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Getting Started Locally With Node.js

This guide walks you through setting up your local development environment using VMware GemFire, the VMware GemFire node.js client, and a Book Service example.

Install VMware GemFire for Local Development

When developing and testing your application locally, you can use VMware GemFire.

Download a .zip or .tar file.

  1. Download the .zip or .tar file from the VMWare GemFire Product Page.

  2. Unzip or expand the file.

  3. Configure the VMware GemFire environment variables:.

    macOS/Unix/Linux

        $ export GEMFIRE_HOME=/Users/MyGemFire
    $ export PATH=$GEMFIRE_HOME/bin:$PATH

    Windows

        C:> set GEMFIRE_HOME=c:\Users\MyGemFire
    C:> set PATH=%GEMFIRE_HOME%\bin;%PATH%

Check your installation

In a terminal type

gfsh version

You should see something similar to

gfsh version
1.10.0

VMware GemFire is now installed on your machine.

Setup Your Local Development Environment

This guide allows you to test that your local environment is set up correctly and demonstrates how VMware GemFire will improve the read performance of your application.

This guide uses a Book Service example that allows a user to look up books by ISBN or put new books into the service.

What You’ll Need

  • The Book Service example
  • Node.js, version 10.16.3 or above
  • The VMware GemFire Node.js client
  • VMware GemFire installed on your local machine.

1. Clone the Book Service Example

Clone the node examples from the GemFire Node Examples repository.

$ git clone https://github.com/gemfire/node-examples.git

2. Download Node.js for VMware GemFire

To run the Book Service example, you must download and install the VMware GemFire Node.js client library.

  • Go to the VMware GemFire product page.
  • In the “Releases” drop down, find and select the NodeJS-Client.
  • Click on the file icon to download the tar file (.tgz).
  • Once downloaded, copy it to your Book Service project directory. Do not untar the tar file – the npm command installs the Node.js API directly from the compressed .tgz archive.

3. Install the VMware GemFire Node.js Client

In a terminal, change your working directory to node-examples/book-service, and npm install the VMware GemFire Node.js client you downloaded above, into your project directory.

$ npm install /project/gemfire-nodejs-client-2.0.0.tgz 
$ npm update

4. Mock the TAS VCAP Services Binding

The local environment mocks the services binding that would exist for a Tanzu Application Service (TAS) environment. A TAS environment injects the services binding through a VCAP_SERVICES environment variable.

Set this environment variable:

Mac and Linux

$ export VCAP_SERVICES='{"p-cloudcache":[{"label":"p-cloudcache","provider":null,"plan":"dev-plan","name":"pcc-dev","tags":["gemfire","cloudcache","database","pivotal"],"instance_name":"pcc-dev","binding_name":null,"credentials":{"distributed_system_id":"0","gfsh_login_string":"connect --url=https://localhost:7070/gemfire/v1 --user=super-user --password=1234567 --skip-ssl-validation","locators":["localhost[10334]"],"urls":{"gfsh":"https://localhost:7070/gemfire/v1","pulse":"https://localhost:7070/pulse"},"users":[{"password":"1234567","roles":["cluster_operator"],"username":"super-user"},{"password":"1234567","roles":["developer"],"username":"app"}],"wan":{"sender_credentials":{"active":{"password":"no-password","username":"no-user"}}}},"syslog_drain_url":null,"volume_mounts":[]}]}'

Windows

C:>set VCAP_SERVICES={"p-cloudcache":[{"label":"p-cloudcache","provider":null,"plan":"dev-plan","name":"pcc-dev","tags":["gemfire","cloudcache","database","pivotal"],"instance_name":"pcc-dev","binding_name":null,"credentials":{"distributed_system_id":"0","gfsh_login_string":"connect --url=https://localhost:7070/gemfire/v1 --user=super-user --password=1234567 --skip-ssl-validation","locators":["localhost[10334]"],"urls":{"gfsh":"https://localhost:7070/gemfire/v1","pulse":"https://localhost:7070/pulse"},"users":[{"password":"1234567","roles":["cluster_operator"],"username":"super-user"},{"password":"1234567","roles":["developer"],"username":"app"}],"wan":{"sender_credentials":{"active":{"password":"no-password","username":"no-user"}}}},"syslog_drain_url":null,"volume_mounts":[]}]}

5. Start VMware GemFire on your machine

There are shell scripts in the book-service/scripts directory. The startGemFire script starts up two locators and two cache servers. The locators allow clients to find the cache servers. To simplify local development, the script also creates the single region (analogous to a table in a relational database) that the app uses.

Start the scripts in the node-examples/book-service directory

Mac and Linux

$ ./scripts/startGemFire.sh

Windows

C:>powershell .\scripts\startGemFire.ps1

6. Run the App Locally

With a current working directory of node-examples/book-service

Mac and Linux

$ node src/server.js

Windows

C:>node .\src\server.js

 

Add a Book to the BookService

To add a book to the data service, use a curl command:

Mac and Linux

$ curl -X PUT \
  'http://localhost:8080/book/put?isbn=0525565329' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "FullTitle": "The Shining",
  "ISBN": "0525565329",
  "MSRP": "9.99",
  "Publisher": "Anchor",
  "Authors": "Stephen King"
}'

Windows

C:>curl -X PUT  "http://localhost:8080/book/put?isbn=0525565329"  -H "Content-Type: application/json"  -d "{\"FullTitle\": \"The Shining\", \"ISBN\": \"0525565329\", \"MSRP\": \"9.99\", \"Publisher\": \"Anchor\", \"Authors\": \"Stephen King\"}"

 

Look Up a Book

To look up a book in the data service, use a curl command, specifying the ISBN as a key:

$ curl -X GET 'http://localhost:8080/book/get?isbn=0525565329'

 

Stop the App and Tear Down the VMware GemFire Cluster

When finished running the example locally, shut down the client and server processes.

  • In the shell running node, use control-C to stop running the app.

  • Use a script to tear down the VMware GemFire cluster. With a current working directory of node-examples/book-service

    Mac and Linux

    $ ./scripts/shutdownGemFire.sh

    Windows

    C:>powershell .\scripts\shutdownGemFire.ps1

  • Use a script to remove the directories and files containing GemFire logs created for the cluster. With a current working directory of node-examples/book-service:

    Mac and Linux

    $ ./scripts/clearGemFireData.sh

    Windows

    C:>powershell .\scripts\clearGemFire.ps1

  • Unset the VCAP_SERVICES environment variable to avoid interference with running other examples that would reference this environment variable if it continues to exist.

    Mac and Linux

    $ unset VCAP_SERVICES

    Windows

    C:>set VCAP_SERVICES=""

Congratulations! Your local environment is set up and ready to develop with.

Learn More

Now that you have successfully set up your local development environment, check out some other guides