Installation Method Selection
Compare Platform methods (Helm, Ansible) vs individual product installers. Helm and Ansible are recommended for production.
Compare deploying the full JFrog Platform (Helm or Ansible) with installing individual products and choose the right installation method.
When To Use This Page
Use this page when comparing installation approaches before committing to an implementation.
Use a Platform Method for All New Deployments
Use a Platform method (Helm or Ansible) for all new deployments, even if you only need one product today. You can enable just Artifactory and add Xray, Distribution, or others later with no reinstallation required.
Platform vs Individual Products
| Full Platform | Individual Products | |
|---|---|---|
| Install method | Single Helm chart or Ansible playbook | Separate installer per product |
| Products included | All: enable what you need | One at a time |
| Management | Unified UI and configuration | Separate per product |
| Integration | Native (Artifactory + Xray share data automatically) | Manual setup |
| Upgrades | Coordinated across products | Individual per product |
| Add products later | Toggle in config, no reinstall | Separate installation |
| Best for | All deployments | Existing standalone setups, specific constraints |
Platform Methods (Recommended)
Deploy the JFrog Platform from a single installation flow with unified configuration and coordinated upgrades.
| Helm chart | Ansible | |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | Kubernetes (OpenShift as well) | VMs and bare-metal |
| Products | All (Artifactory, Xray, Distribution, Catalog, Workers, Bridge Client, AppTrust, JAS) | Core (Artifactory, Xray, Distribution) |
| Production ready | Yes | Yes |
| HA support | Built-in (replicaCount, HPA) | Built-in (serial mode) |
| Scaling | HPA / replicas | Manual |
| Automation | Helm | Ansible playbooks |
| Secrets management | Kubernetes Secrets, Vault, IRSA | Ansible Vault |
| Best for | Kubernetes (including OpenShift) environments | VM-based / bare-metal environments |
Platform Installation with Helm Charts
Recommended. Deploy all JFrog products on Kubernetes (including OpenShift) from a single chart. Supports HA, auto-scaling, and GitOps
Platform Installation with Ansible
Deploy all core JFrog products on VMs and bare-metal with automated roles for Artifactory, Xray, Distribution, and PostgreSQL
Individual Product Methods
Deploy JFrog products separately, with one installer and configuration per product. Use this approach only when:
- You have an existing standalone deployment and are not ready to migrate.
- You have a specific constraint (for example, regulatory or tooling) that prevents using a platform method.
| Docker / Docker Compose | RPM / Debian Packages | Linux Archive | Windows | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | Docker hosts | RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian | Any Linux | Windows Server |
| Products | Per product (separate containers) | Per product (separate packages) | Per product | Artifactory only |
| Production ready | Limited | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| HA support | Limited | Manual | Manual | No |
| Scaling | Manual | Manual | Manual | Manual |
| Best for | Existing Docker setups, dev environments | Existing Linux server setups | Minimal dependency installs | Windows-only environments |
Supported Installation Methods by Product
| Method | Artifactory | Xray | Distribution | Catalog | JAS | Workers | Bridge Client | AppTrust |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helm (Kubernetes) | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported |
| Ansible (VM/Bare-metal) | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported |
| Docker / Docker Compose | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ❌ Not supported |
| RPM | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported |
| Debian | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported |
| Linux Archive | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ✅ Supported | ❌ Not supported |
| Windows Archive | ✅ Supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported |
Next Steps
- Finalize topology in Single Node vs High Availability
- Choose and start the path in Choose Your Installation Path
Updated 10 days ago