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Enterprise-grade microservice architecture for NodeJS
========
floca is a complete solution to aid the development of enterprise-grade applications following the microservices architectural pattern. A proven stack used by numerous of systems in production for years now.
The basic idea of floca is to provide an abstraction level allowing your project to be freed of technical layers and unnecessary decoration. Your codebase will we required to define only pure CommonJS modules and all underlaying services will be set up by floca configured by a simple JSON object.
Of course, you can orchestrate your app the way you prefer, but please let us share a possible way to build up the codebase of an EE app using floca:
Each microservice
Your code is clean, pure and surprisingly simple.
$ npm install -g floca
$ floca create demoApp
$ cd demoApp
$ npm install
$ npm start
The CLI tool will create a new folder 'demoApp', and will create all required subfolders and files in it. By executing those npm commands, your microservice is ready-to-serve! The initial project will contain:
var Floca = require('floca');
var floca = new Floca({
floca: {
appName: 'NameOfYourApp',
entityName: 'NameOfYourMicroService'
}
});
floca.start( function(){
console.log('Started.');
} );
Yes, it is that simple.
Note: by default floca is using in-memory bus to relay messages. Should you consider an enterprise-grade provider, should the AMQP or NSQ topic reviewed.
In either case, the app will
Each microservice must have a unique name and must belong to an application or domain. These names will be used in the message bus for routing and distinguish different fields of jurisdiction.
{
...
floca: {
folder: path.join( process.cwd(), 'bus'),
appName: 'APP_NAME_IS_MISSING',
entityName: 'ENTITY_NAME_IS_MISSING',
configurator: 'Tuner'
}
...
}
Microservices will be read from the folder defined by the attribute 'folder'. An inner entity, called 'Publisher' watches that folder and according to the changes at file-level, the micoservice entities will be republished or removed. The folder 'bus' in the root of your project is the default spot.
The attributes 'appName' and 'entityName' are used to identify the app and the microservice and to identify the constructs in the message bus.
if the attribute 'configurator' is present, the Publisher will use to get the initial configuration of the microservices before publishing. This way, you can have a centralised configuration microservice with a name identified by the attribute 'configurator' and all microservices within the same app can reach it and be configured by the object such microservices retrieves. The Publisher will send a message to the configurator microservice passing the appName and entityName and accept the JS object interpreted as configuration and passed to the microservice.
An enterprise-grade message bus is highly required for a microservice architecture. AMQP has been proven probably the most reliable message solution out there. A stunning wide range of features support your aims. If you generated your project using the CLI with the option --amqp, then your project is set. If not, please make sure you create and pass the provider to floca:
var Fuser = require('floca');
var FuserAMQP = require('floca-amqp');
...
var fuserAMQP = new FuserAMQP();
var fuser = new Fuser( _.assign( {
channeller: fuserAMQP,
...
}, require('./config') ) );
This will tell floca to use the AMQP provider instead of the default in-memory solution.
floca tries to access a running AMQP by default specified in the config file as below:
{
...
amqp: {
connectURL: 'amqp://localhost'
}
...
}
You can set an empty string to make floca work 'offline' or specify a valid connectionURL fitting your environment.
If the following environment variables are set, floca will respect them as configuration:
AMQP_CONN_URL
If you generated your project using the CLI with the option --nsq, then your project is set. If not, please make sure you create and pass the provider to floca:
var Fuser = require('floca');
var FuserNSQ = require('floca-nsq');
...
var fuserNSQ = new FuserNSQ();
var fuser = new Fuser( _.assign( {
channeller: fuserNSQ,
...
}, require('./config') ) );
This will tell floca to use the NSQ provider instead of the default in-memory solution.
floca checks for settings for NSQ messaging solution in the config file as below:
{
...
nsq: {
nsqdHost: '127.0.0.1'
nsqdPort: 4150
}
...
}
If the following environment variables are set, floca will respect them as configuration:
NSQ_HOST, NSQ_PORT
floca supports mutliple logging solution:
Please see the options in priority order:
var logger = ...;
{
log: logger
...
}
By setting the 'log' attribute to an own logger object possessing a 'log' function, floca will use it for all internal logging activity.
{
log: {
loggly: {
token: '',
subdomain: ''
}
}
...
}
If 'loggly' attribute is present with filled values, floca will establish connection to the Loggly server and use it as logging facility.
If the following environment variables are set, floca will respect them as configuration:
LOGGLY_TOKEN, LOGGLY_SUBDOMAIN
{
log: {
level: "info",
file: "./floca.log",
maxsize: 10485760,
maxFiles: 10
}
...
}
As third option, you can log into files (maybe to a shared drive on a VM accumulated by some background service) and configure the size, number of the files specifying the minimum level of interest in logging records.
!Note: support for other logging solutions is in the pipeline...
JWT is an open industry standard method for representing claims securely between two parties. floca has built-in support for JWT. You can activate it by adding secret key to the configuration:
...
server: {
...
jwt: {
key: 'x-floca-jwt',
secret: '',
timeout: 2 * 24 * 60 * 60,
acquire: true
},
...
}
...
The attribute 'key' will be the key to be read from the header and will be added to the response as 'Access-Control-*' headers. To support token requests, the optional attribute 'acquireURI' will activate a REST request on the given URI allowing clients to acquire a token using a simple GET request.
floca allows you to insert extender functions to the setup process to extend, refine or overwrite the default behavior of floca. Extender functions have to be put to the config file. You might not need all of them, probably none of them. See an example config file below:
{
connectMiddlewares: function( ){ ... },
extendPureREST: function( config, app, pathToIgnore, harcon, tools ){ ... },
extendREST: function( config, rester, pathToIgnore, harcon, tools ){ ... },
runDevelopmentTest: function( rester, harcon ){ ... }
}
Connect delivers the HTTP server framework for floca, and when it is initiated, the function connectMiddlewares is searched for to extend the middleware list of connect. By default only middlewares compression and body-parser is used. Your neeed might evolve the presence of other middlewares like helmet if web pages must be provided. Your function connectMiddlewares should return an array of middlewares to be used.
connectMiddlewares: function( ){
return [ helmet.xframe('deny') ];
}
The very pure way to define REST middlewares for auth libraries like Passport and any kind of low-level solution.
extendPureREST: function( config, app, pathToIgnore, harcon, tools ){
app.get('/auth/provider', passport.authenticate('provider') );
}
The exceptionally featureful connect-rest is used as REST layer in floca. The default behavior of floca publishes the microservices - if needed - and might publish the JWT request function. Your project might require to extend it with new REST functions like login:
extendREST: function( config, rester, pathToIgnore, harcon, tools ){
rester.post( { path: '/login', context: '/sys', version: '1.0.0' }, function( request, content, callback ){
harcon.ignite( null, '', 'DBServices.login', content.email, content.password, function(err, user){
if( err ) return callback( err );
sendJWTBack( user[0].uid, user[0].roles, options, callback );
} );
}, { options: true } );
}
Tools is an object enlisting services like JWT used by the floca.
floca can be started in development mode using the '--development' switch in the command line. This activates a scheduled checkup function printing out the list of published microservices and the method 'runDevelopmentTest' if present.
runDevelopmentTest: function( rester, harcon ){
harcon.simpleIgnite( 'DBServices.addAdmin', function(err, res){ } );
}
You might want to create documents, user records at startup time for development purposes...
If you possess an own SSL key, you can specify the absolute path of the key,cert file pairs in the configuration file as below:
...
server: {
...
ssl: {
key: path.join( process.cwd(), 'ssh', 'sign.key' ),
cert: path.join( process.cwd(), 'ssh', 'sign.crt' )
},
...
}
...
In a highly fragmented system, the configuration management should be centralised and accessed through service discovery.
...
floca: {
configurator: 'Tuner'
},
...
The attribute 'configurator' will activate the configuration management in floca and the microservice loader will call the function 'config' of it passing the name of the app and the service to require the configuration sent to the entity to initialise.
floca is delivered with an embedded CLI tool to aid project creation and management.
Install floca with -g switch:
$ npm install -g floca
This will give you the floca command line statement
To create a new project execute the following:
$ floca create project <projectName> [--amqp] [--nsq] [--web] [--gulp] [--force]
This will create a folder projectName inside the execution folder and creates a minimal viable floca project using the transport provider you might pass. The project can be used right away:
$ npm install
$ npm start
You can tell floca to generate code for a web server if your project aims to serve pages. Gulp is also an project creational option if you need Gulp build scripts for your project.
Extend the bus folder with entities and have a happy coding!
From the your floca working folder, you can create an Entity by CLI:
$ floca create entity <entityName> [--rest] [--websocket]
This will create a business entity JS file inside your 'bus' folder optionally with REST and/or Websocket ports opened.
You can add service functions to your entities as shown below:
$ floca create service <entityName> <serviceName>
The JS file identified by the "serviceName" will be opened and a JS flocal function will be added to with the name "serviceName".
You can address other entities from there in respect your business flow.
If your project possesses the service entities you might want to use, the CLI tool can generate Mocha tests for them:
$ floca generate test --mocha
This will execute a floca instance and all entities providing REST or Websocket interface will be associated with a test case.
All code will be put to the file: test/mochaTest
Execute this statement to call mocha on tests:
$ mocha test/mochaTest
Tests are generated with always accept behavior waiting for being unfold.
(The MIT License)
Copyright (c) 2016 Upwards Motion Ltd (1st Floor, 2 Woodberry Grove, Finchley, London N12 0DR; Company Registration No: 09074890)
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
See https://github.com/UpwardsMotion/floca/issues.
FAQs
Enterprise-grade microservice solution for NodeJS
The npm package floca receives a total of 14 weekly downloads. As such, floca popularity was classified as not popular.
We found that floca demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 2 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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