SuloBaseSuloBase / Data residency
Where your data sits on SuloBase.
Every part of a project and where it lives, and the route a request takes to reach it.
- 1Your app's users, anywhere in Zambia, send a request.
- 2It enters Cloudflare's network at the site nearest the user, where the secure connection is set up. For Airtel users in Zambia today, that is Johannesburg.
- 3It travels on through an encrypted tunnel to the SuloBase server in Lusaka, which opens no ports to the internet. Your database, sign-in, files, realtime and functions all live there.
- 4On Pro and up, an encrypted backup copy goes to Cloudflare R2, outside Zambia.
Why Cloudflare is in front
- Your server can't be reached directly
- It opens no ports to the internet. Every request comes through Cloudflare, which absorbs attacks before they get anywhere near Lusaka.
- A nearby front door, anywhere
- A user abroad connects to a Cloudflare site in their own region, so the slow part of starting a secure connection happens close to them, not across an ocean.
| Your database, every table and row | Lusaka |
|---|---|
| Sign-in: users, sessions and password hashes | Lusaka |
| Uploaded files | Lusaka |
| Realtime and edge functions | Lusaka |
| Backups, on Pro and up | Made and encrypted in Lusaka. The offsite copy is held by Cloudflare R2, outside Zambia. |
| Requests on their way in | Through Cloudflare's site nearest the user, Johannesburg for Airtel users in Zambia today, then on to Lusaka. Your database is not there. |
How far your data travels.
Most Zambian apps keep their data abroad, usually in Europe or the United States. Every request makes the trip twice.
| Where the database runs | Distance | From Lusaka | Round trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| LusakaSuloBase | 0 km | see note | |
| Johannesburg | 1,200 km | 62 ms | |
| Cape Town | 2,283 km | 129 ms | |
| Frankfurt | 7,535 km | 232 ms | |
| Northern Virginia | 12,429 km | 314 ms |
Round trips measured in August 2026 from one Airtel connection in Lusaka: TCP connect time, best of three. The Johannesburg figure is to Cloudflare's edge there, which is also how requests reach SuloBase today, so SuloBase's own round trip is not yet shorter than Johannesburg's and isn't listed. The data itself is stored and processed in Lusaka. An app that makes ten requests one after another spends about 2.3 seconds waiting on Frankfurt before it does any work.
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