Stacher Services Update (Patreon)

Hi everyone!

This post is a bit different but is intended to be a little "behind the scenes" of some of the work I've been doing.

Obviously, Stacher is a Desktop application but there are several other micro-service applications that are running to support the infrastructure. This post is not discussing an update with the Stacher Desktop application, but rather the services and infrastructure that make developing and maintaining Stacher possible.

This is something that isn't really discussed that much and I thought you might be interested in hearing more about it. These "micro-services" are simply things like the official website (https://stacher.io), the license management portal (https://license.stacher.io/?devices), and the change log page (https://changelog.stacher.io) to name a few.

What does that mean exactly?

The official website, for example, allows you to download the latest binaries. Whenever a new software release happens, I'm not actually going onto the website and updating all the buttons and checksum information to point to the latest downloadable binaries. Rather, this is all done through a secure, automated "CI/CD" pipeline (Continuous Integration and Deployment). In other words, in addition to developing Stacher, I am continuously maintaining and managing software that runs on servers in the cloud. With this infrastructure in place, sending out updates is fairly automated and stable. Neat!

Later this week, I will be updating some of this infrastructure and services. This is fairly routine and you probably won't notice anything different... because really, nothing is updating with the main Stacher application during this upgrade. Nevertheless, it's still important work as it updates any potential cloud based security issues, resolves any internal server errors, and can even reduce server usage or bandwidth which can then save on server costs.

What exactly will be impacted?

From the outside looking in, not much really! You've likely never noticed when this updates occur.

Two things that could happen is that Stacher's Setup/Installer binaries on the official website may temporarily be unavailable. Similarly, getting or managing your license key from https://license.stacher.io/?devices may temporarily be inaccessible. In both cases, this should only be a for a period of 1 to 5 minutes. Potentially 10 minutes if a system rollback is required.

If you happen to become a member during any server outage due to updates or otherwise, you'll still be able to get your license key once the API is back online. Your premium subscription will always allow you to acquire a license key and don't hesitate to reach out if you ever have any issues with this!

Again, this is fairly routine and happens once every two or three months. I wanted to drop a few words about it to give you all a little insight into some of the "unseen work" that happens in the background to keep Stacher going.

If you want to see more posts like this, give this post a ❤️!

Thank you all for your support and helping to keep this project alive!