Deployment Options: Bare Metal, Kubernetes or Virtual Machines
Run Sover on your own servers with the Sover Private Cloud included, on the Kubernetes cluster you already operate, or on your existing virtual machines. Sover is user-hosted, never public SaaS, and every installation is designed for its own workload.
Overview
Your Infrastructure, Your Choice
Sover is user-hosted. It runs in infrastructure your organization controls, and it is not offered as public multi-tenant SaaS. Sover neither owns nor accesses customer messages. On your own hardware, message history, credentials and all application state stay under your control.
Kubernetes is the reference platform. The Sover Private Cloud, included with Sover, brings Kubernetes and the platform around it to your own servers; where you already run Kubernetes or virtual machines, Sover deploys there. Each installation is designed around your hosting location, network, security policies, operating responsibilities and expected workload.
Deployment Models
Choose Where Sover Runs
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On-Premises: Bare Metal + Private Cloud
A turnkey installation on your own servers. The Sover Private Cloud, included, turns bare metal into the complete platform Sover runs on: orchestration, storage, data services, monitoring and a management console.
Sover Private Cloud -
Your Kubernetes Cluster
Sover deploys on a Kubernetes cluster you already operate, and the Sover Private Cloud stays included. You support your own cluster and Sover supports its own Private Cloud, so this setup comes with a custom SLA.
Service Level Agreement -
Your Virtual Machines
Keep the virtualization platform you run today. Sover deploys on your existing virtual machines, on hypervisors such as VMware ESXi or under VMware vCloud Director, with the Sover Private Cloud installed on them.
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Federated Instances
Independent instances, each hosted by its own organization, communicate under policies the organizations agree.
Federated Network -
Your Name and Brand
License the Sover source code and release the apps under your own name and brand.
Custom Branding -
Controls You Operate
TLS 1.2 or higher with a customer-controlled CA trust store, encryption at rest, mandatory two-factor authentication, role-based access control and audit logging.
Security and Compliance
Included
The Sover Private Cloud, Included
Kubernetes is open source, but a production platform needs far more around it: storage, databases and message brokers, monitoring, security and a console to operate it all. Assembled by hand, each of those is its own procurement, integration project and support contract.
The Sover Private Cloud delivers that platform as one installable product, and it comes with Sover. It installs on bare metal or on virtual machines, works with the server hardware you choose, upgrades without downtime and grows by adding servers. Its stack is open source and inspectable.
What It Brings to Your Servers
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Provisioning and orchestration. Servers are discovered, imaged and given their roles from one place, under Kubernetes with ingress, DNS, certificates, backup and a private image registry.
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Software-defined storage. Object and block storage that replicates your data and rebuilds it automatically when a disk or server fails.
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Data services. Databases, caches and message brokers, provisioned, scaled and backed up from the console instead of installed by hand.
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Observability. Metrics, dashboards, alerting and centralized logging across every server and service.
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Security and identity. Security-event collection, image vulnerability scanning and one identity system for every level of access, from full cluster rights to read-only.
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Management console. Servers, namespaces, deployments, network policies, scheduled backups and restores, and audit logs, operated from one console.
Service Level Agreement
Every Installation Comes with an SLA
The Sover SLA sets severity levels and initial response times for every installation. Standard Support is included; Premier Support adds round-the-clock monitoring and the fastest response.
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Standard Support, Included
Online tickets, email and messenger support, business-day and 24×5 weekday coverage, with initial response from four hours on urgent issues.
Standard Support -
Premier Support
24×7 deployment health monitoring, initial response in one hour on urgent issues and two hours on high-impact ones, weekend coverage and a senior support team.
Premier Support
Reference Topology
What a Deployment Plans Together
Production design depends on workload and resilience requirements. Application services, data storage, search, media and integrations are planned together; a demonstration installation is not a production architecture.
How It Works
From Discovery to a Sized Installation
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Choose the Deployment Option
Pick your own bare metal with the Sover Private Cloud, your Kubernetes cluster or your virtual machines, and write down who administers, monitors, updates, backs up and supports the installation.
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Describe the Workload
Start with registered and active users, simultaneous sessions, message traffic, group sizes, files and retention. Add meetings, recordings, bots, AI and federation as separate requirements, with growth and resilience targets.
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Size against the Tiers
Indicative tiers frame the conversation in concurrent users. Your sizing comes from your own workload, never from a user count alone.
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Prove It in a Pilot
A pilot records the release, hardware, workload, duration, errors and response times, for the mix of messaging, meetings, files and integrations you expect, busy periods and failures included.
Indicative Sizing
| Tier | Concurrent Users |
|---|---|
| Small | Up to 1,000 |
| Medium | Up to 10,000 |
| Large | Up to 100,000 |
| Multi-Cluster | Above 100,000 |
Indicative tiers, not a capacity guarantee. Concurrent users are simultaneous active users, a different measure from registered users.
Included
What Is Included, and Where the Limits Are
Included
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Three deployment options. Your own bare metal with the Sover Private Cloud, your Kubernetes cluster, or your virtual machines.
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The Sover Private Cloud. Kubernetes is open source; the Private Cloud is the platform around it, with storage, data services, monitoring, security and a management console in one installable product.
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The Sover SLA. Standard Support with defined severity levels and response times, and Premier Support when you need 24×7 monitoring.
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User-hosted, not SaaS. Sover is not offered as public multi-tenant SaaS. Multi-tenant instances that an operator runs inside a federation are a separate design.
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Indicative sizing. Tiers up to 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 concurrent users, with a multi-cluster design above 100,000.
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Every client platform. Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and web, with the mobile apps on Google Play, the Apple App Store and Huawei AppGallery.
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Federation. Independently hosted instances can communicate under agreed policies.
Stated Limits
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Sizing is indicative. The tiers are not a capacity guarantee for an arbitrary workload; a sizing and load test matched to your release confirm it.
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Concurrent is not registered. Registered, daily active and simultaneous users are different workloads, and a user count alone is not a hardware specification.
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Meetings and AI are sized separately. A message-throughput figure is not a meeting-capacity guarantee, and AI processing is evaluated on its own.
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Hosting does not settle every data flow. Push services, identity providers, calendar systems, AI services and other integrations can add external dependencies; review them for a restricted network.
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Availability and recovery are designed per project. High availability, backups and recovery objectives are agreed and tested for your installation; there is no universal uptime or recovery-time figure.
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Your own cluster needs a custom SLA. Sover supports its own Private Cloud. On a Kubernetes cluster you operate, you support the cluster, and the support terms are agreed for that setup.
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Response is not resolution. The SLA sets initial response times; resolution depends on the issue. Premier monitoring needs VPN access to your site.
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Mixed environments need their own design. A mix of deployment options, or any link between production and test, is scoped and approved for the project.
Where It Runs
Hosting Control for Regulated Work
- Government Agencies An agency can run its own instance on its own servers and federate with other agencies under agreed policies. Learn More
- Law Enforcement In a federation, a police force can run a high-security instance and open only the connections it approves. Learn More
- Critical Infrastructure Operators can keep their communications on infrastructure they control, sized for their own workload. Learn More
- Financial Services Regulated enterprises can host Sover on premises, with role-based access control and audit logging. Learn More
Keep Reading
- Service Level Agreement Standard and Premier Support, severity levels and response times.
- Security & Compliance Encryption in transit and at rest, two-factor authentication and audit logging.
- Federated Network Independent instances that communicate under agreed policies.
- Custom Branding Release the apps under your own name and brand.
- Administration Users, roles and sessions in the back-office console.
Questions, or Ready for a Briefing?
Contact Sales
Tell us about your organization and we will arrange a briefing for your team.
Where can Sover be deployed?
Sover can be deployed on your own servers with the Sover Private Cloud, which is included, on a Kubernetes cluster you already operate, or on your existing virtual machines. The deployment should be designed around your hosting location, network, security policies, operating responsibilities, and expected workload.
Do we have to move our communications to a public cloud?
No. Sover is user-hosted: it runs on infrastructure your organization controls, whether your own servers with the Sover Private Cloud, your Kubernetes cluster, or your virtual machines, so the hosting environment can be selected for your organization's requirements.
What information is needed to size Sover?
Start with registered and active users, simultaneous sessions, message traffic, group sizes, files, and retention needs. Add separate requirements for meetings, recordings, video, bots, AI, and federation, along with growth and resilience targets.
Are registered users and concurrent users the same sizing measure?
No. Registered users, daily active users, and simultaneous active users describe different workloads. Multiple devices, bots, and reconnects also affect connection demand, so a user count alone is not a hardware specification.
Does on-premises deployment mean there are no external dependencies?
Not automatically. Push services, identity providers, calendar systems, AI services, and other integrations can introduce external dependencies. Review the actual data flows and enabled services when designing a restricted-network deployment.
What uptime and recovery times does Sover guarantee?
Support response times are set by the Sover SLA: under Premier Support, initial response within one hour for urgent issues and two hours for high-impact issues. Availability and recovery commitments are set for the agreed deployment and statement of work; there is no universal uptime, recovery-time, or acceptable-data-loss figure to apply to every installation.