Deployment Overview of Jupyter Notebook on Server¶

Prerequisites and Basic Requirements¶

The application requires a server running Ubuntu to ensure compatibility with the installation scripts. The following system requirements and configurations must be met:

Operating System: Ubuntu
Privileges: Root or sudo access is required for package installation and service management.
Ports:
443 (External HTTPS access)
8888 (Internal application port)

FQDN of the final panel on the hostkey.in domain¶

The application is accessible via a specific subdomain template based on the server ID.

Parameter	Value
Prefix	`notebook`
Domain	`hostkey.in`
Full template	`notebook{Server_ID_from_Invapi}.hostkey.in`

File and Directory Structure¶

The deployment utilizes several specific directories for data, configuration, and proxy management:

/opt/data: Main application data directory.
/opt/data/jupyter: Python virtual environment and Jupyter workspace.
/root/.jupyter/: Jupyter configuration files.
/root/nginx/: Nginx reverse proxy configuration and Docker Compose files.
/data/nginx/user_conf.d/: Custom Nginx user configurations.
/data/nginx/nginx-certbot.env: Environment variables for the Nginx container.

Application installation process¶

The installation follows a multi-step process involving system package management and Python environment setup:

System Dependencies: The system is updated, and essential packages are installed via apt, including python3, python3-pip, jupyter, and python3-virtualenv.
User Setup: A dedicated system user named jupyter (UID 2841) is created to run the application processes securely.
Virtual Environment Creation: A Python virtual environment is initialized at /opt/data/jupyter under the jupyter user.
Python Package Installation: The following packages are installed within the virtual environment:
notebook
voila
virtualenv
jupyter-server
Configuration Generation:
A Jupyter configuration file is generated.
Security settings are applied to allow cross-origin requests (c.ServerApp.allow_origin = '*').
An authentication password is automatically generated and configured for the server.
Service Configuration: A systemd service unit is created at /usr/lib/systemd/system/jupyter-notebook.service to manage the application lifecycle.

Access Rights and Security¶

User Isolation: The core application runs under the jupyter user, while the reverse proxy handles external traffic.
Firewall: External access is restricted to port 443.
Authentication: Access to the Jupyter interface is protected by a password generated during installation.

Docker Containers and Their Deployment¶

The deployment utilizes a Docker container to manage SSL certificates and Nginx reverse proxying via Docker Compose.

Nginx Proxy Container

Image: jonasal/nginx-certbot:latest
Ports: Uses host network mode to bind directly to host ports.
Volumes:
nginx_secrets:/etc/letsencrypt: Shared volume for SSL certificates.
/data/nginx/user_conf.d:/etc/nginx/user_conf.d: Custom Nginx configuration files.
/home:/home: Access to host home directories.
Environment Variables:
[email protected] (Configured via .env file).
Restart Policy: unless-stopped

Custom Scripts and Additional Setup¶

The deployment performs several automated configuration steps:

Password Generation: An automated process executes /opt/data/jupyter/bin/jupyter notebook password to secure the instance.
Service Initialization: The systemd service is configured to start automatically on boot, pointing to the specific virtual environment and working directory (/opt/data).

Application Update Instructions¶

To update the main Jupyter Notebook application, follow these steps:

Ensure the Python virtual environment is active or use the absolute path to the pip binary.

Upgrade the core packages using pip:

/opt/data/jupyter/bin/pip install --upgrade notebook voila jupyter-server

Location of configuration files and data¶

Component	Path
Jupyter Configuration	`/root/.jupyter/jupyter_notebook_config.py`
Application Data	`/opt/data/jupyter/share/jupyter`
Nginx Configs	`/data/nginx/user_conf.d/`

Available ports for connection¶

HTTPS (External): 443
Jupyter Internal: 8888

Starting and Stopping the application¶

The application is managed via systemd.

Start the application:

sudo systemctl start jupyter-notebook

Stop the application:

sudo systemctl stop jupyter-notebook

Check status:

sudo systemctl status jupyter-notebook

Proxy Servers¶

The deployment uses an Nginx container managed by nginx-certbot. This setup handles SSL termination via Let's Encrypt and provides a secure HTTPS entry point for the Jupyter Notebook instance. The configuration is driven by files located in /data/nginx/user_conf.d/ and environment variables defined in /data/nginx/nginx-certbot.env.