# Beginner questions before buying
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 12, 2023, 3:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033 "2023-10-12T15:05:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@wizible](https://meta.discourse.org/u/wizible)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2023, 3:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/1 "2023-10-12T15:05:51Z")
Hello, I am looking for a forum/community software.
I have looked at a few things. Among others Mighty Networks, Circle.so, Woltlab, xenForo etc.
Now I have landed here and have some unanswered questions. I hope to find answers here.
1. I have a managed server at Hetzner. I asked there if I can install Discourse. I was told the following: “According to the Official Documentation, installation is only possible via Docker. However, Docker is not supported on our managed servers. In this case you could try the installation via UDocker, but here we can’t guarantee that everything will work as desired.
[GitHub - indigo-dc/udocker: A basic user tool to execute simple docker containers in batch or interactive systems without root privileges. · GitHub](https://github.com/indigo-dc/udocker)”
Does anyone know if this will work?
2.) Is it possible to set Discourse completely to German? I’m planning a community with a fairly young target audience who don’t know much English.
3.) Is there some kind of showroom so I can see what is possible?
4.) For the connoisseurs among you: Is it easy to create a forum like this: [forum.glamour.de](http://forum.glamour.de)
My knowledge is limited to HTML and CSS at a very high level.
Thanks a lot
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### Author:  [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2023, 3:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/2 "2023-10-12T15:12:16Z")
> [@wizible](#):
>
> Is it possible to set Discourse completely to German? I’m planning a community with a fairly young target audience who don’t know much English.
Yes, in the admin settings you can change the locale of the UI, and 99% of our text has German counterparts (you can see language coverage on [Crowdin Enterprise](https://discourse.crowdin.com/discourse))
> [@wizible](#):
>
> Is there some kind of showroom so I can see what is possible?
There are a variety of examples on our website, [Discourse customers | Discourse - Civilized Discussion](https://www.discourse.org/customers)
> [@wizible](#):
>
> Is it easy to create a forum like this: [forum.glamour.de](http://forum.glamour.de)
> My knowledge is limited to HTML and CSS at a very high level.
This can vary by feature, their carousel is custom, but much of the other changes were accomplished using CSS alone. We also have a variety of customizations in the #Customization > Theme component category here on Meta that can make things like banners, additional nav links, and featured posts easier to implement.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2023, 3:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/3 "2023-10-12T15:45:55Z")
Hi @wizible 👋 welcome to Discourse Meta 🙂
Regarding Hetzner, I believe there are folks here who are using Hetzner for Discourse - I think @Canapin has [at least one forum instance](https://meta.discourse.org/t/recommended-hosting-providers-for-self-hosters/79562/29) on Hetzner. Also, I think @denvergeeks [does as well](https://meta.discourse.org/t/contabo-vs-hetzner-vs-linode-vs-digital-ocean-for-discourse-hosting-under-30-mo/264943). Also perhaps some relevant info in this topic:
> [@Hetzner experiences](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hetzner-experiences/54430):
>
> Time to test a new hosting company slight_smile .This time I opted for German Hetzner, and their 4.80€ VPS CX1. Note that this price is VAT inclusive, so it is one of the very cheapest on the market (many providers present VAT 0% prices) for a consumer. It’s a [solid package](https://www.hetzner.de/pt/hosting/produkte_vserver/cx10): 1GB RAM 1 Core CPU 25GB SSD 1 snapshot included in the price (paid extra option at OVH and many others) DDoS protection and the usual goodies I was going to benchmark this and move one instance there right away, but th…
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### Author:  [@packman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/packman)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2023, 4:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/4 "2023-10-12T16:41:50Z")
> [@Lilly](#):
>
> I believe there are folks here who are using Hetzner for Discourse
I run Discourse on Hetzner, but on a self-managed server. I’ve never tried their managed server offering but it does look somewhat limited, e.g. no root access.
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### Author:  [@wizible](https://meta.discourse.org/u/wizible)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2023, 4:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/5 "2023-10-12T16:43:34Z")
Yes exactly, you don’t have root access with the managed servers. Support told me that it might work with the udocker tool. Unfortunately they could not tell me.
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2023, 10:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/6 "2023-10-14T22:45:21Z")
> [@wizible](#):
>
> Support told me that it might work with the udocker tool. Unfortunately they could not tell me.
I would not try to make that work. I can imagine a way to do it, but all are very complicated and it will be hard to get help.
You’ll want to get a full vm with root access.
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### Author:  [@packman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/packman)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2023, 12:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/7 "2023-10-15T00:35:14Z")
> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> You’ll want to get a full vm with root access.
You could use a Hetzner Cloud server. They say there’s a build that includes docker so that’s a good start. I’ve never used one of their cloud server builds that includes ‘apps’ though so I don’t know how that works. Provisioning a new cloud server only takes a minute or two once you’ve created your cloud manager account and they are pretty cheap.
Cloud servers aren’t managed though. I’m not sure you’ll find a managed server where you can have root access.
Note: I’m not Hetzner sales! Just a happy customer for many years.
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### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2023, 8:20am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/8 "2023-10-15T08:20:13Z")
> [@wizible](#):
>
> I have a managed server at Hetzner
Is there strong reasons for that?
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### Author:  [@ljpp](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ljpp)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2023, 9:12am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/9 "2023-10-15T09:12:27Z")
> [@wizible](#):
>
> 3.) Is there some kind of showroom so I can see what is possible
The Discourse self-installation procedure is the easiest in the business of web apps and idiot proof.
Get yourself a 5€/month VPS server, install and play around with it for a few weeks. You’ll learn the basics, see what Discourse can or cannot do, and the whole excercise costs you a few cents.
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### Author:  [@wizible](https://meta.discourse.org/u/wizible)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2023, 9:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/10 "2023-10-27T09:44:06Z")
I maintain some clients’ websites and found this to be the most practical. Do you see it differently?
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### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2023, 10:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/11 "2023-10-27T10:04:11Z")
Yes. AFAIK there is no access to shell, no ability to use docker etc. so you have or will have some difficulties to offer what your customers need or want.
Well, I can be very wrong too.
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### Author:  [@wizible](https://meta.discourse.org/u/wizible)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2023, 11:37am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/12 "2023-10-27T11:37:55Z")
Yes, you are right. I have heard these arguments before. However, I have actually never needed such a thing. Now when I installed discourse I encountered obstacles for the first time.
What would you recommend?
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### Author:  [@opcourdis](https://meta.discourse.org/u/opcourdis)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginner-questions-before-buying/282033/13 "2025-03-17T14:29:03Z")
Hi, have you had success installing docker on hetzner managed server?
This allows rootless dockers on managed server : [Run Docker containers on a Managed Server with udocker](https://community.hetzner.com/tutorials/run-docker-containers-on-a-managed-server-with-udocker)
There seem to be other person on this forum using rootless dockers and I could not find any complain or threads without solutions like this one [Rootless docker resolve clients - docker - Pi-hole Userspace](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/rootless-docker-resolve-clients/63166)