Hosting & Infrastructure
Where your site or application actually runs: hosting chosen for the workload, configured properly, with backups, certificates and scaling that have been tested.
Overview
Hosting is invisible until it is not, and then it is the only thing anyone is talking about. Most hosting problems are configuration rather than capacity: no caching layer, certificates renewing manually, backups nobody has restored, and a scaling plan that exists only as an assumption.
The right answer is usually simpler and cheaper than what companies end up with. A great many applications do not need the elaborate cloud architecture they are running, and the complexity itself becomes the source of outages.
Who this is for
- Companies on hosting nobody chose deliberately
- Businesses whose site slows or falls over under traffic spikes
- Teams with a cloud bill nobody can fully explain
How we approach hosting & infrastructure
The specific pieces of work a typical engagement covers. Scope is agreed up front — nothing here is a surprise line item later.
Hosting selection
Matched to the workload and to who will operate it. Managed platforms are the right answer more often than infrastructure teams like to admit.
CDN and caching
Content delivery and cache rules configured properly, which is usually the largest available performance gain and the cheapest.
Certificates and domains
Automated renewal, correct DNS and no manual step that will be forgotten at two in the morning in a year's time.
Backup and disaster recovery
Automated backups with restores actually performed, plus a written recovery procedure with a realistic time estimate.
Scaling and capacity
Tested behaviour under load rather than an assumption, including what happens when a dependency slows rather than fails.
Infrastructure as code
Environments defined in version control so they can be recreated, reviewed and rolled back like any other change.
From first call to measured result
The same sequence every time, so you always know what happens next.
Audit
What runs where, what it costs, what is manual, and what would happen if the main instance disappeared.
Design
Target setup with cost and complexity deliberately kept as low as the requirement allows.
Migrate
Move with a rehearsed cutover and a rollback path, at a time chosen for low traffic.
Operate
Monitoring, alerting and a runbook, so whoever is on call has instructions rather than intuition.
Outcomes, not deliverables
A pile of artefacts isn't progress. These are the changes the work is meant to produce — and what we report against.
Faster without new code
Caching and CDN configuration frequently produce a bigger speed gain than weeks of application optimisation.
Backups that would work
Tested restores turn a backup policy into an actual safeguard.
A bill you can explain
Right-sizing and removing unused resources usually reduces cloud spend noticeably.
Less to go wrong
Simpler infrastructure has fewer failure modes, and most companies are running more complexity than they need.
Common questions about Hosting & Infrastructure
The things people ask before they get in touch. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Do we need cloud infrastructure or is managed hosting enough?
Managed hosting is sufficient for most marketing sites and a good many applications, and it removes an operational burden most teams are not staffed for. Move to configured cloud infrastructure when you have specific scaling, compliance or integration needs that a managed platform genuinely cannot meet.
How is this different from cloud infrastructure in your DevOps category?
This page is about hosting the sites and applications we build: choosing a platform, configuring it and operating it. The DevOps page covers infrastructure as an ongoing engineering practice, including pipelines and platform teams. Larger organisations want that one.
How often should backups be tested?
At least quarterly, by performing an actual restore. A backup that has never been restored is an assumption. This is the single most common gap we find and among the cheapest to close.
Can you reduce our hosting costs?
Usually. The common findings are over-provisioned instances, forgotten environments still running, no caching layer so origin servers work harder than they should, and storage nobody has reviewed in years.
Thinking about Hosting & Infrastructure?
Tell us what you are trying to change. If we are not the right fit we will say so, and point you somewhere better.
Looking at the wider picture?
Hosting & Infrastructure usually sits alongside other work in Web, App & Platform Development. Browse the full area to see what it connects to.