Self-Hosted

Deploy on Azure

Deploy your Fider instance on Azure

The easiest way to get started with Fider is with our official managed service Fider Cloud. Our managed hosting can save a substantial amount of developer time and resources. For most sites this ends up being the best value option and the revenue goes to funding the maintenance and further development of Fider. So you'll be supporting open source software and getting a great service! The section below is for self-hosting Fider on your server and managing your infrastructure.

Prerequisites

An Azure subscription

It's free to start, but will require a variable monthly payment afterwards.

E-mail Sender

You can choose between a SMTP Server or a Mailgun account.

Deploying your instance

Step 1: Create a new PostgreSQL Database

Using Azure portal, crease a new instance of Azure Database for PostgreSQL servers using the Official Guide.

Creating a new PostgreSQL Server

The guide above also explains how to configure Firewall and create a Database using psql. Follow that process and create a database named fider.

CREATE DATABASE fider;

Alternatively, you can also install PostgreSQL on a Virtual Machine.

Step 2: Create an Azure App Service

Azure App Service (also known as Azure Web App) is where the actual application will be hosted. Using Azure portal again, search for Azure App Service and create a new instance.

We recommend using Linux and Basic B1 at a minimum, but if you're expecting higher traffic, upgrade to a more suitable tier.

Creating an Azure App Service
Docker Settings
Step 3: Configure your App

Select Configuration on your App Service blade and add the following Application Settings:

  • DATABASE_URL: postgresql://{POSTGRES_SERVER}.postgres.database.azure.com:5432/fider?user={DB_USERNAME}@{POSTGRES_SERVER}&password={DB_PASSWORD}&sslmode=require
  • BASE_URL: https://yourapplicationame.azurewebsites.net
  • JWT_SECRET: It's a secret key used for authentication tokens, you can generate a good secret using an online tool like this one (take at least 512-bit for security).
  • EMAIL_NOREPLY: Set this variable to a no-reply address associated to your instance.
  • EMAIL_MAILGUN_API: Your Mailgun API key.
  • EMAIL_MAILGUN_DOMAIN: Set this variable to your Mailgun domain.
Application Settings

If you're using plain SMTP to send emails, you need to replace MAILGUN_* variables by the equivalent SMTP variables: EMAIL_SMTP_HOST, EMAIL_SMTP_PORT, EMAIL_SMTP_USERNAME,EMAIL_SMTP_PASSWORD.

Save your Application Settings.

Step 4: That's it!

It might take a few seconds for the application to restart and load all the new settings. Once that's done, open https://{your_appname}.azurewebsites.net and you should see the signup screen to create your Administrator account, and you can enjoy your Fider instance and share it with your users.

Installation page of a clean Fider instance