Merge branch 'ce-to-ee-2018-10-03' into 'master'

CE upstream - 2018-10-03 03:21 UTC

See merge request gitlab-org/gitlab-ee!7778

doc/ci/review_apps/index.md

-# Getting started with Review Apps
+# Review Apps
 
-> - [Introduced][ce-21971] in GitLab 8.12. Further additions were made in GitLab
->   8.13 and 8.14.
-> - Inspired by [Heroku's Review Apps][heroku-apps] which itself was inspired by
->  [Fourchette].
+> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/21971) in GitLab 8.12. Further additions were made in GitLab 8.13 and 8.14.
+> - Inspired by [Heroku's Review Apps](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/github-integration-review-apps), which itself was inspired by [Fourchette](https://github.com/rainforestapp/fourchette).
 
-The basis of Review Apps is the [dynamic environments] which allow you to create
-a new environment (dynamically) for each one of your branches.
+For a video introduction to Review Apps, see [8.14 Webcast: Review Apps & Time Tracking Beta (EE) - GitLab Release](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CteZol_7pxo).
 
-A Review App can then be visible as a link when you visit the [merge request]
-relevant to the branch. That way, you are able to see live all changes introduced
-by the merge request changes. Reviewing anything, from performance to interface
-changes, becomes much easier with a live environment and as such, Review Apps
-can make a huge impact on your development flow.
+## Overview
 
-They mostly make sense to be used with web applications, but you can use them
-any way you'd like.
+Review Apps are a collaboration tool that takes the hard work out of providing an environment to showcase product changes.
 
-## Overview
+Review Apps:
+
+- Provide an automatic live preview of changes made in a feature branch by spinning up a dynamic environment for your merge requests.
+- Allow designers and product manages to see your changes without needing to check out your branch and run your changes in a sandbox environment.
+- Are fully integrated with the [GitLab DevOps LifeCycle](../../README.md#complete-devops-with-gitlab).
+- Allow you to deploy your changes wherever you want.
+
+![Review Apps Workflow](img/continuous-delivery-review-apps.svg)
+
+Reviewing anything, from performance to interface changes, becomes much easier with a live environment and so Review Apps can make a large impact on your development flow.
 
-Simply put, a Review App is a mapping of a branch with an environment as there
-is a 1:1 relation between them.
+## What are Review Apps?
 
-Here's an example of what it looks like when viewing a merge request with a
-dynamically set environment.
+A Review App is a mapping of a branch with an [environment](../environments.md). The following is an example of a merge request with an environment set dynamically.
 
 ![Review App in merge request](img/review_apps_preview_in_mr.png)
 
-In the image above you can see that the `add-new-line` branch was successfully
-built and deployed under a dynamic environment and can be previewed with an
-also dynamically URL.
+In this example, you can see a branch was:
+
+- Successfully built.
+- Deployed under a dynamic environment that can be reached by clicking on the **View app** button.
+
+## How do Review Apps work?
+
+The basis of Review Apps in GitLab is [dynamic environments](../environments.md#dynamic-environments), which allow you to dynamically create a new environment for each branch.
+
+Access to the Review App is made available as a link on the [merge request](../../user/project/merge_requests.md) relevant to the branch. Review Apps enable you to review all changes proposed by the merge request in live environment.
 
-The details of the Review Apps implementation depend widely on your real
-technology stack and on your deployment process. The simplest case is to
-deploy a simple static HTML website, but it will not be that straightforward
-when your app is using a database for example. To make a branch be deployed
-on a temporary instance and booting up this instance with all required software
-and services automatically on the fly is not a trivial task. However, it is
-doable, especially if you use Docker, or at least a configuration management
-tool like Chef, Puppet, Ansible or Salt.
+## Use cases
 
-## Prerequisites
+Some supported use cases include the:
 
-To get a better understanding of Review Apps, you must first learn how
-environments and deployments work. The following docs will help you grasp that
-knowledge:
+- Simple case of deploying a simple static HTML website.
+- More complicated case of an application that uses a database. Deploying a branch on a temporary instance and booting up this instance with all required software and services automatically on the fly is not a trivial task. However, it is possible, especially if you use Docker or a configuration management tool like Chef, Puppet, Ansible, or Salt.
 
-1. First, learn about [environments][] and their role in the development workflow.
-1. Then make a small stop to learn about [CI variables][variables] and how they
-   can be used in your CI jobs.
-1. Next, explore the [`environment` syntax][yaml-env] as defined in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
-   This will be your primary reference when you are finally comfortable with
-   how environments work.
-1. Additionally, find out about [manual actions][] and how you can use them to
-   deploy to critical environments like production with the push of a button.
-1. And as a last step, follow the [example tutorials](#examples) which will
-   guide you step by step to set up the infrastructure and make use of
-   Review Apps.
+Review Apps usually make sense with web applications, but you can use them any way you'd like.
 
-## Configuration
+## Implementing Review Apps
 
-The configuration of Review apps depends on your technology stack and your
-infrastructure. Read the [dynamic environments] documentation to understand
-how to define and create them.
+Implementing Review Apps depends on your:
 
-## Creating and destroying Review Apps
+- Technology stack.
+- Deployment process.
 
-The creation and destruction of a Review App is defined in `.gitlab-ci.yml`
-at a job level under the `environment` keyword.
+### Prerequisite Knowledge
 
-Check the [environments] documentation how to do so.
+To get a better understanding of Review Apps, review documentation on how environments and deployments work. Before you implement your own Review Apps:
 
-## A simple workflow
+1. Learn about [environments](../environments.md) and their role in the development workflow.
+1. Learn about [CI variables](../variables/README.md) and how they can be used in your CI jobs.
+1. Explore the [`environment` syntax](../yaml/README.md#environment) as defined in `.gitlab-ci.yml`. This will become a primary reference.
+1. Additionally, find out about [manual actions](../environments.md#manual-actions) and how you can use them to deploy to critical environments like production with the push of a button.
+1. Follow the [example tutorials](#examples). These will guide you through setting up infrastructure and using Review Apps.
 
-The process of adding Review Apps in your workflow would look like:
+### Configuring dynamic environments
+
+Configuring Review Apps dynamic environments depends on your technology stack and infrastructure.
+
+For more information, see [dynamic environments](../environments.md#dynamic-environments) documentation to understand how to define and create them.
+
+### Creating and destroying Review Apps
+
+Creating and destroying Review Apps is defined in `.gitlab-ci.yml` at a job level under the `environment` keyword.
+
+For more information, see [Introduction to environments and deployments](../environments.md).
+
+### Adding Review Apps to your workflow
+
+The process of adding Review Apps in your workflow is as follows:
 
 1. Set up the infrastructure to host and deploy the Review Apps.
-1. [Install][install-runner] and [configure][conf-runner] a Runner that does
-   the deployment.
-1. Set up a job in `.gitlab-ci.yml` that uses the predefined
-   [predefined CI environment variable][variables] `${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}` to
-   create dynamic environments and restrict it to run only on branches.
-1. Optionally set a job that [manually stops][manual-env] the Review Apps.
+1. [Install](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/) and [configure](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/commands/) a Runner to do deployment.
+1. Set up a job in `.gitlab-ci.yml` that uses the predefined [predefined CI environment variable](../variables/README.md) `${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}` to create dynamic environments and restrict it to run only on branches.
+1. Optionally, set a job that [manually stops](../environments.md#stopping-an-environment) the Review Apps.
 
-From there on, you would follow the branched Git flow:
+After adding Review Apps to your workflow, you follow the branched Git flow. That is:
 
-1. Push a branch and let the Runner deploy the Review App based on the `script`
-   definition of the dynamic environment job.
-1. Wait for the Runner to build and/or deploy your web app.
-1. Click on the link that's present in the MR related to the branch and see the
-   changes live.
+1. Push a branch and let the Runner deploy the Review App based on the `script` definition of the dynamic environment job.
+1. Wait for the Runner to build and deploy your web application.
+1. Click on the link that provided in the merge request related to the branch to see the changes live.
 
 ## Limitations
 
@@ -97,27 +96,9 @@ Check the [environments limitations](../environments.md#limitations).
 
 ## Examples
 
-A list of examples used with Review Apps can be found below:
-
-- [Use with NGINX][app-nginx] - Use NGINX and the shell executor of GitLab Runner
-  to deploy a simple HTML website.
-
-And below is a soon to be added examples list:
-
-- Use with Amazon S3
-- Use on Heroku with dpl
-- Use with OpenShift/kubernetes
-
-[app-nginx]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples/review-apps-nginx
-[ce-21971]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/21971
-[dynamic environments]: ../environments.md#dynamic-environments
-[environments]: ../environments.md
-[fourchette]: https://github.com/rainforestapp/fourchette
-[heroku-apps]: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/github-integration-review-apps
-[manual actions]: ../environments.md#manual-actions
-[merge request]: ../../user/project/merge_requests.md
-[variables]: ../variables/README.md
-[yaml-env]: ../yaml/README.md#environment
-[install-runner]: https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/
-[conf-runner]: https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/commands/
-[manual-env]: ../environments.md#stopping-an-environment
+The following are example projects that use Review Apps with:
+
+- [NGINX](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples/review-apps-nginx).
+- [OpenShift](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples/review-apps-openshift).
+
+See also the video [Demo: Cloud Native Development with GitLab](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfIyQEwrocw), which includes a Review Apps example.