project-template-rt

This is a template project for RT installations.

Overview

We are using the following components:

• CentOS 7
• EPEL yum repository, for puppet and such
• Puppet configuration manager with masterless setup
• Ruby gems, for librarian-puppet
• Librarian-puppet, for puppet module management
• Request Tracker 4.2

Usage

Everything is setup, configured and started automagically, using the sys_update.sh script in the root folder of the project.

In order for this to work though, a few assumption must be true.

Assumptions

• The setup and configuration is executed by user root.
• Server's hostname is the FQDN on which the RT will run.
• Server has access to the Internet, for git, puppet, perl and yum dependencies.
• Server will run all necessary parts locally - web, database, and mail software.
• No other critical software runs on the server.

Configuration

Most things should just work. When something doesn't work, a helpful error message is usually given. Certain things can (and should) be adjusted using the .env configuration file in theh root folder of the project. For convenience, .env.example file is provided with sensible defaults.

Some of the things that can be adjusted are:

• User and group under which RT will run
• Installation location for RT
• Whether or not to install CPAN modules for RT dependencies
• Whether or not tweak the network firewall
• Whether or not to install local database
• Whether or not to initialize the database with some data
• spawn-fcgi location

Known Issues

• CPAN related errors during module installation. These are caused by some weirdness Plack::Handler::Starlet module. This should be sorted out sooner or later.
• spawn-fcgi service fails to start, due to "address already in use" error. This happens because service stop functionality doesn't work properly. To be investigated and fixed shortly.
• web user and group are hardcoded into /etc/sysconfig/spawn-fcgi due to $::rt_web_user returning string 'foobar' for some weird reason. To be investigated and fixed shortly.
• Database initialization might fail, due to the 'database already exists' error. Whether or not database should be initialized is controled via the configuration file.

TODO

• Move Nginx configuration into one of the available puppet modules
• Finalize configuration of the RT itself
• Make it possible to update RT configuration and database without rebuilding everything
• Configure MySQL database backups to go into the RT folder for easier restores
• Provide Vagrantfile configuration for easier development and testing