The Disciplines Plate V Cloud Infrastructure
Cloud
Infrastructure.
Foundations that hold. Hosting, architecture and uptime for people who'd rather not learn Terraform.
Set up properly, watched properly, and handed back with runbooks you can read without a decoder ring. IONOS, AWS, DigitalOcean, Hetzner - I'm infrastructure-agnostic and recommend what fits the job.
Return to the workshopYour website or application is only as good as the infrastructure it runs on. Downtime costs money, slow performance frustrates customers, and managing servers yourself distracts from what you actually do.
I design, build, and manage cloud infrastructure that's reliable, performant, and scales with your needs. Data sovereignty respected (I prefer EU hosting when it matters), open standards preferred, and you never get locked in - the keys are always yours, the runbooks readable by anyone.
§ What I provide
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I.
Managed hosting
Web, application, database - fully managed. Server setup, security patches, backups, monitoring, maintenance. A working server without the headaches, on whichever of those providers you are already paying, or a new one if that turns out cheaper.
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II.
24/7 monitoring
Uptime, performance, disk space, and security watched proactively. I get alerted before you notice something's wrong. Automated checks, real-time dashboards, instant notifications when something needs attention.
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III.
Security hardening
Servers configured securely from day one. Firewalls, SSL certificates, automatic security updates, intrusion detection, regular audits. Industry best practice applied without fanfare.
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IV.
Automated backups
Daily backups of everything - databases, files, configurations. Stored offsite, tested regularly. Documented recovery procedures. I've restored from backups before and everything just worked.
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V.
Performance optimisation
Fast loading matters. Server configuration tuned, caching implemented, CDNs where they help, databases optimised. Users stay happy, you pay less for resources.
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VI.
Scalability
Start small, grow as needed. Architecture that scales - vertical (bigger servers) or horizontal (more servers). Traffic spikes without panic or downtime.
§ Typical architecture
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Layer 1
Web server
NGINX or Apache configured for optimal performance. SSL/TLS (Let's Encrypt or commercial). HTTP/2 enabled, security headers configured, DDoS protection active.
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Layer 2
Application layer
Your application in a secure, isolated environment. Node.js, Python, PHP, or whatever the stack requires. Process management, auto-restart on failure, resource limits.
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Layer 3
Database
PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB tuned for your data. Optimised queries, proper indexing, backups, replication if needed. Monitoring and slow-query detection.
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Layer 4
Monitoring
Uptime checks every 60 seconds, performance metrics, log aggregation, alert rules. Uptime Kuma, Prometheus, Grafana - open-source tools configured properly.
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Layer 5
Backups
Automated daily, stored offsite, 30-day retention minimum. Backup verification (I actually test restores). Documented recovery procedures.
Questions, answered
Will we be locked into a particular cloud?
Not unless there is a reason to be. The default is ordinary, portable technology that will run in more than one place, because the cost of moving later is the thing nobody prices in at the start.
What happens after it is set up?
You get runbooks written to be read by whoever is on duty at the time, not by the person who built the thing. Ongoing support is available and optional; the handover is written so that it stays optional.
What does a commission cost?
Work is quoted per commission, after a conversation. There is no day rate to quote at you and no package to fit into, because the shape of the job decides the price and nobody knows the shape yet. The first half hour is free, and it usually settles the question of whether this is a small piece of work or a large one before any money is discussed.
Who owns the code when it is finished?
You do. Outright, including the source. It is handed over with the runbooks needed to keep it running, and there is no licence to renew and no seat to pay for. Commissions, not subscriptions, is meant literally.
What happens if you are unavailable?
Everything is built to be picked up by somebody else: ordinary technologies, readable code, written runbooks and no proprietary lock-in. It is a fair question to ask a one-person workshop, and the answer has to be in the work rather than in a promise.
Do you work outside Suffolk and Cambridgeshire?
Yes. Local work gets the option of somebody in the room, which is worth more than it sounds for the first conversation and the handover. Everything after that is done remotely for most clients anyway.