Instructions on deploying to Vespa Cloud Prod

[neo-anderson]

It seems like the process for deploying to Prod is different from dev deployments. Prod deployment page asks for 2 zip files. I downloaded the application zip file from Vespa Cloud, but I see that it's possible to do this with to_files call. However, I'm not sure how to generate the test package. Please help me understand the process.

[thigm85]

pyvespa allows only deployment to dev. pyvespa was built primarily to allow data scientists to experiment more quickly. It was not made for production use.

[neo-anderson]

Understood. What is the right way to convert the experiment into a production app? Currently, I have a sample app in dev that I'd like to deploy to prod. I generated the application package but prod deployment requires a test package as well. Do I have to manually create json files specifying the tests to run and then do vespa prod submit ?

[thigm85]

@jobergum @bratseth ☝️

[kkraune]

Hi, I'll get back to you shortly on this

[kkraune]

Hi again! The process to go from a pyvespa app to Vespa Cloud production is not as smooth as it should be, so many thanks for submitting this! I have reproduced/found the following problems:

• The Vespa Cloud console does not allow uploading the application zip only (as you noticed) - I have created a ticket for the console to look into that
• If there were test files in the pyvespa project, it would not generate the test zip
• Documentation for this process in pyvespa is weak/missing

I will take a step back and look into how this process should be, document it and follow up on bug fixes. This will take a little time, I hope you are able to work around using the Vespa Cloud documentation to deploy application packages

[neo-anderson]

Thanks for looking into this.

1. It's not just the console. vespa prod submit CLI command didn't work until I added a test package.
2. What would test files in a pyvespa project look like?
3. It would be great if you could include a simple test in the documentation to demonstrate the process. pyvespa generated or otherwise.

I am trying to find a work around. I'm not sure how to create a simple test to pass the checks and deploy the app to prod. Currently, I have this under tests/system-tests.

{
    "name": "Very simple test",
    "comment": "Just want to deploy",
    "steps": [
        {
            "name": "query for foo",
            "request": {
                "parameters": {
                    "yql": "select * from sources * where True"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

[kkraune]

Hi, sorry for the trouble! I think there was a code change on Vespa Cloud today for this, I am not sure if it is fully rolled out yet - you can please let me know tomorrow if the CLI still fails after testing again then.

[kkraune]

@mpolden does the vespa CLI require a test package for prod deployment?

[mpolden]

CLI itself shouldn't require a test package, but maybe the controller API does.

[neo-anderson]

Without the tests folder, this is what I get:

> vespa prod submit
Warning: We recommend doing this only from a CD job
Hint: See https://cloud.vespa.ai/en/getting-to-production
Error: could not submit application for deployment: '' should be an application package zip or dir, but does not exist

After I added a tests/system-test and a test file:

Warning: We recommend doing this only from a CD job
Hint: See https://cloud.vespa.ai/en/getting-to-production
Success: Submitted . for deployment
See https://console.vespa-cloud.com/tenant/dummycorp/application/myapp/prod/deployment for deployment progress

[mpolden]

I created https://github.com/vespa-engine/vespa/issues/24907 to track this issue wrt. to Vespa CLI.

[thomasht86]

This is now available (though still experimental.) https://pyvespa.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference-api.html#vespa.deployment.VespaCloud.deploy_to_prod