Deploying RASA X on server with Docker Compose

Instructions along with the resolution of bugs that I faced

• Creating a VM on Google Cloud
• Install RASA X
• Connect your github repo
• Manually building Action Server
• Connect the Custom Action server
• Securing the server with certbot
• Confirm Action Server is runing

Install RASA X on server using Docker Compose We’ll follow the instructions here

Creating a VM on Google Cloud

Follow the Hardware and OS requirements

• E2 Medium
• Ubuntu 16
• 4gb ram and 20gb HDD

Login in the terminal

Install RASA X

curl -sSL -o install.sh https://storage.googleapis.com/rasa-x-releases/0.33.2/install.sh
sudo bash ./install.sh

Get root access

sudo -i

Startup RASA X

cd /etc/rasa
sudo docker-compose up -d

Get access and setup passwords

sudo python rasa_x_commands.py create --update admin me <PASSWORD>

• If you get error

File "rasa_x_commands.py", line 102
    command = f"delete {args.username}"

find the container name of your RASA X container

docker ps

it may look like rasa_rasa-x_1

Run the following command to enter the bash of that container, so you can execute a command inside the container

docker exec -it rasa_rasa-x_1 /bin/bash

You should get access to container bash which may look like rasa@d2833a965284 :~$

Execute the following command to create your password

python3 /app/scripts/manage_users.py create me password123 admin --update

password123 is the password in this case, you should select a stronger one.

exit the bash

Check if your password is created by opening RASA X(click on the external IP in google cloud panel) and login in using the password you just created

Connect your github repo

Follow the instructions here

Train a model using RASA X interface

Manually building Action Server

Prepare the action files.

• Create an actions folder inside /etc/rasa

mkdir actions

• Create all the action server related files in actions folder. To create a file

nano actions.py

and paste the contents of the file

Create a Dockerfile

inside /etc/rasa directory

create a file Dockerfile

nano Dockerfile

copy the following contents in it

# Extend the official Rasa SDK image
FROM rasa/rasa-sdk:2.0.0rc1
# Use subdirectory as working directory
WORKDIR /app
# Copy any additional custom requirements, if necessary (uncomment next line)
COPY actions/requirements-actions.txt ./
# Change back to root user to install dependencies
USER root
# Install extra requirements for actions code, if necessary (uncomment next line)
RUN pip install -r requirements-actions.txt
# Copy actions folder to working directory
COPY ./actions /app/actions
# By best practices, don't run the code with root user
USER 1001

Build a custom image

docker build . -t <account_username>/<repository_name>:<custom_image_tag>

• If you get error

Sending build context to Docker daemon  124.3MB
Step 1/7 : FROM rasa/rasa-sdk:2.1.0
manifest for rasa/rasa-sdk:2.1.0 not found: manifest unknown: manifest unknown

Check the rasa-sdk version for compatibility in compatibility matrix , remember we installed RASA X version 0.33.2

Make the change in Dockerfile

At the time of this doc, 2.0.0rc1 worked

once the image is created successfully , login docker hub and push the image

docker login --username <account_username> --password <account_password>
docker push <account_username>/<repository_name>:<custom_image_tag>

Connect the Custom Action server

Follow the instructions here

create a docker-compose.override.yml

version: '3.4'
services:
  app:
    image: '<account_username>/<repository_name>:<custom_image_tag>'
    volumes:
      - './actions:/app/actions'
    expose:
      - '5055'
    depends_on:
      - rasa-production

Restart the docker-compose

cd /etc/rasa
sudo docker-compose down
sudo docker-compose up -d

Securing the server with certbot

Connect you domain name to external IP first

docker-compose down
sudo certbot certonly

if it says

sudo: certbot: command not found

run

sudo snap install --classic certbot
sudo certbot certonly

Follow the instructions here

Confirm Action Server is running

Sudo docker ps

Action server is named rasa_app_1 ; check the status, it should not be restarting all the time.

If you find any of the container to be restarting you need to check logs

docker-compose logs app 
docker-compose logs rasa-x

Originally published at https://sundayposts.sundaybots.com on November 30, 2020.