Hosting Options and Features Supported
Information about hosting options and the availability of features with those hosting options
This article discusses the hosting options available for axe Account Portal and feature support for these hosting options with the following products:
Hosting Options
There are three supported hosting or deployment options for the axe Account Portal:
- SaaS/cloud (axe.deque.com)
- Private cloud (private, dedicated, standalone cloud instance for your organization)
- On-premises (see on-prem installation instructions)
SaaS
SaaS: Software as a service
The recommended hosting option for the axe DevTools Extension/axe Account Portal is shared SaaS which supports all user and admin features. The SaaS cloud instance, hosted at axe.deque.com, is completely managed by Deque. SaaS customers do not have to worry about standing up any infrastructure of their own. They can simply use our performant, infinitely scalable cloud instance.
HTTPS Access
The following table describes which URLs the axe Account Portal needs to communicate with along with additional optional URLs.
| URL | Description |
|---|---|
| https://axe.deque.com | The backend API and client axe Account Portal web application. Note that this URL will be different for on-prem and private cloud instances. |
| https://auth.deque.com | The authentication service. Note that this may be different for on-prem and private cloud instances. |
| https://d2jwli8p3yqbi7.cloudfront.net | Where static assets like js and css are hosted/served from. |
| https://usage.deque.com (optional) | Optional for customers who want usage tracking for their users. |
| https://docs.deque.com (optional) | Optional for product documentation. |
| https://dequeuniversity.com/ (optional) | Optional for axe-core rule help pages. |
Private Cloud
The private cloud enterprise offering involves Deque standing up a dedicated, private, infinitely scalable cloud instance of the axe DevTools Server. With this option, users can still download the browser extension from the browser web store and simply point their extension ("axe Server URL") at their private cloud URL.
On-premises
On-premises is often used by companies that:
- May have sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) associated with accessibility issues raised by Deque products
- Have strict data management policies (internal or via contracts with their customers)
- Are compliant with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)
The on-premises enterprise deployment option involves running the installer script and self-hosting the axe Account Portal infrastructure. Assuming all installation prerequisites are met, the application will be run on-premises. This option does some with some drawbacks in what features we are able to offer (see differences between hosting options below).
Differences Between Hosting Options
The following sections describe the features offered by different Deque products with each hosting option.
axe DevTools Extension
All features are supported unless otherwise noted in the table below:
| Feature | SaaS | Private Cloud | On-Premises | Offline Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| User Management in axe Account Portal | supported | supported | supported | not supported |
| axe Configuration | supported | supported | supported | not supported (can be done via configuration by policy) |
| Usage Service (capturing user's usage data) | supported | supported | not supported | not supported |
| Machine Learning features | supported | supported (customers can "opt-out" of these enhancements) | not supported | not supported |
| User Flow Analysis | support | not supported | not supported | not supported |
| Sharing Saved Test Record | supported | supported | supported | not supported |
| Sharing Issues | supported | supported | supported | not supported |
| Automatic Color Contrast Resolver | supported | supported | supported | not supported |
| Product Documentation / Rule Help Pages | supported | supported | supported (must allow traffic to docs.deque.com) | supported (must allow traffic to docs.deque.com) |
| Deque University (courses and content) | supported | supported | supported (must allow traffic to docs.deque.com) | supported (must allow traffic to docs.deque.com) |
axe DevTools APIs and CLI
The axe DevTools for Web APIs and CLI operate locally without server dependencies. This table shows the impact of different hosting environments on the features typically used with the APIs and CLI:
| Feature | SaaS (Multi-Tenant) | SaaS (Private Cloud) | On-Premises | Local (Serverless) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| APIs and CLI | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Locally installed |
| Usage service | Default configuration (if enabled) | Unsupported | Possible to create an on-prem server to collect data | Possible to create a local server instance and use localhost to collect data |
| Product documentation | Supported | Supported | Supported (requires docs.deque.com access) | Not supported |
| Deque University (rule help) | Supported | Supported | Supported (requires dequeuniversity.com access) | Not supported |
You can enable reporting to the usage service, which sends your API or CLI usage to either Deque's usage service (multi-tenant) or your server. For information about the usage service and the reported data, see The axe DevTools for Web Usage Service.
axe DevTools Linter
| Feature | SaaS (Multi-Tenant) | SaaS (Private Cloud) | On-Premises | Local (Serverless) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linter Server | Supported | Supported | Supported | Not supported |
| Linter IDE Plugin (VSCode) | Not supported (locally installed) | Not supported (locally installed) | Not supported (locally installed) | Supported |
| Linter IDE Plugin (JetBrains) | Not supported (locally installed) | Not supported (locally installed) | Not supported (locally installed) | Supported |
| API-key validation | Supported | Supported | Not supported | Not supported |
| Usage statistics (via the REST billing endpoints) | Supported | Supported | Not supported | Not supported |
| Product documentation | Supported | Supported | Supported (requires docs.deque.com access) | Not supported |
| Deque University (rule help) | Supported | Supported | Supported (requires dequeuniversity.com access) | Not supported |
axe Developer Hub
| Feature | SaaS (Multi-Tenant) | SaaS (Private Cloud) | On-Premises | Local (Serverless) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developer Hub web site | Supported | Supported | Not currently supported | Not supported |
| User management | Supported | Supported | Not currently supported | Not supported |
@axe-core/watcher |
Supported | Supported | Not currently supported | Not supported |
| Product documentation | Supported | Supported (requires docs.deque.com access) | Supported (requires docs.deque.com access) | Not supported |