Deploying R2R on Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offers a robust and scalable environment for deploying R2R (Reason to Retrieve). This guide will walk you through the process of setting up R2R on a Google Compute Engine instance, making it accessible both locally and publicly.

Overview

Deploying R2R on GCP involves the following main steps:

1. Creating a Google Compute Engine instance
2. Installing necessary dependencies
3. Setting up R2R
4. Configuring port forwarding for local access
5. Exposing ports for public access (optional)

This guide assumes you have a Google Cloud account and the necessary permissions to create and manage Compute Engine instances.

Creating a Google Compute Engine Instance

1. Log in to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Navigate to “Compute Engine” > “VM instances”.
3. Click “Create Instance”.
4. Choose the following settings:
   • Name: Choose a name for your instance
   • Region and Zone: Select based on your location/preferences
   • Machine Configuration:
     • Series: N1
     • Machine type: n1-standard-4 (4 vCPU, 15 GB memory) or higher
   • Boot disk:
     • Operating System: Ubuntu
     • Version: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
     • Size: 500 GB
   • Firewall: Allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic
5. Click “Create” to launch the instance.

Installing Dependencies

SSH into your newly created instance using the Google Cloud Console or gcloud command:

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gcloud compute ssh --zone "your-zone" "your-instance-name"

Now, run the following commands to install the necessary R2R dependencies:

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# Update package list
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sudo apt update
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# Install Git
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sudo apt install git -y
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# Install Docker
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sudo apt-get update
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sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg
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sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
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curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
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sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
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echo \
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  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
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  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
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  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
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sudo apt-get update
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sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y
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# Add your user to the Docker group
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sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
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newgrp docker
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# Verify Docker installation
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docker run hello-world

Setting up R2R

1. Clone the R2R repository:

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git clone https://github.com/SciPhi-AI/R2R.git
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cd R2R/docker

2. Set up environment variables:

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cd env
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# Edit r2r-full.env with your preferred text editor
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nano r2r-full.env

Add the necessary environment variables:

# Choose configuration
R2R_CONFIG_NAME=full
# Add your API key(s)
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
# Optional - Add agent tool API keys if needed
# SERPER_API_KEY=your_serper_api_key_here
# FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your_firecrawl_api_key_here

3. Start the R2R services:

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cd ..
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docker compose -f compose.full.yaml --profile postgres up -d

4. Verify the health of the system:

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# Wait for services to start
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sleep 30
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# Check health
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curl http://localhost:7272/v3/health

5. Test ingesting and searching a sample document from a remote environment:

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# From your local machine
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curl -X POST "http://YOUR_INSTANCE_IP:7272/v3/documents/create-sample"
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sleep 10
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curl -X POST "http://YOUR_INSTANCE_IP:7272/v3/search" \
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  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
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  -d '{"query": "Who was aristotle?"}'

Replace YOUR_INSTANCE_IP with your Google Compute Engine instance’s external IP address.

Configuring Port Forwarding for Local Access

To access R2R from your local machine, use SSH port forwarding:

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gcloud compute ssh --zone "your-zone" "your-instance-name" -- -L 7272:localhost:7272 -L 7273:localhost:7273

This will allow you to access:

• The API at http://localhost:7272
• The dashboard at http://localhost:7273

Exposing Ports for Public Access (Optional)

To make R2R publicly accessible:

1. In the Google Cloud Console, go to “VPC network” > “Firewall”.

2. Click “Create Firewall Rule”.

3. Configure the rule:

   • Name: Allow-R2R-Ports
   • Target tags: r2r-server
   • Source IP ranges: 0.0.0.0/0 (or restrict to specific IP ranges for better security)
   • Specified protocols and ports:
     • tcp:7272 (API)
     • tcp:7273 (Dashboard)

4. Click “Create”.

5. Add the network tag to your instance:

   • Go to Compute Engine > VM instances.
   • Click on your instance name.
   • Click “Edit”.
   • Under “Network tags”, add “r2r-server”.
   • Click “Save”.

After starting your R2R application, users can access:

• The API at http://YOUR_INSTANCE_IP:7272
• The dashboard at http://YOUR_INSTANCE_IP:7273

Security Considerations

• Use HTTPS (port 443) with a valid SSL certificate for production.
• Restrict source IP addresses in the firewall rule if possible.
• Regularly update and patch your system and applications.
• Use GCP Identity and Access Management (IAM) for secure access control.
• Consider using Google Cloud Armor for additional security.
• Set up Cloud Monitoring for tracking system performance.
• Enable audit logging to track who is accessing your instance.
• Remove or disable the firewall rule when not needed for testing.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues:

1. Check Docker container status:

docker ps
docker logs <container_id>

2. Verify environment variables are correctly set in r2r-full.env.

3. Ensure ports are correctly exposed in your firewall rules.

4. Check disk space and system resources:

df -h
free -m

5. Review GCP Stackdriver logs for any system-level issues.

Conclusion

You have now successfully deployed R2R on Google Cloud Platform. The application should be accessible locally through SSH tunneling and optionally publicly through direct access to the Compute Engine instance.

For more information on configuring and using R2R, refer to the configuration documentation or join our Discord community for assistance.