What is HDDeploy
HDDeploy is how HD Services hosts client applications. Every client gets a virtual private server (VPS) per project in one of our data centres. Your applications run on that server as containers, and everything they need is managed through a web portal: no terminal, no SSH, no hand-edited configuration files.
The parts
Section titled “The parts”| Term | What it is |
|---|---|
| VPS | Your own server. The portal lives at https://<your-server>.hddeploy3000.nl; your applications run on their own domain names. |
| Portal | The website on which you and the HD Services technicians manage the server. What you see depends on your role (see Logging in and access). |
| Stack | An application: a group of containers that form one whole, described in a compose file. A web shop with a database and a cache is one stack. |
| Container | A running part of a stack (the web server, the database). Containers are deployed per stack. |
| Site | A directory of static web files (HTML, CSS, images) served by a stack. Content arrives through a sync or through uploads. |
| Backup | A nightly copy of a database, a file volume or a git repository, kept on the server and encrypted at HD Services. |
| Web gateway (Traefik) | The component that receives all web traffic, handles the HTTPS certificates and routes every request to the right stack. Managed by HD Services. |
| Revision | A saved version of a stack’s definition. Every change makes a new revision; an older one can always be put back. |
The full list is in the Glossary.
How an application runs at HD Services
Section titled “How an application runs at HD Services”- HD Services creates the VPS and sets up your stack, usually from a template: a ready-made definition with a form for the settings that differ per client (domain name, passwords, memory).
- You fill in the settings, or change them later, and press Deploy. The portal pulls the images it needs and starts the containers. The certificate for your domain is requested automatically as soon as the DNS name points at the server.
- From then on you manage the application yourself: settings, variables, deploying, stopping, reading logs, checking backups, receiving alerts. Every change is recorded under your name and can be rolled back.
- Prefer not to click? The same actions are available through a REST API and an MCP server, so a script or your AI assistant can do the work.
What the platform guards for you
Section titled “What the platform guards for you”- Platform rules: a compose file that would make the server unsafe (direct access to the host, ports that bypass the gateway) is refused, with an explanation per rule. See Compose files and platform rules.
- Monitoring: the server checks itself every minute for stopped containers, full disks, expiring certificates and failed backups, and mails when something is wrong. See Alerts.
- Updates: the portal software updates itself at night; stacks can pull new images automatically at night on request.
- Recovery: stack revisions, previous versions of sites and nightly backups make sure a mistake is never final.
What HD Services keeps doing
Section titled “What HD Services keeps doing”Creating and deleting stacks, DNS records, the web gateway, the server’s operating system, the security markers on stacks and restoring backups. The complete overview is on Who does what.