Service documentation overview

This section of the Mr. Doors project archive preserves technical service documentation, operational procedures, and system administration materials from the project's implementation and maintenance phases. Documentation reflects service-oriented architecture approaches and operational best practices from early-to-mid 2000s web application deployment.

Project background

Service architecture

Multi-tier design: Application structured with separate presentation, business logic, and data access layers enabling independent scaling and maintenance.

Service interfaces: Well-defined APIs between components allowing modular development and potential service replacement without system-wide changes.

Database backend: Relational database (likely MySQL or PostgreSQL) managing persistent data with stored procedures and database-level business logic.

Web frontend: PHP or similar dynamic server-side technology generating HTML interfaces for user interaction.

Infrastructure services: Supporting components including caching, session management, logging, and monitoring.

Deployment model

Shared hosting: Initial deployment likely on shared hosting environment before VPS and cloud platforms became accessible.

Manual deployment: File upload via FTP, manual database migrations, and configuration updates before automated deployment pipelines.

Version control: CVS or early SVN usage for code management, with manual merging and conflict resolution.

Backup procedures: Manual backup scripts, database dumps, and file archiving ensuring data protection.

Operational responsibilities

System monitoring: Manual log review, uptime checks, and performance monitoring through simple scripts and cron jobs.

Maintenance windows: Scheduled downtime for updates, backups, and system maintenance communicated to users in advance.

Incident response: On-call procedures, escalation paths, and recovery procedures for service disruptions.

Capacity planning: Monitoring resource usage and planning upgrades before limits reached.

Technical services

Application services

HTTP server: Apache web server handling incoming requests, routing to application code, and serving static assets.

PHP runtime: mod_php or FastCGI processing dynamic content and generating HTML responses.

Database server: MySQL or PostgreSQL providing data persistence, transactional consistency, and query processing.

Session management: Server-side session storage tracking user state across requests.

File storage: Uploaded content management, image processing, and document storage.

Supporting services

Email delivery: SMTP configuration for transactional emails, notifications, and user communications.

Caching layer: Memcached or file-based caching reducing database load and improving response times.

Logging system: Error logging, access logging, and application-level debugging output.

Backup service: Automated and manual backup procedures protecting against data loss.

Monitoring: Uptime checks, log analysis, and resource utilization tracking.

Operational procedures

Routine maintenance

Log rotation: Preventing disk space exhaustion by rotating and compressing historical logs.

Database optimization: Running OPTIMIZE TABLE, rebuilding indexes, and analyzing query performance.

Security updates: Applying patches to operating system, web server, PHP, and database components.

Backup verification: Periodically testing backups to ensure successful recovery possible.

Performance tuning: Adjusting cache settings, database configuration, and resource allocation based on usage patterns.

Incident procedures

Service outage response:

  1. Identify affected services and scope of impact
  2. Review recent changes potentially causing issue
  3. Check system resources (disk, memory, CPU)
  4. Examine error logs for diagnostic information
  5. Implement fix or rollback recent changes
  6. Verify service restoration
  7. Document incident and resolution

Security incident handling:

  1. Isolate affected systems to prevent further compromise
  2. Preserve evidence for forensic analysis
  3. Assess scope of compromise and data exposure
  4. Restore from clean backups if necessary
  5. Apply patches and security hardening
  6. Monitor for continued attack attempts
  7. Report incident per legal/policy requirements

Change management

Deployment process:

  1. Test changes in development environment
  2. Document changes and expected impact
  3. Schedule deployment during low-traffic period
  4. Create backup before making changes
  5. Deploy changes following documented procedure
  6. Verify successful deployment and functionality
  7. Monitor for unexpected issues post-deployment

Rollback procedures:

  1. Identify need for rollback (critical bug, performance degradation)
  2. Stop incoming traffic or put site in maintenance mode
  3. Restore previous code version
  4. Rollback database changes if necessary
  5. Clear caches and session data
  6. Restore traffic and verify service
  7. Analyze failure for future prevention

Configuration management

Service configuration

Web server settings: Virtual host configuration, module loading, security directives, and performance tuning.

PHP configuration: php.ini settings for memory limits, execution time, error reporting, and extension loading.

Database configuration: Buffer pool sizing, connection limits, query cache, and replication settings.

Application settings: Database credentials, API keys, feature flags, and environment-specific parameters.

Environment specifics

Development environment: Local or shared development server with debugging enabled and relaxed security for testing.

Staging environment: Production-like configuration for final testing before release, using anonymized production data.

Production environment: Live service configuration optimized for performance, security, and reliability.

Security hardening

File permissions: Restrictive permissions preventing unauthorized access while allowing necessary application functionality.

Database access: Limited user privileges following principle of least privilege for database operations.

Input validation: Application-level validation preventing SQL injection, XSS, and other injection attacks.

SSL/TLS: HTTPS configuration protecting data in transit, though potentially optional in early implementations.

Firewall rules: Network-level access control limiting exposure and blocking malicious traffic.

Documentation standards

Service documentation

Architecture diagrams: Visual representations of system components and their relationships.

API specifications: Interface definitions, parameter requirements, and response formats for service endpoints.

Configuration files: Example configurations with explanatory comments for various deployment scenarios.

Troubleshooting guides: Common problems, diagnostic procedures, and resolution steps.

Runbooks: Step-by-step procedures for routine tasks and incident response.

Code documentation

Inline comments: Explanations of complex logic, non-obvious decisions, and important constraints.

Function documentation: Parameter descriptions, return values, and side effects for all functions.

README files: Project overviews, setup instructions, and development guidelines.

Change logs: Record of modifications, bug fixes, and feature additions across versions.

Service monitoring

Health indicators

Uptime: Percentage of time service available and responding to requests.

Response time: Average and 95th percentile latency for request processing.

Error rate: Percentage of requests resulting in errors or failed operations.

Resource utilization: CPU, memory, disk, and network usage levels.

Database performance: Query execution times, slow query frequency, lock contention.

Alerting strategies

Critical alerts: Immediate notification for service outages, security incidents, or data loss.

Warning alerts: Notification for degraded performance, approaching resource limits, or anomalous behavior.

Informational: Routine summaries of service metrics, backup completion, and maintenance activities.

Log analysis

Error log review: Daily examination of error logs identifying recurring issues or security concerns.

Access log analysis: Traffic patterns, popular content, referrer sources, and user behavior insights.

Security log monitoring: Authentication failures, suspicious requests, and potential attack indicators.

Performance log review: Identifying slow queries, resource-intensive requests, and optimization opportunities.

Historical context

Early 2000s web operations

Limited automation: Many operational tasks performed manually before comprehensive configuration management and deployment tools.

Shared hosting constraints: Limited shell access, restricted software installation, and shared resource constraints.

Manual scaling: Vertical scaling (upgrading server resources) primary approach before horizontal scaling and load balancing became accessible.

Simple monitoring: Basic uptime checks and log review before sophisticated monitoring platforms like New Relic or DataDog.

Educational value

Operational principles

Documented practices demonstrate:

Systematic approaches: Structured procedures for deployment, monitoring, and incident response remain relevant.

Documentation importance: Clear operational documentation enables team collaboration and knowledge transfer.

Defense in depth: Multiple security layers and backup procedures protecting against various failure modes.

Continuous improvement: Learning from incidents and iteratively improving procedures and automation.

Modern evolution

Contemporary operations leverage:

Infrastructure as code: Terraform, CloudFormation, and similar tools codifying infrastructure configuration.

Container orchestration: Kubernetes and Docker Swarm automating deployment, scaling, and management.

CI/CD pipelines: Automated testing and deployment reducing manual errors and deployment friction.

Observability platforms: Comprehensive monitoring, tracing, and logging integrated across entire stack.

Cloud services: Managed databases, load balancers, and application platforms reducing operational burden.

Related documentation

Infrastructure guides (/infrastructure/): Modern infrastructure documentation building on historical operational experience.

Security practices (/security/): Current security recommendations and header configuration guidance.

Operations documentation (/operations/): Error code references and operational procedures.

Contact

For questions about operational procedures, service architecture, or related project documentation, contact via wplus.net support.

This archive preserves historical service documentation for educational purposes. Modern cloud platforms and automation tools provide significantly more sophisticated operational capabilities than documented historical approaches.