TeamCity

#lang-java #self-hosting #web 

TeamCity is a build management tool by JetBrains. It is not open source and requires a license, though it offers a freemium model with up to 100 build configurations and 3 build agents. TeamCity makes it possible to attach a server to your projects in different Version Control Systems so that it runs build steps on pre-configured triggers.

Note

For this guide you should be familiar with the basic concepts of

License

All relevant legal information can be found here

Logo source: https://www.jetbrains.com/company/brand/logos/

Prerequisites

We’re using Java in the stable version 14.0.2:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ java --version
openjdk 14.0.2 2020-07-14
OpenJDK Runtime Environment 20.3 (build 14.0.2+12)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 20.3 (build 14.0.2+12, mixed mode, sharing)
[isabell@stardust ~]$

MySQL

You’ll need your MySQL credentials. Get them with my_print_defaults:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ my_print_defaults client
--default-character-set=utf8mb4
--user=isabell
--password=MySuperSecretPassword
[isabell@stardust ~]$

We will create a separate database for TeamCity:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE ${USER}_teamcity"
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Your URL needs to be setup:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace web domain list
isabell.uber.space
[isabell@stardust ~]$

You can also setup your own domain. TeamCity will run as a backend serving HTML files.

Installation

Download and Extract

First, we’re going to download TeamCity and extract it.

Download the latest version (TeamCity-Download page) of the tgz archive and extract it. Note that the download link on the page is actually a redirect. So instead of the link behind the button, use the direct link e.g.: https://download.jetbrains.com/teamcity/TeamCity-2020.1.5.tar.gz.

[isabell@stardust ~]$ wget -O teamcity.tgz https://download.jetbrains.com/teamcity/TeamCity-2020.1.5.tar.gz
[isabell@stardust ~]$ tar --gzip --extract --file=teamcity.tgz
[isabell@stardust ~]$ rm teamcity.tgz
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Start Server

We will configure two services for supervisor: One for the actual TeamCity server and one for the first build agent. You can use the following configuration file as a template but don’t forget to change the paths! Save them in ~/etc/services.d/

[program:teamcity-server]
command=bash /home/isabell/TeamCity/bin/teamcity-server.sh run
autostart=yes
autorestart=yes
startsecs=120
stopsignal=QUIT
stopasgroup=true

[program:build-agent]
command=bash /home/isabell/TeamCity/bin/buildAgent/bin/agent.sh run
autostart=yes
autorestart=yes

After creating the configuration, tell supervisord to refresh its configuration and start the service:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl reread
SERVICE: available
[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl update
SERVICE: added process group
[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl status
SERVICE                            RUNNING   pid 26020, uptime 0:03:14
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Configure Web Backend

To make the application accessible from the outside, configure a web backend:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace web backend set / --http --port <port>
Set backend for / to port <port>; please make sure something is listening!
You can always check the status of your backend using "uberspace web backend list".
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Initialize TeamCity Server

We visit the page in the browser of our choice on isabell.uber.space.

  1. Type in the data directory. You can also use the default one at /home/isabell/.BuildServer

  2. Wait for the Data Directory to be initialized

  3. For the Database select MySQL

  4. Download the JDBC Driver by clicking on the download button

  5. For the Database Settings, we enter our information:

  1. Database name: isabell_teamcity

  2. User name: isabell

  3. Database password: MySuperSecretPassword

  1. Wait for the initialization to complete. This could take a while.

  2. In the License Agreement page scroll down, tick the Accept license Agreement checkbox and uncheck the usage statistics. Click on continue.

  3. Choose a username and password and click on Create Account

  4. TeamCity is now up and running. You can configure your first build configuration under Projects

Best practices

Documentation

TeamCity has extensive documentation. Check it out under TeamCity-Docs.

Tuning

You can add extra functionality to TeamCity with plugins. Check out the TeamCity-Plugins page.

Tested with TeamCity version 1.5 Build 78938, Uberspace 7.7.9.0

Written by: Direnc <direnc99@gmail.com>