# Concepts

> Guides on basic concepts of working with The Things Stack

Source: https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/


This section introduces basic concepts of working with The Things Stack.

We start with a general technical discussion of The Things Stack architecture and progress to other more detailed topics.

The Things Stack is an enterprise grade LoRaWAN server (that includes both the Network Server and Application Server functions mentioned in the LoRaWAN Reference architecture). In addition, The Things Stack contains services and tools to securely manage millions of LoRaWAN devices in production.

The Things Stack offers the following options for LoRaWAN deployments in production.

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<a href="https://www.thethingsindustries.com/the-things-stack/deployment-options" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="badge-stack" title="Available in: Cloud">

  <img class="badge" src="https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/img/tts_frames/frame_cloud.svg" alt="Cloud">

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 [The Things Stack Cloud](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/cloud/): Our flagship, fully-managed, SLA-backed cloud subscription helping hundreds of companies around the world.
  By using The Things Stack Cloud, you can focus on providing value to your customers, while leaving the complexity of managing a production LoRaWAN Network Server to us. You can start evaluating The Things Stack Cloud by [signing up for the free discovery tier](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/getting-started/2-prerequisites/) to get started.

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<a href="https://www.thethingsindustries.com/the-things-stack/deployment-options" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="badge-stack" title="Available in: Enterprise">

  <img class="badge" src="https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/img/tts_frames/frame_enterprise.svg" alt="Enterprise">

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[The Things Stack Enterprise](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/enterprise/): Alternatively, if you prefer to take on the responsibility of installing and maintaining The Things Stack in addition to managing your LoRaWAN device fleet, The Things Stack is available to be installed on your own hardware or cloud infrastructure.

For simple non-commercial projects and local testing, there are a few options.

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<a href="https://www.thethingsindustries.com/the-things-stack/deployment-options" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="badge-stack" title="Available in: Sandbox">

  <img class="badge" src="https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/img/tts_frames/frame_ttss.svg" alt="Sandbox">

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[The Things Stack Sandbox](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/ttn/): A free and limited version of The Things Stack _without any guarantees or SLA_ available to The Things Network community for non-commercial, small scale testing and experimentation.

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<a href="https://www.thethingsindustries.com/the-things-stack/deployment-options" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="badge-stack" title="Available in: Open Source">

  <img class="badge" src="https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/img/tts_frames/frame_open_source.svg" alt="Open Source">

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[The Things Stack Open Source](https://github.com/thethingsnetwork/lorawan-stack): For the DIY’ers, the core features of The Things Stack are open source. This is limited in features and is not suitable for production.

The Things Stack is developed and maintained by [The Things Industries](https://thethingsindustries.com/).


## Pages in this section

- [Architecture](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/architecture/index.md): This section explains the architecture and components of The Things Stack
- [Features](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/features/index.md): This section gives an overview of the key features of The Things Stack.
- [Networking](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/networking/index.md): The Things Stack uses a port per protocol, with a TLS counterpart when applicable. Ports can be shared by multiple services using the same protocol, i.e. gRPC …
- [Migrate to The Things Stack](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/migration/index.md): Concepts specific to The Things Stack Cloud
- [Packet Broker](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/packet-broker/index.md): Exchange traffic with other LoRaWAN networks via peering to share coverage and improve the overall network performance.
- [Server Addresses](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/server-addresses/index.md): This section contains information about addresses for different The Things Stack deployments.
- [Advanced Topics](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/advanced/index.md): Guides for advanced users of The Things Stack
- [Troubleshooting](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/troubleshooting/index.md): This section provides help for common issues and frequently asked questions you may have when getting started with The Things Stack.
- [The Things Stack Sandbox](https://www.thethingsindustries.com/docs/concepts/ttn/index.md): The Things Stack Sandbox (run by The Things Industries) is a free and limited version of The Things Stack without any guarantees or SLA available to The Things …