From Internal Infrastructure to OEC.sh
We spent 12+ years running Odoo in production for 1,000+ institutions. In 2024, we turned that infrastructure into a platform anyone can use.
The Internal Beginning (2008-2015)
The infrastructure started as internal tooling, not a product.
The First Deployment
OpenEducat Inc started deploying OpenERP (now Odoo) for educational institutions. The first deployment was a university that needed student information management, admissions, and course scheduling in a single system.
Problems emerged immediately: PostgreSQL performance degraded under load, backups took hours, and deployments required manual SSH access. We built internal tools to solve these problems - not for sale, but for survival.
Growing to 50+ Deployments
As we grew to manage 50+ educational institutions, patterns emerged:
- •PostgreSQL tuning for Odoo's ORM patterns made 3-5x performance difference
- •Automated backups weren't optional - they were life-or-death
- •Staging environments prevented production disasters
- •Running multiple Odoo projects per VM drastically cut costs
Building Internal "Borg"
We launched OpenEduCat - an open-source Education ERP built on Odoo. To deploy it at scale, we needed infrastructure that didn't exist.
The Decision:
Build our own deployment and management infrastructure. Automated provisioning, monitoring, backups, and scaling - all optimized specifically for Odoo workloads.
Learning at Scale (2016-2020)
By 2016 we were managing 100+ active Odoo deployments. At that scale, generic hosting's gaps become impossible to ignore.
Problems Generic Hosting Couldn't Solve
PostgreSQL Performance Under Odoo's ORM
Odoo's ORM generates complex queries. Generic PostgreSQL configs led to 5-10 second page loads. Indexes helped, but configuration tuning was critical.
Database Backups at Scale
50GB+ production databases couldn't use pg_dump during business hours. We needed hot backups, point-in-time recovery, and GFS rotation to multiple storage backends.
Multi-Tenant Resource Isolation
Running 5-10 Odoo projects per VM saved up to 70% on costs, but one project's memory leak couldn't kill the others. Process isolation was essential.
Module Installation Breaking Production
Installing a module could break the entire system. Staging environments were mandatory, but cloning 50GB databases with PII required sanitization.
What We Built to Solve Them
PostgreSQL Tuning for Odoo
We profiled thousands of Odoo queries and built PostgreSQL configurations specifically optimized for Odoo's ORM patterns. Added pgBouncer for connection pooling and read replica support for scaling.
Hot Backup System with GFS Rotation
Built a backup system that runs during production hours without locking tables. Supports S3, Cloudflare R2, FTP, SFTP, MinIO. Grandfather-Father-Son rotation keeps 7 days, 4 weeks, 12 months.
Multi-Project Architecture
Developed the ability to run 3-10 Odoo projects on a single VM with proper resource isolation, monitoring, and automatic restart on crashes. Reduced infrastructure costs by up to 70%.
Clone & Sanitize for Safe Testing
Built one-click production-to-staging cloning with outgoing email, crons and integrations switched off. A per-project cleanup SQL script removes personal data before the clone goes online.
Multi-Cloud from Day One
Built abstraction layers so we could deploy to AWS, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Azure, and Google Cloud. Data sovereignty requirements meant we couldn't be locked to one provider.
Crossing 1,000 Deployments (2021-2023)
Years of production use preceded the decision to open the platform up.
What Scale Taught Us
By 2023, we had crossed 1,000+ active production deployments across 50+ countries. Our infrastructure had evolved through three major iterations and survived countless production incidents. We learned:
The Decision (Late 2023)
Keep the infrastructure internal, or open it to everyone else dealing with the same problems?
The Market Observation
We started hearing the same problems from Odoo developers and agencies outside education:
The Realization:
Every Odoo developer faces these same problems.
We had spent 12+ years solving them. Should we keep that knowledge internal, or make it available to everyone?
OEC.sh Was Born
We re-architected our internal infrastructure for external use.
Added CLI, API, and transparent pricing. Same infrastructure running 1,000+ educational deployments - now available to all.
Built on production experience, not a pitch deck
Every feature in OEC.sh came out of 12+ years of running Odoo for 1,000+ institutions.
Proven in Production
Tested across 1,000+ real deployments. Every feature exists because we needed it ourselves.
Deep PostgreSQL Expertise
Thousands of Odoo queries profiled. PostgreSQL tuning, pgBouncer configs, and read replica setup come from years in production.
No Vendor Lock-In
Deploy on DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Hetzner, Vultr, OVH, or Linode. Or bring your own servers.
Multi-project per VM
3-10 Odoo projects on one VM cuts infrastructure cost by up to 70%, with isolation to keep them from blocking each other.
Full Control
SSH access, direct database access, custom Docker images. No walled garden.
Agency-ready
Multi-client management with 70-85% margins. cPanel + WHMCS, but for Odoo.
Built by OpenEduCat
OEC.sh is a product of OpenEduCat, an open-source Education ERP used by 3M+ users across 50,000+ institutes worldwide.
What is OpenEduCat?
OpenEduCat is an open-source ERP built on Odoo for schools, colleges, and universities. It handles student information, admissions, course management, exams, fees, LMS, attendance, timetabling, and more - 300+ modules covering the full lifecycle of educational administration.
Running OpenEduCat at scale for 1,000+ institutions is what forced us to build the deployment infrastructure that became OEC.sh. Every feature in OEC.sh - from PostgreSQL tuning to multi-tenant isolation to automated backups - exists because OpenEduCat deployments needed it in production.
Student Information System
Enrollment, records, transcripts, and academic tracking for students across their full lifecycle.
Learning Management
Course authoring, live classrooms (Zoom, Meet, Teams, BigBlueButton), assignments, and anti-cheating quizzes.
Admissions & CRM
Online applications, automated follow-ups, email marketing, and enrollment pipeline management.
Finance & Operations
Fee management, accounting, HR/payroll, hostel and transportation management, and canteen operations.
USA
2803 Philadelphia Pike, Suite B #1117, Claymont, DE 19703
India
810, The Capital 2, Science City Road, Sola, Ahmedabad 380060, Gujarat
Deploy Odoo on your own cloud
Agencies, partners, and businesses use OEC.sh to run Odoo on DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Hetzner, Vultr, OVH, or Linode.