Countly Flex is a platform that enables end-customers to create, configure, and use Countly servers with almost no intervention from the Countly team. Countly Flex, as the name suggests, is a more flexible SAAS offering of Countly. This aims to create an environment, where you have access to the core features, and you can add features according to your immediate needs, making the Countly platform more dynamic in terms of usability.

Getting Started with Flex

You have to sign up for Countly Flex. To sign up you have to mention the details shown below.

Once you create the account, you can define your workspace name and add the number of users present on the following screen. You can also change the settings or add more information in the Management window, which you can access after you log in.

Once you login to the interface of Countly Flex, the following window will be displayed.

1. This will display the page where you can configure your server using +Create a new Countly server.
2. This contains the list of all the servers you created.
3. Here you can define your team size and control the accessibility for your team. You can also check the billing info.
4. You can verify your email using this button.
5. These tabs link to user guides, SDK guides and to join the Flex community.

Creating a new Countly server

When you click on +Create a new Countly server, the following screen appears.

1. Enter your server name here.
2. Select the tier that will be used by your application.
3. Select the region of your server.
4. Select your cloud provider.
5. Depending on your selections, the pricing will reflect here.

Click on Next step, and the following page will be displayed.

1. This contains the core features that come along with the basic version of Countly Flex.
2. Using feature add-ons, you can add features by paying the price for that particular feature.

Click on Next step, and the following page will be displayed.

1. You can select your preferred domain here. You can select a custom domain with an SSL certificate which is available for a certain price. You can also use a default domain generated by the server.
2. You can select the period for which you want to retain the granular data.

Click on Next step, and the following page will be displayed.

1. Your final bill will be displayed as monthly or yearly bill. Use the toggle button to generate the bill monthly or yearly bill.
2. You can review the selections, and click on Proceed to Payment. Add all the available payment methods.

Once the payment is done, your server will be be ready to launch and will come under the Servers dashboard. You will receive an email to go to your server once it is intialized within a minute.

Adding an application to your Countly Server

After setting up your Countly Server, the next step is to add an application to visualize data on your Countly dashboard.

Click on the link in the email you received to access your Countly server. You will be directed to the following page:

Enter your name, email address, and password to create your dashboard user account. Next, create a demo app and populate it with demo data.

1. Select the type of application you desire.
2. Choose your time zone.
3. Select your preferred industry to generate relevant data.

Your server will then be running, and you can view it in the Servers tab.

Click on the domain URL, which is accessible near the status of your server. This will take you to the Countly dashboard.

Accessing your Server list

Here you can access the list of servers and their details, that you have created. Once you click on the Servers tab the following screen will appear:

1. Select your desired project from the drop-down menu.
2. Displays your server name.
3. Redirects you to the Countly dashboard, using the Domain URL.
4. Displays the size of your server.
5. Indicates the percentage of your server utilization.
6. Displays the server creation date.
7. Indicates whether your server has exceeded its limit.
8. Click this button to create a new server.

Managing your Server

You can manage your server under the management tab, which will allow you and your team to proactively use the Countly features.

Management

The Management window provides you access to your workspace and helps you in defining the team size, check the users present in the workspace, the projects present, and also your billing info.

The Management window has four tabs:

1. Workspace
2. Team
3. Projects
4. Billing

Workspace

Here you need to name your workspace which will help you define your workspace uniquely if you have multiple workspaces inside the server. You can add team size and a logo to make it more unique. You can also remove the workspace.

Team

This window enlists all the team members present in the workspace along with their role, email id, status activity and login activity. You can also add new team members to your existing workspace by using the Invite Team Member button.

When you click on Invite Team Member, the following drawer will appear.

Here, you have to enter the user email and define the role of the user in the workspace.

You can send multiple invitations to multiple users using the Add new invitation. Once, all user invitations are added, click on Send invitation.

Projects

Project is the organizational unit that contains deployments. Each project belongs to one and only one workspace and is associated with users. Users can have different roles such as project admin or project user. Project users have only read access to the project and servers inside it, while project admins have write access to deployments and project itself.

This window enlists all the projects and the users included in each project. It also shows when the project was created.

You can also create a new project by clicking on Create Project. When you click on Click Project, the following drawer will appear.

Here, you have to enter the project name, choose the projects admins and the users included in the project. Once, it is done, you can click on Create project and the project will be created.

Billing

The billing section shows an overview of your usage of Countly Flex, the billing info, your selected tier and also when you have to renew your subscription.

Maintaining your Server

In this section, you will find all the details about your server(s) and manage them. When you click on your server name, the following page will appear:

1. Displays the name you have assigned to your server.
2. Shows the current status of your server.
3. The domain URL will redirect you to the the Countly Dashboard.
4. Contains all the information about your server.
5. Allows you to upgrade your server to different tiers.
6. 3-dot ellipsis button offers additional actions such as:
   • Restart your server.
   • Unblock any dashboard user.
   • Event log displays every event that takes place throughout the lifecycle of your Countly server.
   • Perform a health check to update your server's status.
   • Terminate your server.
7. Displays all the additional features you have enabled.
8. This graph shows the number of monthly active users on your server.
9. Provides information about your server's backup status.

FAQ

What happens if you go over the threshold MAU limit of a certain Tier?

The server will be locked if you go over the threshold MAU limit. You can login but no data will be visible. 

Does the Tier gets upgraded automatically and the billing occurs on the basis of the upgraded Tier?

No, the tier related to the server does not get upgraded automatically.