BOA Documentation
Welcome. BOA documentation is split into four guides, one per kind of reader. Pick the one that matches how you use BOA — each guide is written for you and stays in your language, so you won't trip over material meant for someone else.
This is the only page that points at all four. Once you're in a guide, everything links within that guide.
BOA is the armoured vehicle for the Ægir engine
Ægir is the proven open-source control panel that turns "install, clone, back up and upgrade a Drupal site" into a few clicks. BOA is everything underneath it — web server, database, PHP, firewall, backups — installed with a single command and then looking after itself: no babysitting, no sysadmin background required. It Just Works™.
→ Ægir vs BOA: what the stack adds
Which guide is for me?
🌊 Using BOA — for site owners on a hosted account
You log in to the Ægir control panel and your limited (SFTP) shell. You manage your own sites — create them, clone them, back them up, request SSL — but you don't run the server itself. No root, no installing.
⚓ Self-Hosting BOA — for running BOA on your own server
You have root on your own box and you want BOA to install, stay up to date, and recover when something breaks — without becoming a full-time sysadmin. Step by step, with safety rails.
🐙 Operating BOA — the advanced root reference
You run BOA in production and you know your way around Ægir and Linux. You want the complete reference: every control variable, threshold, tuning knob, the monitor stack, security internals, backups, performance.
🔧 Developing BOA — for BOA maintainers
You hack on BOA itself — the Barracuda/Octopus scripts and the Ægir forks. APIs, the build/test pipeline, the release and SKYNET mechanics.
Quick reference (any guide)
- Reference appendix — every control/INI variable, control file, and CLI command, each in a searchable index.
- Discontinued features — what BOA used to ship and what replaced it.