100% Managed Wiki deployment using Microsoft Azure App Service (Docker-based) and Azure Database for PostgreSQL Servers
In this project based on a real-world scenario, I worked as a Cloud Engineer to deploy a Wiki to the cloud, 100% web, with access for all team members. This enabled collaborative document creation, and all team members could see the latest version of the document and propose improvements, allowing the team to better organize and manage documents.
To this solution deployment, I used Azure Database for PostgreSQL Servers and Azure App Service.
All important, procedural and operational documents, such as Runbooks and Knowledge Bases (KBs), which must always be available and are constantly updated, were no longer stored locally (standalone), avoiding data inconsistencies.
Implementation:
1) Creating an Azure for PostgreSQL DB instance
Go to Azure console, search for Azure PostgresSQL Server. Click on create.
Allow access to Azure services = Yes
3) Creating a new Azure App Service (Docker type)
Image and tag: requarks/wiki:2.5.170
4) Configuring App Service:
Click on Environment variables to configure below variables.
DB_TYPE: postgres
DB_HOST: wikisqlsvr.postgres.database.azure.com
DB_PORT: 5432
DB_NAME: postgres
Postgres database name is a default name. In production, we normally have a different Database name.
DB_USER: xyz@xyz
This is the main default username we are using. In production, we create schema and use the schema here.
DB_PASS: Admin123456!
DB_SSL: true
At the end, confirm changes.
5) Restarting App Service | Opening URL | Checking logs
go to the log stream in left menu to check the logs. Open a new browser and paste the app service URL. This will trigger application to run after restart.
6) Setting up Wiki
Logging on Wiki <URL>/login
Go to Menu Admin in the Wiki <URL>/a
Updating Site Name/Logo
Conclusion and insights:
Wiki.js is an open-source, modern wiki application built on Node.js, offering features like Markdown support, a visual editor, and customizable themes. It is popular among organizations and individuals for internal documentation, public knowledge bases, and personal knowledge management. Its active development and strong community support reflect its growing popularity. Key features include multi-language support, real-time collaboration, and extensive customization.
This hands on demonstrates how easily this powerful product can be setup and used for internal documentation particularly for organizations who still use MS office for their documentation.
References
https://wiki.js.org
https://docs.requarks.io
https://docs.requarks.io/install
https://docs.requarks.io/auth/azure
https://docs.requarks.io/install/requirements
https://hub.docker.com/r/requarks/wiki/tags
