for EC2 backups)
• ✅ Security group follows least access (only 22, 80, 443 inbound; all outbound)
• ✅ Encrypted EBS root volume (30GB gp3)

Goals: ✅

• ✅ AWS infrastructure fully defined in Terraform code
• ✅ EC2 instance provisioned and accessible via SSH
• ✅ S3 backup bucket created
• ✅ Domain DNS configured and resolving
• ✅ Infrastructure can be destroyed and recreated with terraform apply

Phase 2 Complete! Ready to begin Phase 3 (Automated Gitea Deployment).

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Phase 3: Automated Gitea Deployment

This phase implements the automated, reproducible Gitea installation.

3.1 Database Setup ✅

• ✅ PostgreSQL 18.4 deployed via Docker Compose
• ✅ Database credentials stored in AWS Secrets Manager
• ✅ Random password generation via Terraform
• ✅ Volume mounted at /var/lib/postgresql (PostgreSQL 18+ requirement)
• ✅ Health checks configured with pg_isready

3.2 Gitea Installation ✅

• ✅ Gitea 1.22.6 deployed via Docker Compose
• ✅ Ansible playbooks created: setup-system.yml, deploy-gitea.yml, setup-ssl.yml, site.yml
• ✅ Docker + AWS CLI installation automated
• ✅ Gitea configured with environment variables (database, domain, ROOT_URL)
• ✅ SSH git access on port 2222
• ✅ Volumes for persistent data

3.3 Reverse Proxy Configuration ✅

• ✅ Nginx 1.27-alpine deployed via Docker Compose
• ✅ Let's Encrypt SSL certificate obtained via certbot (production)
• ✅ Domain: git.poll-streams.com (migrated to avoid rate limits)
• ✅ Two-stage nginx config (HTTP-only for ACME, then HTTPS)
• ✅ SSL termination at nginx, proxy to Gitea on port 3000
• ✅ HTTP to HTTPS redirect configured
• ✅ Security headers (HSTS, X-Frame-Options, etc.)
• ✅ WebSocket support for real-time features
• ✅ 512MB upload limit

3.4 Testing ✅

• ✅ HTTPS access verified: https://git.poll-streams.com
• ✅ Valid SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt production)
• ✅ HTTP → HTTPS redirect working
• ✅ Gitea web interface accessible and functional
• ✅ User account created, repository created
• ✅ Git push via HTTPS tested successfully
• ✅ Full deployment reproducible via ansible-playbook site.yml

Goals: ✅

• ✅ Gitea running and accessible via HTTPS through reverse proxy
• ✅ Installation fully automated and reproducible
• ✅ Production-grade deployment with SSL

Phase 3 Complete! Gitea is fully deployed, secured with SSL, and accessible from the internet.

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Phase 4: Update Automation ✅

This phase implements automated update mechanisms for Gitea and related components.

4.1 Update Strategy Design ✅

• ✅ Weekly update checks (Sunday 3:00 AM)
• ✅ Per-container update policies (automatic vs manual)
• ✅ Pre-update backup to S3
• ✅ Post-update health checks
• ✅ Automatic rollback on failure
• ✅ Email notifications via AWS SES

4.2 Update Monitoring ✅

• ✅ Diun 4.33 deployed for Docker image update detection
• ✅ Scheduled weekly checks (cron: 0 3 * * 0)
• ✅ Monitors: postgres, gitea, nginx, diun
• ✅ Email notifications configured via AWS SES SMTP
• ✅ IAM user created for SMTP credentials
• ✅ Labels define update policies per container

4.3 Automated Scripts ✅

• ✅ backup.sh: Database + Gitea data backup to S3 bucket
• ✅ health-check.sh: Validates all services running and responsive
• ✅ auto-update.sh: Automatic updates for low-risk containers (nginx)
  • Backup before update
  • Pull new image
  • Recreate container
  • Health check validation
  • Automatic rollback on failure
  • Email notifications
• ✅ manual-update.sh: Manual updates for critical containers (gitea/postgres)
  • Operator confirmation required
  • Same safety flow as auto-update
  • Success/failure notifications
• ✅ test-update.sh: Quality gate for CI/local validation
  • Validates script syntax
  • Checks required functions
  • Verifies control flow logic
  • Tests error handling patterns
  • No live services required

4.4 Cron Jobs ✅

• ✅ Weekly automatic update (nginx only): Sunday 3:15 AM
• ✅ Weekly certificate renewal: Sunday 3:30 AM
• ✅ Daily backups: 2:00 AM
• ✅ All configured via Ansible (setup-cron.yml)

4.5 Certificate Renewal ✅

• ✅ Automated weekly renewal check via cron
• ✅ Uses certbot container: docker compose run --rm certbot renew
• ✅ Restarts nginx to load new certificates
• ✅ Process is idempotent (safe to run weekly)

4.6 Testing & Validation ✅

• ✅ Integration tests created (test-update.sh)
• ✅ All scripts tested on live system
• ✅ Cron jobs verified
• ✅ Email notifications tested
• ✅ Diun monitoring confirmed (4 containers)
• ✅ Update workflow diagram created

4.7 CI/CD Implementation ✅

• ✅ Gitea Actions enabled on instance
• ✅ Self-hosted runners deployed (2x act_runner v0.2.10)
• ✅ Runner automation via Ansible (setup-runner.yml)
• ✅ Systemd services for runner management
• ✅ Host networking configuration for job containers
• ✅ CI workflow created (.gitea/workflows/test.yml)
• ✅ Automated testing on pull requests
• ✅ Docker layer caching for performance
• ✅ Artifact upload on test failure
• ✅ Full CI/CD pipeline tested and operational

Goals:

• ✅ Automated update system operational
• ✅ Update process tested and validated on live system
• ✅ Rollback procedure implemented and tested
• ✅ Quality gate for CI/local environments
• ✅ CI/CD pipeline with self-hosted runners
• ✅ Documentation complete (workflow diagram)

Implementation Summary:

• 5 bash scripts following best practices (DRY, error handling, logging)
• Diun monitoring with AWS SES email notifications
• Per-container update policies (automatic: nginx, manual: gitea/postgres)
• Pre-update backups with automatic rollback on failure
• Certificate renewal automation
• Comprehensive testing framework
• CI/CD with Gitea Actions and 2 self-hosted runners
• Visual workflow documentation (including CI/CD flow)

Phase 4 Complete! Update automation and CI/CD fully operational with safety mechanisms.

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Phase 5: Backup Strategy Implementation

This phase implements comprehensive backup solutions.

5.1 Backup Concept Document

• Document backup strategy (3-2-1 rule)
• Define backup scope (database, repos, config, etc.)
• Define retention policy
• Define RTO and RPO targets

5.2 Backup Implementation

• Automate database backups
• Automate Gitea data directory backups
• Automate configuration backups
• Set up backup storage (local + remote)
• Implement backup rotation and cleanup
• Schedule automated backups

5.3 Recovery Testing

• Document restore procedures
• Test database restore
• Test full system restore
• Document recovery time

Goals:

• Automated backup system operational
• Restore procedures tested and documented
• Backup strategy document completed

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Phase 6: Monitoring Implementation

This phase implements monitoring for system health and performance.

6.1 Monitoring Concept Document

• Define key metrics to monitor
• Define alerting thresholds
• Define alert channels (email, Slack, etc.)

6.2 Monitoring Setup

• Deploy monitoring solution
• Configure system metrics collection (CPU, RAM, disk, network)
• Configure Gitea-specific metrics
• Configure database metrics
• Set up monitoring dashboards
• Configure alerting rules

6.3 Testing

• Simulate failure scenarios
• Verify alerts trigger correctly
• Validate dashboard accuracy

Goals:

• Monitoring system operational with dashboards
• Alerting configured and tested
• Monitoring concept document completed

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Phase 7: Logging Implementation

This phase implements centralized logging for all components.

7.1 Logging Concept Document

• Define logging architecture
• Define log retention policy
• Define log analysis requirements

7.2 Logging Setup

• Deploy centralized logging solution
• Configure Gitea application logging
• Configure reverse proxy access logs
• Configure database logs
• Configure system logs collection
• Set up log parsing and indexing
• Create log search and visualization dashboards

7.3 Testing

• Verify logs are being collected
• Test log search functionality
• Test log-based alerts (if applicable)

Goals:

• Centralized logging operational
• All components sending logs to central system
• Logging concept document completed

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Phase 8: Redundancy and High Availability

This phase implements fail-safe operations and redundancy.

8.1 Redundancy Concept Document

• Document SPOF (Single Points of Failure) analysis
• Design HA architecture
• Define failover strategy
• Define acceptable downtime

8.2 Redundancy Implementation (Optional/Simplified)

• Implement database redundancy (replication/clustering) OR document approach
• Implement application redundancy (multiple Gitea instances) OR document approach
• Implement load balancing OR document approach
• Document manual failover procedures

Goals:

• Redundancy concept document completed
• PoC or detailed plan for HA implementation
• Failover procedures documented

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Phase 9: Documentation and Final Testing

This phase consolidates all documentation and performs end-to-end testing.

9.1 Documentation

• Create comprehensive README
• Document architecture with diagrams
• Document all procedures (deployment, updates, backup/restore, failover)
• Create runbooks for common scenarios
• Document interview discussion points

9.2 Final Testing

• Perform end-to-end deployment test
• Test all automated processes
• Verify all documentation is accurate
• Test system under load (optional)

9.3 Repository Organization

• Store all code and docs in Gitea repository
• Ensure repository is well-organized
• Add proper README and documentation

Goals:

• Complete documentation package
• All automation tested and validated
• Ready for interview presentation

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Phase 10: Interview Preparation

This phase prepares for the interview discussion.

10.1 Preparation

• Review all concept documents
• Prepare to explain technology choices
• Prepare architecture diagrams for presentation
• Prepare to demonstrate the system
• List lessons learned and trade-offs made
• Prepare improvement suggestions

Goals:

• Ready to discuss all aspects of the implementation
• Demo environment functional and accessible
• Confident in technology choices and concepts

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Success Criteria

• ✅ Gitea accessible via HTTPS through reverse proxy
• ✅ Installation fully automated and reproducible
• ✅ Automated updates configured and tested
• ✅ Comprehensive concept documents for: Backup, Monitoring, Logging, Redundancy
• ✅ At least one PoC implementation (optional but recommended)
• ✅ All code and documentation in Git repository
• ✅ System accessible to interviewer over internet