Server Administration

Manage your Formlander server - CLI, backups, logs, and troubleshooting

Everything you need to run Formlander on your server.

Formlander Manager

The formlander CLI handles installation, updates, and maintenance.

curl -fsSL https://formlander.com/install | sudo bash

The installer prompts for your domain, configures SSL, sets up Caddy, and starts Docker containers.

Commands

Command	Description
`formlander install`	Install Formlander
`formlander update`	Update to latest version (backs up DB first)
`formlander reload`	Restart with current config
`formlander restore-db`	Interactive backup restore
`formlander change-admin-password`	Reset admin password
`formlander version`	Show version

Directory Structure

/opt/formlander/
├── .env                          # Configuration
├── Caddyfile                     # Web server config
├── logs/
│   ├── caddy.log
│   ├── formlander.log
│   └── updater.log
└── storage/
    ├── backups/                  # Database backups
    ├── uploads/                  # File uploads
    └── formlander-production.db  # Database

Configuration

Stored in /opt/formlander/.env:

FORMLANDER_DOMAIN=forms.example.com
APP_IMAGE=karloscodes/formlander:latest
FORMLANDER_SESSION_SECRET=your-secret

Logs

tail -f /opt/formlander/logs/formlander.log   # App logs
tail -f /opt/formlander/logs/caddy.log        # Web server
tail -f /opt/formlander/logs/updater.log      # Auto-updater

Database

sqlite3 /opt/formlander/storage/formlander-production.db

Backups

Automatic Backups

The manager creates a backup before every update (runs daily at 3 AM).

Type	Retention
Daily	7 days
Weekly	14 days
Monthly	90 days

Location: /opt/formlander/storage/backups/

Restore anytime: formlander restore-db

Off-Server Backups

These backups live on the same server. If the server dies, backups die too.

Pick one off-server strategy:

Strategy	Effort	Protection
VPS snapshots	Low	Your provider handles it. Enable weekly snapshots in your VPS dashboard.
rsync to another server	Medium	Cron job copies backups nightly.

VPS snapshots are the simplest. Most providers (Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Linode) offer them for a few dollars/month.

rsync example (daily at 2 AM):

0 2 * * * rsync -az /opt/formlander/storage/backups/ user@backup-server:/backups/formlander/

Automatic Maintenance

Runs nightly at 3:00 AM:

Updates Formlander to latest version
Creates database backup
Rotates logs

Server Requirements

Resource	Minimum
CPU	1 vCPU
RAM	512MB
Storage	10GB SSD

Network: Ports 80/443 open for Let’s Encrypt and HTTPS.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Container won’t start	`docker logs formlander-app`
SSL issues	Check DNS points to server, ports 80/443 open
Database locked	Ensure only one instance: `docker ps \| grep formlander`

Uninstall

docker stop formlander-app formlander-caddy
docker rm formlander-app formlander-caddy
rm -rf /opt/formlander
rm /usr/local/bin/formlander