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Licensed to be used in conjunction with basebox, only.

// installation

Deployment models

Applies to

Product: Cloud · Server · Audience: Platform Operator · Administrator · Security reviewer

basebox is offered as basebox Cloud and basebox Server. The two are distinguished by who owns the infrastructure, where it stands and who operates it – not by labels such as "on-prem", "hosted" or "self-hosted", which this documentation deliberately avoids as product names.

basebox Cloud

flowchart TB
  subgraph BB["Noris data center · basebox-owned infrastructure"]
    direction TB
    subgraph A["Customer A – isolated environment"]
      A1["basebox platform + service models"]
    end
    subgraph B["Customer B – isolated environment"]
      B1["basebox platform + service models"]
    end
    INF["Inference · operated by basebox"]
    A1 --> INF
    B1 --> INF
  end
  UA["Users of A"] -->|HTTPS| A1
  UB["Users of B"] -->|HTTPS| B1
  OPS["basebox operations"] -.->|operates| BB
  style BB fill:#f4f2ee,stroke:#524e47,color:#1d1e1c
  style A fill:#dcefe2,stroke:#3a7a49,color:#1d1e1c
  style B fill:#dcefe2,stroke:#3a7a49,color:#1d1e1c
  style INF fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#1e40af,color:#1d1e1c
  • Infrastructure belongs to basebox, hosted in the Noris data center
  • Each customer gets an isolated / virtual environment
  • Operated by basebox; the customer administers the application
  • No customer-owned physical server is involved

The environment of the transition phase (see below) is not the architecture of the Cloud from the Cloud launch onwards. From the Cloud launch, the Cloud runs on basebox's own server in the noris network data center (Munich East), with its own environment per organisation and the AI model on the same server, shared by the organisations. A model for your organisation alone is possible; you will find the price in your personal quote.

Transition phase until November 2026

Accounts created before the Cloud launch in November 2026 run, until they are moved, in a shared environment at Hetzner in Nuremberg with AI models from Google Vertex in Frankfurt – logically separated from each other, with shared user management. basebox moves these accounts to the Cloud; no new registration is needed. basebox is a data processor in the transition phase as well. Health data and other special categories under Art. 9 GDPR are best processed only after the move. Details: basebox Cloud (transition phase until November 2026).

An account created via "Start for free" is an account in basebox Cloud: Start with basebox Cloud.

basebox Server

A server for one organisation alone. Three independent properties describe it – none changes the product:

Property Options
Hardware source Server from basebox (Class 1–3, via FAST LTA) · hardware of your choice, existing or procured yourself (platform only)
Physical location customer data center · basebox data center
Operator customer · basebox, where installation/operation is commissioned

Hybrid: basebox runs in your own network, the AI models come from another location – technically an external OpenAI-compatible inference, see Deployment topologies.

Server in the customer data center

flowchart TB
  subgraph CDC["Customer data center · customer network"]
    subgraph SRV["Server for this customer alone"]
      P["basebox platform"]
      S["Service models"]
      I["Inference"]
      P --> S --> I
    end
    U["Users"] -->|HTTPS| P
  end
  BB["basebox<br/>(optional remote management<br/>via PAM/VPN, if commissioned)"] -.-> SRV
  style CDC fill:#f4f2ee,stroke:#524e47,color:#1d1e1c
  style SRV fill:#dcefe2,stroke:#3a7a49,color:#1d1e1c
  style I fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#1e40af,color:#1d1e1c

Customer Server hosted at basebox

flowchart TB
  subgraph BBDC["basebox data center"]
    subgraph SRV2["Server for this customer alone"]
      P2["basebox platform"]
      S2["Service models"]
      I2["Inference"]
      P2 --> S2 --> I2
    end
  end
  U2["Customer users"] -->|HTTPS / VPN| P2
  NOTE["Still <b>Server</b>, not Cloud:<br/>one customer, one physical server,<br/>no shared tenancy"]
  SRV2 -.- NOTE
  style BBDC fill:#f4f2ee,stroke:#524e47,color:#1d1e1c
  style SRV2 fill:#dcefe2,stroke:#3a7a49,color:#1d1e1c
  style I2 fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#1e40af,color:#1d1e1c
  style NOTE fill:#fbf0db,stroke:#b9770a,color:#1d1e1c

Hosting at basebox is not Cloud

A server for one customer alone that physically stands in the basebox data center is basebox Server with the hosting option basebox data center. It is documented under Server – including in Security & Compliance – and never under Cloud.

How to describe any deployment

Use four dimensions, never a single label:

Product:          Cloud  |  Server
Server hardware:  FAST LTA  |  customer hardware
Server location:  customer data center  |  basebox data center
Operation:        customer-managed  |  basebox-managed

This is also how technical pages in this documentation state their applicability (the Applies to box at the top).

Legacy terms you may still find

Older pages and configuration keys use "on-premise" (for example the environment variables AISRV_ON_PREMISE and STORESRV_ON_PREMISE, or the on-premise/ URL path). Read these as "basebox Server". The technical identifiers are not renamed; the product language is.

Next step: Responsibilities