Deploying a Large App

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This topic describes constraints and recommended settings for deploying apps above 750 MB.

Deployment Considerations and Limitations

The deployment process involves uploading, staging, and starting the app. For more information about the default time limits for uploading, staging, and starting an app, see the Deployment section of the App Container Lifecycle topic.

To deploy large apps to TAS for VMs, ensure the following:

• The total size of the files to upload for your app does not exceed the maximum app file size that an admin sets in the App Developer Controls pane of the TAS for VMs tile.

• Your network connection speed is sufficient to upload your app within the 15-minute limit. The minimum recommended speed is 874 KB per second.

  Note: TAS for VMs provides an authorization token that is valid for a minimum of 20 minutes.

• You allocate enough memory for all instances of your app. Use either the -m flag with cf push or set an app memory value in your manifest.yml file.

• You allocate enough disk space for all instances of your app. Use either the -k flag with cf push or set a disk space allocation value in your manifest.yml file.

• If you use an app manifest file, manifest.yml, be sure to specify adequate values for your app for attributes such as app memory, app start timeout, and disk space allocation. For more information about using manifests, see Deploying with App Manifests.

• You push only the files that are necessary for your app. To meet this requirement, push only the directory for your app, and remove unneeded files or use the .cfignore file to specify excluded files. For more information about specifying excluded files, see the Ignore Unnecessary Files When Pushing section in the Considerations for Designing and Running an App in the Cloud topic.

• You configure Cloud Foundry Command Line Interface (cf CLI) staging, startup, and timeout settings to override settings in the manifest, as necessary.

  • CF_STAGING_TIMEOUT: Controls the maximum time that the cf CLI waits for an app to stage after Cloud Foundry successfully uploads and packages the app. Value set in minutes.
  • CF_STARTUP_TIMEOUT: Controls the maximum time that the cf CLI waits for an app to start. Value set in minutes.
  • cf push -t TIMEOUT: Controls the maximum time that Cloud Foundry allows to elapse between starting an app and the first healthy response from the app. When you use this flag, the cf CLI ignores any app start timeout value set in the manifest. Value set in seconds.

  For more information about using the cf CLI to deploy apps, see the Push section of the Getting Started with the cf CLI topic.

  Note: Changing the timeout setting for the cf CLI does not change the timeout limit for Cloud Foundry server-side jobs such as staging or starting apps. You must change server-side timeouts in the manifest. Because of the differences between the Cloud Foundry and cf CLI timeout values, your app might successfully start even though the cf CLI reports App failed. Run cf apps APP_NAME to review the actual status of your app.

Default Settings and Limitations Summary Table

This table provides summary information of constraints and default settings to consider when you deploy a large app to TAS for VMs.