On-premise vs SaaS
Choose between Harness Chaos Engineering SaaS and Self-Managed Enterprise Edition deployment options
Harness Chaos Engineering offers two deployment options to meet your organization's requirements. Choose between the fully managed SaaS solution or deploy the Self-Managed Enterprise Edition on-premises.
Harness Chaos Engineering SaaS
Overview
Harness SaaS is a fully managed, cloud-hosted solution that provides immediate access to chaos engineering capabilities without infrastructure setup or maintenance overhead.
Key Features
Quick Setup: Start running chaos experiments within minutes
Managed Infrastructure: No need to manage underlying platform components
Automatic Updates: Always access the latest features and patches
Enterprise ChaosHub: Built-in access to 200+ pre-built chaos faults
AI Support: AI Development Assistant for creating governance policies
What's Included
Complete Platform: Full chaos engineering capabilities out-of-the-box
Enterprise ChaosHub: Access to comprehensive fault library
Harness AI: AI assistant for policy creation and optimization
Managed Services: Platform maintenance handled by Harness
Standard Integrations: Built-in connectors for popular tools
Ideal For
Organizations wanting to get started quickly
Teams focused on application development over infrastructure
Companies with standard compliance requirements
Development and testing environments
Self-Managed Enterprise Edition (On-Premise)
Overview
The Self-Managed Enterprise Edition allows you to run Harness Chaos Engineering entirely within your own infrastructure, providing complete control over your chaos engineering environment.
Key Features
Complete Data Control: All data remains within your infrastructure
Feature Parity: Same capabilities as SaaS with minor timeline differences
Network Isolation: Deploy in air-gapped or restricted environments
Custom Configuration: Tailor the platform to your specific needs
Enterprise Integration: LDAP, SSO, and custom authentication
Architecture Components
Chaos Control Plane: Manages experiments and orchestration
Database Layer: MongoDB and TimescaleDB for data storage
Monitoring Stack: Prometheus and Grafana for observability
Authentication Service: User management and access control
Load Balancer: NGINX or Istio virtual services
Infrastructure Requirements
Minimum Requirements
CPU: 16 cores total
Memory: 32 GB RAM
Storage: 500 GB SSD
Kubernetes: v1.21+ (any CNCF-certified distribution)
Recommended for Production
CPU: 32+ cores
Memory: 64+ GB RAM
Storage: 1+ TB NVMe SSD
High Availability: Multi-node setup with redundancy
Deployment Options
Cloud: Deploy on public cloud Kubernetes services
Connected: On-premises with internet connectivity
Air-gapped: Completely isolated environments
Signed Certificates: Custom certificate management
Limitations Compared to SaaS
Enterprise ChaosHub: Not connected by default
Contact Harness Support for access
Can be added as a custom ChaosHub
Harness AI: AI Development Assistant not available
Updates: Manual deployment of platform updates required
Maintenance: Customer responsibility for platform operations
Feature Comparison
Setup Time
Minutes
Days to Weeks
Platform Maintenance
Managed by Harness
Customer Responsibility
Feature Updates
Automatic
Manual Deployment
Enterprise ChaosHub
✅ Included
❌ Requires Setup
Harness AI
✅ Available
❌ Not Available
Data Location
Harness Cloud
Customer Infrastructure
Air-gapped Deployment
❌ Not Supported
✅ Supported
Custom Integrations
Standard APIs
Full API Access
Compliance Control
Shared Responsibility
Full Customer Control
Supported Platforms (Both Deployments)
Both SaaS and Self-Managed Enterprise Edition support the same target platforms:
Kubernetes Distributions
Amazon EKS (k8s 1.21+)
Azure AKS (k8s 1.21+)
Google GKE (k8s 1.21+)
Red Hat OpenShift (k8s 1.21+)
Rancher (k8s 1.21+)
VMware Tanzu (k8s 1.21+)
Self-managed clusters (k8s 1.21+)
Operating Systems
Ubuntu 16.04+
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7+
CentOS 7+
Debian 10+
Fedora 30+
openSUSE Leap 15.4+
Chaos Fault Categories
Both deployments support the same fault types across Linux, Kubernetes, Windows, VMware, AWS, GCP, and Azure platforms.
Making the Decision
Choose SaaS If You:
Want to get started quickly with minimal setup
Prefer managed services and automatic updates
Need immediate access to Enterprise ChaosHub
Want to use Harness AI for policy creation
Have standard security and compliance requirements
Choose Self-Managed Enterprise Edition If You:
Have strict data sovereignty requirements
Need to deploy in air-gapped environments
Require complete control over the platform
Operate in highly regulated industries
Have existing on-premises infrastructure expertise
Need custom security implementations
Getting Started
SaaS Deployment
Sign Up: Create your Harness account at app.harness.io
Create Project: Set up your first chaos engineering project
Connect Infrastructure: Link your Kubernetes clusters or cloud accounts
Run First Experiment: Follow the getting started guide
Self-Managed Enterprise Edition
Contact Sales: Discuss licensing and requirements
Plan Infrastructure: Review system requirements
Install Platform: Deploy using Helm charts
Configure Access: Set up authentication and networking
Connect ChaosHub: Request Enterprise ChaosHub access if needed
Support
SaaS Support
Included Support: Platform maintenance and updates
Community Resources: Documentation, forums, and examples
Enterprise Support: Available for enterprise customers
Self-Managed Support
Installation Guidance: Professional services available
Platform Updates: Customer-managed deployment
Enterprise Support: Dedicated support for enterprise customers
Community Resources: Access to documentation and forums
Next Steps
Review Requirements: Assess your security, compliance, and operational needs
Compare Options: Use the feature comparison to evaluate both deployments
Plan Deployment: Choose the option that best fits your organization
Get Started: Follow the appropriate getting started guide
For detailed information about supported platforms and limitations, see What's Supported.
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