Back at IBM ConnectED 2015 I created a small demo for IBM using the yet-to-be-released extensibility API of IBM Verse to show of third party extension of IBM Verse. Ever since IBM has been using the demo which is great. The app I wrote is running on Bluemix and I turn it on and off whenever they need it. Now with Bluemix being a Platform As A Service (PaaS) offering I pay for the resource I use and since IBM is still to own up and provider partners with a free plan or larger allowance the monthly allowance of free gigabyte hours is cherished. Simply having it run day in and day out is burning up this free allowance. What is a geek to do? Script it of couse…
Since Bluemix is controllable using the cf command line tool I wrote a small script to allow me to start and stop the app on Bluemix using a script (see below). Invoking it is as simple as doing “versedemo_ctrl.sh start” or “versedemo_ctrl.sh stop” allowing me to do this remotely.
#!/bin/sh
cf login -a https://api.ng.bluemix.net -u {username} -p {password}
cf $1 "IBM ConnectED 2015 Verse Demo Contribution"
Even better is that I’ve added it to an existing on-prem servers crontab so that it starts and stops on business days in the period of time I need it. The cronjob even attaches the log of the start/stop and forwards it to our scheduled job management console so I’m only notified if stuff goes wrong. Love it. Below is a sample crontab entry.
0 12 * 9-11 1-5 ~/versedemo_ctrl.sh start 2>&1 > ~/versedemo.log && mail -s "Verse Demo App Started"
-a ~/versedemo.log ***XXX***@intravision.dk
The above job simply starts the app Mon-Fri at 12pm (Sept-Nov) and then emails the job logs to our Job Controller service as an attachment.
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