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18.1. Self-Hosting AlgaPSA: The On-Premise Appliance
Run AlgaPSA on your own hardware with the on-premise appliance. What the appliance is, who it suits, the prerequisites you need, and the four stages of a clean install.
The AlgaPSA appliance lets you run the full platform on infrastructure you control: your own server, your own hypervisor, or a VM in your data center. You keep your PSA data on-site. You decide when the platform updates. It fits MSPs who have compliance requirements, serve clients that expect on-premise systems, or want to own the stack end to end.
The appliance ships as a single bootable image. It installs Ubuntu, brings up a self-contained Kubernetes runtime, and deploys AlgaPSA and its supporting services (database, cache, background workers, and email processing) for you. You do not assemble containers or write manifests. You boot the image, answer a short setup wizard, and sign in.
The screenshots throughout follow a fictional MSP, Northpoint Technology Group, and its first client. Use them as a model for your own company, team, and client details.
What you get
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| AlgaPSA application | The web app your team signs in to, served on port 3000. |
| Setup and status console | A separate web console on port 8080 for first-time setup and ongoing health. |
| In-cluster database, cache, and workers | Postgres, Redis, Temporal, and the workflow and email workers, all managed for you. |
| Automatic deployment | A baked-in Kubernetes control plane pulls and reconciles the application during setup. |
The appliance is self-managing once it is up. You work in the application on port 3000. You check its health on port 8080 when you need to.
Editions and the install code
When you register, you receive an install code by email. The code binds the appliance to your tenant and applies the correct edition, so you do not pick an edition during setup.
- Essentials runs the free, open-source feature set. The application offers a 15-day Enterprise trial you can start at any time from inside the app.
- Paid editions include the full feature set for self-hosting.
Keep the registration email handy. You enter the install code once, in the setup wizard.
Before you start
Check these prerequisites before you boot the image. They keep the install from stalling partway through.
| Requirement | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Host | A 64-bit x86 machine or virtual machine. The appliance image is Ubuntu Server 24.04. |
| CPU and memory | A practical starting point is 4 vCPUs and 16 GB of RAM. The appliance runs a database, cache, workers, and the application together. |
| Disk | At least 60 GB. The installer uses the whole disk you select. |
| Network address | A reachable IPv4 address. If you use DHCP, reserve the lease so the address does not change after a reboot. |
| Outbound internet | HTTPS (port 443) to license.nineminds.com and ghcr.io. The appliance redeems your install code and pulls its container images during setup. |
| Install code | The 8-character code from your AlgaPSA registration email. |
Outbound access matters most. During setup the appliance contacts license.nineminds.com to redeem the install code. It then pulls its images from GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io). If a firewall blocks either host, setup pauses at the redemption or image-pull step until you open the access.
The four stages
A full install moves through four stages. Each has its own guide.
- Install the operating system. Boot the image, set up networking and disk, create the host account, and read the setup handoff banner.
- Configure the appliance. Open the setup console, enter your install code, and create the first tenant and administrator.
- Sign in and onboard. Sign in to the application and complete the guided onboarding for your team, your first client, billing, and ticketing.
- Operate. Use AlgaPSA on port 3000, and check the status console on port 8080 when you need to.
Set aside roughly 30 to 45 minutes for a first install. The appliance deploys unattended for most of that time.