Zero-downtime Fly.io deploys (#132)
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## Summary
- Start nginx after Tailscale connects (community best practice for Tailscale sidecars)
- Switch to `bluegreen` deploy strategy — old machine serves until new one is healthy
- Replace top-level `[checks]` with `[[http_service.checks]]` — only service-level checks gate traffic routing ([confirmed by Fly.io staff](https://community.fly.io/t/clarifying-the-types-of-health-checks/20379))
- Remove sentinel file and nginx if-check (no longer needed)

Supersedes the approach in #131 — that helped (502 window dropped from ~30s to ~3s) but couldn't fully eliminate it because top-level checks don't gate routing and Fly.io's proxy sends traffic as soon as the port is reachable.

## Deployment and Testing
- [ ] Merge and `fly deploy` from `fly/` directory
- [ ] Verify deploy completes with zero 502s (watch `fly logs` and Grafana docs-apm)
- [ ] Confirm `fly checks list` shows the new service-level check passing

Reviewed-on: https://forge.ops.eblu.me/eblume/blumeops/pulls/132
This commit is contained in:
Erich Blume 2026-02-09 11:34:19 -08:00
commit 959b6842bc
4 changed files with 20 additions and 24 deletions

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@ -0,0 +1 @@
Eliminate 502 errors during Fly.io proxy deploys by starting nginx after Tailscale, switching to bluegreen deploys, and using service-level health checks for traffic gating.

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@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ primary_region = "sjc"
[build]
[deploy]
strategy = "bluegreen"
[http_service]
internal_port = 8080
force_https = true
@ -10,10 +13,9 @@ auto_stop_machines = "off"
auto_start_machines = true
min_machines_running = 1
[checks]
[checks.health]
port = 8080
type = "http"
interval = "30s"
timeout = "5s"
[[http_service.checks]]
grace_period = "15s"
interval = "10s"
method = "GET"
path = "/healthz"
timeout = "5s"

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@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ http {
max_size=200m inactive=24h;
# MagicDNS resolver using a variable in proxy_pass defers upstream DNS
# resolution to request time, letting nginx start before Tailscale connects.
# Results are cached for 30s per worker to avoid per-request DNS lookups.
# resolution to request time (not config time). Results are cached for
# 30s per worker to avoid per-request DNS lookups.
resolver 100.100.100.100 valid=30s;
resolver_timeout 5s;
@ -76,9 +76,6 @@ http {
listen 8080 default_server;
location /healthz {
if (!-f /tmp/tailscale-ready) {
return 503 "starting\n";
}
return 200 "ok\n";
}

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@ -1,26 +1,22 @@
#!/bin/sh
set -e
# Start nginx immediately so port 8080 is bound (avoids connection refused).
# Health check returns 503 until /tmp/tailscale-ready exists, so Fly.io
# keeps the old machine serving traffic until Tailscale connects.
nginx -g "daemon off;" &
NGINX_PID=$!
echo "Nginx started (waiting for Tailscale before proxying)"
# Start tailscale daemon. Fly.io runs Firecracker microVMs which support
# TUN devices natively — no need for --tun=userspace-networking.
# Connect to tailnet first — nginx needs MagicDNS for upstream resolution.
# With bluegreen deploys, the old machine serves traffic until this one is
# fully ready. Fly.io runs Firecracker microVMs that support TUN devices
# natively — no need for --tun=userspace-networking.
tailscaled --statedir=/var/lib/tailscale &
sleep 2
# Authenticate and join tailnet
tailscale up --authkey="${TS_AUTHKEY}" --hostname=flyio-proxy
# Wait for tailscale to be ready, then signal nginx health check
until tailscale status > /dev/null 2>&1; do sleep 1; done
touch /tmp/tailscale-ready
echo "Tailscale connected"
# Start nginx — MagicDNS is available, health check passes immediately.
nginx -g "daemon off;" &
NGINX_PID=$!
echo "Nginx started"
# Start Alloy for observability (logs → Loki, metrics → Prometheus)
alloy run /etc/alloy/config.alloy \
--server.http.listen-addr=127.0.0.1:12345 \