The dashboard is the main control surface for Stack Harbor PaaS. Every operation available through the Platform CLI or API has a visual equivalent here. Use this page as a reference to find any control in the dashboard and understand what it does.
A short interactive walkthrough is built into the dashboard at Help → Tutorial.
What this covers
- Creating an environment through the Topology Wizard.
- Environment list columns and the complete set of status labels.
- Actions available on each environment row.
- The twelve Environment Settings entries.
- Per-layer and per-node action icons.
- Import dialog, Marketplace, environment groups, and dashboard search.
- Deployment Manager and Tasks Panel.
- User Settings and the Help / Account menus.
Dashboard overview
- prod-app Running
- staging-app Sleeping
- mysql-prod Running
The top bar carries:
- New Environment and Import — create or restore environments.
- Marketplace — one-click applications and add-ons.
- Search — full-text search across environments, containers, and Marketplace (see Dashboard search).
- User settings, Help, and Account menus at the right edge.
The bottom bar carries the Deployment Manager and Tasks Panel (see those sections below).
Creating an environment
- Click New Environment in the top-left of the dashboard.
- The Topology Wizard opens. Select the layers you need — load balancer, application server, database, cache, build node. Each layer exposes per-layer settings: runtime version, cloudlet limits, region, SSL, and high-availability options.
- Type a name in the Environment Name field at the bottom of the wizard.
- Click Create.
Create environment
Runtime stack
Topology layers
1 cloudlet = 128 MiB RAM + 200 MHz CPU
Once created, the environment appears in the list and moves through Creating → Launching → Running (see status table below).
Environment list
Each environment occupies one row. The columns are:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name / Alias | The environment name (e.g. prod-app). If an alias is set, it appears as the primary label; the technical name is shown below or on hover. |
| Status | The current lifecycle state (see table below). |
| Tags | Environment groups and, in multi-region deployments, a region badge. Click a region badge to filter the list to that region. |
| Usage | Aggregated resource consumption across all nodes in the environment — typically cloudlets consumed, storage used, and traffic. |
Environment status labels
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Running | All nodes are up and serving traffic. Full action set available. |
| Sleeping | The environment has been suspended automatically after a period of inactivity (where sleep-on-idle is configured). Containers are paused; storage is intact. The environment wakes when traffic arrives or you click Start. |
| Stopped | Manually stopped. Containers are not running; storage is intact. Only a reduced action set is available (see Stopped-environment limitations). |
| Creating | Initial provisioning: containers are being allocated and the base image is being applied. |
| Launching | Provisioning complete; the runtime is starting inside the containers. |
| Stopping | A stop was requested; containers are shutting down gracefully. |
| Cloning | A clone operation is in progress. The source environment remains accessible. |
| Redeploying | A container redeploy is running — a new image tag is being applied to one or more nodes. |
| Exporting | The environment is being packed into a downloadable archive. |
| Installing | A Marketplace package or JPS manifest is being applied to the environment. |
| Migrating | The environment is being moved to another region. The environment is unavailable during migration. |
| Deleting | Deletion is in progress; this is irreversible once started. |
Stopped-environment limitations
When an environment is in the Stopped state, the available action set is reduced. Only Settings, Clone, Start, and Delete are shown on the row. You cannot open the environment in the browser, change topology, or use per-node actions until the environment is running again.
Environment row actions
Hover over a running environment row to reveal the action strip.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Set Alias | Assign a friendly display name to the environment. The alias appears as the primary label in the list; the technical domain name is unchanged. |
| Open in Browser | Opens the environment’s entry URL in a new browser tab. Only shown when the topology includes an application server or load balancer with a public endpoint. |
| Settings | Opens the Environment Settings panel (twelve entries — see Environment Settings). |
| Change Environment Topology | Re-opens the Topology Wizard to add, remove, or resize layers without destroying the environment. |
| Clone Environment | Duplicates the environment under a new name. The dashboard transitions the clone through Cloning → Running. |
| Start / Stop | Toggles the runtime state. Running environments show Stop; stopped or sleeping environments show Start. |
| Delete Environment | Permanently deletes the environment and all its data. Requires password confirmation. This is irreversible. |
| Add/Edit Env Groups | Assign the environment to one or more environment groups for filtering and network isolation (see Environment groups). |
Environment Settings
Click Settings on any environment row to open the settings panel. Twelve entries are available.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Custom Domains | Bind a CNAME or A record to the environment and configure domain swap (switch traffic between domains without DNS propagation delay). |
| Custom SSL | Upload your own certificate and private key. Requires an application server or load balancer with a public IP. The platform handles installation and renewal reminders. |
| SSH Access | Manage SSH public keys for client access, view SSH Gate connection details and Web SSH configuration, and configure SFTP and FISH access. |
| Endpoints | Map TCP or UDP ports on a container to externally reachable ports through the Shared Load Balancer. Use this to expose non-HTTP services without attaching a public IP. |
| Firewall | Configure inbound and outbound rules at the container level. Rules are applied per-node in the environment. See Container firewall rules for the full rule syntax. |
| Load Alerts | Define thresholds for CPU, RAM, network traffic, disk I/O, or IOPS. When a threshold is crossed, the platform sends an email to the configured recipients. The History tab lists alerts that have fired. |
| Auto Horizontal Scaling | Configure triggers that add or remove nodes in a layer based on resource usage. Conditions can target CPU, RAM, network, or disk metrics, with configurable scale-up and scale-down cooldown periods. |
| Collaboration | Grant other Stack Harbor accounts access to this environment. You can optionally allow the collaborator to change the environment topology or use SSH. |
| Change Owner | Transfer the environment to another account on the same platform. Useful for handing off a project or moving between team accounts. |
| Migration | Move the environment to a different region. The environment is unavailable for the duration of the migration. |
| Export | Pack the environment topology and data into a single downloadable file for backup or transfer. Note: Windows, Storage, Elastic VPS, Maven, and custom Docker containers export topology only — their data must be transferred separately. |
| Info | Read-only summary: environment domain, owner account, creator account, region, and creation date. |
Per-layer and per-node actions
Click an environment row to expand it and reveal its layer topology. Each layer (load balancer, application server, database, cache) shows its nodes as sub-rows. Hover over a layer header or an individual node to reveal the action icon strip for that target.
The following icons may appear on a layer or node row, depending on the layer type:
| Icon / Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Set Alias | Assign a display name to this specific node, separate from the environment alias. |
| Open in Browser | Open this node’s URL in a new tab (only available when the node has a public endpoint). |
| Restart Node(s) | Gracefully restart the container process on this node or all nodes in the layer. |
| Config | Open the built-in file manager and configuration editor for this container’s filesystem. Edit config files, .env files, and app configs directly. |
| Log | Open the log viewer for this container. Streams stdout and available application log files. |
| Statistics | Open the resource usage graphs for this node: CPU, RAM, network in/out, disk I/O, and IOPS over configurable time windows. |
| Web SSH | Open a browser-based SSH session to this container via the SSH Gate. No local SSH client required. |
| Redeploy Container(s) | Apply a new container image tag to this node or all nodes in the layer. The platform handles the rollout; data in mounted volumes is preserved. |
| Add-Ons | View and manage add-ons installed on this node (for example, Let’s Encrypt, FTP/FTPS, backup agents). |
| Remote Desktop | Open a browser-based RDP session (available on Windows-based containers only). |
| Variables | View and edit environment variables scoped to this container. Changes take effect on the next container restart. |
| Links | Configure cross-layer links so this container can reach another layer’s nodes by hostname alias. |
| Volumes | View and configure persistent volume mounts for this container. See Container volumes. |
| CMD / Entry Point | Override the container’s default command and entry point. Useful for customizing how a Docker-based container starts. |
| SFTP | Display SFTP connection details for this node (host, port, username, SSH key). |
| Scaling Nodes | Change the horizontal node count for this layer directly from the node strip, without reopening the Topology Wizard. |
| Reset Password | Reset the service password for this node (available on database nodes). The new password is shown once and sent by email. |
| Admin Panel Login | Open the database admin panel (for example, phpMyAdmin for MySQL, Adminer for PostgreSQL) directly in the browser, authenticated automatically. |
Import
The Import button next to New Environment creates or restores an environment from a manifest file.
Accepted file formats: .json, .jps, .cs, .yml, .yaml.
The Import dialog has three tabs:
| Tab | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Local File | Upload a manifest file from your machine. |
| URL | Paste a URL pointing to a manifest hosted on a web server or Git repository. |
| JPS | Paste or type JSON or YAML directly into the built-in editor. Useful for testing or modifying a manifest before running it. |
Use Import to:
- Create a new environment from an exported environment archive.
- Apply a JPS package to an existing environment.
- Restore a topology from another Stack Harbor installation.
Marketplace
Click Marketplace to open the application and add-on catalog. Search by name or browse by category. Click Install on a package, fill in any prompts, and the platform provisions the package into a new or existing environment.
See the Application marketplace reference for the full catalog and install options.
Environment groups
Group environments to keep large accounts organized. Typical grouping schemes: by project (crm, data-pipeline), by stage (dev, staging, prod), or by function (databases, services, storage). Subgroups are supported.
To assign an environment to a group, hover over its row and click Add/Edit Env Groups.
By default, environments in the same account can reach each other over the platform’s internal network. Enable network isolation on a group to restrict inter-environment traffic: only environments in the same isolated group can communicate. Use this to enforce a hard boundary between production and non-production environments.
Dashboard search
The search box is at the top-right of the dashboard. Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+F (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+F (macOS).
Search covers environments by name or alias, containers by hostname, deployed project names, and Marketplace packages.
| Operator | Effect |
|---|---|
term | Match environments or nodes containing term. |
-term | Exclude results containing term. |
* | Wildcard — matches any sequence of characters. For example, prod-* matches prod-app, prod-db. |
The search form also offers category filters:
- Environments only.
- IPs only (find which environment owns a given IP address).
- Exclude Marketplace results.
- Scope the search to the current group rather than the whole account.
A help panel inside the search form documents the full operator set.
Deployment Manager
The Deployment Manager tab runs along the bottom of the dashboard and stores reusable application artifacts.
| Tab | What it stores |
|---|---|
| Archive | Application packages uploaded from your machine or fetched from an external URL (ZIP, WAR, JAR, EAR, and similar). |
| Git / SVN | Repository credentials for source-controlled projects. Store a repo URL and authentication so it can be reused across deployments. |
Once an artifact is registered in the Deployment Manager, you can deploy or redeploy it to any running environment in one click, without re-uploading or re-entering credentials.
Tasks Panel
The Tasks Panel tab runs alongside the Deployment Manager at the bottom of the dashboard. It shows live and historical operations.
- Create environment prod-app 4m ago 48s Done
- Deploy prod-app nodejs-api 3m ago 12s Done
- Add node prod-app 2m ago 2m 14s… Running
- Redeploy container mysql-prod 18m ago 31s Done
- Migration staging-app 1h ago 4m 2s Failed
Each row in the Tasks Panel shows:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Status | Spinner (in progress), green dot (success), red dot (failure). |
| Time | Start time of the operation. Rows are ordered newest-first and grouped by day. |
| Environment | The target environment, or — if the operation is account-level. |
| Task | A description of the operation (for example, “Start environment”, “Clone environment”, “Redeploy container”). |
| Duration | Elapsed execution time, shown after the task completes. |
Expand any row to see the full action parameters sent to the platform and the server response. If the operation was triggered by a collaborator, their email address appears in the expanded view.
Reporting errors
A failed task row (red dot) shows a Report to support link. Clicking it opens a pre-filled support request addressed to Stack Harbor support, with the task ID and error detail attached.
Active Log
For deeper history, switch to the Active Log view (the magnifying-glass icon next to the Tasks Panel label).
2026-05-30 14:23:11 UTC
ERROR
deploy-hook
deploy hook exited non-zero (exit 1): post-receive script failed at step finalize
2026-05-30 14:21:44 UTC
ERROR
healthcheck
health check failed: 502 from nodejs-api node 2 — upstream not ready
2026-05-30 14:21:39 UTC
ERROR
healthcheck
health check failed: 502 from nodejs-api node 2 — retrying (attempt 3/3)
2026-05-30 14:18:02 UTC
ERROR
certbot
TLS cert renew failed: DNS-01 challenge timeout after 60s for api.prod-app.example.com
2026-05-30 13:59:07 UTC
ERROR
migration
migration step 4/7 failed: ALTER TABLE users: lock wait timeout exceeded (innodb_lock_wait_timeout=50)
Active Log capabilities:
- Full-text search across task parameters and server responses.
- Custom date ranges — select any window in the platform’s retention period.
- Errors only filter — show only failed operations across all environments.
User Settings
Click the Settings icon (or your avatar) at the top-right to open account-level settings.
| Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Account | Two-factor authentication toggle and password change. |
| Access Tokens | Generate and manage personal access tokens for the Platform API and CLI. |
| SSH Keys / SSH Access | Manage public keys used to authenticate SSH sessions to your containers (via SSH Gate or direct SSH). Manage private keys used for Git-over-SSH when deploying from private repositories. View connection instructions and SFTP/Direct SSH details. |
| Collaboration | Two lists: environments you have shared with other accounts, and environments shared with you by others. |
Help and Account menus
The Help dropdown at the top-right links to:
- Stack Harbor support.
- Stack Harbor Documentation (this site).
- Platform API reference.
- Platform CLI reference.
- The interactive dashboard Tutorial.
The Account dropdown at the top-right contains:
- User settings shortcut.
- Dashboard language selector.
- Sign out.