Start your first self-hosted instance

This guide gets a trial instance of the Self-Hosted Simple FTP Server running on your local computer, serving the same services you configured in the DocEvent console. You will need:

• a DocEvent account
• Linux, macOS or Windows (or Docker)
• at least one configured service connecting to your S3, Azure or GCS bucket - create one here if you have none yet

Step 1 - Activate a trial license

Open Simple FTP Service → Self-Hosted → Licenses in the console. If you have no licenses yet, click Activate 7-Day Complimentary Trial - the new license key appears in the table. That key is what you pass to the server.

Step 2 - Download the server

The Download Server Binaries section on the same page lists the current release for every platform - pick yours (or use the Docker image doceventio/sfs-server).

• Linux / macOS: make the download executable with chmod a+x <file>
• Windows: rename the download to end in .exe

Step 3 - Start the server

Run the binary with your license key and the DocEvent region your configuration lives in - the options are identical on every platform:

./sfs-server-linux-amd64-<version> -license <your-license-key> -region ap-southeast-2

By default the server listens on:

Startup takes a few seconds - the server prints its port configuration and SSH fingerprints, then fetches your services from the cloud. The line to wait for is:

SFS configuration loaded successfully

From that moment the instance is serving your services locally.

Step 4 - Connect to it

Use any service user you have configured - the same serviceid/username logins as the cloud service, now against your own machine:

sftp -P 2022 'serviceid/username@localhost'

Uploads and downloads go to the same backend bucket the service points at.

Connections are logged to standard output - see Server logging for the format and how to ship it in production.

Step 5 - Manage the instance from the console

Every running instance appears on Self-Hosted → Instances in the console, and stays connected (reconnecting automatically through network hiccups). From there you can:

• Reload config - push the current configuration to the instance immediately. Configuration changes normally arrive on their own the moment you make them in the console; this button covers the case where a network failure made the instance miss one. (kill -1 on the process does the same from the server side.)
• Shutdown - gracefully stop the server remotely.
• Disconnect - remove the instance from DocEvent management. It keeps running and serving users, but is no longer managed from the console.

Next steps

Ready to go beyond a local trial?

• Server parameters - every flag, and what production mode requires
• Running in Docker
• Load balancing and firewall configuration