Ask HN: Letting users self-host your server-side web app. Easy way to do this? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Letting users self-host your server-side web app. Easy way to do this?

3 pointsopen-source-ux4 comments

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?

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).

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.)

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?

Docker images are pretty much the standard for on-premise SaaS products. Consider Replicated (https://help.replicated.com/categories/getting-started/) or Gravitational Telekube (https://gravitational.com/docs/overview/) for packaging and management.

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.

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 :-)

How about providing docker instances?

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