Installation & Setup

Get Flexus up and running for your organization with this comprehensive installation guide.

Cloud Setup (Recommended)

The fastest way to get started is with Flexus Cloud, our hosted solution.

1. Create Your Account

Visit flexus.ai
Click “Start Free Trial”
Complete the registration form
Verify your email address
Set up your organization profile

2. Initial Configuration

# Organization Setup Checklist
□ Workspace name and description
□ Primary domain (for email invitations)
□ Time zone and locale
□ Initial admin user setup
□ Billing information (for paid plans)

# Generate API keys for integrations
curl -X POST "https://api.flexus.ai/v1/auth/api-keys" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_SESSION_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "key_name": "Integration Key",
  "permissions": ["read", "write"],
  "expires_in": "1y"
}'

3. Domain Configuration

For custom domains and SSO integration:

# DNS Configuration (if using custom domain)
CNAME flexus.yourcompany.com -> app.flexus.ai
TXT   _flexus-verification   -> your-verification-token

Tip

Cloud setup includes automatic updates, backups, and 99.9% uptime SLA. Perfect for most organizations.

On-Premise Installation

For organizations requiring full control over data and infrastructure.

System Requirements

Minimum Requirements

CPU: 4 cores
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: 50 GB SSD
OS: Ubuntu 20.04+ / CentOS 8+ / Docker-compatible

Recommended Requirements

CPU: 8+ cores
RAM: 16+ GB
Storage: 200+ GB SSD
Network: 1 Gbps
OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Prerequisites

# Install Docker and Docker Compose
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

# Install Docker Compose
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

# Add user to docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

# PostgreSQL installation
sudo apt update
sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib

# Create Flexus database
sudo -u postgres createdb flexus_production
sudo -u postgres createuser flexus_user
sudo -u postgres psql -c "ALTER USER flexus_user WITH PASSWORD 'secure_password';"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE flexus_production TO flexus_user;"

Installation Steps

1. Download Flexus

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/flexus-platform/flexus.git
cd flexus

# Or download release
wget https://github.com/flexus-platform/flexus/releases/latest/download/flexus-linux.tar.gz
tar -xzf flexus-linux.tar.gz
cd flexus/

2. Environment Configuration

# Copy example environment file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit configuration
nano .env

# Key settings to configure:
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://flexus_user:secure_password@localhost:5432/flexus_production"
REDIS_URL="redis://localhost:6379"
SECRET_KEY="your-super-secure-secret-key"
FLEXUS_HOST="https://flexus.yourcompany.com"
SMTP_HOST="smtp.yourcompany.com"
SMTP_USER="noreply@yourcompany.com"
SMTP_PASSWORD="your-smtp-password"

# docker-compose.yml for production
version: '3.8'

services:
flexus-backend:
  image: flexus/backend:latest
  environment:
    - DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL}
    - REDIS_URL=${REDIS_URL}
  depends_on:
    - postgres
    - redis
  ports:
    - "8000:8000"

flexus-frontend:
  image: flexus/frontend:latest
  environment:
    - NUXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://flexus-backend:8000
  ports:
    - "3000:3000"
  depends_on:
    - flexus-backend

postgres:
  image: postgres:15
  environment:
    POSTGRES_DB: flexus_production
    POSTGRES_USER: flexus_user
    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secure_password
  volumes:
    - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

redis:
  image: redis:7-alpine
  volumes:
    - redis_data:/data

volumes:
postgres_data:
redis_data:

3. Database Migration

# Run database migrations
docker-compose exec flexus-backend python manage.py migrate

# Create initial superuser
docker-compose exec flexus-backend python manage.py createsuperuser

# Load initial data
docker-compose exec flexus-backend python manage.py loaddata initial_data.json

4. SSL Configuration

# Install certbot
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Generate SSL certificate
sudo certbot --nginx -d flexus.yourcompany.com

# Auto-renewal
sudo crontab -e
# Add: 0 12 * * * /usr/bin/certbot renew --quiet

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/flexus
server {
  listen 443 ssl http2;
  server_name flexus.yourcompany.com;

  ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/flexus.yourcompany.com/fullchain.pem;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/flexus.yourcompany.com/privkey.pem;

  # Frontend
  location / {
      proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
      proxy_set_header Host $host;
      proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
  }

  # Backend API
  location /api/ {
      proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
      proxy_set_header Host $host;
      proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
  }

  # WebSocket support
  location /ws/ {
      proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
      proxy_http_version 1.1;
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
      proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
      proxy_set_header Host $host;
      proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
  }
}

Post-Installation Setup

1. Health Check

# Check all services are running
docker-compose ps

# Test API health
curl https://flexus.yourcompany.com/api/health

# Check logs
docker-compose logs -f flexus-backend

2. Admin Configuration

Access the admin interface at https://flexus.yourcompany.com/admin
Log in with the superuser account
Configure:
- Email settings
- Authentication providers
- Default permissions
- System limits

3. Backup Setup

#!/bin/bash
# backup-flexus.sh

DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/flexus"

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup PostgreSQL
docker-compose exec -T postgres pg_dump -U flexus_user flexus_production > $BACKUP_DIR/db_$DATE.sql

# Backup uploaded files
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/files_$DATE.tar.gz -C /var/lib/flexus uploads/

# Cleanup old backups (keep 30 days)
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.sql" -mtime +30 -delete
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

# Add to crontab
crontab -e

# Daily backup at 2 AM
0 2 * * * /opt/flexus/scripts/backup-flexus.sh

# Weekly full backup
0 3 * * 0 /opt/flexus/scripts/full-backup.sh

Monitoring & Maintenance

System Monitoring

Warning

Set up monitoring before going to production. Monitor CPU, memory, disk space, and application metrics.

# Install monitoring tools
docker-compose -f docker-compose.monitoring.yml up -d

# Includes:
# - Prometheus (metrics collection)
# - Grafana (visualization)
# - AlertManager (alerting)

Log Management

# Configure log rotation
sudo nano /etc/logrotate.d/flexus

# Log rotation configuration
/var/log/flexus/*.log {
    daily
    missingok
    rotate 30
    compress
    delaycompress
    notifempty
    sharedscripts
}

Updates

# Update Flexus
docker-compose pull
docker-compose down
docker-compose up -d

# Run migrations if needed
docker-compose exec flexus-backend python manage.py migrate

# Blue-green deployment script
./scripts/deploy.sh --environment=production --strategy=blue-green

# Rolling updates with health checks
./scripts/rolling-update.sh --max-unavailable=1

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Database Connection Failed

# Check database is running
docker-compose exec postgres pg_isready

# Check credentials
docker-compose exec postgres psql -U flexus_user -d flexus_production -c "SELECT 1;"

Redis Connection Issues

# Test Redis connection
docker-compose exec redis redis-cli ping

# Check Redis logs
docker-compose logs redis

SSL Certificate Issues

# Test SSL certificate
openssl s_client -connect flexus.yourcompany.com:443

# Check certificate expiry
certbot certificates

Info

For detailed troubleshooting guides, see our Troubleshooting Section.

Next Steps

After successful installation:

Need Help? Contact our support team or check the FAQ for common questions.