From Internal Infrastructure to OEC.sh
How 12+ years of running Odoo in production for 1,000+ institutions became the platform changing Odoo hosting for everyone.
Like Kubernetes emerged from Google's Borg, OEC.sh is the evolution of OpenEducat Inc's internal Odoo deployment infrastructure. For over 12 years, we built and refined the systems needed to deploy, manage, and scale Odoo at production scale. In 2024, we made that infrastructure available to the world.
The Internal Beginning (2008-2015)
Like Google's Borg, our infrastructure wasn't built to be a product. It was built out of operational necessity.
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. Scale reveals truth—and the problems generic hosting could never solve emerged clearly.
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 90% 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 90%.
Clone & Sanitize for Safe Testing
Built one-click production-to-staging cloning with automatic PII masking. Redact emails, phone numbers, student records—while keeping the data structurally valid for testing.
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)
Like Borg running Google's production for over a decade, our infrastructure was battle-tested at scale before we considered opening it to others.
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)
Like Google's engineers pitching Kubernetes in Summer 2013, we faced a question: Should we keep this infrastructure internal, or share what we learned with the world?
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, white-label support, transparent pricing. Same infrastructure running 1,000+ educational deployments—now available to all.
Not a Startup Experiment
Like Kubernetes emerged from Google's decade of Borg experience, OEC.sh emerged from 12+ years of running Odoo at production scale.
Battle-Tested at Production Scale
Not built in theory—forged through 1,000+ real production deployments. Every feature exists because we needed it to survive.
PostgreSQL Expertise No One Else Has
We've profiled and optimized thousands of Odoo queries. Our PostgreSQL tuning, pgBouncer configs, and read replica setup are battle-tested.
No Vendor Lock-In
Multi-cloud from day one (AWS, GCP, DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Azure) or bring your own servers. Your infrastructure, your control.
Economics That Actually Work
Multi-project architecture (3-10 projects per VM) saves 90% on infrastructure. Fair pricing, no hidden costs.
Full Control When You Need It
SSH access, direct database access, custom Docker images. We're a platform that trusts you, not a walled garden.
Built for Agencies
White-label platform, multi-client management, 70-85% profit margins. The cPanel + WHMCS equivalent for Odoo hosting.
Be Part of Our Story
OEC.sh is more than a platform—it's a community of agencies, partners, and businesses who believe in better Odoo hosting.