> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.felt.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.felt.com/administration/self-hosted-deployment.md).

# Self-hosted deployment

Run Felt in your own AWS account, including GovCloud. Review the architecture, network, and account requirements for self-hosted deployment.

{% hint style="success" %}
Available on the Enterprise plan. [Talk to sales](https://felt.com/sales)
{% endhint %}

Self-hosted deployment runs Felt as a single-tenant instance in your own Amazon Web Services (AWS) account. Maps, data, and user activity stay in your infrastructure, and Felt has no access to data at rest or in transit within your network. Your team runs the instance: you deploy it, operate it, and decide when to apply updates. Felt prepares the deployment, provides each update, and supports you. To discuss your requirements, [talk to sales](https://felt.com/sales).

## When to use self-hosting

Self-hosted deployment is for organizations with strict security, compliance, or data privacy requirements:

* Data in your environment: all map data, uploads, and processing stay in your AWS account.
* Network isolation: Felt runs in a private network that you control.
* Your choice of region: you deploy in the AWS region that meets your data residency requirements.
* Compliance: self-hosting helps you comply with frameworks such as CMMC and FedRAMP, government contracts that require data isolation, and internal policies that require a private cloud.

For data residency without running your own instance, see [Regional hosting](/administration/regional-hosting.md).

## How it works

A self-hosted Felt instance is a set of AWS services in your account, deployed from a CloudFormation template that Felt prepares for you.

### Architecture

* Application: the Felt web application, running in Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS).
* Data pipeline: the processing that handles uploads and analysis.
* Database: a managed PostgreSQL database in Amazon RDS for application data.
* Storage: Amazon S3 buckets for uploaded files and map assets.
* AI services: Felt AI, running on frontier models through Amazon Bedrock in your account.

### Network setup

You control the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) the instance runs in, so you choose how people reach it:

* Public access: people reach Felt at your own domain, over TLS.
* Private access: only people on your corporate network, through a VPN or AWS Direct Connect, can reach Felt.
* Hybrid: a mix of public and private access.

You deploy into one of two kinds of VPC:

* Felt-managed VPC: the deployment creates a dedicated VPC in your account, with public and private subnets across several Availability Zones, NAT gateways for outbound traffic, and private endpoints for AWS services such as S3, Bedrock, and CloudWatch.
* Bring your own VPC: you deploy into an existing VPC that your organization manages. The VPC needs at least two Availability Zones, public subnets for the load balancers, and private subnets for the application.

### Outbound connections

If your VPC restricts outbound traffic, allow these connections:

* AWS service endpoints, such as S3, ECR, SQS, Secrets Manager, and CloudWatch, through VPC endpoints or a NAT gateway.
* felt.com, for license checks and usage reporting. The instance needs this connection to keep running.
* Your SSO login service, at a URL Felt gives you during setup.
* basemap.felt.com, for Felt's basemap tiles. There's no self-hosted basemap service.

All other software is bundled into the deployment, so nothing else is downloaded at runtime.

## Prepare to deploy

### AWS account

A self-hosted deployment needs:

* An AWS account, and administrator-level permissions for the first deployment.
* Enough service quotas for ECS, Lambda, S3, and RDS.
* Amazon Bedrock access to the models that Felt AI uses, in the region you deploy in.
* A supported region: most commercial AWS regions, and AWS GovCloud (US). To confirm a region, [talk to sales](https://felt.com/sales).

Felt tells you which Amazon Bedrock models to turn on during setup.

### Bring your own VPC

If you use an existing VPC, give Felt:

* The VPC ID and CIDR range
* At least two Availability Zones
* At least two public subnet IDs
* At least two private subnet IDs

### Domain and certificate

* A domain name for your instance, such as `maps.yourcompany.com`
* An AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) certificate for that domain, for TLS

## AWS GovCloud

Self-hosted Felt runs in AWS GovCloud (US) with its own setup process. Felt gives you a deployment tool that copies the Felt software into your GovCloud account and launches the instance. In GovCloud, turn on Felt AI's models in Amazon Bedrock before you deploy. Contact your Felt account team for details.

## Frequently asked questions

<details>

<summary>Does Felt have access to my data in a self-hosted instance?</summary>

No. Once a day, the instance sends aggregate usage figures to Felt's licensing service at felt.com and receives a signed license, which keeps your subscription valid. These figures include user counts, storage and processing totals, and map views. The instance never sends map content or user data.

</details>

<details>

<summary>How is self-hosted Felt different from Felt in the cloud?</summary>

A self-hosted instance runs the Felt version you last deployed. It has the cloud product's features as of that version, and new features and fixes arrive only when you apply an update. Felt provides updated CloudFormation templates and Docker images, and you choose when to apply them.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Can I restrict who can reach my self-hosted instance?</summary>

Yes. You control network access with your VPC's security groups, and you can require login through your identity provider. Within Felt, workspace admins manage members and access as they do in the cloud. See [Manage members](/administration/manage-members.md).

</details>

<details>

<summary>How are backups handled?</summary>

The database uses Amazon RDS automated backups. You control how long backups are kept and can set up cross-region replication.

</details>


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