Vera Deployment with Docker

Owned by HB Farris
Last updated: Oct 26, 2023 by John Berek
7 min read

Install Prerequisites

Install Docker and Docker Compose

Vera is designed to run inside Docker containers.  Use the following instructions to install Docker Engine on the installation machine.

Note:  This section can be skipped if Docker is already installed on the machine.

  1. The Docker website provides instructions for installing Docker:

    1. Docker CE (recommended for Linux installations):  https://docs.docker.com/install/

If the docker compose --version command is recognized, then Docker is correctly installed.

Install Vera

Pre-configure Storage Locations

Vera uses folder mapping (volume mounting) to create persistent storage outside of the Docker containers.  The first step of installation is to create a folder location for each storage item listed below.  Tricentis default recommendations are provided, but any storage location (drive and/or folder) may be selected.

  1. Create Storage Locations:  Use the following table as guidance to select storage locations for the Vera items listed. You can choose any location you like, or you can follow Tricentis default recommendation. NOTE: For Linux, paths are case sensitive.

Storage Item

Recommended Location

Description

Storage Item

Recommended Location

Description

MongoDB Data Storage

/var/lib/vera/data/db

This location will become the internal storage drive for the MongoDB database.

Vera Server Data Directory

/var/lib/vera

The folder containing all inputs and outputs for the Vera Server.

Vera Web Portal Data Directory

/var/lib/vera

The folder containing all inputs and outputs for the Vera Web Portal. Usually this is the same as the Vera Server Data Directory.

  1. Create Folders:  Create the following folders within the Vera Data Directory selected above.

Required Folder Name

Description

Required Folder Name

Description

Certificates

A folder for placing SSL certificates used to enable HTTPS on the Vera Server, Vera Web Portal and SSO communication.

Configs

The folder containing the Vera Web Portal configuration file.

Logs

The output directory for log files generated by Vera applications.

UserImports

A folder for placing CSV files containing user profiles to import. The Vera Server will monitor this folder for new CSV files that are dropped in. Also, the repository for previous imported CSV files and their import logs.

Mongo-Setup

A temporary folder for placing setup scripts for the MongoDB database.

Create folders (sample script)

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/vera/data/db sudo mkdir /var/lib/vera/Logs sudo mkdir /var/lib/vera/UserImports sudo mkdir /var/lib/vera/Certificates sudo mkdir /var/lib/vera/Mongo-Setup sudo mkdir /var/lib/vera/Configs

  1. Stage Vera Web Portal Configurations:  Copy to the Configs directory created in Step 2.

  2. Stage MongoDB Setup Script:  Copy to the Mongo-Setup directory created in Step 2.

  3. Stage User Import File:  If desired, copy a CSV file containing initial user definitions into the UserImports directory created in Step 2. See Import Vera users. 

    Sample User import CSV file( )

    User Name,Full Name,Email,System Roles,IdP,IdP User Name vera_admin,Default Vera Administrator,vera_admin@tricentis.com,System Administrator,Vera,vera_admin:ChangeThis1Pwd

Open TCP/IP Ports

Both the Vera Web Portal and the Vera Server (API) require the ability to receive inbound HTTP traffic.  Each component can accept traffic via HTTP, HTTPS, or both.  

  1. Select Ports:  Select an HTTP and/or HTTPS port for the Vera Web Portal and the Vera Server (API).  Default recommendations are provided, but any ports may be selected.

Container

Port Recommendation

(http / https)

Container

Port Recommendation

(http / https)

Vera Web Portal

80 / 443

Vera Server

8080 / 8443

Vera API qTest Route Action

5100 / 6100

Vera API Jira Route Action

5101 / 6101

RabbitMQ

5672 / 15672

  1. Configure the installation machine's firewall to open each selected port for incoming traffic.

Create a JWT Certificate

Vera uses JSON Web Tokens (JWT) to securely transmit information between clients and the Vera Server API. These JWTs are digitally "signed" during creation so that their integrity can be verified on subsequent calls without requiring the user to provide login information. A certificate is required to "sign" the JWT. The certificate must be in the PKCS#12 format and can be from a trusted source or a self-signed certificate. The instructions below will create a self-signed certificate in the proper format and upload it to the appropriate location.

  1. Create a Private Key for use in the certificate.

    openssl genrsa -aes256 -out private.pass.pem 2048 openssl rsa -in private.pass.pem -out key.pem

  2. Create the Self-Signing Request. Enter the information requested during the certificate creation.

  3. Generate the Self-Sign Certificate.

  4. Generate a PFX file from the certificate and private key. Provide a password for the PFX file, and make note of the password for a later use in the installation.

  5. Copy the PFX file to the Certificates directory for Vera Server.

Create or Provide a Service Provider Certificate and Private Key

Vera acts as a SAML Service Provider for Single Sign-On. This requires Vera to have a certificate available for signing SAML Requests that are sent to the SAML Identity Provider. The certificates are required for the Web Portal to start up, even if you are not using the SSO feature. The certificate and key must be in the PEM format. The simplest way to provide these is to use the certificate and key files created above when creating the JWT certificate. If needed, you can follow the instructions below to create a new certificate and key file for the Service Provider.

  1. Create a Private Key for use in the certificate.

  2. Create the Self-Signing Request. Enter the information requested during the certificate creation.

  3. Generate the Self-Sign Certificate.

  4. Copy the certificate and private key files to the Certificates directory for Vera Server.

  5. Ensure that the config.yaml file is updated with the correct filenames for the following parameters:

Config.yaml Variable

Example Value

Config.yaml Variable

Example Value

samlPrivateKeyFile

sp-privatekey.pem

samlPublicCertFile

sp-publiccert.crt

Configure Docker Orchestration (Docker Compose)

  1. Download the Vera Docker Compose file for your corresponding operating system: 

  2. Place the file in the Vera Data Directory selected previously.

  3. Open the file in a text editor.

  4. Configure Storage Volumes:  The file is pre-configured with the default recommendations for storage locations (as described above).  If any non-default storage location was selected previously, then update the Docker Compose file as necessary:

Docker Service

Configuration Item - Volume

Default Configuration

Docker Service

Configuration Item - Volume

Default Configuration

vera.mongo

MongoDB Data Storage Location

/var/lib/vera/data/db

vera.server

Vera Server Data Directory

/var/lib/vera

vera.web.portal

Vera Web Portal Data Directory

/var/lib/vera

  1. Configure Vera Server Encryption Key:  Vera Server encrypts stored user passwords. You must supply the encryption key for Vera to use to encrypt and decrypt user passwords. The encryption key is stored in the following environment variable of the docker compose file:

Docker Service

Configuration Item - Environment Variable

Default Configuration

Docker Service

Configuration Item - Environment Variable

Default Configuration

vera.server

VERA_SERVER_ENCRYPTION_KEY

<Enter an encryption key>

  1. Configure Vera Server JWT Certificate and Password: Vera Server uses JWTs to authenticate users. A certificate must be present on the server in order to validate incoming JWTs. The certificate is stored in the Certificates directory and must be in the PFX format.  A password-protected PFX certificate file should have been created during an earlier step of these instructions.  Provide the filename and password of the generated PFX file in the following environment variables of the docker compose file:

Docker Service

Configuration Item - Environment Variable

Default Configuration

Docker Service

Configuration Item - Environment Variable

Default Configuration

vera.server

VERA_SERVER_JWT_CERT_NAME

<JWT Certificate File Name, eg. jwt.pfx>

vera.server

VERA_SERVER_JWT_CERT_PASSWORD

<JWT Certificate Password>

If you use a $ character in your password, you will need to escape the character with another $. E.g. $ would be $$ in the docker-compose file. Quotes may also be needed if using other special characters.

  1. Configure Ports:  The file is pre-configured with the default recommendations for TCP/IP ports (as described above).  If any non-default port was opened previously, then update the Docker Compose file as necessary:

Docker Service

Configuration Item - Internal Port

Default External Port

Docker Service

Configuration Item - Internal Port

Default External Port

vera.server

5000

8080

vera.server

5001

8443

vera.web.portal

80

80

vera.web.portal

443

443

vera.api.qtest.routeactions

80

5100

vera.api.qtest.routeactions

443

6100

vera.api.jira.routeactions

80

5101

vera.api.jira.routeactions

443

6101

rabbitmq

5672

5672

rabbitmq

15672

15672

(NOTE:  For each modified configuration, be certain to only update the first number in each pair of mapped ports.  The second port number in each configuration is the internal port number of Docker's internal container network.)

Enable/Disable HTTPS for the Vera Web Portal

Choose whether to enable or disable support for HTTPS in the Vera Web Portal.

To Enable HTTPS for Web Portal

  1. Obtain a valid SSL certificate registered for the installation machine's domain name.

  2. Export the server's certificate as a password-protected PFX file, and store the file in the Certificates directory configured previously.

  3. Edit the docker-compose.yml file as follows:

Docker Environment Variable

Value

Docker Environment Variable

Value

VERA_WEB_HTTPS_FILE

<PFX file name>

Example: My-server.pfx

VERA_WEB_HTTPS_PASS

<PFX Password>

Example: crypticpassword

To Disable HTTPS for Web Portal

Delete the web portal's SSL port mapping configuration from the docker-compose.yml file.   (Unless previously edited, this configuration mapped port 443 to port 443 inside the vera.web.portal service.)

Enable/Disable HTTPS for the Vera Server (API)

Choose whether to enable or disable support for HTTPS in the Vera Server (API).

To Enable HTTPS for API

  1. Export the server's certificate as a password-protected PFX file, and store the file in the Certificates directory configured previously.

  2. Edit the docker-compose.yml file as follows:

Docker Environment Variable

Value

Docker Environment Variable

Value

ASPNETCORE_Kestrel__Certificates__Default__Path

<PFX file name>

example: My-server.pfx

ASPNETCORE_Kestrel__Certificates__Default__Password

<PFX Password>

Example: crypticpassword

To Disable HTTPS for API

Edit the docker-compose.yml file by changing the following configurations;

  1. Delete the server's SSL port mapping configuration.   (Unless previously edited, this configuration mapped port 8443 to port 5001 inside the vera.server service.)

  2. Delete the ASPNETCORE_Kestrel__Certificates__Default__Path environment variable configuration.

  3. Delete the ASPNETCORE_Kestrel__Certificates__Default__Password environment variable configuration.

  4. Edit the ASPNETCORE_URLS environment variable configuration as follows:

    1. Old Value:https://+:5001;http://+:5000

    2. New Value: http://+:5000

Configure a MongoDB Container

  1. Download the MongoDB Docker Compose Setup file:  

  2. Place the file in the Vera Server Data Directory selected previously.  (NOTE:  It is important that the setup-mongo.yaml file be located in the same directory as the docker-compose.yml file.)

  3. Navigate to the Vera Server Data Directory.

  4. Execute the following command:  docker compose -f ./setup-mongo.yaml up

    1. If you get the error: "Couldn't connect to Docker deamon - is it running?"

    2. Log out of the server, log back in, and start Docker with sudo service docker start

  5. Wait for MongoDB to download and extract, and for the script to complete.  When completed, the user will see a message instructing them to press Ctrl+C to exit.

  6. Use Ctrl + C to exit the script and to stop the MongoDB container.

Download/Launch the Vera Containers

  1. Navigate to the Vera Server Data Directory.

  2. Execute the following commands:

    1. docker login veraserver20190209075900.azurecr.io -u fc12bdd5-6753-40b3-a4da-32bc5d451b39 -p bhfV1g0RhN1O~xS-R-Osv67~HO.zeKMbHp

    2. docker-compose up -d

  3. Wait for the MongoDB, Vera Server, and Vera Web Portal services to start.

  4. Verify that you can access the Vera Web Portal at the expected port.