> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://restate-6d46e1dc-mintlify-35bb6672.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Standalone

> Learn how to run standalone Restate services.

You can deploy your Restate service on any standalone machine. Restate services run as a separate process started either via the appropriate runtime (e.g. Node.js) or a standalone compiled binary (e.g. Rust) that accepts HTTP connections on a configured port, conventionally 9080.

## Docker

You can run your Restate service in a Docker container.

Most of the Restate service templates come with a `Dockerfile` that you can use to build a Docker image for your service.

## Running services behind a load balancer

To spread load across multiple instances of services and higher availability, we recommend using a load balancer. The Restate server does not currently support multiple endpoints for a single deployment.

When running an L7 load balancer such AWS Application Load Balancer, be sure to configure it to support HTTP/2 as this enables Restate to use the more efficient bi-directional service invocation protocol.

<Accordion title="Using nginx load balancer">
  When using `nginx` as the load balancer, you must use the `grpc_pass` directive instead of `proxy_pass` to forward requests to your services. The `proxy_pass` directive only speaks HTTP/1.1 to the upstream, which downgrades the connection and prevents Restate from using the bidirectional protocol. The `grpc_pass` directive keeps HTTP/2 end-to-end. You also need `http2 on;` on the listener so that nginx accepts HTTP/2 from Restate.

  ```nginx Expandable nginx.conf theme={null}
  events {}

  http {
      server {
          # Plain HTTP + h2c (HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 prior knowledge)
          # In production, either remove this plain HTTP listener or redirect it
          # to HTTPS (note: HTTP/2 prior-knowledge clients won't follow redirects).
          listen 80;
          http2 on;
          server_name _;

          client_max_body_size 0;

          location / {
              grpc_pass grpc://app:9080;
              grpc_set_header   Host              $host;
              grpc_set_header   X-Real-IP         $remote_addr;
              grpc_set_header   X-Forwarded-For   $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
              grpc_set_header   X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
          }
      }

      server {
          # HTTPS + HTTP/2 (HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 via ALPN)
          listen 443 ssl;
          http2 on;
          server_name _;

          ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/certs/server.crt;
          ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/server.key;

          ssl_protocols       TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
          ssl_ciphers         HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;

          client_max_body_size 0;

          location / {
              grpc_pass grpc://app:9080;
              grpc_set_header   Host              $host;
              grpc_set_header   X-Real-IP         $remote_addr;
              grpc_set_header   X-Forwarded-For   $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
              grpc_set_header   X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
          }
      }
  }
  ```
</Accordion>