Question
How to set up persistent SQLite3 file and logs file when deploying Python app to App Platform
hi guys! it is not a web framework, it is just bot that works in infinite loop and makes some requests on some API. in the course of doing work the app writes logs.txt in the root dir (where main.py is). in the case of stopping app (SystemExit, KeyboardInterrupt) my app writes a small amount of data into SQLite3 file. in the case of any unexpected Exception it is doing the same as above and exiting. SQLite file is created in the root dir. The design is that the app has to be manually runnable and should not be automatically rerun if it fails and program exits. In this case I want to run the app by myself and the app is supposed to be reading the saved data from the SQlLite file. Resume:
- SQLite file has to be preserved in case of app stopping/exiting and when I run the app again it is gonna read this db file (or I can delete this file)
- logs.txt has to be preserved in case of app stopping/exiting (I need possibility investigate logs when the app is not running or I can delete logs)
thanks a lot for your help!
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Hey Dennis 👋
I believe that we recently discussed this here:
In DigitalOcean’s App Platform, the filesystem is ephemeral, which means it doesn’t preserve files between deploys or application restarts, new deployments, and any container rebuilds. So, unfortunately, your logs and SQLite database would not persist if written to the local file system.
However, you can use other means to achieve persistence:
For logs: You can configure your application to send logs to an external log management service like Papertrail, Datadog, and Logtail:
For SQLite database: Instead of SQLite, you can use a database that supports persistence like PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB. You can host these databases on DigitalOcean’s Managed Databases, which offer automatic backups, failover, and other high availability features. If you wish to stick with SQLite, you could use an object storage service like DigitalOcean Spaces to store your SQLite file. However, you would need to manage uploading and downloading the file to Spaces when your application starts and stops, which can be a bit tricky.
An alternative option is to use a Droplet instead, that way you will be able to store both your SQLite and your logs on the Droplet without having to worry for the ephemeral storage on the App Platform:
Best,
Bobby