Distributing and supporting self-hosted software is no easy feat for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). Some of the key challenges that software vendors face when looking to offer a self-hosted option include a lack of control over the platform where the software will be running, a lack of visibility into the environment after the software is installed, and little to no say over when or if new versions are adopted by customers. All these challenges, coupled with the wide variety of different environments that customers might bring, make it difficult for ISVs to feel confident about their software’s reliability and compatibility in self-hosted environments.
GitGuardian is a cybersecurity company that automatically scans code bases, including private and public repositories, to identify sensitive information that should not be shared or exposed. Given the nature of their business, they've always had demand for a self-hosted version of their offering. Recently, Philippe Gablain, Engineering Lead at GitGuardian, described in his blog, Small Team, Big Wins: Why Size Doesn’t Matter for Self-Hosted, how they structure their organization and product to deliver a great self-hosted option for their customers.
For GitGuardian, part of the solution is working with Replicated so they can “concentrate on application architecture and configurations while benefiting from Replicated license management, distribution, and troubleshooting capabilities.”
Replicated offers a variety of features that make it easier for teams of any size to distribute self-hosted software, giving those teams more of their time back to focus on product development. As Philippe describes, ISVs can use the Replicated Platform to customize licenses for each customer, efficiently manage and distribute releases, and get critical troubleshooting information like logs and cluster details from customer environments with customizable support bundles. Philippe also called out the Replicated Platform installation features, which enable GitGuardian to provide a seamless installation experience for all different types of enterprise customers, including those in non-Kubernetes or air gap environments, and those with less Kubernetes experience. For example:
- Use our Embedded Cluster installer to ship your app and Kubernetes together as a single appliance, allowing customers without access to a cluster to install on a VM or bare metal server.
- Automatically generate air gap bundles for each of your releases to support installations in environments with no outbound internet access.
- Provide our Admin Console GUI to make it easy for customers to install, configure, and manage your app.
And we’ve only just started to scratch the surface of what the Replicated Platform has to offer. Learn more by checking out our platform here. Or, watch Grant Miller, our CEO, and Marc Campbell, CTO, discuss the recently introduced Software Distribution Life Cycle, and see why our platform is built to continue to serve you and your customer’s needs in this ever-evolving world of modern commercial software distribution.