View source for CloudServices/Roadmaps/SimplePush-Server

<h1><i>SimplePush - Server</i></h1>
==Overview==
A server for the SimplePush Notification alert system. See https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI/SimplePush for a brief introduction.

==Project Contacts==
* ''Principal Point of Contact'' - Doug Turner <i>dougt@mozilla</i>
* ''IRC'' - #push
* ''Group Email'' - https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-simplepush

==Goals==
It's quite easy for remote devices to connect back to a server, but it's difficult for the server to connect back to the remote devices. This is even more true with mobile devices. Maintaining a lot of individual port connections (even if they're just polling) can lead to very short battery lives. 

Simplepush attempts to address this by having a single port connection maintained back to a central server. Applications register a callback with SimplePush, which returns a URL that can be passed to the remote server. As interesting things happen, the remote server can check to see if there's a live connection to the App, and if not, can use the URL to wake the remote app. 

SimplePush is based off of [http://research.google.com/pubs/pub37474.html Thialfi]. This system manages version numbers for assigned channels. In short: A client checks to see if it's version matches what's on the push server. If so, do nothing, if not, go fetch from the app server.

This system provides a low cost, scalable, system to manage these version lookups.

==Use Cases==
See use cases specified under: 
https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI/SimplePush#Use_Cases


<!-- http://www.michaelpiatek.com/papers/thialfi-sosp11.pdf -->

==Tracking Bug==
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=878178

==Get Involved==
<i>Call to action for folks who want to help.</i>

Please drop on to irc.mozilla.org #push, or email:dougt@mozilla.com

=Design=
==Points of Contact==
Engineer - JR Conlin <i>jrconlin@mozilla</i>

==API Reference/Documentation==
See [https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI/SimplePush#Server_API|Server API] documentation
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==Platform Requirements==
The system has been designed and tested for Linux using both Ubuntu Precise and AWS flavors.

==Libraries Required==

The [https://github.com/mozilla-services/pushgo pushgo] system currently is based on Go. It is strongly recommended at this time to use the latest Go Tip source, or at the very least Go 1.1.

The [https://github.com/mozilla-services/simplepush_test simplepush_test] module testing unit uses python 2.7 and requires VirtualEnv to be properly installed. This module is designed to be a platform agnostic method to test the simplepush server for operations and compliance. 

All other dependencies are brought in by the respective installers.

==Code Repository==
https://github.com/jrconlin/pushgo

==Release Schedule==
The Code Release schedule has not yet been finalized and is thus "ad hoc"

=QA=
==Points of Contact==
Services QA
Engineer - <i>Edwin Wong</i> <i>edwong@mozilla.com</i>

==Test Framework==
A simple module test framework is provided in the ./mod_test directory. This tests the active server by 
* connecting as a websocket, 
* issuing a "hello" as UAID "test", 
* registering a "test1" ChannelID, 
* Sending a PUT request to the returned endpoint URL
* Monitoring the websocket for an update for the "test1" ChannelID
* Unregistering the "test1" ChannelID
* Tearing down the websocket connection

A module test approach was preferred since unit tests would require too much mock work to provide meaningful tests.

This framework should be extended to include negative tests.

=Security and Privacy=
Refer to https://wiki.mozilla.org/Services/Roadmaps/SimplePush-Server/SecurityReview

Refer to https://wiki.mozilla.org/Services/Roadmaps/SimplePush-Server/SecCodeReview

==Points of Contact==
JR Conlin <jrconlin@mozilla.com>

==Review Status==
''Bugzilla Tracking #'' -
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=831816

see https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Reviews

==Issues and Resolutions==

=Operations=
Tracking: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=853214
==Points of Contact==
bwong@
oremj@

==Deployment Architecture==
''Bugzilla Tracking # '' -
==Escalation Paths==
==Lifespan Support Plans==

=Logging and Metrics=
==Points of Contact==
==Tracking Element Definitions==
==Data Retention Plans==
==Dashboard URL==
=Customer Support=
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==Review Meeting==