Due to the main api download and activation requirements of the MainWP dashboard is there a way for us to use it completely offline in a completely locked down environment With no access to the outside world except for a management vpn in.
the out of band network that is connected to our hosting server Wich gives us access to the wp installs and other core system in the network the setup on our stack is very complex and all of our management apps and systems are held within this network.
I am intrigued to see if there is a solution for this as we host a substantial number of sites on our servers and have had no luck finding out if this has been done before?
Yes, it is possible to use the MainWP Dashboard in a completely isolated environment with a few considerations.
If your environment is isolated, you will need to manually update the MainWP extensions by downloading them from your mainwp.com account and installing them via ZIP upload.
Extensions that connect to third-party services will not work as the connectivity will be blocked. e.g., API Backups, Google Analytics, Vulnerability Checker, Domain Monitor, and many others.
Since automatic updates for themes, plugins, and WordPress core rely on external API calls to WordPress.org, you will need to manually download updates and deploy them across your child sites through the MainWP Dashboard or via other internal deployment mechanisms.
Keep in mind that the Child Sites will not be able to alert you if there’s an available update since those child sites cannot reach wp.org API, and so your MainWP Dashboard will not know about those available updates either.