Deploying with PaaS: Coolify, Dokku and more

Intro

If you have been tinkering with Raspberry Pis, Home Servers or VPSs, you might have found yourself in a situation where you needed to deploy software, but QUICK.

This is where PaaS comes in.

They make it easy to deploy your software, and they handle the infrastructure for you.

PaaS What

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides a platform for customers to develop, run, and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app.

• Complete development and deployment environment: PaaS provides a comprehensive suite of tools and services needed for the entire application lifecycle, from coding and testing to deployment and management.
• Abstraction of infrastructure: PaaS handles the underlying infrastructure, including servers, storage, and networking. This allows developers to focus solely on writing code and building their applications.
• Support for various programming languages and frameworks: PaaS platforms typically support a wide range of programming languages, frameworks, and databases, offering developers flexibility in their technology choices.
• Scalability and flexibility: PaaS solutions offer easy scalability, allowing applications to automatically adjust resources based on demand. This ensures optimal performance even during peak usage.
• Managed services: PaaS providers handle routine tasks such as updates, security patches, and backups, freeing up development teams to focus on strategic initiatives.

Examples of popular PaaS providers include:

• AWS Elastic Beanstalk: Amazon’s PaaS offering.  
• Google App Engine: Google’s PaaS platform.
• Microsoft Azure App Service: Microsoft’s PaaS offering.  
• Heroku: A popular PaaS platform.  
• Platform.sh: A unified platform for web development and hosting.  
• Netlify: A platform for building and deploying static websites and web applications.  
• Vercel: A platform for front-end development, specializing in Next.js deployments.  

PaaS for your Servers

But today, we are going to see some options to SelfHost some cool PaaS Software on our VPS / server:

Tools Which I will (probably) cover on future posts.

CapRover

• https://github.com/caprover/caprover
  • https://caprover.com/
  • https://caprover.com/docs/get-started.html

Apache v2 | Scalable PaaS (automated Docker+nginx) - aka Heroku on Steroids

docker run -p 80:80 -p 443:443 -p 3000:3000 -e ACCEPTED_TERMS=true -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v /captain:/captain caprover/caprover

services:
  caprover:
    image: caprover/caprover
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      ACCEPTED_TERMS: "true"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - /captain:/captain

CapRover, a free and open-source Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for easy application deployment.

What is CapRover?

CapRover is a user-friendly, fully automated application platform, similar to a self-hosted, open-source Heroku.

It simplifies deploying various applications like NodeJS, PHP, Java, WordPress, MongoDB, and MySQL.

Coolify

With coolify, we can spin apps on servers veeery easily.

Application could be any type of web application.

It could be a static site, a NodeJS application, a PHP application, etc.

• https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify-examples/tree/main

For complex applications, you can use Docker Compose based deployments or the one-click services.

• https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify
  • https://coolify.io/docs/installation
  • https://coolify.io/

Apache v2 | An open-source & self-hostable Heroku / Netlify / Vercel alternative.

• No Features Behind Paywall. Everything is included in the open-source software (OSS) version. And will always be.
• No Limitations. You have the freedom to host an unlimited number of websites on any quantity of servers without any restrictions.
• Nice UI. You get a simple and easy to use UI to manage your servers and applications.
• Open Source. You can see the source code and contribute to it, if you want. You can shape the future of the software.

curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | sudo bash

• https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1dbmv4d/alternatives_to_vercel_coolify_dokploy_or_caprover/

Dokku

• https://github.com/dokku/dokku
  • https://dokku.com/docs/getting-started/installation/
  • https://dokku.com/docs/getting-started/install/docker/

MIT | A docker-powered PaaS that helps you build and manage the lifecycle of applications

docker exec -it dokku bash

dokku --version
#dokku version 0.35.15

• https://dokku.com/docs/deployment/application-deployment/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMPKw5VS9pI

# from your local machine
git clone https://github.com/heroku/ruby-getting-started
# on the Dokku host
dokku apps:create ruby-getting-started

QuickStack

• https://github.com/biersoeckli/QuickStack
  • https://quickstack.dev/
  • https://quickstack.dev/docs/intro

GPL v3 | Build, run and monitor your apps on any server from a single, easy-to-use UI.

https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1igktsv/alternative_to_caprover_and_coolify_quickstack/

curl -sfL https://get.quickstack.dev/setup.sh | sh -
#systemctl --type=service --state=running #see that its running

Go to localhost:30000

• https://quickstack.dev/docs/getting-started/installation
  • https://quickstack.dev/docs/managing-apps/from-container-registry
  • https://quickstack.dev/docs/managing-apps/from-git-source

OpenFAAS

• https://github.com/openfaas/faas
  • https://www.openfaas.com/

CE for boddy only | OpenFaaS - Serverless Functions Made Simple

Dockerizalo

• https://github.com/undernightcore/dockerizalo

The simplest deployment platform made for self-hosters.

Conclusions

Definitely these SelfHosted PaaS are a cool way to provide value for people that does not want to go into the complicated server world!