Managing an Environment

Once you’ve created an environment, the Environment Details page becomes your central hub for managing all aspects of that environment. This comprehensive interface provides everything you need to monitor, configure, and control your application environment.

Accessing Environment Management

To access an environment’s management interface:

1. Navigate to your Applications list
2. Find your application and click “Manage Environments”
3. Select the specific environment you want to manage
4. Alternatively, click “Details” directly from the applications list for quick access

This takes you to the Environment Details page, which is organized into several tabs that cover different aspects of environment management.

Environment Overview

The Details tab provides a comprehensive summary of your environment’s current state and key information:

Status and Health

• Current environment status (Running, Stopped, Deploying, Error)
• Running instance count versus desired count
• Overall deployment status and health indicators

Configuration Summary

• CPU architecture and resource allocations
• Container summary showing all services in the environment
• Database connection information (if applicable)
• Network and connectivity details

Quick Actions The Actions panel on the right provides immediate access to common operations:

• Start/Stop: Control environment state
• Redeploy: Trigger a fresh deployment using current configuration
• Delete: Remove the environment (with appropriate safety warnings)

Tip

The overview gives you everything you need for day-to-day monitoring at a glance. The instance counts and status indicators help you quickly assess if your environment is healthy and running as expected.

Container Management

The Containers tab focuses on the individual services that make up your application:

• View the status of each container in your environment
• Access individual container logs for debugging
• Monitor resource usage per container
• Edit container configurations and settings

This tab is essential for troubleshooting issues with specific services or understanding how your application components are performing.

Storage and Networking

The Volumes tab manages persistent storage for your environment:

• Configure persistent storage volumes
• Set up mount points for containers
• Manage shared filesystem access
• Monitor storage usage and capacity

Each environment has its own isolated storage that persists across deployments and container restarts.

Environment Configuration

The Environment & Secrets tab handles environment-specific configuration:

Environment Variables Configure application settings that vary between environments, such as API endpoints, feature flags, or debugging options.

Secrets Management Securely store and manage sensitive information like database passwords, API keys, and certificates. Secrets are encrypted and automatically injected into your containers.

Database Credentials If your application uses a managed database, the automatically generated credentials are securely stored and managed here.

Deployment Management

The Deployment tab provides tools for managing application deployments:

• View deployment history and status
• Trigger manual deployments
• Monitor deployment progress
• Roll back to previous versions if needed

This centralized deployment management ensures you have full control over when and how your application updates are applied.

Environment Actions

Start and Stop Control your environment’s running state. Stopping an environment shuts down all containers while preserving configuration and data, useful for cost management during development.

Redeployment Force a fresh deployment using the current configuration. This is useful when you need to apply infrastructure changes or restart all containers with fresh instances.

Environment Deletion Permanently remove an environment and all its resources. This action includes appropriate safety warnings and confirmation steps to prevent accidental deletion.

Tip

The “Danger Zone” clearly separates destructive actions from routine management tasks, helping prevent accidental environment deletion while keeping these necessary operations accessible.

Quick Commands and Utilities

The interface provides several quick access tools for common operational tasks:

• Execute Command: Run commands directly in your containers for debugging or maintenance
• Manage Cron Jobs: Set up and monitor scheduled tasks
• View Logs: Access real-time and historical logs across all containers
• View Metrics: Monitor performance data and resource utilization

Monitoring and Observability

Environment management includes comprehensive monitoring capabilities:

Real-Time Status Monitor environment health, container status, and resource utilization in real-time through the interface.

Performance Metrics Access CPU, memory, network, and application-specific metrics to understand performance patterns and identify optimization opportunities.

Log Aggregation Centralized logging across all containers makes it easy to troubleshoot issues and monitor application behavior.

Best Practices for Environment Management

Regular Monitoring Check environment status regularly, especially for production environments. The overview tab provides a quick health check for all critical indicators.

Configuration Management Keep environment-specific configurations organized and documented. Use clear naming for environment variables and maintain consistency across similar environments.

Security Practices Use the secrets management system for all sensitive information. Avoid hardcoding credentials or API keys in environment variables.

Resource Optimization Monitor resource usage patterns to optimize allocations and reduce costs while maintaining performance.

The Environment Details page centralizes all management functions, making it easy to maintain your applications while providing the depth of control needed for production environments. Each tab focuses on a specific aspect of environment management, allowing you to quickly find the tools you need for any operational task.