Bencher Self-Hosted

Bencher is open source. It is available as a SaaS, Bencher Cloud, and as a self-hostable set of container images:

Deployment

The easiest way to deploy Bencher Self-Hosted is using a triptych of bencher CLI subcommands:

bencher up

Create and start the Bencher Self-Hosted containers. This is similar to running docker compose up.

bencher up [OPTIONS] [SERVICE]

Service

Select the containers to run. The possible choices are: all, api, and console. By default all is chosen. Similar to the SERVICE argument for docker compose up.

Options

--detach

Run in detached mode. The containers will be run in the background. Similar to the --detach flag for docker compose up.

--pull <WHEN>

Pull images before running. The possible choices are: always, missing, and never. By default always is chosen. Similar to the --pull option for docker compose up.

--tag <TAG>

Specify the image tag for the containers. By default the image tag matches the bencher CLI version. The most recent bencher CLI version is v0.4.22.

--console-port <PORT>

Specify a port number for the Console server container. By default, port 3000 is used. Similar to the port only form of the --expose option for docker run.

--api-port <PORT>

Specify a port number for the API server container. By default, port 61016 is used. Similar to the port only form of the --expose option for docker run.

--console-env <KEY_VALUE>

Pass an environment variable to the Console server container. The expected format is KEY=value. This can be useful when working with the Console Server configuration. Similar to the --env option for docker run.

--api-env <KEY_VALUE>

Pass an environment variable to the API server container. The expected format is KEY=value. This can be useful when working with the API Server configuration. Similar to the --env option for docker run.

--console-volume <HOST_CONTAINER>

Pass a mount volume to the Console server container. The expected format is /host/path:/container/path. This can be useful when working with the Console Server configuration. Similar to the --volume option for docker run.

--api-volume <HOST_CONTAINER>

Pass a mount volume to the API server container. The expected format is /host/path:/container/path. This can be useful when working with the API Server configuration. Similar to the --volume option for docker run.

--help

Print help.

bencher logs

View output from the Bencher Self-Hosted containers, if bencher up was run with the --detach flag. This is similar to running docker compose logs.

bencher up [OPTIONS] [SERVICE]

Service

Select the containers to run. The possible choices are: all, api, and console. By default all is chosen. Similar to the SERVICE argument for docker compose logs.

Options

--help

Print help.

bencher down

Stop and remove the Bencher Self-Hosted containers, if bencher up was run with the --detach flag. This is similar to running docker compose down.

bencher down [OPTIONS] [SERVICE]

Service

Select the containers to run. The possible choices are: all, api, and console. By default all is chosen. Similar to the SERVICE argument for docker compose down.

Options

--help

Print help.

Alternatively, you could just use docker compose to orchestrate the containers. This is an example docker-compose.yml file:

version: "3.9"
services:
  bencher_api_compose:
    image: ghcr.io/bencherdev/bencher-api:latest
    container_name: bencher_api
    ports:
      - 61016:61016
    volumes:
      # Mount the configuration directory
      - "./services/api/etc:/etc/bencher"
      # Mount the database directory
      - "./services/api/data:/var/lib/bencher/data"
    # environment:
      # Set configuration string or file path
      # - BENCHER_CONFIG=
      # - BENCHER_CONFIG_PATH=


  bencher_console_compose:
    image: ghcr.io/bencherdev/bencher-console:latest
    container_name: bencher_console
    ports:
      - 3000:3000
    environment:
      # Set the API URL to the localhost IPv4 address
      - BENCHER_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:61016
      # This is needed for Docker-to-Docker communication when using a local `BENCHER_API_URL`
      # Do not set this when using a remote `BENCHER_API_URL`, such as https://bencher.example.com
      - INTERNAL_API_URL=http://host.docker.internal:61016
    depends_on:
      - bencher_api_compose

Host URL

When using Bencher Self-Hosted, you will need to set the --host option to the URL of your Bencher API server for most bencher CLI subcommands.

For example, if you were using the bencher run CLI subcommand with a Bencher API server at https://api.bencher.example.com then you could write something like this:

Terminal window
bencher run \
--host https://api.bencher.example.com \
--project save-walter-white-1234abcd \
--branch main \
--testbed ci-runner \
--adapter json \
bencher mock

Backups

The easiest way to backup your Bencher Self-Hosted API server is using the bencher server backup CLI subcommand. The user must be an admin on the server to use this subcommand.

bencher server backup

Backup the API server database.

Options

--host <URL>

The Bencher Self-Hosted API server URL. For example, https://api.bencher.example.com.

--token <TOKEN>

Either the --token option or the BENCHER_API_TOKEN environment variable must be set to a valid API token. If both are specified, the --token option takes precedence over the BENCHER_API_TOKEN environment variable.

--compress

Compress the database backup with gzip. This operation runs first.

--data-store <DATA_STORE>

Save the database backup to this data store. This operation runs second.

Supported data stores:

  • aws_s3: Backup to AWS S3

Use the database.data_store section of the API server configuration to setup the data store for your Bencher Self-Hosted API server.

--remove

Remove the local copy of the database backup. This operation runs third.

Disaster Recovery

In order to prevent data loss in between backups, Bencher offers a built-in disaster recovery solution. This feature requires an active Bencher Plus license.

Supported replication schemes:

  • file: Replicate to a local file path
  • sftp: Replicate over SFTP
  • s3: Replicate to any S3 compatible blob storage
  • abs: Replicate to Azure Blob Storage
  • gcs: Replicate to Google Cloud Storage

Use the plus.disaster_recovery section of the API server configuration to setup disaster recovery for your Bencher Self-Hosted API server.


Published: Mon, October 14, 2024 at 6:20:00 AM UTC