NADA on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS by cloudimg

NADA is the open source microdata cataloguing platform developed by the International Household Survey Network and the World Bank, used by national statistics offices, central banks, and research institutions worldwide to publish survey, census, and administrative data catalogues. It is compliant with the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) and Dublin Core metadata standards, and gives researchers a portal to browse, search, compare, request access to, and download datasets, questionnaires, and reports.

With a standard NADA deployment you must assemble a web server, PHP runtime, and MySQL database, download and place the application, create the database, run the installer and migrations, and create the first administrator. This image completes all of that for you before first boot. Compared with a plain community install, this listing includes 24/7 expert support from cloudimg covering deployment guidance, catalogue configuration, DDI metadata imports, upgrades, and database administration.

Application stack: NADA 5.6 on Apache 2.4, PHP 8.3 with the required XSL, XML, and MySQLi extensions, and MySQL 8.0, all from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Version 5.6 brings the new Vue 3 admin interface, per-user and per-collection permissions, comprehensive indicator and time-series support, resumable uploads for large microdata files, built-in analytics, and hardened SHA-256 API keys. Everything a curator does in the browser is also available through the REST API, with the official PyNADA and NADAR clients for scripted publishing.

On the first boot of your instance, a one shot service generates a unique MySQL root password, application database password, site administrator password, and a personal admin API key for that instance, provisions the catalogue database, runs the upstream migrations, and writes the credentials to a root only file, so no shared or default passwords ship in the image. The upstream application encryption key is rotated per VM as well, and the web installer wizard is never reachable. Browse to the instance address, sign in, and start publishing studies.

Licensing is the MIT License, completely free with no per seat or per study fee. The cloudimg charge covers packaging, security patching, image maintenance and 24/7 expert support. Recommended size is Standard_B2s to start; scale up for large catalogues. A full deployment and usage guide is linked below.

All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. NADA is a project of the International Household Survey Network and the World Bank; cloudimg is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by them. The name identifies the unmodified open source software packaged in this image.