mirror of
https://github.com/kennethreitz/twelve-factor.git
synced 2026-06-20 06:30:57 +00:00
Pedro Henrique Oliveira
cbd88292c7
* Adding .md in all factors links and source images * fixing typos
15 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
15 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
## VII. Port binding
|
|
### Export services via port binding
|
|
|
|
Web apps are sometimes executed inside a webserver container. For example, PHP apps might run as a module inside [Apache HTTPD](http://httpd.apache.org/), or Java apps might run inside [Tomcat](http://tomcat.apache.org/).
|
|
|
|
**The twelve-factor app is completely self-contained** and does not rely on runtime injection of a webserver into the execution environment to create a web-facing service. The web app **exports HTTP as a service by binding to a port**, and listening to requests coming in on that port.
|
|
|
|
In a local development environment, the developer visits a service URL like `http://localhost:5000/` to access the service exported by their app. In deployment, a routing layer handles routing requests from a public-facing hostname to the port-bound web processes.
|
|
|
|
This is typically implemented by using [dependency declaration](./dependencies.md) to add a webserver library to the app, such as [Tornado](http://www.tornadoweb.org/) for Python, [Thin](http://code.macournoyer.com/thin/) for Ruby, or [Jetty](http://www.eclipse.org/jetty/) for Java and other JVM-based languages. This happens entirely in *user space*, that is, within the app's code. The contract with the execution environment is binding to a port to serve requests.
|
|
|
|
HTTP is not the only service that can be exported by port binding. Nearly any kind of server software can be run via a process binding to a port and awaiting incoming requests. Examples include [ejabberd](http://www.ejabberd.im/) (speaking [XMPP](http://xmpp.org/)), and [Redis](http://redis.io/) (speaking the [Redis protocol](http://redis.io/topics/protocol)).
|
|
|
|
Note also that the port-binding approach means that one app can become the [backing service](./backing-services.md) for another app, by providing the URL to the backing app as a resource handle in the [config](./config.md) for the consuming app.
|