Build Your Own PaaS/IDP with Cato Digital Bare Metal Servers

Creating a custom cloud platform brings powerful advantages—cost savings, full control, data sovereignty, and, crucially, the ability to make your solution self-hostable. This tool helps you deploy Tau, an open-source PaaS/IDP, across your servers using Spore-drive.

Getting Started

1. Install Dependencies
   Run the following command to install the necessary packages:

   npm install

2. Prepare Server List
   Create a CSV file (default: cato.csv) with your server information:

   hostname,public_ip
   server1.example.com,192.168.1.1
   server2.example.com,192.168.1.2
   

3. Configure Environment
   Copy the example environment file and edit it with your values:

   cp .env.example .env

   The following variables can be configured in your .env file:

   # Server Configuration
   SSH_KEY=cato.pem                    # Path to SSH private key
   SERVERS_CSV_PATH=cato.csv           # Path to servers list
   CATO_USER=cato-user                 # SSH user for server access
   
   # Domain Configuration
   ROOT_DOMAIN=pom.ac                  # Root domain for your platform
   GENERATED_DOMAIN=g.pom.ac           # Generated subdomain for your platform
   
   # Namecheap DNS Configuration (Optional)
   NAMECHEAP_API_KEY=your_api_key
   NAMECHEAP_IP=your_ip
   NAMECHEAP_USERNAME=your_username

4. Deploy
   Deploy your platform with:

   npm run displace

CSV File Format

The servers CSV file should contain the following columns:

• hostname: The fully qualified domain name of your server
• public_ip: The public IP address of your server

Example:

hostname,public_ip
node1.mycloud.com,203.0.113.1
node2.mycloud.com,203.0.113.2

Server Requirements

• Linux servers with SSH access on port 22
• User account (defaults to 'cato-user') with:
  • sudo/root privileges
  • SSH key authentication enabled