Hosting & Server Management

Server setup and management on DigitalOcean, AWS and cPanel. Nginx, SSL, DNS, Cloudflare, email, backups and monitoring, all registered in your name.

What I set up and run

Server provisioning

A droplet or instance sized to the actual workload, not the biggest one the salesperson suggested. Nginx configured properly, PHP-FPM tuned, MySQL with sensible limits, and a firewall that only opens what needs opening.

SSL and Cloudflare

Certificates through Let’s Encrypt with auto-renewal, or Cloudflare origin certificates. Set to Full Strict, not Flexible. Flexible SSL is the most common cause of redirect loops I get called in to fix, and it also means the hop between Cloudflare and your server is unencrypted.

DNS and domains

Records, subdomains, nameservers and transfers. Email authentication done properly, which means SPF, DKIM and DMARC, so your invoices stop landing in spam.

Deployment

Git-based deployment so changes ship with a push rather than an FTP client and a prayer. Staging environments where it makes sense, so nothing untested reaches production.

Backups and monitoring

Automated daily backups stored off the server, with restores tested. Uptime, SSL expiry, disk usage and error-rate alerts that reach a person.

Everything goes in your name

Your DigitalOcean or AWS account. Your domain registrar. Your Cloudflare. Your repository. I get access, not ownership.

This matters more than it sounds. The single worst position to be in is discovering your previous developer owns the hosting account, and your site now depends on someone who has stopped replying. If you replace me next year, you change one password and carry on.

What this costs

My rate is $10 per hour. Initial server setup is a fixed-price build. Ongoing management runs as a monthly block. You pay the hosting provider directly, at their prices, with no markup from me.

Questions people ask

DigitalOcean, AWS or shared hosting?
Shared cPanel is fine for a brochure site. DigitalOcean is the sweet spot for most applications, predictable pricing and enough control. AWS when you need specific managed services or your client requires it. I will recommend the cheapest option that actually fits.

Can you migrate my existing site?
Yes, including DNS cutover planned to minimise downtime. Migrations run to a staging copy first so we verify before switching.

Do you handle email hosting?
Setup and DNS records, yes. I generally recommend Google Workspace or Zoho over self-hosted mail, because running your own mail server is a deliverability problem you do not need.

What if the server goes down?
Monitoring alerts me. Response is covered under a management block or billed hourly.

Can you fix a server someone else configured?
Yes. I audit it first and tell you whether it is worth repairing or rebuilding.

Start a project

Tell me what you are running now and what is going wrong with it.