Description

CouchDB is an open source NoSQL database that stores your data with JSON documents, which you can access via HTTP. It allows you to index, combine, and transform your documents with JavaScript.

First steps with the Bitnami CouchDB Stack

Welcome to your new Bitnami application running on Microsoft Azure! Here are a few questions (and answers!) you might need when first starting with your application.

What credentials do I need?

You need two sets of credentials:

• The application credentials that allow you to log in to your new Bitnami application. These credentials consist of a username and password.
• The server credentials that allow you to log in to your Microsoft Azure server using an SSH client and execute commands on the server using the command line. These credentials consist of an SSH username and key.

What is the administrator username set for me to log in to the application for the first time?

Username: admin

What SSH username should I use for secure shell access to my application?

SSH username: bitnami

How to start or stop the services?

Each Bitnami stack includes a control script that lets you easily stop, start and restart services. The script is located at /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh. Call it without any service name arguments to start all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

Or use it to restart a single service, such as Apache only, by passing the service name as argument:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache

Use this script to stop all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Restart the services by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart

Obtain a list of available services and operations by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh

What is the default configuration of CouchDB?

The default access port for CouchDB's HTTP server is 5984. HTTPS is disabled and remote access is disabled by default.

• Learn how to enable SSL for HTTPS on CouchDB.
• Learn how to connect to CouchDB from a different machine.
• Learn how to connect to Fauxton, CouchDB's administration panel.

What are the default ports?

A port is an endpoint of communication in an operating system that identifies a specific process or a type of service. Bitnami stacks include several services or servers that require a port.

Remember that if you need to open some ports you can follow the instructions given in the FAQ to learn how to open the server ports for remote access.

Port 22 is the default port for SSH connections.

The CouchDB access port is 5984. This port is closed by default, you must open it to enable remote access.

How to upload files to the server with SFTP?

First, obtain your SSH credentials by following these steps:

• Browse to the Bitnami Launchpad for Microsoft Azure and sign in if required using your Bitnami account.
• Select the "Virtual Machines" menu item.
• Select your cloud server from the resulting list.

• Note the server IP address and SSH credentials on the resulting page. Your server may have been deployed using either an SSH password or an SSH key.

  

  

Although you can use any SFTP/SCP client to transfer files to your server, this guide documents FileZilla (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X), WinSCP (Windows) and Cyberduck (Mac OS X).

Using an SSH Key

Once you have your server's SSH key, choose your preferred application and follow the steps below to connect to the server using SFTP.

FileZilla

Follow these steps:

• Download and install FileZilla.
• Launch FileZilla and use the "Edit -> Settings" command to bring up FileZilla's configuration settings.

• Within the "Connection -> SFTP" section, use the "Add keyfile" command to select the private key file for the server. FileZilla will use this private key to log in to the server.

  

• Use the "File -> Site Manager -> New Site" command to bring up the FileZilla Site Manager, where you can set up a connection to your server.
• Enter your server host name and specify bitnami as the user name.

• Select "SFTP" as the protocol and "Ask for password" as the logon type.

  

• Use the "Connect" button to connect to the server and begin an SFTP session. You might need to accept the server key, by clicking "Yes" or "OK" to proceed.

You should now be logged into the /home/bitnami directory on the server. You can now transfer files by dragging and dropping them from the local server window to the remote server window.

If you have problems accessing your server, get extra information by use the "Edit -> Settings -> Debug" menu to activate FileZilla's debug log.

WinSCP

Follow these steps:

• Download and install WinSCP.
• Launch WinSCP and in the "Session" panel, select "SCP" as the file protocol.

• Enter your server host name and specify bitnami as the user name.

  

• Click the "Advanced…" button and within the "SSH -> Authentication -> Authentication parameters" section, select the private key file for the server. WinSCP will use this private key to log in to the server.

  

• From the "Session" panel, use the "Login" button to connect to the server and begin an SCP session.

You should now be logged into the /home/bitnami directory on the server. You can now transfer files by dragging and dropping them from the local server window to the remote server window.

If you need to upload files to a location where the bitnami user doesn't have write permissions, you have two options:

• Once you have configured WinSCP as described above, click the "Advanced…" button and within the "Environment -> Shell" panel, select sudo su - as your shell. This will allow you to upload files using the administrator account.

  

• Upload the files to the /home/bitnami directory as usual. Then, connect via SSH and move the files to the desired location with the sudo command, as shown below:

   $ sudo mv /home/bitnami/uploaded-file /path/to/desired/location/
  

Cyberduck

Follow these steps:

• Select the "Open Connection" command and specify "SFTP" as the connection protocol.

  

• In the connection details panel, under the "More Options" section, enable the "Use Public Key Authentication" option and specify the path to the private key file for the server.

  

• Use the "Connect" button to connect to the server and begin an SFTP session.

You should now be logged into the /home/bitnami directory on the server. You can now transfer files by dragging and dropping them from the local server window to the remote server window.

Using a Password

Once you have your server's SSH credentials, choose your preferred application and follow the steps below to connect to the server using SFTP.

FileZilla

Follow these steps:

• Download and install FileZilla.
• Launch FileZilla and use the "File -> Site Manager -> New Site" command to bring up the FileZilla Site Manager, where you can set up a connection to your server.
• Enter your server host name.

• Select "SFTP" as the protocol and "Ask for password" as the logon type. Use bitnami as the server username and the password generated during the server deployment process.

  

• Use the "Connect" button to connect to the server and begin an SFTP session. You might need to accept the server key, by clicking "Yes" or "OK" to proceed.

You should now be logged into the /home/bitnami directory on the server. You can now transfer files by dragging and dropping them from the local server window to the remote server window.

If you have problems accessing your server, get extra information by use the "Edit -> Settings -> Debug" menu to activate FileZilla's debug log.

WinSCP

Follow these steps:

• Download and install WinSCP.
• Launch WinSCP and in the "Session" panel, select "SCP" as the file protocol.

• Enter your server host name and set bitnami as the server username. Enter the corresponding password as well.

  

• From the "Session" panel, use the "Login" button to connect to the server and begin an SCP session.

You should now be logged into the /home/bitnami directory on the server. You can now transfer files by dragging and dropping them from the local server window to the remote server window.

Cyberduck

Follow these steps:

• Select the "Open Connection" command and specify "SFTP" as the connection protocol.

  

• In the connection details panel, enter the server IP address, bitnami as the username, and the password generated during the deployment process.

  

• Use the "Connect" button to connect to the server and begin an SFTP session.

You should now be logged into the /home/bitnami directory on the server. You can now transfer files by dragging and dropping them from the local server window to the remote server window.

How to create a Virtual Network peering?

To connect two instances internally you can enable a Virtual Network (VNet) peering from the Azure Portal. Depending if the instances were launched in the same or in different resource groups, there are two methods for performing a internal connection: sharing a virtual network or enabling a virtual network peering.

• Learn how to share a virtual network to join instances from the same resource group.
• Learn how to enable virtual network peering to join instances from different resource groups.

How to connect to CouchDB from a different machine?

For security reasons, the CouchDB port in this solution cannot be accessed over a public IP address. To connect to CouchDB from a different machine, you must open port 5984 for remote access. Refer to the FAQ for more information on this.

IMPORTANT: Making this application's network ports public is a significant security risk. You are strongly advised to only allow access to those ports from trusted networks. If, for development purposes, you need to access from outside of a trusted network, please do not allow access to those ports via a public IP address. Instead, use a secure channel such as a VPN or an SSH tunnel. Follow these instructions to remotely connect safely and reliably.

Once the firewall rule is in place, perform these additional steps:

• Stop your CouchDB server and edit the /opt/bitnami/couchdb/etc/local.ini file. Change the bind_address from 127.0.0.1 to 0.0.0.0:

    [chttpd]
    port = 5984
    bind_address = 0.0.0.0
    ...
  
    [httpd]
    bind_address = 0.0.0.0
    ...
  

• Restart your server for the changes to take effect.

    $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart couchdb
  

You should now be able to connect to the CouchDB server from a different machine using the server's public IP address and receive a welcome message. This is shown in the example command and output below:

$ curl http://SERVER-IP:5984/
{"couchdb":"Welcome","version":"2.1.1","features":["scheduler"],"vendor":{"name":"The Apache Software Foundation"}}

How to change the CouchDB admin password?

You can modify the CouchDB admin password with these steps:

• Stop your server.

   $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop couchdb
  

• Edit your /opt/bitnami/couchdb/etc/local.ini configuration file, editing the respective admin password to what you want, in the [admin] section. For example:

   admin = my_new_password
  

• CouchDB will take care of hashing your password, so the only thing you need is to start your server again.

   $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart couchdb
  

How to start/stop the CouchDB server?

To start the CouchDB server, access your machine and execute the following:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start couchdb

To stop the CouchDB server execute the following:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop couchdb

How to enable SSL (for HTTPS) on CouchDB?

You can enable SSL on CouchDB using these steps:

• Stop CouchDB.

   $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop couchdb
  

• Edit your /opt/bitnami/couchdb/etc/local.ini file and edit the [daemons] section so that the line activating the httpsd daemon is uncommented.

   [daemons]
   httpsd =  {couch_httpd, start_link, [https]}
  

• Within the same file, make sure your [ssl] section includes at least the following lines uncommented:

   [ssl]
   port = 6984
   cert_file = /opt/bitnami/couchdb/conf/server.crt
   key_file = /opt/bitnami/couchdb/conf/server.key
  

  The certificates Bitnami includes are self-signed so you might get a warning when trying to access your site. To avoid this warning, you should get new certificates signed by a Certificate Authority, and uncomment the following line:

   ;cacert_file = /full/path/to/cacertf
  

• Open the CouchDB HTTPS port in the server firewall. For more information, refer to the FAQ.

• Finally, start your CouchDB server again and you will be able to access CouchDB over SSL at the selected port eg. at https://SERVER-IP:6984/.

   $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart couchdb
  

How to connect to Fauxton, the CouchDB management panel?

By default, CouchDB is configured to listen on the local interface only, so an SSH tunnel is needed to access it. Use port 5984 (the default CouchDB port) for both ends of your SSH tunnel. Follow these instructions to remotely connect safely and reliably.

Once your SSH tunnel is running, you can connect to Fauxton, CouchDB's management panel, by browsing to http://127.0.0.1:LOCAL_PORT/_utils/. To log in, use the username and password obtained from the server dashboard. Remember to replace LOCAL-PORT with the local port number specified during the SSH tunnel creation.

How can I run a command in the Bitnami CouchDB Stack?

Log in to the server console as the bitnami user and run the command as usual. The required environment is automatically loaded for the bitnami user.

How to create a full backup of CouchDB?

Backup

The Bitnami CouchDB Stack is self-contained and the simplest option for performing a backup is to copy or compress the Bitnami stack installation directory. To do so in a safe manner, you will need to stop all servers, so this method may not be appropriate if you have people accessing the application continuously.

Follow these steps:

• Change to the directory in which you wish to save your backup:

    $ cd /your/directory
  

• Stop all servers:

    $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop
  

• Create a compressed file with the stack contents:

    $ sudo tar -pczvf application-backup.tar.gz /opt/bitnami
  

• Restart all servers:

    $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start
  

You should now download or transfer the application-backup.tar.gz file to a safe location.

Restore

Follow these steps:

• Change to the directory containing your backup:

    $ cd /your/directory
  

• Stop all servers:

    $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop
  

• Move the current stack to a different location:

    $ sudo mv /opt/bitnami /tmp/bitnami-backup
  

• Uncompress the backup file to the original directoryv

    $ sudo tar -pxzvf application-backup.tar.gz -C /
  

• Start all servers:

    $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start
  

If you want to create only a database backup, refer to these instructions for MySQL and PostgreSQL.

How to debug CouchDB errors?

To debug CouchDB's errors, use the log files at /opt/bitnami/couchdb/var/log/couchdb/.