With Container Hosting, you can run your own applications as containers without having to manage an entire server. We provide the platform: servers, network, SSL certificates, backups and monitoring. You decide which software runs in your containers. As the operator, you are responsible for their settings, updates and licences.
The building blocks
- Project - the plan you have booked. This determines the RAM, CPU and storage, as well as how many containers, networks, custom ports and custom domains you can use. All containers within a project share these resources.
- Container - a running application based on an image, such as WordPress, MariaDB or nginx. Each container has a name. Other containers on the same network access it using this name.
- Volume - a persistent data storage space. Anything a container stores outside its volumes will be lost when it is recreated. Databases and uploaded files should therefore always be stored in a volume. Snapshots and backups protect volumes - each one individually.
- Network - connects containers to one another. An internal network has no connection to the internet and is ideal for databases.
- Reachability - determines whether and how a container can be accessed from the outside: as a web address with an SSL certificate, via its own TCP or UDP port, or only internally.
Opening a project
You can find your projects in the customer area under My Products → Containers. For each project, the list shows the status in a single sentence, the containers with their statuses, and the utilisation. Click on a project to open it.
In the project header, you will see:
- Base domain and server address - you’ll need both if you’re connecting your own domain. Click the icon next to them to copy the value.
- Containers - how many of your containers are currently running.
- Open operations - changes currently being carried out on the server.
- Utilisation of memory, storage and processes. The values are updated every 5 minutes; ‘View history as a graph’ opens the statistics.
Click Create container to launch the wizard. Use the pencil icon next to the name to rename the project.
The tabs
- Overview - notes with troubleshooting steps, project structure, setup checklist, recent operations and resource usage. A red number on the tab indicates how many notes are pending.
- Containers - all containers displayed as cards showing status, address, security check and the ‘Restart’, ‘Stop’ and ‘View logs’ buttons.
- Network - who can access your containers from outside, which containers communicate with one another, and where outbound connections are permitted (networks and firewall).
- Backup & Snapshot - create and restore snapshots and backups of your volumes (Backup and Snapshot).
- Storage - all volumes with their size, the backup switch and the file browser (Storage and file browser).
- Monitoring - statistics, notifications and checks (Monitoring).
- History - all operations with results, filterable by ‘open’ and ‘failed’.
- Plan & Options - change your plan and add options (Plan and options).
How your project is set up
The overview shows, as a diagram, which containers communicate directly with one another. On the left are the visitors: a blue line leads to every container that is accessible from the outside. Further lines connect containers that share a network - solid lines for a network with internet access, dotted lines for an internal network without internet access. The containers are sorted into levels: public, internal and isolated.
Under Talks directly to, each container lists the containers it can reach. Any container not listed there is inaccessible to it. Clicking on a container opens its page; ‘Network management’ takes you to the Network tab.
Notifications with troubleshooting steps
If something requires your attention, a notification appears at the top of the overview - for example, if a container fails to start, a web address could not be set up, or an application returns an error. Under How to fix this, you’ll find the next steps, each with a button that takes you straight to the relevant section, such as the logs or the variables.
If you are unable to resolve the issue in this way, please open a support ticket via the link at the end of this notice. Please state the name of the container - this will allow us to view the logs and recent activity straight away. For more information, see the article Finding and fixing errors.
Every change is an operation
Whether you’re creating a container, modifying a network or taking a snapshot: every change is carried out on the server as a sequence of operations. As long as operations are still in progress, the page refreshes automatically. You can see what happened and when, and whether it was successful, in the History tab.
Getting started
First, create a container (Creating a container), make it reachable on the web (Making a container reachable on the web) and enable automatic snapshots (Backup and snapshot). The ‘Setup’ checklist in the overview will guide you through these steps.