Installation Options

RegScale provides enormous flexibility in deployment options to meet a variety of customer needs. The most common ways to deploy the system are shown below along with PROS and CONS for each option (NOTE: Additional deployment options may be available to meet unique customer requirements). Customer must support a way to run containers in their environment. For many of our customers, this technology is new to them and can be overwhelming, so have provided a common set of deployment options with supporting detailed instructions:

Installation Guides

Options and Recommendations

Production with Kubernetes
- Quick Start
  - Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source orchestration software for deploying, managing, and scaling containers; developed by Google.
  - K8s is the market leader and the best available option for an Enterprise environment. Customers will gain portability, availability, scalability, and extensibility with the market leading orchestration software in industry today.
  - K8s services are available in every hyper-scale cloud provider including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
- PROS
  - Very portable, scalable, and extensible
  - Free to use (NOTE: Some cloud providers may charge for the Kubernetes service.)
  - Can be deployed on premises and on air-gapped networks leveraging a customer's existing gold image for Linux
  - Easily scale nodes to grow the cluster with real-time upgrades and no down time
  - Easily apply configurations to manage all components of the cluster
  - Expertise can be extended to the customer's DevOps pipeline to spin up additional containers/nodes/deployments (one cluster can host many applications over time)
- CONS
  - Can be complex to set up your own K8s environment (NOTE: It is very easy to get started with K8s in the cloud)
  - Requires support from personnel familiar with command line driven interfaces (i.e. Linux backgrounds)
  - May require security certification of K8s prior to use if the existing customer environment does not have a K8s cluster deployed
  - Not all FedRAMP clouds currently support Kubernetes (all public cloud providers do)
Stand-Alone with Local Docker
- Quick Start
  - This approach can be used for stand-alone on a laptop or on a virtual machine. It just requires Docker to be installed.
- PROS
  - Very quick to set up
  - Runs on local computer/laptop or a single Linux Virtual Machine (VM)
  - Can run anywhere that supports Linux/Docker
  - Can have RegScale up and running to test in minutes with no external database needed (NOTE: Default configuration uses SQL Express installed locally. Customers may still leverage an external database for RegScale stand-alone if desired.)
  - No cost to get started and can use existing resources to quickly evaluate the product
- CONS
  - Not an enterprise solution, lacks failover and high availability, and upgrades require downtime
  - Not recommended for Production deployments (with the potential exception of small businesses and single user deployments)
  - Limited to the local resources on your computer or VM (CPU, Memory, Storage)
  - Persistence of container storage is harder to manage
  - Only designed for initial testing/evaluation and small deployments
  - Must have admin privileges to install and configure on the local device/VM
ISO Appliance
- Quick Start
  - Easiest approach for a self-contained ISO appliance with no external dependencies
  - Perfect solution for customers with no existing Kubernetes or Docker footprint
  - NOTE: Only available for RegScale Enterprise customers
- PROS
  - Installs easily as an appliance within any existing VM environment (i.e. VMware, Hyper-V, Azure, AWS, GCP, etc.)
  - Self-contained - no external dependencies
  - Does not require IT support personnel to learn DevSecOps skills with Docker and Kubernetes
  - Minimizes or eliminates the need for major changes to cyber security authorization paperwork
- CONS
  - Needs to be sized based on estimated load, cannot take advantage of auto-scale
  - Lack of automated failover and recovery
  - Limited to the local resources on the VM (CPU, Memory, Storage)
  - Upgrades will likely require downtime
Windows Server with IIS
- Quick Start
  - Easy approach for Windows environments that are familiar with IIS
  - Another great solution for customers with no existing Kubernetes or Docker footprint that are running Windows and have an external SQL database
- PROS
  - Extends an IIS and Windows environment for those that are familiar with this deployment model
  - Minimizes or eliminates the need for major changes to cyber security authorization paperwork
  - HTTPS/SSL certificates easily managed using existing processes
  - Very quick to set up; can be up and running in a few minutes once prerequisites are installed
  - Can be deployed behind existing load balancers for increased uptime
- CONS
  - Require IIS to be set up with .NET Hosting bundle
  - Upgrades will likely require short downtime
  - Upgrades require download of an entire package and extracting to the existing directory

Operating Systems (OSes) Supported

Linux - preferred option; will support any variant of Linux supported by Docker
Mac/Windows 10/11 - requires Docker to be installed for RegScale stand-alone for test and evaluation (NOTE: Windows 10/11 will require the Windows Linux Subsystem to be installed to operate properly)

Browsers Supported

RegScale is fully tested and guarantees support for the following browsers:

Google Chrome
Microsoft Edge

RegScale provides best effort support for Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox. However, Internet Explorer has known compatibility issues and is not supported.

Screen Resolution

RegScale is a content creation and management system for compliance artifacts. Therefore, there is a heavy focus on content creation. As such, support for mobile phones is not optimized or guaranteed. For the best experience leveraging the RegScale platform, we recommend a minimum screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. RegScale has been optimized for tablet support such as the Apple iPad or Microsoft Surface.

Running a DEV Instance

RegScale licensing allows for running a development instance of RegScale at no additional cost. By having DEV, a customer can test upgrades, experiment with new features, and train staff without fear of causing issues in the production environment. To setup a development environment, we recommend the following:

Setup a separate instance of RegScale that exactly mirrors the deployment option of Production (Kubernetes, IIS, Virtual Machine/Stand-Alone, or Appliance)
Setup the same configurations for email, Single Sign On (SSO), and other administrative configurations to make the environment mirror Production as closely as possible
When upgrading DEV, be sure to backup the database and storage and test the new features first before deploying to Production. While RegScale is designed to be upgrade safe, there can be environmental differences for on-premises deployments that can periodically cause issues. In these cases, it is recommended to have the DEV instance.