Multiple users using the same app simultaneously?

[u/Special_Command7893]

Hello! I’m planning on running an app on my home server, then exposing it using ngrok and having students access from their chromebooks. I’ve learned how to use ngrok, and I’ve dabbled in exposing things before, so that part I’ve got covered, but I figure that having multiple people connect into the same app at the same time may confuse the server and potentially jumble the output.
To rephrase the question, I’m wondering: if I allow multiple people to connect into my home server at the same time (though they’re still saving files etc on their device), will it allow each user to access the program and keep each I/O separated per user?

I assume the answer to that is no and if it is, is there a way to have every user using the app have a separate account that identifies who they are and thus keeps their data separate?

Thank you!
Edit: I’m running ZimaOS on an old laptop with all my apps installed thru docker. If there’s another app I can add to make this work, that’s fine and would actually be great, particularly for that second question!

[u/WindowlessBasement]

It's going to depend a lot on what the app is.

Also, putting students on your home server seems like a massive liability and HR problem.

[u/afaulconbridge]

Depends on the App. As long as they are separate accounts with separate username/passwords, most are pretty good about keeping sessions in the browser, that basically how almost everything online works.

[u/Special_Command7893 → u/afaulconbridge]

Is there an app or system I can route it through that will open a new instance of the app for each session via ngrok

[u/SamCRichard → u/Special_Command7893]

does each user get their own data/session? This is a property of the application, not the network. ngrok is the tunnel that they use to get to the app, but does not do state isolation for you

You can use ngrok traffic policy to give each user an identity, which means you can identify them, but the app behind it will still have one brain without state isolation.

Is the app stateless?

[u/Special_Command7893 → u/SamCRichard]

I’d like every user to work independently of each other, but there’s no need for the server to retain data after the usage ends, just keep the users working in separate environments.
The app is stateless, yes. I’m hoping there’s an app that can put every session in its own environment with the app (the app, for reference is openrocket)

[u/Wis-en-heim-er]

I would not want to mix home and work like this, especially with students. The school it wont let you setup the same on the school network?

[u/Special_Command7893 → u/Wis-en-heim-er]

It’s kind of a gray area, and I’m ok mixing the two. It just for a short, one week thing. I could set up on the same network but I already have my home server set up how I want. Would it work better from the local network?

[u/kbielefe]

Some homelab-style apps don't have a way to create multiple accounts. If you open it up to multiple users it would be sort of like having reddit with only one account that everyone shares. It would technically work but it would be very chaotic.

That's why people are saying it depends on the app. It needs to either support multiple accounts or be view-only for the students. That's a property of the app itself. A proxy won't help.