Cloud & Infrastructure
We design, build and maintain the infrastructure your applications run on. We rely on infrastructure as code, automated deployments and monitoring, so the system stays predictable and costs stay under control.
WHAT CLIENTS COME TO US WITH
- Deployments are manual, and each one risks downtime.
- The cloud bill grows faster than the application traffic.
- Nobody knows exactly how the servers are configured, because the configuration is not written down anywhere.
- The company learns about outages from users, not from monitoring.
- Backups exist, but nobody has checked whether the system can be restored from them.
SCOPE OF WORK
- Audit of the current infrastructure, security and costs.
- Cloud architecture, e.g. on AWS, sized to the application.
- Containers with Docker and orchestration with Kubernetes where it makes sense.
- Infrastructure as code with Terraform.
- CI/CD pipelines and controlled rollout of new versions.
- Backups and a tested restore procedure.
- Monitoring, logs, alerts and cost optimisation.
Infrastructure is everything an application runs on: servers or cloud services, databases, networking, deployment pipelines, backups and monitoring. When it works well, nobody thinks about it. When it does not, it shows up as downtime, failed deployments and bills nobody can explain. We design, build and maintain infrastructure so that it stays predictable.
01Where we start
If the infrastructure already exists, we start with an audit. We check how servers and services are configured, how deployments work, where the backups are, what is monitored and where the money goes. Along the way we review security: access, keys, open ports and updates. We collected the most common gaps in our cloud security checklist.
The result of the audit is a description of the current state and a list of changes ordered by risk. Some fixes, such as missing alerts or untested backups, we make right away. Larger changes are planned in stages so the running system does not have to stop.
02Architecture sized to the application
Not every application needs an elaborate cloud setup. For many, one well-configured server with containers, backups and monitoring is enough. We propose Kubernetes, multiple availability zones or autoscaling when the scale and availability requirements justify their running cost.
Most often we work with AWS and run applications in Docker containers. Containers make the application behave the same on a developer's machine, in the test environment and in production. We write about when orchestration is worth it in our article on Docker and Kubernetes, and compare cloud providers in AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.
03Infrastructure as code and automated deployments
We describe the infrastructure configuration in code, usually with Terraform, and keep it in the repository. Every change is visible, reviewed and reversible. A new environment, for example a test environment for another customer, is created from the same description, not from the memory of whoever once configured the server.
Deployments run through CI/CD pipelines: code passes the tests, is built into a container image and moves through the environments. New versions are rolled out in a controlled way, with a quick rollback if something goes wrong. Deployment stops being a risky event and becomes routine.
04Monitoring, backups and costs
Monitoring should answer three questions: is the system up, is it fast, and what happened when it stopped working. We collect metrics, logs and alerts so we know about a problem before users do. We do not just set up backups; we regularly check that the system can actually be restored from them.
We analyse cloud costs using monitoring data: we size resources to the traffic, remove unused services and set up budget alerts. Monitoring, backups and regular updates are also the core of WPWard, our maintenance service platform for WordPress sites.
05Maintenance
Once the infrastructure is built or put in order, we can keep maintaining it: updating systems and dependencies, responding to alerts, planning changes for growing traffic and keeping costs in check. Everything we do is documented in the repository, so the infrastructure is not a black box, either for us or for the team on the client side.
Have infrastructure that needs putting in order, or planning a move to the cloud? Tell us what your application runs on today, and we will suggest where to start.
HOW WE WORK
- 01DISCOVERYBusiness goals, constraints, technical audit.
- 02STRATEGYScope, architecture direction, delivery plan.
- 03DESIGNInterface system, flows, validated prototypes.
- 04DEVELOPMENTIterative builds against a working environment.
- 05TESTINGAutomated coverage, load and security passes.
- 06DEPLOYMENTPipelines, monitoring, controlled rollout.
- 07SCALEPerformance, cost and capability expansion.
TECHNOLOGIES
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Does every application need Kubernetes?
No. For many applications, simpler managed services or containers on a single server are enough. We propose Kubernetes when the scale and number of services justify its running cost.
Can you take over infrastructure built by someone else?
Yes. We start with an audit and a description of the current configuration, and then move it gradually to infrastructure as code.
How do you keep cloud costs down?
We analyse resource usage, size resources to the traffic, clean up unused services and set up budget alerts. We base decisions on monitoring data.
Do you help with cloud migration?
Yes. First we describe the current environment and its dependencies, then prepare the target architecture in code and move services in stages, with a rollback plan in case of problems.
Which cloud providers do you work with?
Most often AWS. We choose the provider based on the project requirements and what the company already uses. Infrastructure as code and containers keep the application from being tightly tied to a single provider.