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Azure LightRAG Migration — Complete Runbook

Azure LightRAG Migration — Complete Runbook

Domain note (2026-05-17): This doc was written when hostnames were lightrag.basicconsulting.no and ollama.basicconsulting.no. Both have since migrated to lightrag.alai.no and ollama.alai.no. Historical command examples below retain original hostnames for accuracy; use alai.no equivalents in live ops.

Status: COMPLETED 2026-04-18
Team Lead: Kelsey Hightower (FlowForge)
Architect: Petter Graff (CodeCraft)
Data Lead: Martin Kleppmann (CodeCraft)
Validator: Angie Jones (Proveo)
Documentation: Skillforge

Operational Update — 2026-05-20

MC #101607 repaired a query-path regression after Azure LightRAG health was green but /query returned HTTP 500 because LLM_MODEL=qwen3:8b-q8_0 was not available behind the Ollama tunnel. Azure /home/alai-admin/lightrag/.env now uses LLM_MODEL=llama3.1:8b, and the lightrag container was force-recreated without deleting volumes. Direct Azure endpoint http://20.240.61.67:9621 verified: /health healthy and /query HTTP 200. Local Anvil/Pi mock config currently uses the Azure direct URL as lightrag.base_url.

MC #101611 added client-side Cloudflare Access service-token support for the LightRAG wrapper and key consumers. When lightrag.base_url=https://lightrag.alai.no, provide LIGHTRAG_CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_ID and LIGHTRAG_CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_SECRET (or generic CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_ID / CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_SECRET). Do not commit secrets. Do not switch canonical lightrag.base_url from Azure direct to the public URL until a real service token validates /health and /query through Cloudflare Access.

Evidence: /tmp/verify-101607/SUMMARY.md, /tmp/verify-101609/SUMMARY.md, /tmp/verify-101611/SUMMARY.md.

Executive Summary

Why migrated: Docker Desktop failed 3 times on 2026-04-18, causing LightRAG outages impacting all ALAI knowledge operations (discover.js, autocoder.js, retrieval-orchestrator.js). Local dependency became unacceptable single point of failure.

What changed:

  • LightRAG + Neo4j moved from Mac Studio Docker Desktop → Azure VM vm-alai-lightrag (swedencentral)
  • Ollama remains on Mac Studio but exposed via Cloudflare tunnel with Zero Trust IP whitelist
  • 8 consumer files updated to use https://lightrag.basicconsulting.no instead of http://localhost:9621
  • Data migrated: 497MB snapshot from Azure Blob backup 20260418-085317 (zero data loss)

Result:

  • ✅ Docker Desktop crashes no longer affect LightRAG availability
  • ✅ Query latency acceptable: p50 ~2-3s vs ~1s local (30-60ms tunnel overhead + network)
  • ✅ Rollback capability preserved: 5-15 min return to local if needed
  • ✅ Azure cost: ~$30/month (B2s_v2 VM), pulled from credits

Architecture Diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant Consumer as Mac Studio Consumer<br/>(discover.js, autocoder.js, etc.)
    participant CF1 as Cloudflare<br/>lightrag.basicconsulting.no
    participant Tunnel1 as Mac Studio<br/>cloudflared tunnel
    participant VM as Azure VM<br/>20.240.61.67:9621<br/>LightRAG container
    participant CF2 as Cloudflare<br/>ollama.basicconsulting.no
    participant Tunnel2 as Mac Studio<br/>cloudflared tunnel
    participant Ollama as FORGE<br/>10.0.0.2:11434<br/>Ollama service

    Consumer->>CF1: HTTPS query request
    CF1->>Tunnel1: Route via tunnel
    Tunnel1->>VM: Forward to Azure VM:9621
    VM->>CF2: HTTPS request for LLM inference
    CF2->>Tunnel2: Route via tunnel (Zero Trust IP check)
    Tunnel2->>Ollama: Forward to FORGE:11434
    Ollama-->>Tunnel2: Inference response
    Tunnel2-->>CF2: Return
    CF2-->>VM: LLM result
    VM->>VM: Build knowledge graph (Neo4j)
    VM-->>Tunnel1: Query response
    Tunnel1-->>CF1: Return
    CF1-->>Consumer: HTTPS response

Key insight: Cloud LightRAG talks back to on-prem Ollama via second tunnel. Both services behind Cloudflare Zero Trust.

Resources Created

Azure Resource Group

  • Name: rg-alai-lightrag
  • Location: swedencentral
  • Purpose: Dedicated to LightRAG stack

Virtual Machine

  • Name: vm-alai-lightrag
  • Size: Standard_B2s_v2 (2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, Intel x86_64)
  • OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
  • Public IP: 20.240.61.67 (static)
  • OS Disk: 30GB Premium SSD
  • Data Disk: Not used (Docker volumes on OS disk sufficient for now)
  • SSH: ssh -i ~/.ssh/azure_alai [email protected]
  • Docker: 29.4.0
  • Docker Compose: 2.30.3

Network Security Group (NSG)

Name: vm-alai-lightragNSG

Rule Name Priority Direction Port Source Purpose
default-allow-ssh 1000 Inbound 22 46.46.251.40/32 SSH from Mac Studio ISP
allow-lightrag-macstudio 100 Inbound 9621 46.46.251.40/32 Direct access (backup)
allow-cloudflare-lightrag 110 Inbound 9621 Cloudflare IP ranges Tunnel ingress

Important: Mac Studio ISP IP (46.46.251.40) is residential and may rotate. When rotation happens, SSH and direct API access will fail. Update NSG rules accordingly (see Troubleshooting).

Cloudflare DNS Records

  • lightrag.basicconsulting.no → CNAME to 3315a609-7934-45c5-ad0c-56d86d16374d.cfargotunnel.com
    • Tunnel config: service: http://20.240.61.67:9621
    • Routes external consumers to Azure VM via Mac Studio tunnel (relay)
  • ollama.basicconsulting.no → CNAME to 3315a609-7934-45c5-ad0c-56d86d16374d.cfargotunnel.com
    • Tunnel config: service: http://10.0.0.2:11434
    • Routes Azure VM back to FORGE Ollama via Mac Studio tunnel
    • Zero Trust policy: IP whitelist includes Azure VM egress IP + Mac Studio

Data Migration

Source

  • Azure Blob Storage: plockfrontstaging/lightrag-backup/20260418-085317/
  • Size: 497MB compressed (4 tarballs + manifest + README)
  • Volumes:
    • lightrag-data.tar.gz (312MB) — KV store + inputs
    • lightrag-kg.tar.gz — Knowledge graph files
    • lightrag-cache.tar.gz — LLM response cache
    • lightrag-neo4j-data.tar.gz (169MB) — Neo4j graph entities + relations

Restore Process

  1. Download from Azure Blob to VM /tmp/restore/
  2. shasum -a 256 -c MANIFEST.sha256 — verified all 4 tarballs
  3. Created 4 Docker volumes
  4. Extracted each tarball into its volume using Alpine container
  5. Started LightRAG + Neo4j containers
  6. Verified entity count in Neo4j matched pre-migration snapshot

Data loss: ZERO. Snapshot taken immediately before migration.

Consumer Files Cut Over

8 files updated from http://localhost:9621 → https://lightrag.basicconsulting.no:

File Purpose
~/system/tools/discover.js Universal search (tools, agents, docs, RAG)
~/system/tools/lightrag.js LightRAG client wrapper
~/system/tools/autocoder.js Code generation with RAG context
~/system/tools/lightrag-bulk-upload.js Batch document ingestion
~/system/tools/lightrag-migrate.js Migration utility
~/system/tools/lightrag-outbox-ingest.js Outbox processor
~/system/tools/retrieval-orchestrator.js Multi-source retrieval coordinator
~/system/tools/system-regression.sh Health check suite

Pre-cutover backups: Not created (files tracked in Git, easy revert via git restore).

Operational Procedures

Daily Health Check

# From Mac Studio
curl https://lightrag.basicconsulting.no/health

# Expected response:
# {"status":"healthy","working_directory":"/app/data", ...}

SSH to VM

ssh -i ~/.ssh/azure_alai [email protected]

Docker Container Management

# On Azure VM
cd ~/lightrag
docker compose ps              # Check status
docker compose logs -f         # Tail logs
docker compose restart         # Restart services
docker compose down && docker compose up -d  # Full restart

Health Check from VM (tests Ollama tunnel)

# On Azure VM
curl -s https://ollama.basicconsulting.no/api/tags | jq '.models | length'
# Should return model count (e.g., 12)

Azure Cost Check

# From Mac Studio
az consumption usage list --start-date $(date -u -v-7d +%Y-%m-%d) --end-date $(date -u +%Y-%m-%d) -o table

Stop LightRAG (for maintenance)

# On Azure VM
cd ~/lightrag
docker compose stop
# Restart after maintenance
docker compose start

Rollback Procedure — CRITICAL

When to rollback:

  • Azure VM becomes unstable or unresponsive for >30 min
  • Tunnel failures persist despite troubleshooting
  • Cost overrun detected
  • Any catastrophic issue requiring immediate local restore

Expected rollback time: 5-15 minutes
Data loss risk: ZERO (local volumes preserved 7 days post-cutover)

Step 1: Revert Consumer URLs

# On Mac Studio
cd ~/system/tools
for file in discover.js lightrag.js autocoder.js lightrag-bulk-upload.js \
            lightrag-migrate.js lightrag-outbox-ingest.js \
            retrieval-orchestrator.js system-regression.sh; do
  sed -i '' 's|https://lightrag.basicconsulting.no|http://localhost:9621|g' "$file"
done

# Verify
grep -l "localhost:9621" *.js *.sh
# Should list all 8 files

Step 2: Restart Local Docker LightRAG

cd ~/system/docker/lightrag
docker compose up -d

# Wait for healthy status (30-60s)
docker compose ps

Step 3: Verify Local Service

curl http://localhost:9621/health
# Expected: {"status":"healthy", ...}

# Run regression suite
bash ~/system/tools/system-regression.sh
# LightRAG checks should PASS

Step 4: Deprovision Azure VM (optional, when convenient)

az group delete --name rg-alai-lightrag --yes --no-wait
# Deletes VM, NSG, disks, public IP
# Cloudflare DNS records remain (harmless)

Post-rollback actions:

  1. Update ~/system/docs/runbooks/lightrag-backup.md to revert to local backup flow
  2. Notify Alem in Slack #ops-alai
  3. Create MC task for post-mortem

Troubleshooting

Issue: "model not found" errors in LightRAG logs

Cause: Cloudflare tunnel ollama.basicconsulting.no routing to wrong backend.

Diagnosis:

# On Azure VM
curl -s https://ollama.basicconsulting.no/api/tags | jq '.models[].name'
# Should list qwen2.5-coder:32b-instruct-q8_0, bge-m3:latest, etc.

Fix:

  1. Check Mac Studio tunnel config: cat ~/.cloudflared/config.yml | grep -A2 ollama
  2. Should be service: http://10.0.0.2:11434 (FORGE), NOT http://localhost:11434 (ANVIL)
  3. If wrong: edit config, restart tunnel: launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.john.cloudflared

Issue: SSH connection timeout

Cause: Mac Studio ISP rotated IP; NSG rule default-allow-ssh still has old IP (46.46.251.40/32).

Diagnosis:

# On Mac Studio
curl https://ifconfig.co
# Compare to NSG rule source IP
az network nsg rule show -g rg-alai-lightrag --nsg-name vm-alai-lightragNSG -n default-allow-ssh --query "sourceAddressPrefix"

Fix:

NEW_IP=$(curl -s https://ifconfig.co)
az network nsg rule update \
  -g rg-alai-lightrag \
  --nsg-name vm-alai-lightragNSG \
  -n default-allow-ssh \
  --source-address-prefixes "${NEW_IP}/32"

# Verify
ssh -i ~/.ssh/azure_alai [email protected]

Note: Use ifconfig.co or icanhazip.com, NOT ifconfig.me (returns CDN IP on some networks).

Issue: "connection refused" from consumer scripts

Cause: Cloudflare tunnel down or misconfigured.

Diagnosis:

# From Mac Studio
curl https://lightrag.basicconsulting.no/health
# If timeout/connection refused, tunnel is down

# Check tunnel process
ps aux | grep cloudflared
# Should show cloudflared running with config ~/.cloudflared/config.yml

# Check tunnel logs
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/cloudflared/cloudflared.log

Fix:

# Restart tunnel
launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.john.cloudflared

# Wait 10-15s, retry
curl https://lightrag.basicconsulting.no/health

Issue: Slow query responses (>10s p95)

Cause 1: Network path issue (Mac Studio → Cloudflare → Azure → Cloudflare → Mac Studio).

Diagnosis:

# On Azure VM
time curl -s https://ollama.basicconsulting.no/api/tags > /dev/null
# Should be <100ms

# From Mac Studio
time curl -s https://lightrag.basicconsulting.no/health > /dev/null
# Should be <200ms

Cause 2: Ollama FORGE overloaded (other tasks using models).

Diagnosis:

# On Mac Studio
curl http://10.0.0.2:11434/api/ps
# Check running models

Fix: Identify and throttle/stop competing workloads on FORGE.

Issue: Neo4j "unable to allocate memory"

Cause: B2s_v2 has 8GB RAM; Neo4j + LightRAG + OS overhead can approach limit.

Diagnosis:

# On Azure VM
docker stats --no-stream
# Check memory usage percentages

free -h
# Check system memory

Fix (short-term):

# Restart containers to clear caches
cd ~/lightrag
docker compose restart

Fix (long-term): Upgrade to Standard_B2s_v2 → Standard_B4ms (4 vCPU, 16GB RAM, ~$60/month).

Cross-References

  • Ollama Tunnel: ollama-cloudflare-tunnel.md — tunnel config, Zero Trust policy, failure modes
  • Backup Flow: lightrag-azure-backup.md — updated for cloud-resident LightRAG
  • Migration Plan: ~/system/specs/lightrag-azure-migration-plan.md — full task breakdown (14 tasks, 5 phases)

Validation Evidence

Completed by: Angie Jones (Proveo), 2026-04-18

  • ✅ Full round-trip: discover.js "lightrag" returns hits from cloud graph
  • ✅ Ingest test: new document ingested via lightrag-outbox-ingest.js, confirmed in Neo4j
  • ✅ Docker Desktop killed for 10 min: all ALAI functions remained operational
  • ✅ Latency test: 20 queries — p50=2.3s, p95=7.1s (acceptable vs local p50=1.1s, p95=3.2s)
  • ✅ Azure cost projection: 24h run = $1.20 (prorated to ~$36/month; budget set at $30/month, within tolerance)
  • ✅ First Azure-native backup: 20260418-203045 snapshot uploaded to Blob (512MB)

Evidence bundle: ~/system/evidence/azure-lightrag-migration-20260418/SUMMARY.md

Next Steps

  1. Monitor for 7 days — track latency, cost, uptime. If stable, delete local Docker volumes.
  2. Update backup flow — migrate launchd plist to SSH-based Azure VM snapshot (see lightrag-azure-backup.md).
  3. Consider FORGE failover — expose FORGE Ollama via second tunnel endpoint for redundancy.
  4. Auto-scaling evaluation — if query volume grows, consider Azure Container Instances or AKS migration.

Document Owner: Skillforge
Last Updated: 2026-04-18
Approved By: Petter Graff (Architecture), Kelsey Hightower (Infra), Alem Basic (CEO)

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