Chapter 10: Deployment Strategies
From Development to Production
Building a comment system is one thing; deploying and running it reliably is another. This chapter covers the strategies and considerations for getting your system live and keeping it running smoothly.
Deployment Environments
Development Environment
Where you build and test:
- Local machine or cloud IDE
- Quick iteration cycles
- Mock data and services
- Isolated from production
Considerations:
- Match production environment as closely as practical
- Use containers or similar for consistency
- Seed with realistic test data
- Easy to reset and rebuild
Staging Environment
Pre-production testing:
- Production-like configuration
- Realistic data (anonymized from production)
- Final verification before release
- Integration testing
Considerations:
- Same infrastructure as production (scaled down)
- Same deployment process
- Access controls
- Cost of running
Production Environment
The live system:
- Real users
- Real data
- Reliability critical
- Performance matters
Considerations:
- High availability design
- Monitoring and alerting
- Backup and recovery
- Security hardened
Deployment Options
For the frontend widget and static assets:
Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages:
- Git-based deployment
- Automatic builds
- Global CDN
- Free tiers available
Advantages:
- Simple deployment
- Built-in CI/CD
- SSL included
- Fast global delivery
Use for:
- Comment widget JavaScript
- Static site itself
- Serverless functions (if using)
For API backend:
AWS Lambda, Cloudflare Workers, Netlify Functions:
- Deploy functions without servers
- Automatic scaling
- Pay-per-use pricing
Advantages:
- No server management
- Scales automatically
- Low cost at low volume
- Fast deployment
Disadvantages:
- Cold start latency
- Execution limits
- Debugging complexity
- Vendor lock-in
For more control over the runtime:
Docker-based Options:
- Fly.io
- Railway
- Render
- DigitalOcean App Platform
- Google Cloud Run
Advantages:
- Consistent environment
- More control than serverless
- Still managed infrastructure
- Good scaling options
Disadvantages:
- More configuration than serverless
- Base cost (usually)
- Container expertise helpful
Traditional VPS/Server
Maximum control:
Providers:
- DigitalOcean Droplets
- Linode
- Hetzner
- Vultr
- AWS EC2
Advantages:
- Full control
- Predictable pricing
- No vendor abstractions
- Can host everything on one server
Disadvantages:
- Manual setup and maintenance
- Scaling requires work
- Security responsibility
- Backup configuration
Deployment Process
Continuous Deployment
Automated deployment on code changes:
Basic Flow:
- Code pushed to repository
- CI system detects change
- Tests run automatically
- If tests pass, deploy to staging
- Manual approval for production
- Deploy to production
Benefits:
- Fast iteration
- Consistent process
- Reduced human error
- Audit trail
Blue-Green Deployment
Running two identical environments:
Process:
- “Blue” is current production
- Deploy new version to “Green”
- Test Green environment
- Switch traffic to Green
- Blue becomes standby
Benefits:
- Zero-downtime deployment
- Easy rollback
- Production testing possible
- Reduced risk
Rolling Deployment
Gradually updating instances:
Process:
- Update one instance
- Verify it’s healthy
- Update next instance
- Repeat until all updated
Benefits:
- Zero-downtime
- Automatic rollback if issues
- Less infrastructure than blue-green
Canary Deployment
Testing with subset of users:
Process:
- Deploy new version to small percentage
- Monitor for issues
- Gradually increase percentage
- Full rollout if stable
Benefits:
- Limits blast radius of problems
- Real-world testing
- Data-driven rollout decisions
Infrastructure as Code
Define infrastructure in version-controlled files:
Benefits
- Reproducible environments
- Version history
- Review process for changes
- Disaster recovery
Terraform:
Multi-cloud infrastructure provisioning.
Pulumi:
Infrastructure using real programming languages.
CloudFormation (AWS):
AWS-specific infrastructure definition.
Platform-Specific:
Many platforms have their own config files (netlify.toml, vercel.json, etc.).
Database Deployment
Migrations
Managing database schema changes:
Principles:
- All changes through migrations
- Version controlled
- Reversible when possible
- Tested before production
Process:
- Create migration file
- Test in development
- Apply to staging
- Verify
- Apply to production
- Monitor
Data Seeding
Initial data setup:
- Admin users
- Default configuration
- Test data (non-production)
Backup Before Changes
Always before migrations:
- Take fresh backup
- Verify backup is valid
- Know restoration process
- Test rollback
Configuration Management
Environment Variables
Store configuration outside code:
What to Include:
- Database credentials
- API keys
- Feature flags
- Environment-specific URLs
Security:
- Never in version control
- Encrypted at rest
- Limited access
- Rotation plan
Secrets Management
For sensitive configuration:
Options:
- Platform-native secrets (Netlify, Vercel, etc.)
- Cloud provider secrets (AWS Secrets Manager, etc.)
- HashiCorp Vault
- Environment files (less secure)
Feature Flags
Control features independently of deployment:
Benefits:
- Decouple deployment from release
- A/B testing
- Gradual rollout
- Kill switch for problems
Monitoring and Observability
Health Checks
Verify system is running:
Endpoint Health:
- API responds
- Database connected
- Dependencies available
Process:
- Regular automated checks
- Alert on failure
- Load balancer integration
Logging
Capture system activity:
What to Log:
- Errors and exceptions
- Important events (comments submitted, etc.)
- Performance metrics
- Security events
Where to Send:
- Platform logging (CloudWatch, etc.)
- Log aggregation services
- Self-hosted solutions
Metrics
Quantitative measurements:
Key Metrics:
- Request rate
- Error rate
- Latency percentiles
- Resource usage
Tools:
- Platform-native metrics
- Prometheus + Grafana
- DataDog, New Relic, etc.
Alerting
Automated notification of problems:
Alert On:
- Error rate spikes
- Latency increases
- Resource exhaustion
- Health check failures
Alert Channels:
- Email
- SMS
- Slack/Discord
- PagerDuty
Security Considerations
SSL/TLS
All traffic encrypted:
- Certificate management
- Auto-renewal (Let’s Encrypt)
- Proper configuration
Firewall and Access
Limit exposure:
- Only expose necessary ports
- IP allowlisting for admin
- VPN for infrastructure access
Updates and Patches
Keep systems current:
- Regular update schedule
- Security patch process
- Dependency updates
- Container image updates
Penetration Testing
Verify security:
- Pre-launch testing
- Regular assessments
- Bug bounty (if appropriate)
Rollback Procedures
When things go wrong:
Preparation
- Document rollback steps
- Automate where possible
- Test rollback process
- Know the data implications
Quick Rollback
For code issues:
- Revert to previous deployment
- Blue-green switch back
- Feature flag disable
Data Rollback
More complex:
- Restore from backup
- May lose recent data
- Communication plan needed
Deployment Checklist
Pre-Deployment
Deployment
Post-Deployment
Disaster Recovery
Backup Strategy
- Regular automated backups
- Multiple backup locations
- Encryption at rest
- Regular restoration testing
Recovery Procedures
Documented processes for:
- Database restoration
- Application redeployment
- DNS changes
- Communication plan
Recovery Objectives
RTO (Recovery Time Objective):
How long can you be down? Design for this.
RPO (Recovery Point Objective):
How much data can you lose? Backup frequency should match.
Summary
Successful deployment requires:
- Environments: Development → Staging → Production
- Automation: CI/CD pipelines for consistent deployment
- Configuration: Secure, environment-specific settings
- Monitoring: Know when things go wrong
- Rollback: Ability to quickly recover
- Documentation: Clear procedures for common scenarios
Start simple (direct deploys to production) and add sophistication as your needs grow. The goal is reliable, repeatable deployments with minimal stress.
The next chapter covers maintenance and operations—keeping your system running long-term.