Announcing Self-Hosted Remote State and Remote Apply

env0 Remote Backend (RBE) stands out as one of our platform's more popular features, designed to improve developer velocity while ensuring the reliability of your production environment(s). 

Using it helps organizations ensure consistency and track changes, while also having us handle security, help manage access controls, etc.  Moreover, users also gain the advantage of automatic code configuration during deployment and the ability to launch [.code]plan[.code] commands locally while executing them remotely.

In this post, I'll highlight two new improvements we've made to our Remote Backend with the introduction of Self-Hosted Remote State and Remote Apply. Two new features that address common requests from our customers.

Remote Apply

Let’s start with Remote Apply first. This new feature enables our users to run [.code]terraform apply[.code] (or [.code]tofu apply[.code]) using local, uncommitted changes, while benefitting from remote runs with custom flows, remotely stored shared variables, and secrets, all in a seemingly local experience.

This can be helpful in several ways. For example, it can streamline testing and enable rapid iterations without the necessity of going through Version Control Systems (VCS). Perfect for swift debugging development environments, it maintains visibility, audibility, and collaboration, even when running with local unstaged changes!

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As development organizations mature and place a greater emphasis on velocity, features like Remote Apply become increasingly valued for their ability to enhance the dev experience and streamline processes.

This, in turn, frees up time and mental space for innovation, ultimately benefiting the business.

It's important to note that Remote Apply is not intended for use in staging or production environments. This is something you can ensure with our RBAC,  coupled with the ability to selectively activate Remote Apply only for specific environments, as shown below:

Self-Hosted Cloud Backend

The Self-Hosted Remote State is the other new feature we’re introducing today. This new feature is designed to address a specific use case observed among some of our larger customers, allowing env0 users to leverage all the benefits of Remote Plan and Remote Apply, while keeping state stored on their own infrastructure.

We've identified a scenario where certain customers, due to specific requirements and internal processes, prefer to manage their state files in their own hosted environments.

Self-Hosted Remote State provides a solution by enabling you to seamlessly connect env0 to a state file stored in your AWS S3 bucket. This allows you to continue running [.code]plan[.code] and [.code]apply[.code] in our remote backend, ensuring a smooth integration with your existing internal workflows and processes and keep storing your state on your own infrastructure.

It needs to be said...

Our platform is highly secure—it meets SOC-2 standards, uses strong encryption, and is built for high availability. This is crucial because env0 is trusted by many tech leaders, security companies, and financial institutions who do their due diligence and, like us, take security seriously. 

Still, we get that every organization has its way of doing things. Our job is to understand what our customers need and give them options. Because it’s always a good thing to have more options.

env0: Best Backend in the Biz

Remote deployments are now par for the course in Infrastructure-as-Code specifically and cloud in general. The addition of Remote Apply and Self-Hosted Remote State features provides our users with even more flexibility when it comes to reliable state management. 

To learn about these new features and our solution, schedule a technical demo and see env0 in action!