Deployment Options

The Thirdlane Platform supports two deployment modes: All-in-One for single-server installations, and Multi-Location Cluster for distributed, high-capacity deployments. You select the deployment mode during the Initial Wizard and it determines the available features and menu options in Configuration Manager.

All-in-One

All services run on a single server: Configuration Manager, database, PBX engine, Kamailio (SIP routing), and all supporting components.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            All-in-One Server            │
│                                         │
│  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐            │
│  │ Config   │  │ Database │            │
│  │ Manager  │  │ (MySQL)  │            │
│  └──────────┘  └──────────┘            │
│  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐            │
│  │  PBX     │  │ Kamailio │            │
│  │ Engine   │  │ (SIP)    │            │
│  └──────────┘  └──────────┘            │
│  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐            │
│  │ Connect  │  │  Nginx   │            │
│  │ (XMPP)   │  │ (Web)    │            │
│  └──────────┘  └──────────┘            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

When to use:

Small to medium installations (up to a few hundred users)
Development and testing environments
Organizations with their own backup/recovery strategy
Starting point — can be upgraded to a cluster later

Characteristics:

Simple to set up and maintain
Can run on bare metal, VM, or cloud (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure)
Configuration changes apply immediately on the same server
No automatic failover — recovery from backup if the server fails

Multi-Location Cluster

Services are distributed across multiple servers with three distinct roles:

Manager — A single server (optionally with a standby for redundancy) that runs Configuration Manager, the primary database, and handles all administration. The Manager does not run PBX or SIP services. Configuration changes are generated here and synced outward.
Master (one per location) — Runs Kamailio for SIP routing and the PBX engine. Receives synced files and database replicas from the Manager. Routes calls to Workers at its location.
Workers (multiple per location) — Run the PBX engine for call processing. Receive synced files from their location’s Master. Scale horizontally by adding more Workers as call volume grows.

                ┌─────────────────────────┐
                │     Manager Server      │
                │  (possibly redundant)   │
                │                         │
                │  Config Manager         │
                │  Database (primary)     │
                │  File generation        │
                │  No PBX/Kamailio       │
                └────────┬────────────────┘
                         │
              lsyncd sync to Masters
                    ┌────┴────┐
                    │         │
    ┌─── Location A ┴─────────┴── Location B ──────────┐
    │                              │                     │
    │                              │                     │
┌───┴──────────────────┐    ┌─────┴────────────────┐
│  Master A            │    │  Master B            │
│  Kamailio (SIP)      │    │  Kamailio (SIP)      │
│  PBX Engine          │    │  PBX Engine          │
│  Database (replica)  │    │  Database (replica)  │
└───────┬──────────────┘    └───────┬──────────────┘
        │                           │
   lsyncd to Workers           lsyncd to Workers
   ┌────┴────┐                 ┌────┴────┐
   │         │                 │         │
┌──┴───┐ ┌──┴───┐          ┌──┴───┐ ┌──┴───┐
│Wkr 1 │ │Wkr 2 │   ...    │Wkr 3 │ │Wkr 4 │  ...
│ PBX  │ │ PBX  │          │ PBX  │ │ PBX  │
└──────┘ └──────┘          └──────┘ └──────┘

When to use:

Large installations (thousands of users)
Service providers (MSPs, UCaaS) requiring high availability
Organizations needing zero-downtime updates
Geographically distributed customers

Characteristics:

The Manager can have a standby replica for redundancy
Each location has its own Master that routes calls via Kamailio to local Workers
If a Worker fails, Kamailio redistributes calls to remaining Workers at that location
Capacity scales by adding Workers at any location
Configuration changes sync from Manager → Masters → Workers via data sync (lsyncd)
Geo-redundancy protects against data center failure
Zero-downtime updates: update Manager first, then Masters and Workers

Choosing Your Deployment

	All-in-One	Cluster
Setup complexity	Low	Higher
Server failover	Manual (restore backup)	Manager standby + Kamailio rerouting
Scalability	Single server limit	Add Workers per location
Zero-downtime updates	No	Yes
Geographic redundancy	No	Yes (multi-location)
Best for	Small/medium orgs	Service providers, large orgs

You select the deployment mode during the Initial Wizard. Starting with All-in-One and upgrading to a cluster later is a supported path as your needs grow.

In cluster mode, additional menu items appear in Configuration Manager under Cluster Management for managing Worker Servers, viewing cluster topology, and running Data Sync diagnostics.