Anyone self-hosting sync and FxA servers?

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Havin_it
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Joined: July 30th, 2004, 10:31 am

Anyone self-hosting sync and FxA servers?

Post by Havin_it »

Hi,

Not sure if this fits anywhere on this board, but no harm in asking I guess...

As I understand it, the old version of Sync is going to stop working from FF37 onwards (server-arbitrated, for a few people only at first).

I've been running an old Sync server for a long time now, and have had a go at setting up the new sync components but only successfully got the storage-server working so far (I think - can't test without the other bits). The FxA parts are proving a lot harder to get working, not helped by the sync devs not having much appetite to document the process for external users (that's not a dig, I get that it's low-priority).

So it looks like I need to get on top of this semi-urgently. I just wanted to know if anyone here has experience in getting the whole sync-1.5 stack up and running, or even did anyone try and give up, and if so what was the sticking-point?

Any insight would be welcome. I'm on the sync-dev list but the more effort I can show I've made already, the easier it is to ask questions in that environment. Thanks in advance!
Havin_it
Posts: 114
Joined: July 30th, 2004, 10:31 am

Re: Anyone self-hosting sync and FxA servers?

Post by Havin_it »

Hmm, not a great sign that my post is still near the top of the page despite no replies after a month :(

By way of follow-up, I went as far as I could with the fxaccounts server setup, and got tantalisingly close (I wasn't really trying that hard before) but I've hit the wall now. If anyone comes across this and is interested, my sync-dev post is here:

https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/sync ... 01122.html

Hopefully that thread will turn into a useful resource for anyone else looking to set this up (or maybe just an amusing chronicle of one man's doomed Quixotic struggle, we'll see). If anyone else is interested in this project, please make yourself known here, there or by PM. I don't know much of the technologies involved (particularly the Node ecosystem) so I'm not getting much further without some input.
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Philip Chee
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Re: Anyone self-hosting sync and FxA servers?

Post by Philip Chee »

The SeaMonkey Project is looking to host our own FxA server[1]. One of our contributors is looking into this but he's finding it heavy going.

[1] Because Mozilla won't let us use theirs.

Phil
Havin_it
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Joined: July 30th, 2004, 10:31 am

Re: Anyone self-hosting sync and FxA servers?

Post by Havin_it »

Hi Philip, sorry to hear that. I have been finding it *very* heavy going thus far, but I have gotten some help on the mailing list now and feel that I'm getting close to a working setup. What I didn't realise before is that a lot of the action is happening on the Github issue queues for the various server components; I've picked up a few more tips there than I had been previously. It's a shame those pages don't seem to show up very readily in Google searches, or I might not have gotten so despondent before I started getting somewhere.

I'm still hitting problems, but at least it's more like a new problem per day now rather than one intractable problem for days on end. When I get there I'll be sure to post a write-up here or somewhere (as long as I'm not in the booby-hatch by then).
Havin_it
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Joined: July 30th, 2004, 10:31 am

Re: Anyone self-hosting sync and FxA servers?

Post by Havin_it »

Well, it looks like I have a working server-suite :D

I have a few things I want to tidy up before I write it up (such as moving from "dev mode" to "production mode", and proxying the fxa-auth-server and fxa-content-server behind Apache if poss so they can use standard ports) but for the most part, job done :)

Philip, I'm not actually sure *where* to write this up (apart from right here, I guess) as I don't have my own blog or anything (no time to fettle one up). Do you think the SeaMonkey project would be interested?
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Philip Chee
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Re: Anyone self-hosting sync and FxA servers?

Post by Philip Chee »

Havin_it wrote:Well, it looks like I have a working server-suite :D

I have a few things I want to tidy up before I write it up (such as moving from "dev mode" to "production mode", and proxying the fxa-auth-server and fxa-content-server behind Apache if poss so they can use standard ports) but for the most part, job done :)

Philip, I'm not actually sure *where* to write this up (apart from right here, I guess) as I don't have my own blog or anything (no time to fettle one up). Do you think the SeaMonkey project would be interested?
We sure are interested. I suggest https://wiki.mozilla.org . Create an account - it's free - and then create a wiki page and then it's off to the races.

BTW I found this: https://wiki.mozilla.org/User_Services/Sync/FxA_Client_States

Phil
Havin_it
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Re: Anyone self-hosting sync and FxA servers?

Post by Havin_it »

Hi Phil and thanks; I forgot Moz have their own general wiki!

That article on client states is too funny with the whole marriage/relationship metaphor. In my current version, I think all states would be "it's complicated" :lol:
ewong
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Re: Anyone self-hosting sync and FxA servers?

Post by ewong »

Havin_it,

The SeaMonkey project is *very* interested in that. Do you have a way of posting the general requirements for these three servers?

I was working on getting a FxA server set up (and I think I got one of the three servers up...I believe the syncserver one), but
the accounts server/auth server was irritating as heck. However, I had other pressing stuff to do so I had to put this
on the backburner.

The set up for SeaMonkey will not be a public thing as it's just for the project's ability to test against its
FxA 1.5 code (which has yet to be started on... afaik).

Thanks!
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