Generic Architectures for Posit Connect

The architectures below represent general architectures for Posit Connect, providing a mental model for different deployment options and the requirements to support each variation.

Specific reference architectures organized by target environment are also detailed within this chapter of the Administration Guide, discoverable using the left navigation pane.

Target environments

Posit Connect can be deployed on-premises or within a cloud environment.

Connect on a single server

In this configuration, Connect is installed on a single Linux server and enables:

  • Multiple publishers and viewers to access Connect via a web browser

Generic architecture

The example diagram below shows four sample content types deployed to Connect. The content data bundles are stored on the Linux server, and the content processes run on the Linux server.

graph LR
u1(User)
u2(User)
u3(User)
b1(Browser)
b2(Browser)
b3(Browser)
connect(Connect)
qmd(Quarto)
fastapi(FastAPI)
shiny(Shiny App)
streamlit(Streamlit App)
u1---b1
u2---b2
u3---b3
b1---connect
b2---connect
b3---connect
subgraph server[Linux Server]
connect---qmd
connect---fastapi
connect---shiny
connect---streamlit
end
classDef server fill:#FAEEE9,stroke:#ab4d26
classDef product fill:#447099,stroke:#213D4F,color:#F2F2F2
classDef session fill:#7494B1,color:#F2F2F2,stroke:#213D4F
classDef element fill:#C2C2C4,stroke:#213D4F
class server server
class connect product
class qmd,fastapi,shiny,streamlit session
class u1,u2,u3,b1,b2,b3 element

Connect as a load-balanced cluster

Enhanced Advanced

In this configuration, Connect is installed on two or more Linux servers and enables:

  • Multiple publishers and viewers to access Connect via a web browser
  • Load balancing to provide additional computational resources for applications and reports
  • High availability to provide redundancy

Requirements

  • Application data must be stored on an external shared file server (typically an NFS server)
  • Application metadata must be stored on an external PostgreSQL database server

Generic architecture

The example diagram below shows sample content types deployed to Connect. The content data bundles are stored on Shared Storage, metadata is stored in a Postgres database. The content processes run on the Linux servers and are distributed according to the Load Balancer rules.

flowchart LR
u1(User)
u2(User)
u3(User)
b1(Browser)
b2(Browser)
b3(Browser)
lb(Load Balancer)
connect1(Connect)
connect2(Connect)
rmd(R Markdown)
jupyter(Jupyter Notebook)
qmd(Quarto)
plumber(Plumber API)
fastapi(FastAPI)
shiny(Shiny App)
streamlit(Streamlit App)
dash(Dash App)
nfs(Shared Storage)
pg(Postgres)
u1---b1
u2---b2
u3---b3
b1---lb
b2---lb
b3---lb
subgraph server1 [Linux Server]
    direction LR
    connect1---rmd
    connect1---jupyter
    connect1---fastapi
    connect1---dash
end
subgraph server2 [Linux Server]
    direction LR
    connect2---qmd
    connect2---plumber
    connect2---streamlit
    connect2---shiny
end
lb---server1
lb---server2
server1-.-nfs
server2-.-nfs
server1-.-pg
server2-.-pg
classDef server fill:#FAEEE9,stroke:#ab4d26
classDef product fill:#447099,stroke:#213D4F,color:#F2F2F2
classDef session fill:#7494B1,color:#F2F2F2,stroke:#213D4F
classDef element fill:#C2C2C4,stroke:#213D4F
classDef req fill:#72994E,stroke:#1F4F4F
class server1,server2 server
class connect1,connect2 product
class rmd,jupyter,qmd,plumber,fastapi,streamlit,dash,shiny session
class u1,u2,u3,b1,b2,b3,lb element
class pg,nfs req

Connect on Kubernetes

Advanced

In this configuration, Connect is installed in a Kubernetes cluster using a Posit-maintained Helm chart.

This enables:

  • Multiple publishers and viewers to access Connect via a web browser
  • Replica redundancy for multiple instances of the Connect service Pod
  • Execution of Python, R, and Quarto content in an isolated Kubernetes container external to Connect (instead of a local process)
  • Admins to define and customize the set of base images available for creating content build and execution containers
  • Publishers to target a specific base image for their content, or allow Connect to choose a best fit by comparing the available runtime version components

Requirements

  • Application data must be stored on a shared file server (can be inside or outside Kubernetes)
  • Application metadata must be stored on a PostgreSQL database server (can be inside or outside Kubernetes)

Generic architecture

The example diagram below shows sample content types deployed to Connect. The content data bundles are stored on Shared Storage, metadata is stored in a Postgres database. The content processes run as isolated pods on the Kubernetes cluster using either default or targeted base images.

flowchart LR
u1(User)
u2(User)
u3(User)
b1(Browser)
b2(Browser)
b3(Browser)
connect(Connect <br/> Launcher)
ingress(Ingress Controller<br/>nginx/nginx-ingress)
qmd(Quarto<br/>ghcr.io/example/content-base:r-40-py-3.11)
flask(Flask App<br/>ghcr.io/example/content-base:py-3.10)
shiny(Shiny App<br/>ghcr.io/example/content-base:r-4.4)
dash(Dash App<br/>ghcr.io/example/content-base:py-3.11)
pg(Postgres)
nfs(Shared Files)
u1---b1
u2---b2
u3---b3
b1---ingress
b2---ingress
b3---ingress
subgraph k8s [Kubernetes Cluster]
ingress---connect
connect---qmd
connect---flask
connect---shiny
connect---dash
end
k8s-..-nfs
k8s-..-pg
classDef server fill:#FAEEE9,stroke:#ab4d26
classDef product fill:#447099,stroke:#213D4F,color:#F2F2F2
classDef session fill:#7494B1,color:#F2F2F2,stroke:#213D4F
classDef element fill:#C2C2C4,stroke:#213D4F
classDef req fill:#72994E,stroke:#1F4F4F,color:#F2F2F2
class k8s server
class connect product
class ingress,qmd,flask,shiny,dash session
class u1,u2,u3,b1,b2,b3,lb element
class pg,nfs req

FAQ

See the Architecture FAQs page for more information for the general FAQ.