hive/backend/DEPLOYMENT_FIXES.md

WHOOSH Backend Deployment Fixes

Critical Issues Identified and Fixed

1. Database Connection Issues ✅ FIXED

Problem:

• Simple DATABASE_URL fallback to SQLite in production
• No connection pooling
• No retry logic for database connections
• Missing connection validation

Solution:

• Added PostgreSQL connection pooling with proper configuration
• Implemented database connection retry logic
• Added connection validation and health checks
• Enhanced error handling for database operations

Files Modified:

• /home/tony/AI/projects/whoosh/backend/app/core/database.py

2. FastAPI Lifecycle Management ✅ FIXED

Problem:

• Synchronous database table creation in async context
• No error handling in startup/shutdown
• No graceful handling of initialization failures

Solution:

• Added retry logic for database initialization
• Enhanced error handling in lifespan manager
• Proper cleanup on startup failures
• Graceful shutdown handling

Files Modified:

• /home/tony/AI/projects/whoosh/backend/app/main.py

3. Health Check Robustness ✅ FIXED

Problem:

• Health check could fail if coordinator was unhealthy
• No database connection testing
• Insufficient error handling

Solution:

• Enhanced health check with comprehensive component testing
• Added database connection validation
• Proper error reporting with appropriate HTTP status codes
• Component-wise health status reporting

Files Modified:

• /home/tony/AI/projects/whoosh/backend/app/main.py

4. Coordinator Initialization ✅ FIXED

Problem:

• No proper error handling during initialization
• Agent HTTP requests lacked timeout configuration
• No graceful shutdown for running tasks
• Memory leaks possible with task storage

Solution:

• Added HTTP client session with proper timeout configuration
• Enhanced error handling during initialization
• Proper task cancellation during shutdown
• Resource cleanup on errors

Files Modified:

• /home/tony/AI/projects/whoosh/backend/app/core/whoosh_coordinator.py

5. Docker Production Readiness ✅ FIXED

Problem:

• Missing environment variable defaults
• No database migration handling
• Health check reliability issues
• No proper signal handling

Solution:

• Added environment variable defaults
• Enhanced health check with longer startup period
• Added dumb-init for proper signal handling
• Production-ready configuration

Files Modified:

• /home/tony/AI/projects/whoosh/backend/Dockerfile
• /home/tony/AI/projects/whoosh/backend/.env.production

Root Cause Analysis

Primary Issues:

1. Database Connection Failures: Lack of retry logic and connection pooling
2. Race Conditions: Poor initialization order and error handling
3. Resource Management: No proper cleanup of HTTP sessions and tasks
4. Production Configuration: Missing environment variables and timeouts

Secondary Issues:

1. CORS Configuration: Limited to localhost only
2. Error Handling: Insufficient error context and logging
3. Health Checks: Not comprehensive enough for production
4. Signal Handling: No graceful shutdown support

Deployment Instructions

1. Environment Setup

# Copy production environment file
cp .env.production .env

# Update secret key and other sensitive values
nano .env

2. Database Migration

# Create migration if needed
alembic revision --autogenerate -m "Initial migration"

# Apply migrations
alembic upgrade head

3. Docker Build

# Build with production configuration
docker build -t whoosh-backend:latest .

# Test locally
docker run -p 8000:8000 --env-file .env whoosh-backend:latest

4. Health Check Verification

# Test health endpoint
curl -f http://localhost:8000/health

# Expected response should include all components as "operational"

Service Scaling Recommendations

1. Database Configuration

• Connection Pool: 10 connections with 20 max overflow
• Connection Recycling: 3600 seconds (1 hour)
• Pre-ping: Enabled for connection validation

2. Application Scaling

• Replicas: Start with 2 replicas for HA
• Workers: 1 worker per container (better isolation)
• Resources: 512MB memory, 0.5 CPU per replica

3. Load Balancing

• Health Check: /health endpoint with 30s interval
• Startup Grace: 60 seconds for initialization
• Timeout: 10 seconds for health checks

4. Monitoring

• Prometheus: Metrics available at /api/metrics
• Logging: Structured JSON logs for aggregation
• Alerts: Set up for failed health checks

Troubleshooting Guide

Backend Not Starting

1. Check database connectivity
2. Verify environment variables
3. Check coordinator initialization logs
4. Validate HTTP client connectivity

Service Scaling Issues

1. Monitor memory usage (coordinator stores tasks)
2. Check database connection pool exhaustion
3. Verify HTTP session limits
4. Review task execution timeouts

Health Check Failures

1. Database connection issues
2. Coordinator initialization failures
3. HTTP client timeout problems
4. Resource exhaustion

Production Monitoring

Key Metrics to Watch:

• Database connection pool usage
• Task execution success rate
• HTTP client connection errors
• Memory usage trends
• Response times for health checks

Log Analysis:

• Search for "initialization failed" patterns
• Monitor database connection errors
• Track coordinator shutdown messages
• Watch for HTTP timeout errors

Security Considerations

Environment Variables:

• Never commit .env files to version control
• Use secrets management for sensitive values
• Rotate database credentials regularly
• Implement proper RBAC for API access

Network Security:

• Use HTTPS in production
• Implement rate limiting
• Configure proper CORS origins
• Use network policies for pod-to-pod communication

Next Steps

1. Deploy Updated Images: Build and deploy with fixes
2. Monitor Metrics: Set up monitoring and alerting
3. Load Testing: Verify scaling behavior under load
4. Security Audit: Review security configurations
5. Documentation: Update operational runbooks

The fixes implemented address the root causes of the 1/2 replica scaling issue and should result in stable 2/2 replica deployment.