Instances

An instance in oCore is a running Odoo application deployed as a Docker container on a managed server. Each instance has its own database, network ports, and configuration, and can be independently started, stopped, restarted, and scaled.

How instances work

Each Odoo instance runs as an isolated Docker container on a managed server. oCore handles:

Container lifecycle -- Creating, starting, stopping, restarting, and removing containers
Database provisioning -- Creating a dedicated PostgreSQL database for each instance
Port allocation -- Assigning unique network ports for the Odoo web interface, longpolling, and development tools
Configuration -- Managing the Odoo configuration file (odoo.conf) with the correct database, port, and module settings

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Instance lifecycle

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Status	Description
Creating	Docker image being pulled, database being created, container being started
Running	Instance is healthy and serving requests
Stopped	Container is stopped, database preserved, can be restarted
Restarting	Container is being restarted (e.g., after config change)
Failed	Creation or startup failed (check deployment logs)
Removing	Instance being cleaned up asynchronously

Stopping an instance preserves its database and configuration. You can restart a stopped instance at any time without data loss. Only deleting an instance removes its data.

Odoo configuration

Each instance can be configured with:

Setting	Description	Default
Odoo version	The Odoo release version (e.g., 17.0, 16.0)	Latest stable
Edition	Community (free) or Enterprise (requires license)	Community
Workers	Number of Odoo worker processes for request handling	Auto (based on CPU)
Max memory	Maximum memory per worker process (soft limit)	2048 MB
DB filter	Database name filter for multi-database setups	Instance database
Custom modules	Path to custom Odoo modules from Git repository	None

Odoo editions

Community -- The open-source edition of Odoo, free to use. Includes core modules (CRM, Sales, Inventory, Accounting, etc.) and the standard web client.
Enterprise -- The proprietary edition with additional modules (Studio, IoT, Quality, etc.) and the enterprise web client. Requires a valid Odoo license subscription.

Port allocation

Each instance receives three network ports on the host server:

Port	Purpose	Example
Base port	Odoo web interface	`10000`
Base + 1	Longpolling (live chat, real-time notifications)	`10001`
Base + 2	Mailpit (development email testing)	`10002`

Ports are allocated sequentially with a gap of 10 between instances. The first instance on a server gets ports 10000-10002, the second gets 10010-10012, and so on.

Ensure the allocated ports are not blocked by the server's firewall. If you are using a reverse proxy, configure it to forward traffic to the correct ports.

Container management

oCore manages Odoo containers through Docker on the target server via SSH. Available operations:

Start / Stop / Restart

Start -- Starts a stopped container. The database is preserved from the previous run.
Stop -- Gracefully stops the container (SIGTERM, then SIGKILL after timeout). Database connections are closed cleanly.
Restart -- Stops and starts the container. Useful after configuration changes or module updates.

Logs

Container logs (stdout/stderr from Odoo) are accessible through the dashboard. Logs include:

Odoo startup messages
Module loading and upgrade output
Request logs (when --log-level=info)
Error tracebacks and warnings

Shell access

For advanced debugging, you can access a shell session inside the Odoo container through the oCore SSH gateway. This provides direct access to the Odoo filesystem, configuration files, and the Odoo shell.

Database management

Each instance has a dedicated PostgreSQL database. oCore manages:

Creation -- Automatic database provisioning when the instance is created
Backups -- Scheduled and on-demand database backups (see Deployments for pre-deploy snapshots)
Restoration -- Restore from a backup to roll back changes
Duplication -- Clone an instance's database for testing purposes

Resource limits

oCore can enforce resource limits on instances to prevent a single Odoo installation from consuming all server resources:

CPU shares -- Relative CPU priority between containers
Memory limit -- Hard limit on container memory usage
Worker count -- Number of Odoo worker processes (directly affects CPU and memory usage)

As a guideline, each Odoo worker process consumes approximately 150-300 MB of RAM. A server with 4 GB RAM can comfortably run 2-3 instances with 2-4 workers each.