Installation Guide

Pestle can be deployed in multiple configurations to suit your organization's needs.

Deployment Options

Cloud Hosted (Recommended)

The simplest option - Pestle is fully managed in our secure cloud infrastructure:

No infrastructure to manage
Automatic updates and backups
SOC 2 Type II certified hosting
99.9% uptime SLA

Contact support@pestle.com to get started.

Self-Hosted (Docker)

Deploy Pestle in your own infrastructure using Docker:

Prerequisites

Docker 20.10+ and Docker Compose 2.0+
4GB RAM minimum (8GB recommended)
20GB disk space
PostgreSQL 14+ (or use included container)

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/your-org/pestle.git
cd pestle

# Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your settings

# Start services
docker-compose up -d

# Run migrations
docker-compose exec backend python manage.py migrate

# Create admin user
docker-compose exec backend python manage.py createsuperuser

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string	-
`SECRET_KEY`	Django secret key (generate unique)	-
`ALLOWED_HOSTS`	Comma-separated hostnames	localhost
`CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS`	Trusted origins for CSRF	-

Kubernetes

For enterprise deployments, Helm charts are available:

helm repo add pestle https://charts.pestle.com
helm install pestle pestle/pestle -f values.yaml

Post-Installation

Configure SSO/SAML if using enterprise authentication
Set up email for notifications
Import your compliance frameworks
Create user accounts and assign roles

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions:

Database connection errors: Verify PostgreSQL is running and credentials are correct
Static files not loading: Run collectstatic and check nginx configuration
Email not sending: Verify SMTP settings and check spam folders

For additional support, contact support@pestle.com.