
Ask HN: Letting users self-host your server-side web app. Easy way to do this? - open-source-ux
If you have an open-source or commercial web app that runs on the server, and you want to let users self-host the app (rather than host it yourself), how do you handle this?<p>A simple method for app installation for non-technical users seems impossible. The alternative? Providing detailed and complex installation instructions (that will probably defeat many users).<p>There is no standard for software installation on the server side, but some hosting providers have one-click installs for popular software like Wordpress. (Services like Bitnami provide a repository of web apps with pre-configured install scripts that are used by some hosting providers.)<p>How do you handle self-hosting for your non-technical users or customers? Is installing the software on their behalf the only realistic option? Or is there a way they can easily install your software on a server without your intervention?
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troydavis
Docker images are pretty much the standard for on-premise SaaS products.
Consider Replicated ([https://help.replicated.com/categories/getting-
started/](https://help.replicated.com/categories/getting-started/)) or
Gravitational Telekube
([https://gravitational.com/docs/overview/](https://gravitational.com/docs/overview/))
for packaging and management.

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ecesena
Can you elaborate more on the structure of your app? Also, how non-technical
are your non-technical users? I also would have said Docker, but if you have
multiple tiers like a db + a web server, packing everything in a single image
is kind of an anti-pattern, and using compose gets complex.

Another option is to create ready-to-launch instances on the major cloud
providers. To follow your example, Bitnami has an image on aws that you can
run with a couple of clicks. Assuming you non-technical users can follow the
aws process to launch an instance.

Another advantage of cloud images is sales, you can leverage their sales team
to find new customers.

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open-source-ux
I think anything more complex than uploading files into a folder on a server
will probably be too complex for many users. The ready-to-launch instance via
a cloud provider sounds like it may be a more viable route to pursue. Thanks
for the suggestion.

It's a shame there isn't an easy-to-use format/process/standard for installing
server-side web apps.

There are a huge number of web apps: how many could find a wider audience
(outside of other programmers) if only there was an easy way to install the
software? There's definitely an opportunity for a better user experience.

Thanks to everyone in this thread for their comments :-)

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kirankn
How about providing docker instances?

