Cluster Setup

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Overview

Running Formbricks as a cluster of multiple instances offers several key advantages:

• High Availability: Ensure your surveys remain accessible even if some instances fail

• Load Distribution: Handle higher traffic by distributing requests across multiple instances

• Scalability: Easily scale horizontally by adding more instances as your needs grow

• Zero-Downtime Updates: Rolling updates without service interruption

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Requirements

To run Formbricks in a cluster setup, you’ll need:

• Enterprise Edition license key

• Shared PostgreSQL database

• Shared Redis cache for session management and caching

• Load balancer to distribute traffic

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Architecture

The Formbricks cluster setup consists of multiple components working together to provide a scalable and highly available system. Here’s a detailed overview of the architecture:

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Component Description

1. Formbricks Cluster

   • Multiple Formbricks instances (1..n) running in parallel
   • Each instance is stateless and can handle any incoming request
   • Automatic failover if any instance becomes unavailable

2. PostgreSQL Database

   • Primary database storing all survey, response, and contact data
   • Optional high-availability setup with primary-replica configuration
   • Handles all persistent data storage needs

3. Redis Cluster

   • Acts as a distributed cache layer
   • Improves performance by caching frequently accessed data
   • Can be configured in HA mode with primary-replica setup
   • Handles session management and real-time features

4. S3 Compatible Storage

   • Stores file uploads and attachments
   • Can be any S3-compatible storage service (AWS S3, MinIO, etc.)
   • Provides reliable and scalable file storage

5. Load Balancer

   • Distributes incoming traffic across all Formbricks instances
   • Performs health checks and removes unhealthy instances
   • Ensures even load distribution and high availability

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Redis Configuration

Configure Redis by adding the following environment variables to your instances:

REDIS_URL=redis://your-redis-host:6379
REDIS_HTTP_URL=http://your-redis-host:8000

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S3 Configuration

Configure S3 storage by adding the following environment variables to your instances:

# Required for file uploads in serverless environments
S3_ACCESS_KEY=your-access-key
S3_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key
S3_REGION=your-region
S3_BUCKET_NAME=your-bucket-name

# For S3-compatible storage (e.g., StorJ, MinIO)
# Leave empty for Amazon S3
S3_ENDPOINT_URL=https://your-s3-compatible-endpoint

# Enable for S3-compatible storage that requires path style
# 0 for disabled, 1 for enabled
S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE=0

When using S3 in a cluster setup, ensure that:

• All Formbricks instances have access to the same S3 bucket
• The bucket has appropriate CORS settings configured
• IAM roles/users have sufficient permissions for read/write operations

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Kubernetes Setup

Formbricks provides an official Helm chart for deploying the entire cluster stack on Kubernetes. The Helm chart is available in the Formbricks GitHub repository.

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Features of the Helm Chart

The Helm chart provides a complete deployment solution that includes:

• Formbricks application with configurable replicas
• PostgreSQL database (with optional HA configuration)
• Redis cluster for caching
• Optional Traefik ingress controller for routing and SSL termination
• Automatic configuration of dependencies and networking

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Installation Steps

1. Add the Formbricks Helm repository:

helm repo add formbricks https://raw.githubusercontent.com/formbricks/formbricks/main/helm-chart
helm repo update

2. Install the chart:

helm install formbricks formbricks/formbricks

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Configuration Options

The Helm chart can be customized using a values.yaml file to configure:

• Number of Formbricks replicas
• Resource limits and requests
• Database configuration
• Redis settings
• Ingress rules and TLS
• Environment variables and secrets

Refer to the Helm chart documentation for detailed configuration options and examples.