How to Simulate Laravel and Vue.js Production Deployment Locally?

Introduction

If you're developing a web application using Laravel (version 11) and Vue.js (version 3), it’s crucial to ensure that your application performs optimally before the actual deployment. This article will guide you through the steps to simulate a production deployment locally, allowing you to test your compiled assets, configuration settings, and the overall performance of your app in a real-world-like environment. By serving compiled frontend assets with Vite and running Laravel in production mode, you’ll gain insight into any potential issues that could arise when going live.

Why Simulate Production Environment?

Simulating a production environment locally is essential for several reasons:

1. Performance Testing: Examine how your application performs under typical user loads.
2. Realistic Configurations: Ensure that your application behaves as expected with production-specific configuration settings.
3. Error Detection: Identify potential issues and bugs before they affect users in the live environment.

By preparing your application in this way, you can greatly reduce the risk of facing unexpected problems post-launch.

Step 1: Prepare Your Laravel Application for Production

To run Laravel in production mode, you will need to make certain changes to your configuration:

Update Environment File

First, set your environment configuration within the .env file to production settings:

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
CACHE_DRIVER=file
SESSION_DRIVER=file
QUEUE_CONNECTION=sync

These settings will disable debug mode and enable file caching, which mimics a production environment.

Clear Laravel Cache

Next, clear any existing cache:

php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

This ensures your application uses the latest configuration settings without any legacy cache credentials.

Step 2: Serve Compiled Frontend Assets with Vite

If you are using Vite for your frontend assets in Vue.js, you’ll need to compile these assets for production:

Install Dependencies

Make sure you have Vite installed and configured in your project. If not yet set up, execute the following commands:

npm install

Build Production Assets

After installation, build your production assets using the npm run build command. This will compile your Vue components and assets for production:

npm run build

This command outputs the compiled assets into the dist folder.

Step 3: Use a Local Web Server Instead of Artisan

While php artisan serve is convenient for development, it’s not optimized for production. Instead, use a local server like Nginx or Apache. Here’s how to set up a simple Nginx server:

Install Nginx

If Nginx isn’t installed on your machine, install it using your package manager. For example:

sudo apt install nginx

Configure Nginx

Create a new configuration file for your Laravel project. Edit the Nginx configuration to point to your Laravel public directory:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your_local_domain; # change this to your domain

    root /path_to_your_laravel_project/public;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.x-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Replace /path_to_your_laravel_project and your_local_domain accordingly. After adding this configuration, restart Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 4: Run Your Application

Once your Laravel application is configured to run in production and your assets are compiled:

• Navigate to http://your_local_domain
• You should see your application running in production mode, complete with compiled Vue.js assets.

Testing and Performance Check

Once set up, it’s essential to test how your application behaves in this environment. You can use tools such as:

• Lighthouse: Integrated into Chrome DevTools to measure performance metrics.
• Apache Benchmark (ab): To simulate user requests and see how your server responds under load:

ab -n 100 -c 10 http://your_local_domain/

This command simulates 100 requests to your application with a concurrency of 10.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Can I use Laravel Sail to simulate production?

Yes, Laravel Sail is a great option if you're looking to use docker for local development. You can configure Docker to mimic a production environment.

2. What if my Vue.js assets do not load?

Ensure that the paths to your CSS and JS files in the of your layout are correct. If in doubt, check your vite.config.js for the output directory.

3. How do I handle errors in production?

Set APP_DEBUG to false and utilize Laravel’s logging capabilities to log errors into your storage/logs/laravel.log file for easier debugging.

Conclusion

In this guide, we walked through the steps to simulate a production-like environment for a Laravel and Vue.js application. By serving compiled frontend assets with Vite and adjusting Laravel to production settings, you ensure that your application is ready for the audience it deserves. Testing performance, configuration, and user experience locally is crucial for a successful deployment. Don’t skip this important step before going live!