Hosting and Deployment Options
Pianola can be hosted in different environments depending on the client's technical, security, and operational requirements.
Hosting is not tied to a single provider. A client can provide its own hosting environment, either through an internal IT team or through an external hosting provider. Managed hosting through Werkgasse GmbH is also available when the client prefers a managed setting.
Client-Provided Hosting
When a client provides the hosting environment, Werkgasse deploys Pianola into that environment. The server itself remains the responsibility of the client or the client's hosting provider.
This means that operational topics such as server monitoring, backups, operating system updates, database maintenance, and general uptime checks are handled by the client side. The exact responsibilities should be agreed before deployment, especially when several technical parties are involved.
Hosting Through Werkgasse
Pianola can also be hosted through Werkgasse GmbH. In this case, Werkgasse is responsible for the managed hosting environment as well as the application deployment.
This option can be useful when the client does not want to operate the hosting infrastructure directly, or when the project should use an environment already managed by Werkgasse.
Hosting Requirements
A Pianola hosting environment needs to support a standard Linux-based PHP application setup. Exact software versions are agreed per project, but the environment generally needs:
- PHP support
- Composer support
- MySQL or PostgreSQL, depending on the project database choice
- cron jobs for scheduled tasks
- queue workers for background processing
- file or asset storage
- outgoing email support where the application sends notifications or system messages
Asset storage can follow the client's preferred infrastructure. Depending on the project, this may be local server storage, S3-compatible object storage, or another agreed storage setup. Werkgasse commonly uses S3-style storage in managed environments.
Deployment Access
Werkgasse needs agreed technical access in order to deploy Pianola into the chosen environment. The exact method depends on the hosting setup, but may include deployment credentials, server access, database configuration, and application environment settings.
Access requirements should be clarified before the first deployment so that release work does not depend on ad hoc permissions or manual handovers.
Staging Environments
A separate staging environment can be provided or configured when releases need to be reviewed before they are deployed to production. This is often useful when a project has active users, internal acceptance steps, or integrations that should be checked before changes go live.
Whether staging is required depends on the project and on the client's release process.
Network Restrictions
Because Pianola is a web application, access can be restricted using the same network and firewall mechanisms that would be used for other web applications in the chosen hosting environment.
For example, a client may decide that the application should only accept traffic from specific networks, office locations, or VPN egress IP addresses. Such restrictions can be part of the agreed hosting setup. The exact configuration depends on the hosting provider and the client's network architecture.