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doc/server-administration.md

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+# Server administration
+
+This page serves as a guide for Numberscope maintainers concerning the
+structure and deployment of the frontscope front end on a production server,
+currently numberscope.colorado.edu.
+
+## Organization
+
+On the server machine, there is a dedicated Numberscope user (currently
+`scope`). In the home directory of that user, there is a subdirectory `repos`
+which contains a clone of the `frontscope` repository.
+
+The nginx `numberscope.conf` file maintained and installed by the
+[backscope repository](https://github.com/numberscope/backscope) configures
+the production web server to (by default) serve files directly from the `dist`
+subdirectory of the frontscope clone in the location described by the previous
+paragraph.
+
+Hence, when administering the server, be wary that changes to the dist
+subdirectory of the frontscope clone go live instantly.
+
+## How to deploy a new version of frontscope
+
+1. Log into the numberscope server and `cd ~scope/repos/frontscope`.
+2. Execute `sudo -u scope git pull`.
+3. Execute `sudo -u scope npm install`.
+4. Execute `sudo -u scope npm run build`.
+5. Check that the numberscope front end at the primary server URL is working
+   and serving the updated version of Numberscope.