Self-hosted BI with Apache Superset

Problem

Deploy an open-source BI platform end-to-end on cloud infrastructure and prove it’s production-usable — more than a login screen — with real data, dashboards, and role-based access.

Approach

• Provisioned on Azure: Resource Group, VNet + subnet, Network Security Group, Ubuntu VM, Docker Compose (Superset + PostgreSQL + Redis).
• Locked the NSG down: opened port 8088 intentionally, kept SSH on 22 restricted to my IP, denied everything else inbound.
• Proved it was real: uploaded CSVs, built a working dashboard, configured Admin / Alpha / Gamma RBAC roles.
• Repeated the stack on AWS EC2 and worked through the differences (dnf vs apt, Docker Compose not bundled, 8088 over an SSH tunnel).

Stack

Outcome

• A working BI deployment with dashboards and RBAC, reproduced on two different clouds.
• Hard-won deployment-friction lessons: architecture diagrams show intent — deployment shows what you actually understand.