I have a project that currently calls for multiple off line dashboards according to a single template (regional sales results); this I can do this easily with rmarkdown and flexdashboard. The dashboards are then distributed via a web portal to individual users.
An option for future consideration is having the dashboards on line, which would mean Shiny with some form of user identification / authorisation, so that each user sees his (and only his) dashboard.
I am aware that the Shiny server in pro flavor supports LDAP, but I am currently familiar only with the open source version.
My question is whether it would be possible / feasible to run the identification against company LDAP while hosting the pro server myself on AWS (for a variety of reasons I would prefer to host the server myself).
I think it would be a good idea to discuss with your IT department. In my case, when hosting something outside, it is not LDAP that we use but another protocol called SAMLV2. We have done it for a rstudio connect server.
LDAP is for internal network only in my company. I assume it could be the same for you.
I definitely echo @cderv's points and RStudio Connect, and would definitely recommend checking Connect out if you have not already. It has some features that make hosting RMarkdown and flexdashboard stuff really nice, in particular.
As for hosting the server "yourself," I think it would be unlikely that your company would be o.k. with granting an external (i.e. non-company) server querying the LDAP credential store. On the other hand, if by "hosting yourself" you just mean "I want to manage it" but it will be on a company AWS account, then there is no reason you cannot do as you suggested, provided your infosec team is o.k. with the architecture. It is common for companies to have "hybrid" cloud / on-premise solutions for their data science teams.
Finally, it sounds like it might be worth reaching out to the RStudio team as we routinely help our Pro customers (or prospective customers) navigate such architecture discussions. You are also welcome to download the 45-day evaluations of our Pro products and get started that way!
You helped me to understand the situation better - including the risk that I bite more than I can chew.
For the time being I will stick with the off line reports, we have learned to distribute them and our users have learned to access & use them. I will continue to evaluate an on line option, but it will take some convincing to sell the idea to the infrastructure people.
