Best practice to setup CI/CD deployment to GCE VM via Cloud Build and GH repo (non-containerized)?

[dheerajpanyam]

I have a Shiny R codebase  residing in a GH Repo. The app is deployed on GCE VM (Debian OS) and is non-containerized and used by DEVs. At present DEVs manually SSH into the VM and deploy their changes. What is a good way to setup CI/CD via Cloud Build to deploy Shiny R app to GCE VM. This is one solution I had

1. Setup a Cloud Build trigger that will have a gcloud command to stop and restart the VM
2. During restart use the startup-script provision available with GCE VM to git clone the repo.  This will effectively replace the entire codebase not just the files changed by the developer. 

[LeAnt · Accepted solution]

Hi @dheerajpanyam 

Welcome to Google Cloud Community!

Here are some best practices for setting up CI/CD via Cloud Build to deploy a Shiny R app on a Google Cloud VM instance:

• Use a version control system like Git to manage your code. This allows for tracking changes, collaboration, and easier rollbacks if needed.
• Define your CI/CD pipeline using a cloudbuild.yaml file. This file specifies the build steps, triggers, and deployment actions.
• Leverage pre-built container images for R environments like rocker/verse to ensure consistent build environments.
• Use Cloud Build triggers to automate deployments. Triggers can be set to run on pushes to specific Git branches.
• Consider containerizing your Shiny app using Docker. This promotes portability and simplifies deployment across different environments.
• Instead of directly deploying to the VM, explore deploying your containerized app to a service like Cloud Run. Cloud Run offers serverless execution and scales automatically based on traffic.
• If deploying directly to the VM is necessary, use SSH keys for secure and automated deployment from Cloud Build to the VM.

Remember, containerizing the app with Cloud Run is generally a recommended approach for scalability and manageability. However, the choice ultimately depends on your specific requirements.

Here are some resources that you might find helpful:

Google Cloud Build documentation
Deploying a Node.js server with Cloud Build and GCE
Best practices for CI/CD deployment to GCE VM (discussion)

I hope this information is helpful.

If you need further assistance, you can always file a case with our support team.

[dheerajpanyam]

Thank you @LeAnt