Self-Hosted overview

The Self-Hosted Simple FTP Server is the same server that powers the cloud service, packaged as a single binary (or Docker image) you run in your own datacenter or VPC. It operates in hybrid mode: file transfers happen entirely on your infrastructure, while service and user configuration stays managed in the DocEvent console.

How hybrid mode works

Configuration for your S3, Azure and GCS backends is stored encrypted in the DocEvent cloud. Your instances hold a long-lived connection to DocEvent and receive configuration changes as you make them in the console - add a user, change a password, adjust a service, and every connected instance reloads within seconds.

The point of the design is instant high availability without shared state: your cluster needs no etcd, no multi-master database, no Elasticsearch of its own. Every instance independently carries the full configuration.

What happens during a network outage?

Your servers keep running and keep serving users. Configuration is held on the instance and no cloud request is made while handling connections - the cloud link is only how changes arrive. When connectivity returns, the instance reconnects and catches up.

How many servers can I run?

As many as you have licenses. Instances are interchangeable - see Load balancing for how to put a stable address in front of them.

How are logs handled?

Transfers and logins are logged to standard output on your server - in plain text, or JSON in production mode - for you to ship into CloudWatch, Azure Monitor or any log pipeline. See Server logging.

Because logs never leave your servers, the console's transfer history, file restore and reprocessing views do not apply to self-hosted instances.

Get started

Start your first instance - a trial license and a local test server in a few minutes.