---
id: index
title: Vantage documentation
sidebar_label: Overview
slug: /
---

# Vantage documentation

Vantage manages a fleet of servers from one place: SSH keys, scripted workflows,
service monitoring, a secrets vault, browser consoles and OS updates. Run it
yourself, or let us run it for you.

A central server drives a lightweight agent installed on each managed machine.
The agent connects **outbound only**, so managed servers need no inbound
firewall holes.

## Where to start

| If you want to                          | Read                                                            |
| --------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Understand what the pieces are          | [What is Vantage](./getting-started/what-is-vantage.md)         |
| Decide who should run it                | [Cloud or self-hosted](./getting-started/cloud-vs-self-hosted.md) |
| Run it on your own hardware             | [Self-hosted install](./getting-started/self-hosted-install.md) |
| Licence a self-hosted install           | [Claim a Free licence](./getting-started/claim-free-licence.md) |
| Enrol your first machine                | [Add your first server](./getting-started/first-server.md)      |
| Manage your account, licence or billing | [Vantage HQ](./hq/accounts-and-signup.md)                       |
| Look something up                       | [Reference](./reference/environment-variables.md)               |

## The two products

**Vantage** is the control plane, the thing you sign in to in order to manage
servers. It runs either on your own infrastructure or as a cloud instance we
run for you.

**Vantage HQ** is the portal at `vantage-hq.hostxtra.co.uk` where you manage the
account behind those instances: who is on your team, which instances exist, what
licence each one holds and how it is billed. HQ never manages your servers, and
a Vantage instance never depends on HQ being reachable in order to run.