Sparrow

Server Configuration

Sparrow is configured using environment variables.

Configuration variables are most often set in the sparrow-config.sh file, which much be present in the root directory of your Sparrow lab instance. If available, a sparrow-config.overrides.sh and sparrow-secrets.sh file will also be applied, in that order. These "secret" files are designed to contain lab-specific secret keys, tokens, and other values that should not be added to version control.

Here are a few of the most important variables:

• SPARROW_SECRET_KEY="very secret string": A secret key used for management of passwords. Set this in your LOCAL environment (it will be copied to the Docker runtime as needed). It is the only variable required to run a basic test application.
• The SPARROW_ENV=<development,production> environment variable defaults to production, which disable development-focused features such as live code reloading and sourcemaps for performance and security.
• SPARROW_HTTP_PORT and SPARROW_HTTPS_PORT are used to configure the ports on which Sparrow can be accessed. SPARROW_HTTP_PORT=5002 by default, but SPARROW_HTTP_PORT=80 and SPARROW_HTTPS_PORT=443 5002` are typically used to serve the application publicly.
• SPARROW_BACKEND_CONFIG="<path>": Location of .cfg files containing backend configuration. When running in Docker, these values typically do not need to be changed.
• The frontend is configured using the variables SPARROW_SITE_CONTENT and SPARROW_BASE_URL.

Configuring Sparrow for HTTPS

One of the most important environment variables has to do with running Sparrow using HTTPS transport security. Most commonly, this is done using Certbot, a free service that manages certificates. Certbot will automatically create certificates and update them on a regular basis. To set up Certbot, the following config values must be set:

• SPARROW_DOMAIN=<domain>: The domain name (including optional subdomain) of the Sparrow instance. For example, SPARROW_DOMAIN=wiscar-sparrow.geology.wisc.edu.
• CERTBOT_EMAIL=<email>: The email address associated with the certificate.

If configured, Sparrow will serve SSL on port 443. This can be adjusted with the SPARROW_HTTPS_PORT variable.