VPS and server management
Setup, security and care for the server your application runs on.
U05–U06 · Infrastructure · Infrastructure
An application is only as good as the server it runs on. When the team that writes the code also knows the server, nobody argues about who is responsible during a slow-down or an outage; whether the problem is in the code or on the machine gets looked at the same table.
Setup follows the server’s purpose: which services run, which ports stay open and where backups go are written down first. Then come hardening, monitoring and regular care. Every change we make is logged, so the server’s history never lives only in one person’s memory.
Some of our notes on the subject are on the blog: the first 30 minutes on a Linux server, commands to run when a server slows down, and PHP-FPM worker tuning.
What gets built
- 01Server setup with Ubuntu and CloudPanel, Nginx, PHP-FPM and database tuning
- 02Hardening with SSH keys, a firewall, automatic security updates and fail2ban
- 03Scheduled backups and tested restores
- 04Disk, memory and service monitoring; reading slow-downs and error logs
- 05SSL certificates, domain redirects and Cloudflare settings
- 06MySQL and PostgreSQL setup with a clean user and permission layout
Frequently asked
Do we have to buy the server from you?
No. We can work on a VPS or dedicated server at the provider you already use. If you don't have one yet, we pick the provider and size together.
Our site got slow. What happens first?
We measure. CPU, memory, disk, PHP-FPM workers and database queries are checked; no setting changes before the bottleneck is found. Findings and changes are shared in writing.
Where are backups kept?
Off the server, in a second location. The only way to know a backup works is to restore it, so restores are tested regularly.
Other units in this half
The other half of the rack
We also build the software that runs on this infrastructure:
Let’s reserve a slot in the rack.
Describe your project in a few steps and we’ll prepare a written proposal with scope, timeline and an infrastructure plan.