Create operational runbooks for common scenarios #195
Description
Task: Create operational runbooks for common scenarios (scaling, backup, recovery, troubleshooting)
Description
Create a comprehensive set of operational runbooks that provide step-by-step procedures for managing the Coolify Enterprise platform in production environments. These runbooks serve as the authoritative operational guide for system administrators, DevOps engineers, and on-call staff managing both the platform infrastructure and tenant organizations.
Operational runbooks transform tribal knowledge into documented, repeatable procedures that ensure consistent system management regardless of who is on call. In a multi-tenant enterprise platform like Coolify Enterprise, where hundreds or thousands of organizations depend on reliable service, operational excellence is non-negotiable. Runbooks reduce mean time to resolution (MTTR) during incidents, prevent operational mistakes during routine maintenance, and enable new team members to operate the platform confidently.
Why This Task is Critical:
The Coolify Enterprise transformation introduces significant architectural complexity compared to standard Coolify:
- Multi-Tenancy: Organization hierarchy, resource quotas, license enforcement
- Infrastructure Automation: Terraform-managed cloud resources across multiple providers
- Real-Time Monitoring: WebSocket-based dashboards, 30-second metric collection intervals
- Background Processing: Queue workers for deployments, cache warming, resource monitoring
- External Dependencies: Payment gateways, domain registrars, DNS providers, cloud APIs
Without comprehensive runbooks, operators face:
- Prolonged Incidents: Teams searching for solutions under pressure leads to extended downtime
- Inconsistent Operations: Different operators using different procedures produces variable outcomes
- Configuration Drift: Ad-hoc fixes accumulate without documentation, creating unstable state
- Knowledge Silos: Critical operational knowledge exists only in the minds of specific individuals
- Compliance Risks: Lack of documented procedures fails audit requirements for enterprise customers
Runbook Coverage:
This task creates runbooks for the most critical operational scenarios:
- Scaling Operations - Horizontal and vertical scaling of application servers, database clusters, queue workers, and WebSocket servers
- Backup and Restore - Database backups, configuration backups, Terraform state backups, application data backups
- Disaster Recovery - Multi-region failover, data center evacuation, complete system restoration
- Performance Troubleshooting - Slow queries, high CPU/memory, queue congestion, cache issues
- Security Incidents - Compromised credentials, unauthorized access, data leaks, API abuse
- Deployment Procedures - Zero-downtime deployments, rollback procedures, database migration strategies
- Monitoring and Alerting - Alert triage, escalation procedures, metric interpretation
- Organization Management - Tenant onboarding, license management, resource quota adjustments
- Infrastructure Provisioning - Terraform workflow recovery, cloud provider issues, networking problems
- Integration Failures - Payment gateway issues, DNS propagation delays, webhook failures
Runbook Structure:
Each runbook follows a consistent template ensuring quick comprehension under pressure:
- Overview: What the procedure accomplishes and when to use it
- Prerequisites: Required access, tools, information before starting
- Impact Assessment: Expected downtime, affected users, rollback options
- Step-by-Step Procedure: Numbered steps with exact commands and expected outputs
- Validation Steps: How to confirm the procedure succeeded
- Rollback Procedure: Steps to undo changes if something goes wrong
- Related Runbooks: Cross-references to related procedures
- Troubleshooting: Common issues and their resolutions
- Automation Notes: Opportunities for future automation
Integration with Existing Documentation:
These runbooks complement but do not duplicate existing documentation:
- Feature Documentation (Tasks 82-85): User-facing guides for using enterprise features
- API Documentation (Task 86): Developer reference for API integration
- Migration Guide (Task 87): One-time process for upgrading standard Coolify to enterprise
- Monitoring Dashboards (Task 91): Real-time observability and metrics
Runbooks are operator-focused and incident-driven, designed for use during high-pressure scenarios when systems are broken or require immediate changes. They assume the operator has system access and operational authority but may be unfamiliar with specific procedures.
Maintenance and Evolution:
Runbooks are living documents that evolve with the platform:
- Post-Incident Reviews: After each incident, update relevant runbooks with lessons learned
- Quarterly Reviews: Engineering team reviews runbooks for accuracy and completeness
- Operator Feedback: On-call staff submit improvement suggestions
- Version Control: All runbooks stored in Git, changes reviewed via pull requests
- Change Management: Major runbook changes require approval from operations lead
This task establishes the foundation for operational excellence, transforming Coolify Enterprise from a technically sophisticated platform into a reliably operated production system.
Acceptance Criteria
- Scaling runbooks created for all major components (app servers, databases, workers, WebSocket servers)
- Backup runbooks cover all critical data (PostgreSQL, configuration files, Terraform state, uploaded assets)
- Disaster recovery runbooks tested via tabletop exercises or actual DR drills
- Performance troubleshooting runbooks address top 10 most common issues
- Security incident runbooks follow industry best practices (NIST, SANS)
- Deployment runbooks align with CI/CD pipeline (Task 89)
- Monitoring runbooks integrate with alerting configuration (Task 91)
- Organization management runbooks reflect actual workflows
- Infrastructure provisioning runbooks cover all supported cloud providers
- Integration failure runbooks provide recovery steps for external dependencies
- All runbooks follow consistent template structure
- Runbooks stored in version-controlled documentation repository
- Runbooks accessible via searchable wiki or documentation portal
- Runbook validation checklist created for each procedure
- Escalation paths clearly defined for scenarios requiring additional expertise
- Runbook owner assigned for each document (responsible for accuracy)
- On-call team trained on critical runbooks (scaling, backup, disaster recovery)
- Runbook effectiveness measured via MTTR improvements
- Quarterly review process established with documented schedule
- Feedback mechanism created for operators to suggest improvements
Technical Details
File Paths
Runbook Documentation:
/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/(new directory)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/01-scaling/(scaling procedures)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/02-backup-restore/(backup and recovery)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/03-disaster-recovery/(DR procedures)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/04-troubleshooting/(debugging guides)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/05-security/(security incident response)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/06-deployment/(deployment procedures)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/07-monitoring/(alert response)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/08-organization-management/(tenant operations)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/09-infrastructure/(Terraform and cloud)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/10-integrations/(external service issues)/home/topgun/topgun/docs/operations/runbooks/templates/runbook-template.md(standard template)
Automation Scripts:
/home/topgun/topgun/scripts/operations/scale-workers.sh(queue worker scaling)/home/topgun/topgun/scripts/operations/backup-database.sh(automated backup)/home/topgun/topgun/scripts/operations/restore-database.sh(automated restore)/home/topgun/topgun/scripts/operations/validate-deployment.sh(deployment validation)/home/topgun/topgun/scripts/operations/health-check.sh(system health validation)
Configuration:
/home/topgun/topgun/config/operations.php(operational configuration)/home/topgun/topgun/.env.operations(operational environment variables)
Runbook Template Structure
File: docs/operations/runbooks/templates/runbook-template.md
# [Runbook Title]
**Last Updated:** [Date]
**Owner:** [Name/Team]
**Severity:** [Low/Medium/High/Critical]
**Estimated Time:** [Duration]
## Overview
### Purpose
[What this runbook accomplishes and when to use it]
### When to Use
- [Scenario 1]
- [Scenario 2]
- [Scenario 3]
### Expected Outcome
[What should be true after completing this runbook]
## Prerequisites
### Required Access
- [ ] SSH access to production servers
- [ ] Database credentials (read-only or read-write)
- [ ] Cloud provider console access
- [ ] Kubernetes/Docker access (if applicable)
- [ ] GitHub repository access
- [ ] Monitoring dashboard access
### Required Tools
- [ ] Tool 1 (version X.X)
- [ ] Tool 2 (version X.X)
- [ ] Tool 3 (version X.X)
### Required Information
- [ ] Information item 1
- [ ] Information item 2
- [ ] Information item 3
## Impact Assessment
### Affected Systems
- [System 1]
- [System 2]
- [System 3]
### Expected Downtime
[None / Partial / Complete - Duration]
### User Impact
[Description of impact on end users]
### Rollback Capability
[Can this be rolled back? If so, reference rollback section]
### Risk Level
[Low / Medium / High / Critical]
## Procedure
### Step 1: [Action Name]
**Description:** [What this step accomplishes]
**Commands:**
```bash
# Exact commands to run
command --with-flags argumentExpected Output:
Expected output here
Validation:
- Validation check 1
- Validation check 2
Troubleshooting:
- If [error], then [solution]
- If [problem], then [action]