ecomod-server

Deployment repository for the ecomod research server stack.

This stack provides a lightweight remote research environment consisting of:

• RStudio Server
• VS Code (code-server)
• Caddy reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS (Let's Encrypt)

All services run in Docker containers and are orchestrated using Docker Compose.

The repository is designed so the same deployment artifacts can be used for:

• provisioning new machines via cloud-init
• manual migration of existing servers
• routine updates

Architecture

Internet
   │
   ▼
┌───────────────┐
│     Caddy     │  (TLS termination + routing)
└───────┬───────┘
        │
        ├─────────────► RStudio Server
        │               (port 8787)
        │
        └─────────────► code-server (VS Code)
                        (port 8443)

Routing:

URL	Service
/	RStudio
/code/	VS Code

Caddy automatically obtains and renews TLS certificates via Let's Encrypt.

Repository Layout

ecomod-server/
├── .env.example
├── docker-compose.yml
├── Caddyfile
├── scripts/
│   ├── install-prereqs.sh
│   ├── prepare-directories.sh
│   ├── start-stack.sh
│   └── update-stack.sh
├── docs/
│   └── migration-guide.md
└── cloud-init/
    └── cloud-init.yaml

Key Files

.env.example

Template for per-server configuration.

Copy to .env and adjust values.

docker-compose.yml

Defines the service stack:

• caddy
• rstudio
• code-server

Caddyfile

Reverse proxy configuration and TLS setup.

scripts/

Operational scripts for convinience.

Script	Purpose
install-prereqs.sh	installs Docker and required packages
prepare-directories.sh	creates persistent storage directories
start-stack.sh	launches the stack
update-stack.sh	updates container images

Quick Start (Manual Deployment)

1 Install prerequisites

./scripts/install-prereqs.sh

2 Configure environment

cp .env.example .env
nano .env
chmod 600 .env

3 Start the stack

./scripts/start-stack.sh

---

Access

After startup:

Service	URL
RStudio	https://SERVER_URL/
VS Code	https://SERVER_URL/code/

Credentials:

username: rstudio
password: USER_PASSWORD

Updating the Stack

Pull new container images and restart services:

./scripts/update-stack.sh

Logs and Status

Check running services:

docker compose ps

Follow logs:

docker compose logs -f --tail=200

Check Caddy specifically:

docker compose logs -f --tail=200 caddy

Persistent Data

Persistent data is stored under:

volumes/
├── workspace
├── code_config
├── caddy_data
└── caddy_config

These directories contain:

Directory	Purpose
workspace	shared working directory for RStudio and VS Code
code_config	VS Code configuration
caddy_data	TLS certificates
caddy_config	Caddy runtime configuration

These directories are not part of the Git repo.

Cloud‑Init Deployment

New VMs can automatically provision the server stack via:

cloud-init/cloud-init.yaml

The cloud-init configuration:

1. clones this repository
2. writes the .env file
3. runs the same repo scripts used for manual deployment