Servers
Your servers, our engineers.
Patching, clean-up and repair for the Linux servers you already run, wherever they are. By the hour or on a retainer, quoted before we start, written up on every ticket, by engineers on shift in North America. Moving a server is its own job: see Environments. Windows Server: ask us.
- Rate
- $150 per hour
- Desk hours
- 8 am to 6 pm Pacific, Monday to Friday
- Emergency
- A rate you choose
- Changes
- Only with your approval
What we do
The tickets we take, most common first
Every item here is work our desk already does on servers we host and servers we do not own.
- Get a down site or server back up. We restart the web server, database or mail service, then find the real cause (full disk, out of memory, corrupt database, bad config) and fix it
- Fix email that will not send or lands in spam. We repair SPF, DKIM and DMARC, clear stuck queues, stop the spam source, and ask blacklists to delist. The list operator sets the timing
- Fix SSL certificates that fail to renew or show browser warnings
- Find out why a site or server is slow. We check load, memory and the database, tune MySQL or MariaDB, convert old table types, set up caching
- Clear a full disk. We find which partition and which user filled it, purge old logs, temp files and journals, and never delete your data without asking
- Apply operating-system security updates on a schedule. We flag when a kernel needs a reboot and reboot only inside your agreed window
- Check the server for break-ins and malware. We review SSH keys, firewall rules, odd cron jobs, open ports and failed logins, contain what we find, and clean it with your OK
- Check that backups exist and actually run, fix the backup agent when a kernel update breaks it, and restore an account, database or file when you need it
- Plan and carry out PHP, MySQL or MariaDB and control-panel version upgrades. We back up first, test, and change versions only with your approval
- Set up monitoring and alerts: service down, mail queue, SSL expiry, disk space, backup checks and disk health, sent to our desk
- Lock down access: key-only SSH, a firewall limited to known addresses, brute-force protection, no root logins
- Write down what we found: a server profile, a change log for every change we make, and a report on your ticket
Rates
By the hour, or on a retainer
Prices in Canadian dollars. The scope call is free.
- Server maintenance, desk hours
- Patching, clean-up and repair on a server you own or a server we host. Quoted in hours before we start.
- $150 per hour
- Emergency
- Production down or data at risk. A rate you choose when you open the ticket.
- $300 per hour
- Server retainer
- Updates, monitoring, a backup check and an hour of engineer time, every month. Month to month.
- $150 per server a month
- Retainer set-up, per server
- Access, inventory, monitoring and a first health check, before the retainer starts.
- $450, one-time
How billing works
The rules that stop surprises
By the hour
- 1-hour minimum per ticket, then 15-minute blocks. A follow-up on the same ticket does not restart the minimum.
- The hours we write on the ticket are a cap. If the work needs more, we stop, tell you why, and wait for your yes.
- We bill the time an engineer is working on your server, not time waiting on you, your provider or a blacklist.
- Every invoice line matches a ticket entry: what was done and how long it took.
- Every change waits for your approval, except patching inside a retainer's written window. An urgent security patch goes in ahead of the window; we tell you what and why.
- We need root, or an admin user with sudo, over SSH, and a console or remote-hands path for anything that can stop the server booting. Without root it is a website job: see Sites.
Emergency
$300 per hour
- Your production is down or your data is at risk and you want us to drop other work. You mark the ticket emergency when you open it; we never move a ticket to the emergency rate on our own
- During desk hours an engineer starts within 1 hour of your call or ticket. Outside desk hours we reply with the time an engineer will start, before you say yes. Either way the emergency rate is billed from when the engineer starts, not from your call
- If we miss the start we promised, the first hour is billed at the desk-hours rate
- 1-hour minimum, then 15-minute blocks. It pays for us dropping other work, whatever the cause turns out to be
- Safe, reversible fixes first: restart services, repair files after taking a backup. We never reboot the whole server or delete data without your yes
- If the server cannot be saved we say so as soon as we know, and quote the move (Environments). The time spent finding that out is billed
Desk hours are 8 am to 6 pm Pacific, Monday to Friday (11 am to 9 pm Eastern), except BC statutory holidays. During desk hours an engineer starts within 1 hour of your call or ticket. Outside them we reply when we see the ticket and say when an engineer can start, at the emergency rate for everyone.
Retainer
Server retainer, $150 per server a month
Coverage for a server somebody has to keep running. 1 hour of engineer time a month is included; updates, monitoring and the backup check do not use it.
Included
- Security updates for the operating system and control panel each month, in a window you agree to once
- Kernel updates when needed. They need a reboot, so we reboot only in your window and only with console access
- Monitoring that alerts our desk: server up or down, disk space, web, mail and database services, SSL expiry, disk health
- A monthly check that your backups ran, with a test restore of a file or a database
- 1 hour of hands-on work each month on your tickets, shared across your servers. Unused time does not carry over; when it is used up we tell you before we bill more
- Emergencies during desk hours at the normal hourly rate, never the emergency rate. Your included hour applies first
- A written record: a profile of your server, a log of every change, and a report on your ticket each month
- Month to month. Cancel before the month starts and it is not billed. Five or more servers: ask us
Set-up
$450, one-time
- Access: our key on your server, your server on our jump host, the firewall and the console path confirmed
- An inventory entry and a one-page runbook we keep
- Monitoring installed and tuned to your server
- A first health check, security check, backup check, and a check that your operating system is still supported
- A written report of what we found and what we recommend
- 3 desk hours at the hourly rate. If your server needs more, we tell you before we bill it
Not included
- Version upgrades: PHP, MySQL or MariaDB, control panel major versions, or the operating system itself. Quoted as a job
- Patching a system its maker no longer supports. We cannot patch it. We tell you in writing at set-up, keep the monitoring and backup checks going, do what is safe, and quote the upgrade. The price stays the same
- Reboots on a server with no console or remote-hands path. Kernel updates wait until there is one
- Setting up backups where none exist. That is hands-on time, and the storage is yours
- Licences and vendor fees: control panel, KernelCare, extended-support kernels, backup storage
- Work caused by a change we did not make, and the same alert for the same cause after we have told you. Both are hands-on time
- Emergencies outside desk hours. The emergency rate applies to everyone then
- Application code, websites on shared hosting (see Sites), moving the server (see Environments), hardware, on-site visits. Windows Server: ask us
How it works
From the call to the fix
Tell us what is wrong
A 30-minute call. We ask what the server runs, who depends on it, and what changed.
We scope it and quote it
You get the hours we expect and what we will touch, in writing, before we start. Those hours are a cap.
We work it with the logs open
What we did and how long it took goes on the ticket. Any change to your systems waits for your approval.
Tell us what is broken.
30 minutes. We scope it. No cost for the call.