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b62f014·init: infrastructure/cloudflexible

We have no cloud
of our own to sell you.

The constraint first, the provider after.

Anyone reselling a cloud will explain why that one is the right answer, whatever the question was. We resell nothing: we work on Azure and DigitalOcean for machines, on Kinsta and Sevalla when a managed platform is what's needed, and the choice starts from how you are built - not from a price list.

7a3ce88·feat: selector/choice4 providers

There is no right provider. There's the right one for your constraints.

This is, simplified, the conversation we have at the start of every project. Tick what applies to you and watch the answer move.

infra.matchno constraints4 providerstick what applies to you
Your constraintstap
No constraints ticked

The questions first, the provider's name after.

We have no default answer, and whoever does is selling something. Tick one or two constraints above: the first conversation we have with you is exactly this one, only longer.

What we always ask

What it runs on today, what it costs and what broke last time. Three answers that often decide on their own.

How they line up
Microsoft Azuremachines
DigitalOceanmachines
Kinstamanaged
Sevallamanaged

The bars are a game, not an algorithm: the real choice is made by talking. But the order they move in is the right one.

Often the answer is stay where you are. If the infrastructure you have holds up and costs the right amount, migrating it is spending with no return: you fix what's wrong and move on.

// and if tomorrow the choice changes

This isn't a decision to be taken once and for all. We build applications in containers - the same thing runs locally, in test and in production - so moving them from one provider to another is days of work, not months. It's why we can afford not to have a favourite: if in two years the numbers add up better somewhere else, we move.

We don't resell cloud. So we have no favourite to steer you towards.

Signed-off-by: Merge <merge@beecreative.it>
e19d5a3·feat: management/management5 items

We keep the machines up. After day one, too.

Set up is the short part. The long one is what comes after: the updates, the backups nobody ever tries restoring, the certificates that expire on a Saturday.

Setting the machines up

It starts from what has to run on them, not from a size on a price list. Network, access, certificates and separate environments are decided once and written down somewhere - not reconstructed from memory at the next change.

Maintenance, not surveillance

System updates, runtime versions, disk space, expiring certificates. These are the things that make no news until they stop everything on a Friday afternoon.

Backups somebody has tested

A backup that has never been restored isn't a backup. We run the tests, and you know how often and how long it takes to come back up.

Costs you can read

We know what you're paying and why. If a test environment has been left running for three months we say so, even though we're not the ones paying the bill.

The first to know something is wrong shouldn't be your client

On the machines we watch that the services respond and that they're not running out of space or memory. On the applications there's Sentry on every project: when a user hits an error we see it with the line of code and the steps that caused it, without having to ask them what they were doing.

It means a share of the problems closes before anyone notices - and that when you write to us, the answer is often already "we're looking at it".

On the machines
Services responding, space, memory, certificates about to expire
On the applications
Sentry: the error, the line of code and what caused it
Who the alerts go to
Us - not an address of yours somebody has to man
0fd7b91·merge: one contact/contactone phone call

When the site is down an investigation shouldn't have to start.

With software and infrastructure split between two vendors, the first half-day of every problem goes like this:

"That's a server problem, ask them."

whoever built the software

"The server is up, it's the code throwing errors."

whoever runs the hosting

"Everything shows green on our side."

the control panel

If we keep both the software and the machine it runs on, that phone call doesn't exist: there's one number and nobody to convince. It works the other way round too - if someone else builds the software, we work with them without asking you to change.

// our point of view

If you already have an in-house sysadmin who knows your machines, you don't need us for the infrastructure: we lend a hand when it helps and stop there. This service makes sense when nobody in the company wants - quite reasonably - the responsibility for a server that has to stay up.

Some projectsThe projects completed over the yearsGo to the case studies
e0c5a74·feat: field proof/case-historywhere we did it

Where we have already done it.

Real projects where this service went into production. Same logic, different contexts.

All case studies →
b90d4e2·docs: frequently asked/questionsno house favourite

The questions that come before the provider's name.

Do you resell cloud?

No, and we have no favourite to steer you towards. We work on Azure and DigitalOcean for machines, on Kinsta and Sevalla when a managed platform is what's needed - and the choice starts from your constraints, not from a price list.

How do you choose between Azure, DigitalOcean, Kinsta and Sevalla?

From the questions, before the name: whether you're already inside Microsoft 365, whether the budget is tight, whether traffic spikes, whether you need access to the VM, whether there are certifications to meet, whether the data has to stay in Europe. Often the answer is to stay where you are.

What if we want to change provider later?

You can. We build applications in containers: moving them from one provider to another is days of work, not months. It's also why we can afford not to have a favourite.

What does management cover after set up?

Updates, runtime versions, disk space, certificates. Backups somebody has actually tried restoring. Monitoring on both machines and applications, with Sentry on every project. And one single contact for software and infrastructure - so when the site is down, no investigation into whose fault it is has to start.

What does it run on today? Let's start from there, not from a quote.

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