Shiny Server enables users to host and manage Shiny applications on the Internet. Shiny is an R package that uses a reactive programming model to simplify the development of R-powered web applications. Shiny Server can manage R processes running various Shiny applications over different URLs and ports. Using Shiny Server offers a variety of benefits over simply running Shiny in R directly. These features allow the administrator to:
- Host multiple applications simultaneously, each at its own URL.
- Support web browsers that don’t support WebSockets, including Internet Explorer 8 & 9.
- Enable system users to develop and manage their own Shiny applications.
- Ensure that R processes that crash or are terminated automatically restart for the next user requesting the application.
This guide describes Shiny Server Professional, which offers, among other things, the following additional features:
- Ensure your applications are protected and can only be accessed by specific, authenticated users.
- Scale a Shiny application to support many users by empowering a Shiny application to be backed by multiple R Shiny processes simultaneously.
- Gain insight into the performance and usage of your Shiny applications by monitoring them using a web dashboard.
- Securely encrypt data being sent to and from your applications using SSL.
- Understand and manage current and historical application resource utilization to better configure and optimize your applications.
- Fine-tune the resources devoted to each user of an application by configuring multi-process Shiny applications based on the number of concurrent sessions.
- Monitor the health of your Shiny Server using the health check endpoint.
Check out our video on Shiny Server here.
Installing R and Shiny Server
Installing R
In order to use Shiny Server, you’ll need to first install R 2.11.1 (or higher). If you don’t already have R, you can download it here.
Installing Shiny Server
Open-Source
You can find instructions and downloads for Shiny Server Open-Source here.
Pro
To install Shiny Server Pro, check the link included on the trial page or in the email sent with your license key. If you don’t have this link, please contact Support and let us know.
General Information about Shiny Server
Shiny Server Release Notes:
http://docs.rstudio.com/shiny-server/NEWS.txt
Shiny Server Release History:
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/215642837-Shiny-Server-Pro-Release-History
Shiny Server Server Pro Webinars:
Administering Shiny Server Pro
Managing Shiny Server Pro
We’d recommend reading through our Shiny Server Pro Admin Guide for most of the information you’ll need. We’ve highlighted some important sections and additional guides below:
Introduction to Shiny Server:
http://shiny.rstudio.com/articles/shiny-server.html
Shiny Server Quick Start Guides:
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/218499158-Shiny-Server-Quick-Start-Guides
Root Requirements for Shiny Server:
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/219044787
Using different libraries for different applications
http://shiny.rstudio.com/articles/libraries.html
Concurrent Users in Shiny Server Pro:
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/220760228-Concurrent-Users-in-Shiny-Server-Pro
Running Shiny Server with a Proxy
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/213733868-Running-Shiny-Server-with-a-Proxy
Authentication and Security
Requiring User Authentication
Configuring Shiny Server Pro with LDAP or Active Directory
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/214577747-Configuring-Shiny-Server-Pro-with-LDAP-or-Active-Directory https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/218983708
Configuring Shiny Server Pro with PAM Authentication
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/218092577-Setting-up-PAM-with-Shiny-Server-Pro https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/219504087-Shiny-Server-Pro-PAM-Authentication-Examples
How to create User Privileges
http://shiny.rstudio.com/articles/permissions.html
Host a secure Shiny Server Pro:
Scaling and Performance in Shiny Server Pro:
Performance tuning in Shiny applications
http://shiny.rstudio.com/articles/scaling-and-tuning.html
Performance Tuning in Shiny Server Pro:
Using the Utilization Scheduler
http://docs.rstudio.com/shiny-server/#utilization-scheduler
Hosting an application supported by multiple R processes
Getting Support with Shiny Server
Pro Support
If needed, you can create and track your support tickets via our form here. Note that this is only for customers who have purchased or are trialing a Pro license.
Open-Source Support
For our open-source customers, we provide best-effort support on our open-source forums here.
What Next
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