On-Prem Manager: one engineer per two on-prem Docker sites didn't scale

Description and use

OPM automated on‑prem Docker deployments, cutting engineer hours and scaling the business.

Problem

Deploying on‑premise Docker sites required one engineer for every two sites, limiting scalability as the business grew.

Outcome

OPM reduced the engineer‑hour cost per deployment by automating configuration, backups, and rollbacks, allowing one engineer to manage more than two sites and scaling the business.

Workflow

• 1. Client provides deployment requirements. 2. Engineer uses OPM cloud console to create a deployment template and commit changes. 3. Cloud console generates a one‑line install script for each server. 4. Server runs the script, installing the agent and setting up systemd. 5. Agent pulls images from the cloud catalog, loads them via docker load, and applies the latest commit. 6. Agent performs a LOCK → SNAPSHOT → APPLY → VERIFY → COMMIT sequence. 7. Verify waits for health checks; on failure, rollback occurs. 8. Agent snapshots volumes before updates and keeps daily backups. 9. Drift detection scans Docker events; uncommitted changes are flagged. 10. Optional offline operation via peer site or browser tunnel if internet is blocked.

Evidence

After enough deployments it was clear Compose wasn’t enough. Every client is different, so every install meant a lot of configuration and setup afterwards.

Source

The README puts it as: like Portainer, plus a git‑style commit history for every server’s config.

Source

The agent snapshots config, image references and the volumes marked for backup, as .tar.zst archives. It keeps the last 10.

Source