Binions can run on isolated and air-gapped hosts. Once a host has been set up and its licence activated, it keeps working on its own — it only needs the internet for a few specific things. This page explains what those things are, how an air-gapped installation works in principle, and what you should expect for licensing on a host with little or no connectivity.
Binions runs as a set of background services — we call them daemons — on a single Linux host. In day-to-day operation they talk only to each other over localhost. There are just two moments that reach outside your host:
.deb packages from the package repository over HTTPS.Crucially, a host that has already been activated keeps running through brief internet outages. The licence check has an offline grace period: if the host cannot reach the licence server when a periodic re-check is due, the daemons keep running for a grace window before they ask you to reconnect. So a short outage — or a host that is only occasionally online — does not stop your automations.
For the full list of hosts and ports Binions needs, and which of them are only required during installation, see Network requirements.
On a network with no internet access, the packages cannot be downloaded directly. The approach is to bring the packages onto your isolated network and install from there:
.deb files and serving them locally.apt as usual.This is the standard way to run apt-based software offline; it is the same pattern you would use to mirror any Debian or Ubuntu package archive. The Binions packages can be mirrored like any other apt repository — the platform does not require a special installer for this.
Provisional. We do not publish exact mirror commands here, because the right setup depends on your environment (how you stage the files, which mirror tool you use, and how your hosts reach it). Treat the steps above as the principle, not a fixed recipe. For the current supported air-gapped package layout, please contact us through your account.
For a normal single-host install on a connected machine, see Install via apt.
Licensing is the part that genuinely needs connectivity, at least once. Activating a licence on a host requires the host to reach the licence server one time, so it can be bound to that machine. After activation, the offline grace period described above covers later outages — the host keeps running between successful re-checks without needing a constant connection.
For a host that can never reach the licence server, fully air-gapped activation is handled on a case-by-case basis rather than through a self-service flow.
Important. If your host has no way to reach the licence server even once, do not assume a generic offline activation procedure. Check your account for the options available to you, or contact us so we can arrange the right approach for your environment. See Activating a licence for how normal activation works.
Updating an air-gapped host follows the same idea as installing one:
.deb files) so the new versions are available inside your network.apt update and apt upgrade on each host against the local source, exactly as you would online.Your licence keeps working throughout, as long as the host stays within its grace period — updating the packages does not require re-activation. If a host has been offline long enough that the grace period has lapsed, reconnect it briefly so it can re-verify, then carry on.
Need a fully air-gapped deployment? This page covers the principles and what is possible today. For the current supported end-to-end procedure — package staging and offline licensing for your specific environment — contact us through your account and we will guide you through it.