Discusses the steps involved in developing and deploying a PHP application on IBM Bluemix.

1. Using PHPwith IBM Bluemix
Vikram Vaswani
July 2017

2. Vikram Vaswani
Founder, Melonfire
● Product design and implementation with open source
technologies
● 20+ productslaunched for customersworldwide
Author and activePHPcommunity participant
● 7 booksfor McGraw-Hill USA
● 250+ tutorialsfor IBM dW, Zend Developer Zoneand
others
Moreinformation at http://vikram-vaswani.in

3. Vikram Vaswani
ActiveIBM Bluemix user since2014
● IBM Cloud Champion
● 15+ PHPapplicationson IBM Bluemix
● Stray assist: http://stray-assist.mybluemix.net/
● Invoicegenerator: https://invoice-generator.mybluemix.net/
● ATM finder: http://atm-finder.mybluemix.net/
● Document indexer: https://pdf-keyword-search.mybluemix.net
Codesamplesat https://github.com/vvaswani

4. Bluemix
● Cloud PaaS
● Secureand scalable
● Pay-per-use
● Multipleprogramming languages
● PHP, Java, Go, Ruby, Swift, ...
● Multipleservices(own and third-party)
● Text to Speech, Object Storage, Spark, Sendgrid, ...

5. Bluemix
● Serverlesscomputing
● ApacheOpenWhisk
● Integrated continuousdelivery toolchains
● Own and externally-hosted repositories
● Web IDE
● Third-party integrations: Slack, GitHub
● Blue-green deployment and rollback

6. Bluemix and PHP
● PHPruntimeviaCloud Foundry PHPbuildpack
● Key features
● Choiceof Web servers: Apacheor nginx
● Choiceof PHPversions: PHP5 or PHP7
● Support for variousPHPextensionsand modules
● Support for Composer and custom startup scripts
● Debug logs
PHPbuildpack docsat
http://docs.cloudfoundry.org/buildpacks/php/

7. Prerequisites
● Bluemix account
● Third-party serviceaccounts(if needed)
● Local PHPdevelopment environment
● CloudFoundry CLI
● Application sourcecode(obviously!)
CloudFoundry CLI installation instructionsat
https://docs.cloudfoundry.org/cf-cli/install-go-cli.html

8. ConfigurationArtifacts
● Application manifest (manifest.yml)
● Buildpack configuration data(.bp-co nfig/* )
● Dependency manifest (co mpo ser.jso n)

9. Development Approaches
UsethePHPstarter application asbase
● Deploy thestarter application to Bluemix
● Download thesourcecodeand modify locally
● Incorporatelocal or remoteservices
● Redeploy thefinal application to Bluemix and bind
servicesasneeded
Benefits
● Simple, easy to understand
● Best for first-timeusers

10. Development Approaches
Start from scratch
● Develop theapplication locally
● Incorporatelocal or remoteservices
● Deploy thefinal application to Bluemix and bind
servicesasneeded
Benefits
● Greater flexibility and customization options
● Best for experienced developers

11. Development Steps
1.Defineand install application dependencies
2.Configureapplication with local servicecredentials
3.Find and instantiateany remoteservicesneeded for
development
4.Configureapplication with remoteservice
credentials
5.Develop, test and finalize

12. Deployment Steps
1.Find and instantiateremoteservices
2.Updateapplication to retrieveremoteservice
credentialsfrom Bluemix
3.Defineapplication manifest
4.Push application
5.Bind remoteservices
6.Test application

13. Development

14. Development: Dependencies
● Useco mpo ser.jso n to
● Specify thePHPversion
● Declaredependenciesand version constraints
● Useco mpo ser.lo ck to
● Lock your application to specific versionsof
dependencies

15. Development: Dependencies
Sampleco mpo ser.jso n file:
{
"require": {
"php": ">=7.0.0",
"slim/slim": "^3.8",
"slim/php-view": "^2.2"
}
}

16. Development: ServiceDiscovery
Find servicesusing theBluemix Dashboard
● 120+ services, IBM and third-party
● Many servicesincludeafreetier

17. Development: ServiceInstantiation
Instantiatenew servicesusing theBluemix Dashboard
● Leaveservicesunbound for local development
● Obtain credentialsfrom each servicepanel

18. Deployment

19. Pre-Deployment: ServiceCredentials
● Availablein Bluemix environment for all bound services
viaVCAP_ SERVICES variable
● Structured asJSON document

20. Pre-Deployment: ServiceCredentials
Samplecode:
<?php
// if BlueMix VCAP_SERVICES environment available
// overwrite local credentials with BlueMix credentials
if ($services = getenv("VCAP_SERVICES")) {
$json = json_decode($services, true);
$config['db']['hostname'] = $json['cleardb'][0]['credentials']['hostname'];
$onfig['db']['username'] = $json['cleardb'][0]['credentials']['username'];
$config['db']['password'] = $json['cleardb'][0]['credentials']['password'];
$config['db']['name'] = $json['cleardb'][0]['credentials']['name'];
}

21. Deployment: Application Manifest
Usemanifest.yml to defineapplication attributes:
● Host name
● Application name
● Memory
● Number of instances
● Buildpack

22. Deployment: Application Manifest
Samplemanifest.yml file:
---
applications:
- name: myapp-[initials]
memory: 256M
instances: 1
host: myapp-[initials]
buildpack: https://github.com/cloudfoundry/php-buildpack.git
stack: cflinuxfs2

23. Deployment: Buildpack Configuration
● Use.bp-co nfig/o ptio ns.jso n to:
● ConfiguretheWeb server and document root
● Set thePHPversion (if conflict, co mpo ser.jso n getspriority)
● EnablePHPmodulesand Zend extensions
● Use.bp-co nfig/php/php.ini.d/*.ini to:
● ConfigurePHPsettings
● EnablePHPextensions
● Use.bp-co nfig/httpd/httpd.co nf to:
● ConfigureApachesettings

24. Deployment: Buildpack Configuration
Sample.bp-co nfig/o ptio ns.jso n file:
{
"WEB_SERVER": "httpd",
"COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIR": "vendor",
"WEBDIR": "public",
"PHP_VERSION": "{PHP_70_LATEST}"
}

25. Deployment: Buildpack Configuration
Sample.bp-co nfig/php/php.ini.d/php.ini file:
extension=mysqli.so
default_charset="UTF-8"
display_errors="1"
display_startup_errors="1"
error_reporting="E_ALL"
List of PHPbuildpack extensionsenabled by default at
https://github.com/cloudfoundry/php-buildpack/releases/

26. Deployment: CodePush
● Set API endpoint
cf api https://api.ng.bluemix.net
● Log in
cf login
● Push application
cf push

27. Deployment: CodePush Results
When aPHPapplication ispushed:
● Theapplication metadataisstored and arouteand record iscreated for it.
● Theapplication assetsareuploaded.
● ThePHPbuildpack isdownloaded and executed.
● ThePHPbuildpack downloadsand configurestheWeb server and PHPbinary.
● ThePHPbuildpack usesComposer to install application dependencies.
● Thestaged PHPapplication ispackaged into a"droplet".
● Thedroplet isuploaded and thestaged PHPapplication isstarted.
Moreinformation at https://docs.cloudfoundry.org/concepts/how-
applications-are-staged.html

28. Deployment: ServiceBinding
● Bind services:
cf bind-service APP-NAME SERVICE-
NAME
● Set custom environment variables:
cf set-env APP-NAME VARIABLE VALUE
● Restageapplication:
cf restage APP-NAME

29. Post-Deployment: Debugging
● View logs:
cf logs APP-NAME
cf logs APP-NAME --recent
● Start secureshell session:
cf ssh APP-NAME
Learn moreat http://vikram-
vaswani.in/weblog/2015/03/19/debugging-php-errors-
on-ibm-bluemix/

30. Demonstration

31. SampleApplication
● PHP+MySQL application using Slim micro-
framework
● UsesBluemix ClearDB Managed MySQL service
● Usescustomized buildpack configuration
Codeat https://github.com/vvaswani/bluemix-cities

32. Demonstration Overview
● Cloneapplication sourcecode
● Configurewith local development MySQL database
● CreateClearDB Managed MySQL Databaseserviceon Bluemix
● Updateapplication codeto useservicecredentialsin Bluemix
environment
● Createapplication manifest
● ConfigureCloud Foundry PHPbuildpack
● Deploy application to Bluemix
● Bind ClearDB Managed MySQL Databaseserviceto application
● Test and debug deployment

33. Questions?

34. Contact Information
Email:
● vikram-vaswani.in/contact
Web:
● www.melonfire.com
● vikram-vaswani.in
Social networks:
● plus.google.com/100028886433648406825
MySQL/PHPuser group:
● https://plus.google.com/+mmpugindia/