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Getting started

This guide takes you from zero to a running, licensed VIN install — and through the first tasks most teams complete in week one.

VIN is a self-hosted operations console. Inventory, credentials, kubeconfigs, host metrics, and audit history stay on your infrastructure. The public portal issues licenses, serves installers, and validates licenses online.

What you will need

  • A work email to create a portal account
  • A Windows or Linux host (or VM) for the VIN install — see sizing in Installation
  • Outbound HTTPS from that host to the vendor portal (required for all editions)
  • For cloud / Kubernetes pillars (Professional+): credentials you are allowed to store in VIN (Fernet at rest, or optional built-in HashiCorp Vault)

1. Create an account

  1. Open Sign up and create your portal user.
  2. Your account creates an Organization — the entity that owns licenses and billing.
  3. You are the organization owner. Later you can invite teammates as billing or member from the portal.

2. Choose an edition

Community (self-serve)

  1. Open your dashboard.
  2. Activate the free Community edition for 6 months (renewable) — no credit card.
  3. One active Community license per organization.
  4. Your signed license key appears on the dashboard immediately.

Community includes core ops: Dashboard, Inventory, Monitoring, SSH, Security scans, Findings, Scripts, and Ansible essentials — with seat limits described on Pricing.

Professional / Enterprise (request-only)

  1. Open Contact sales / demo and select Professional or Enterprise.
  2. Include deployment preference (cloud-connected vs on-prem), approximate seats, machines / VMs, and phone contact.
  3. Our team sizes the license and issues the key on your dashboard when ready.

Premium pillars (Cloud Hub, Assets, FinOps, Kubernetes, Automation, MCP, Incidents, Approvals, Reports, Environments, …) unlock per edition — see the feature matrix on Pricing and capability detail on Features.

3. Download the installer

  1. On the dashboard, open the download section for your active license.
  2. Choose Windows (.exe / .msi) or Linux (.deb / .rpm / archive).
  3. Download links are short-lived and gated by your license — regenerate from the dashboard if a link expires.

4. Install VIN

Follow the full OS-specific steps in Installation. In short:

  1. Run the installer / install the package on your host.
  2. Confirm the Windows Service or systemd unit is running.
  3. Open the console URL in a browser.
  4. Complete first-run admin setup if prompted.

5. Activate the license

  1. In VIN, open License.
  2. Paste the key from the portal dashboard and save.
  3. VIN validates online with the vendor portal: edition, seats, environments, machines, and validity are confirmed live.
  4. Licenses can be updated or revoked centrally without re-shipping packages.

Licensing is online-only for every deployment, including on-prem. Details: Licensing.

6. First-hour checklist

Do these in order so the console is useful before you invite the whole team.

  1. Change bootstrap credentials — set a strong admin password; enable 2FA for the owner account (and consider org-wide forced 2FA later).
  2. Invite operators — create users with least-privilege roles; do not share admin.
  3. Add inventory — register a lab host and verify SSH (agentless) connectivity.
  4. Monitoring — open host metrics for that host; confirm CPU / memory / disk appear.
  5. Security — run a CIS / compliance scan once; triage a Finding in the inbox.
  6. Scripts — run a read-only script against the lab host; confirm live output and audit entry.
  7. Professional+ only
    • Connect one cloud credential in Cloud Hub (environment-scoped).
    • Browse Cloud Assets inventory for that account.
    • Attach a kubeconfig and open Kubernetes workloads (read-first).
    • Create an Environment if multiple teams will share the instance.
    • Configure Mail / SMTP before scheduling Reports.

7. Day-two habits

  • Prefer Approvals for destructive MCP / automation writes.
  • Use environments to isolate credentials and assets by team.
  • Prefer passphrase-encrypted Backup (.vinbak) for restores; enable built-in Vault when you want SSH keys and cloud secrets off the local Fernet store.
  • Export or retain audit activity according to your compliance needs.
  • Schedule upgrades from the portal — VIN never auto-updates (see Installation → Updates).

8. Stay up to date

  • Product news and changelog: Updates
  • Dashboard banners when a newer installer is available
  • Upgrades are always manual on your change-control schedule

Next reading

  • Installation — Windows & Linux steps, networking, troubleshooting
  • Licensing — seats, environments, machines, online validation
  • Features — capability detail per pillar
  • Pricing — edition comparison