Configuring Bitrix24 On-Premise (Self-Hosted Edition)
The self-hosted edition of Bitrix24 gives you full control over your data and infrastructure — but also full responsibility for it. Cloud setup takes an hour; On-Premise, after installing the distribution package, requires several more days of proper configuration before it is fit for production use.
Infrastructure Requirements
Minimum requirements for a team of up to 50 users:
| Component | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 4 cores | 8 cores |
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB |
| Disk space | 100 GB SSD | 500 GB SSD + NAS |
| OS | CentOS 7 / Ubuntu 20.04 | Ubuntu 22.04 LTS |
| DBMS | MySQL 5.7+ / MariaDB | MariaDB 10.6 |
| PHP | 7.4 | 8.1 |
For 100+ users, clustering is required — that is a separate topic (see the clustering article). However, even at 50 users it is important to run the DBMS on a separate server.
Initial Configuration After Installation
After installing the distribution and completing the setup wizard, work through the mandatory checklist:
SSL/TLS. Bitrix24 On-Premise without HTTPS is inexcusable. Use Certbot + Let's Encrypt or a corporate certificate. Configure forced HTTP → HTTPS redirect in the nginx configuration.
PHP configuration. Critical parameters in php.ini:
memory_limit = 512M
max_execution_time = 300
upload_max_filesize = 100M
post_max_size = 100M
opcache.enable = 1
opcache.memory_consumption = 256
MySQL/MariaDB configuration. Required in my.cnf:
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 4G # ~60-70% of RAM
innodb_log_file_size = 512M
max_connections = 200
query_cache_type = 0 # disable; use Redis instead
Caching. Connect Redis or Memcached for sessions and data cache. Without caching, the system runs 3–5 times slower under load.
Business Edition vs. Enterprise Edition
On-Premise is available in several editions. The differences are significant:
- Business — up to 100 users, no Smart Processes, no multi-pipelines (limitations vary in newer versions — check the current licensing matrix)
- Enterprise — no user limit, full feature set, support for clustering and load balancing
Mail Server and Notifications
On-Premise does not use Bitrix cloud mail servers — you must connect your own SMTP. Configuration: Settings → Mail → Outgoing Mail. The recommendation is to avoid using your corporate SMTP directly — use Postfix as a relay with a reputable IP, or use a transactional mail service (SendGrid, Mailgun).
Configure DKIM and SPF for your domain separately — without them, notifications from Bitrix24 will land in spam.
Updates and Maintenance
On-Premise updates are applied manually or through the built-in updater. Strong recommendations:
- Do not update immediately after a new version is released — wait 2–3 weeks for patch releases
- Before every update, take a full backup (files + database)
- Maintain a staging server running the same version for pre-testing updates
Updating Bitrix24 On-Premise is not "clicking a button". After major version updates, custom modifications made through bitrix/php_interface/init.php frequently break. Budget time for verification and fixes.
Administering On-Premise requires a competent system administrator or a support contract with an integrator. Without this, within a year the system degrades into a non-functional mess of outdated versions and accumulated issues.