2017–2020 — Early Sovereign

The 2012–2017 era prompted the move to the sovereign infrastructure that Opplet runs on today — the direct answer to everything the borrowed-footing years had exposed.

Moving to a sovereign infrastructure also solved the challenge of administrative access. Proprietary platforms, even those with paid or partner access, restrict root access and prohibit transferring credentials to other users. These restrictions make root-level and power-user training impossible. A sovereign infrastructure removes these barriers.

Rebuilt, Opplet runs entirely on open-source software, eliminating expiring proprietary licenses and the risk of revoked access. It is deliberately constructed without standard conveniences like corporate bundles or point-and-click wrappers. Users work directly with the command line, actual code, and core system logic, ensuring they do not rely on platform-specific shortcuts that can disappear.

The WorldOpp methodology was developed alongside this architecture to serve as a matching career pipeline. It advances participants through initial concepts, preparation, hands-on practice, formal apprenticeship, and ongoing support.

The resulting ecosystem was divided into two primary environments:

• Formal Training: Historically a combination of Moodle and a wiki — the wiki being where participants edited documentation, presented their work and code, raised issues, and communicated outside Moodle. The direct successor of that environment is Opplet Lounge.
• Hands-on Training: Utilizing a Proxmox server hosting LXC containers and virtual machines (VMs) to accommodate live, practical tasks. Today, this part is known as Opplet Range.

Mariam, from Pakistan, and Kevin, from Kenya, joined the build before the period was out. Both of them worked on the Moodle course; Mariam created an early wireframe for what would become the Opplet website.

After earlier troubles with Proxmox, the team also built an alternative cloud environment using OpenStack. However, that project was closed because of its high costs.

Technology on a standalone Proxmox server, now with secure backups, moved on to the 2020–2022 Ukraine campaign.