I've built an app for macOS that allows performing common SSH operations on Linux servers using a native GUI.
The problem:
Managing multiple Linux servers usually means juggling terminal windows and copy-pasting snippets/scripts. After dealing with tens of production/staging VPSes at previous jobs, I realized there had to be a better way for common operations I did on a daily basis than my collection of bash snippets.
Features:
- Quickly switch between different servers. Tag servers with arbitrary key values for easy search.
- Real-time dashboard with CPU/memory graphs, disk usage, and uptime.
- Table based interface for processes (sortable/filterable), Docker containers, systemd services, network ports, and system logs etc.
- Built-in file browser.
- Full-featured terminal when you need to drop to the command line.
You can check out the screenshots at https://serverbuddy.app/screenshots for a quick overview of the features supported.
All the above are done through SSH, there are no agents/scripts to install on your servers.
From using the app for a few weeks(admittedly a short duration), I can say I much prefer the ServerBuddy based workflow to my previous workflows.
Pricing:
Free forever for one server, $59 one-time for unlimited servers (includes 1 year of updates).
If you're a developer or sysadmin managing Linux servers from Mac, please do try out the app. I'd love your feedback regarding additional features/workflows etc.
Thank you!
c0balt•5mo ago
> Managing multiple Linux servers usually means juggling terminal windows and copy-pasting snippets/scripts. [...]
There is already a plethora of tooling for many of these points. Not a lot of GUI stuff but ansible seems to cover a lot of ground (inventory, organized playbooks instead of shell scripts). Ansible also "just" uses SSH as a transplrt mechanism.
This feels like a solution that tries to support a flawed workflow instead a solution improving the workflow itself.
mdaniel•5mo ago
But I also recognize that I'm not the target audience for a GUI management app so I don't mean to pile on the "you're holding it wrong" but I do mean to draw attention to any robust solution not getting stuck in a local minima or else the user will need a separate app for each mental model of what managing "a Linux" means
nativeit•5mo ago
The former is OSS, and I’m not sure how active its development is at this point, although it’s available in the App Store for desktop and mobile. RDM is proprietary, and also offers a mobile app.
dpraburaj•5mo ago
When I need to accomplish something relatively large and standard(e.g. two node MySQL installation with a replica), I'd reach for my Ansible playbooks.
However, there are certain one-off flows for which I think SB has a sweet spot. Let's say I'm an agency managing web apps for multiple clients with separate VPS(es)/bare metal servers for each client.
If I get a ticket saying something's wrong with one of their app or its dependencies(let's say MySQL), it would be very easy for me to check the container health in the Docker tab and then check the detailed logs in the Logs tab to identify the issue. During this investigation, I might also check the Ports and other tabs to check external connectivity.
Another quick one off flow I can think of is to quickly check if everything's working after running an Anisble playbook on my server(s).
It might be worth writing Ansible playbooks for these workflows if one keeps finds they're doing them over and over, but I feel that a GUI option has some merit as well.
c0balt•5mo ago
That does make a lot more sense. Apologies if the initial comment came off to negative there, I'm likely just not the target audience.
I wish you the best of luck with your product.
mekster•5mo ago