Installing Liferay

Liferay runs on an application server. There are three ways to host Liferay:

Using a Docker container
Using a Liferay Tomcat bundle, on premises
On a supported application server of your choice, on premises

The fastest way to host Liferay is with a pre-configured Docker image on the cloud. Use the image with any cloud provider and configure it by using environment variables.

The Liferay Tomcat bundle is an archive you can extract onto any server, configure, and run. It’s a lightweight Tomcat application server with Liferay already installed and ready to configure.

Of course, you can always install Liferay on any supported application server, on premises.

Note

Enterprise subscribers can deploy Liferay DXP as a service on Liferay Cloud. Liferay Cloud reduces infrastructure costs (hardware, electricity bills), scales fast to handle more customers, provides a faster time to market, and is easy use.

If you’re interested in Liferay Cloud, please see the Liferay Cloud product information or contact a Liferay representative.

If you want to develop on Liferay on your own machine, consider these convenient options:

Liferay Docker Image
Liferay Tomcat Bundle

Docker Image

Liferay’s Docker images are the fastest way to start using Liferay. The images come with Liferay pre-installed on a Tomcat application server. To get started, visit the Using Liferay Docker Images.

Liferay Tomcat Bundle

The Liferay Tomcat Bundle is a ZIP file that has Liferay pre-installed on Tomcat. It’s an easy way to start using Liferay outside of a container.

To get started with a bundle, see Installing a Liferay Tomcat Bundle.

Warning

In the Docker image and Tomcat bundle, Liferay is configured to use an embedded HSQL database by default. Beyond demonstration purposes, we recommend using a full-featured, supported RDBMS. See Database Configurations for configuration instructions.

Installing Liferay on an Application Server

You can install Liferay on any supported application server. This is typically the most practical installation type to use in DevOps and high availability environments.

To get started,