How to use node package dotenv to access local development environment variables in Red Hat OpenShift application?

Question

I'm revisiting a project which hasn't been updated for a while.

In production/online environment, it uses environment variables defined at:

openshift online console > applications > deployments > my node app > environment

In development/offline environment, it uses environment variables defined at:

./src/js/my_modules/local_settings (this file is ignored by .gitignore)

The code looks something like:

// check which environment we are in 
if (process.env.MONGODB_USER) {
    var online_status = "online";
}
else {
    var online_status = "offline";
}

// if online, use environment variables defined in red hat openshift  
if (online_status === 'online') {
    var site_title = process.env.SITE_TITLE;
    var site_description = process.env.SITE_DESCRIPTION;
    //etc 
}  

// if offline, get settings from a local file
else if (online_status === 'offline') {
    var local_settings = require('./src/js/my_modules/local_settings');
    var site_title = local_settings.SITE_TITLE;
    var site_description = local_settings.SITE_DESCRIPTION;
    // etc
}  

I would like to install the dotenv package in my local project repo via:

npm install dotenv  

So that I can:

• Have my local settings in a .env file in the root of my project (ignored in .gitignore)
• Be able to use process.env.SOME_VARIABLE rather than local_settings.SOME_VARIABLE
• Get rid of some if/else blocks as both scenarios would point to process.env.SOME_VARIABLE

I'm a bit confused as to how this would effect the online environment.

Seeing as both production/online and development/offline environments would use:

var some_variable = process.env.SOME_VARIABLE_HERE  

would the application automatically know to:

• Look at the local .env file when in development?
• Look at the Red Hat environment variables when in production?

And would adding the required instantiation at the beginning of the server-side file:

require('dotenv').config()  

somehow make Red Hat OpenShift freak out (as it seems to already have its own 'things' in place to resolve references to process.env.SOME_VARIABLE_HERE to the relevant values defined in the OpenShift console)?

Answer 1

To have a file by any environment (.dev .staging .prod) into the source code repository or manually in the server (it those are in .gitignore) worked for long time, but now it goes against to the devops.

The clean way is to use environment variables but managed remotely and obtained at the start of your application.

How it works?

Basically your apps don't read or need a file (.env .properties, etc) with variables anymore. It loads them from a remote http service.

Not intrusive

In this approach, you don't need specific languages variables (nodejs in your case). You just need to prepare your app to use environment variables. Your application don't care where the variables come from, just needs to be available at operative system level.

To achieve that, you just need to download the variables using a simple shell code or a very basic algorithm (http invocation) in your favorite language.

After that, after the start of your app, variables are ready to use at the most basic level.

var site_title = process.env.SITE_TITLE;

This approach is not intrusive because your app don't need something complex like library or algorithm in some programing language. Just needs the environment variables.

Intrusive

Same as previous alternative but instead to read the variables direct from environment system, you should use or create a class/module in your language. This offer your the variables you need:

var site_title = VariablesManager.getProperty("SITE_TITLE");

VariablesManager at the startup must have consumed the variables from a remote service (http) and the store them to offer them to whoever needs it through getProperty method.

Also this VariablesManager usually has a feature called hot-reload which at intervals, update the variables consuming the remote variables manager. With this, if your application is running in production with real users and some variable needs to be updated, you just need to change it in the variables manager. Automatically your app will load the new values, without restart or touching your app

This approach is intrusive because you need to load advanced libraries in some programing language or create it.

Devops

Your application just needs a few properties or settings related to the consume of remote variables. For example: variables of acme-web-staging:

remote_variables_manager = https://variables.com/api
application_id = acme-web-staging
secure_key = *****

You could hide the secure key and parametrize the application_id using environment variables (created in the platform console)

remote_variables_manager = https://variables.com/api
application_id = ${application_id}
secure_key = ${remote_variables_manager_key}

Or if you want one variable manager by each environment

staging

remote_variables_manager = https://variables-staging.com/api
application_id = acme-web
secure_key = *****

production

remote_variables_manager = https://variables-staging.com/api
application_id = acme-web
secure_key = *****

Variables manager

This concept was introduced many years ago. I used with java. It consist in a web application with features like:

• secure login
• create applications
• create variables of an application
• crypt sensitive values
• publish http endpoints to download or query the variables by application

Here a list of some ready to use alternatives:

• Configurator
  • Nodejs & mysql solution. I developed this and I use it in various projects.
• Doppler
• zookeeper
  • http://www.therore.net/java/2015/05/03/distributed-configuration-with-zookeeper-curator-and-spring-cloud-config.html
• Spring Cloud
  • https://www.baeldung.com/spring-cloud-configuration
  • This is a java spring framework functionality in which you can create properties file with configurations and configure your applications to read them.
• Consul
  • Consul is a service mesh solution providing a full featured control plane with service discovery, configuration, and segmentation functionality.
• doozerd, etcd

In your specific case

• Don't use dot-env
• Use pure process.env.foo
• Deploy a remote variables manager in your openshift infraestructure
• Create just one variable in your openshift web console: APP_ENVIRONMENT
• In your code at the start, do something like this:

if (process.env.APP_ENVIRONMENT === "PROD")
  //get variables from remote service using 
  //some http client like axios, request, etc
  //then inject them to your process.env
  process.env.site_url = remoteVariables.site_url
else
  //we are in local developer workspace
  //so, nothing complex is required
  //developer should inject manually 
  //before the startup: npm run start or dev
  //export site_url = "acme.com" 

If you can configure an execution of a shell script before the start of your openshift app, you could load and expose the variables at that stage and the previous snippet would not be necessary because the variables will be ready to be retrieved using process.env directly in your app