Operation

Local Operation

If you don’t want to keep the appliance online you can always use a browser in the same local network and navigate to the appliance’s IP address or hostname:

http://<appliance-host>

Log in as the admin user:

• Username: admin
• Password: the initial admin password generated for your appliance

The installer prints this password at the end of the installation. It is also stored as APPLIANCE_ADMIN_PASSWORD in /opt/ironflock/.env on the appliance host, a file only root can read:

sudo grep '^APPLIANCE_ADMIN_PASSWORD=' /opt/ironflock/.env

Change the password after your first login.

Forgot the admin password? Run this on the appliance host to set a new one; it prints the new password:

curl -fsSL https://instance-registry.ironflock.com/dl/appliance/install_ironflock.sh \
  | sudo bash -s -- --reset-admin-password

Older appliances: an appliance installed before the installer generated the admin password starts with the password ironflock. The first login with it asks you to set a new password.

App Web UIs

When an app on a connected device exposes a web interface, the appliance makes it reachable through its built-in tunnel. Out of the box this needs nothing from corporate IT — each app UI is published over plain HTTP on an automatically-assigned port of the appliance’s address (http://<appliance-host>:<port>), and the IronFlock UI shows the link. Access is still behind the appliance login.

For trusted https:// URLs on a shared corporate network — using a wildcard certificate from your CA, or a TLS-terminating reverse proxy — see App UIs & HTTPS.

Linking Accounts

Create local user accounts for your team by inviting them by email in your project settings on the appliance. The invitation email contains everything the invitee needs:

• A personal connect link — opening it on ironflock.com connects the invitee’s ironflock.com account to the appliance. If they don’t have an ironflock.com account yet, they create one first using the invited email address (the connection is only granted when the two email addresses match). Once connected, the appliance appears in their ironflock.com project selector and they can work on it remotely right away — no manual keys, no local signup required.
• A local signup link — optional: completing the local signup additionally lets them log in directly on the appliance UI (http://<appliance-host>).

A few things to know:

• Existing local users don’t need a new invitation from the project owner. On the appliance UI they open their Profile and click Email me the connect link in the Connect to ironflock.com section.
• Resending: inviting the same email address again (or clicking the profile button again) issues a fresh connect link. Only the link from the most recent email is valid.
• If the appliance cannot send email — for example on a restricted corporate network that blocks the mail relay — the connect link is shown directly in the UI instead: the inviter copies it and hands it over through any channel. The link must be opened in a browser with internet access.
• Disconnecting: a user can remove the connection at any time on ironflock.com under Profile → Instances → Connected Instances. Re-opening the latest connect link restores it.

The instance owner — the user who created the Instance Key at ironflock.com — is connected to the instance’s local admin account automatically; no invitation is needed for the owner.

Syncing Apps from the Online Store

The Appliance includes a local App Store — a private app catalog and container registry that serves apps to devices on the local network. You can populate this local store by syncing apps from the public online IronFlock Store, provided the Appliance has an internet connection available at sync time. No permanent internet connection is required; a temporary connection is sufficient to pull the apps you need.

Prerequisites

• An account on the public ironflock.com platform.
• Your appliance account is connected to your ironflock.com account (see Linking Accounts). The instance owner’s admin account is connected automatically.

How App Sync Works

┌────────────────────┐                       ┌────────────────────┐
│  Online IronFlock  │  ◄──── account ─────► │  Appliance         │
│  Store (cloud)     │      connection       │  local Store       │
└────────────────────┘                       └────────────────────┘
         │                                            │
   apps available to                          sync button shown
   the connected account                      instead of install

1. Open the local App Store — When the Appliance has an active internet connection, the App Store shows all apps that are available to your connected ironflock.com account on the online platform.
2. Sync the apps you need — Instead of an Install button, each app shows a Sync button. Clicking it downloads the app — including its container images and metadata — from the online store into the local store.
3. Add devices — Once synced, the app is fully available in your local store and you can add devices to it normally, with no internet connection required.

Update Workflow

When a new version of a synced app is published on the online store, a Sync button will appear again for that app. Connect the Appliance to the internet briefly, sync the updated release, and then roll it out to your devices through the standard app upgrade flow.

This design gives you full control over what enters your network — nothing is downloaded automatically, and the internet connection is needed only during the sync step.

Custom Email Sender (SMTP)

By default, all platform emails — account verification, password recovery, invitations, and alarm notifications — are relayed through the IronFlock cloud SMTP proxy and appear as [email protected]. To make emails appear as sent from your own company, point the appliance at your own SMTP server.

On the appliance host, edit the installer-generated environment file at /opt/ironflock/.env and set the following variables:

SMTP_CONNECTION_URI=smtps://USERNAME:[email protected]:465/
SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=[email protected]
SMTP_FROM_NAME=Your Company

• Use smtps:// for implicit TLS (typically port 465), or smtp:// with STARTTLS (port 587).
• URL-encode any special characters in the username or password (e.g. @ → %40).
• Both SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS and SMTP_FROM_NAME are what recipients see in the From header of every platform email.

Apply the change by restarting the stack:

sudo systemctl restart ironflock.service

After the restart, all authentication emails, platform notifications, and alarm emails are sent through your SMTP server with your company’s From address and display name.

If SMTP_CONNECTION_URI is left unset, the appliance keeps routing emails through the IronFlock cloud SMTP proxy authenticated with your license key — no extra setup needed, but emails will be branded as IronFlock.

Maintenance

To update the IronFlock system on your appliance, the admin can use the update button in the license section of their profile whenever a new version is available. The appliance needs an internet connection to download the update. IronFlock automatically restarts when the update finishes.

Linux OS updates are your responsibility to maintain.

License Lifecycle

Your license is tied to one physical Appliance. The same license cannot run a second IronFlock instance on different hardware at the same time. For everyday operation the Appliance runs offline — production data, dashboards, app management, and edge device control all stay local on the box.

When the Appliance Needs Internet

An internet connection is only required at these moments:

• Initial install and Appliance updates — needed anyway to pull software from the IronFlock distribution servers; the license is activated as part of the same step.
• Periodic license re-check — depends on your plan:
  • Monthly license: once every 30 days.
  • Yearly license: once every 365 days.
  • Perpetual license: no periodic re-check — internet is only needed on install and on update.
• License handover to new hardware (see below).
• AI Multi Agent service — only while it is actively in use.

Grace Period and Lock

If a periodic re-check cannot reach the cloud (network outage, transient cloud error), the Appliance enters a 7-day grace period. During the grace, the Appliance keeps running normally and retries automatically.

If seven full days pass without a successful re-check, the Appliance locks itself: most operations are refused and the UI shows the license as invalid. To recover, restore the Appliance’s internet connection and click Revalidate Now in the license panel of your profile on the Appliance UI (the local http://<appliance-host> view, or your instance accessed via ironflock.com).

Moving Your License to New Hardware (Handover)

A license is bound to one machine’s hardware fingerprint. To move it to a different machine, you initiate a handover from your IronFlock cloud profile:

1. Open Profile → Instances on ironflock.com.
2. Click Reset Hardware Fingerprint on the instance you want to move.

The handover requires the currently bound Appliance to be online. The cloud connects back to it, asks it to revoke itself locally, and only then clears the cloud-side fingerprint. This handshake guarantees the old Appliance cannot keep running while a new one binds — preventing accidental dual-use of the same license.

Once the unlock succeeds:

1. Set up the new hardware following the Installation steps, using the same instance key.
2. The new Appliance validates, binds its fingerprint, and becomes the active device.

When the Old Hardware Is Broken or Inaccessible

If the previously bound Appliance is dead or otherwise unreachable, the handshake will time out and the cloud UI shows appliance_unreachable_contact_support. In that case, contact the IronFlock team — we can clear the binding manually after verifying ownership.

Tip: trigger the handover before retiring the old hardware, while it is still online. The process is much faster — for you and for our support team — when the old Appliance can still be reached.