Using DeployHQ to Automate Your Deployments

The Problem: Deploying Code

So you have your projects in GitHub. Whatever they are - an app you're working on with a small team. A small business brochure site. An ecommerce platform. You've decided to version control them, but you still have little in the way of automated processes in place, and you're still having to update each of your environments - staging, production, whatever you have - by hand, with FTP. Or you've got them pulling down Git changes from a branch.

This pain is only multiplied if you're deploying to other development or staging servers too, beyond just one, or you have a load balanced production machine that needs multiple simultaneous deployments. What you really need is an automated process here, that can either automatically deploy when changes to code are made, or can be ready to do so at the push of a button.

The Solution: DeployHQ

DeployHQ can be the link between your Git repository and your servers and do your deployments for you. You can make those deployments automatic (every time you commit to your staging branch, DeployHQ automatically deploys those changes to your Staging server). You can also trigger deployments manually though (deploying to Production server from the production branch requires you to push the button yourself). This flexibility allows for a maximum of convenience and automaton without taking some safeguards away, like a review of code merged into production, or the schedule by which you update your production website.

DeployHQ seems especially good for a small company or developer who doesn't have all of their testing, builds, CI, etc automated yet into cohesive processes, and is really looking for a way to push code to various environments with as little friction as possible.

Getting Started with DeployHQ

When you sign up for your DeployHQ account, you'll login and arrive at the welcome screen.

Then, you'll need to follow a few steps in order to get your deployments up and running!

1) Preparation

In the below examples of configuration, GitHub will be used as the version control system. So, head over to GitHub, and if you don't already have a project in mind, create a repository. The repository, ideally, will have multiple branches (i.e. "staging", "production") just to help demonstrate the functionality available at DeployHQ. Both staging and production branches of a test repository will be used in this demonstration. You can leave this open in a tab, as you'll need to come back.

2) Create a New DeployHQ Project

Right from the welcome screen, hit the "Create a new project" button.

You'll need to give the project a name, and choose the version control system that you're using. For this example, we're using GitHub. Then, hit "Create Project"! You'll see a progress screen, and then, if all goes well, you'll get a screen that requires you to login (or if already logged in, authorize the app) to access your repository.

Once you've authorized DeployHQ to access your GitHub, you'll be taken to a screen which shows the organizations you're connected to (and your personal repositories) with a list of those repositories. Pick one to link your project to, and once this is done, DeployHQ will ask you to provide server information.

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by Jeff Smith via SitePoint