The march of new technology is relentless, but even so there are some staples that persist. Web servers, email servers and file servers have been with us almost since the birth of the internet. More recently, virtual machines have become the basic platform for the majority of application servers.

These technologies are so mature now that they are within reach of most small and medium sized organisations. And whilst the advice very often is don’t host your email, website or application servers yourself, there are significant savings to be had if you know what you are doing.

A plethora of Youtube vloggers and of course AI all offer advice and technical walk-throughs that can get you up and running even with modest equipment. For example a modern VPS at the base level only offers the same capabilities of a laptop manufactured in 2016!

The difficulty, of course, is no so much the setup but the ongoing maintenance of your own platform servers. This is where I come in.

Here’s a summary of the benefits of the workflow service I offer:-

• Analysis of your current server platforms, end-to-end
• Support in setting up email, web and application servers
• Creating a secure infrastructure on which to host
• Private servers inaccessible to the public
• Public servers using reverse proxies
• Server back up and redunancy

Sounds good, but how does it work in practice?

Here’s a good example: a mail server on a 10-year-old laptop
A client wanted full control of their email — their own domain, their own data, no third-party mailbox provider — but assumed it would mean expensive new hardware and an ongoing support contract. In practice, I built the whole thing on a ten-year-old laptop running Ubuntu Linux, using Mailu as the mail platform. Mailu bundles everything a proper mail server needs — SMTP, IMAP, spam filtering, antivirus and a web admin panel — into a manageable, self-hosted package, which meant the ageing hardware only had to do the one job well, rather than juggle a dozen separate services.

The final configuration comprised multiple email accounts and domains, and has been running successfully without interruption since 2022.

Here is a summary of my work to complete the installation: –

• Issued auto-renewing Let’s Encrypt certificates for HTTPS and SSL,
• Configured DMARC, SPF and DKIM so the mail wouldn’t get flagged as suspicious by other providers.
• For resilience and security, installed the server behind a reverse proxy
• Deployed two Oracle Cloud VMs providing redundancy and backup
• Infrastructure means there is no single point of failure, helping to avoid any lost email.
• Two-factor (2FA) authorisation for client and admin logins
• Roundcube gives the client a familiar webmail interface for day-to-day use
• Admin is also managed through via Roundcube, including spam filters and email quotas
• Setup supports unlimited domains with hundreds of email addresses each
• Daily backups and redundant server

All running on hardware that might otherwise have been sent to landfill!

Keeping Your Business Running, One User at a Time

Technology changes fast, but the day-to-day reality for most small businesses hasn’t: people still need working laptops, reliable networks, and software that doesn’t fight them at nine in the morning. Desktops, laptops, printers, Wi-Fi and the software stack that ties them together — this is the computing platform every business runs on, whether anyone thinks about it or not.

Most small and medium businesses now run a genuinely capable set of tools. Cloud office suites, modern endpoint security, and affordable networking gear mean a five-person team can have an IT setup that would have needed a full department a decade ago. The catch is that none of it looks after itself.

A flood of guides, forums and AI assistants will happily walk you through setting up a new laptop, joining a network, or troubleshooting a stubborn printer. And that’s genuinely useful — right up until something breaks in a way that isn’t covered by the guide, or three small issues combine into one that stops someone working entirely.

The difficulty isn’t getting the platform running — it’s keeping it running smoothly, day after day, without it eating into time you’d rather spend on the business itself. This is where I come in.

Here’s a summary of the technical support service I offer:-

• Analysis of your current computing platform, end-to-end
• Advice on the right hardware and software for your team’s needs
• Support with desktops, laptops, printers and peripherals
• Setting up and troubleshooting local networks and Wi-Fi
• Managing user accounts, permissions and software installs
• Keeping systems patched, secure and running smoothly

Please note: this service covers the computing platform used by your staff — it does not extend to servers of any kind, which are handled separately.

Response times are within 24 hours, during office hours.

With extensive hands-on experience delivering WordPress CMS solutions, ranging from arts community blogs to heavily customised WordPress implementations for more complex business requirements, I can bring your website to life with one of the world’s most popular, up-to-date and reliable CMS solutions.

With a well-defined production process, when you hire me as your WordPress developer you can be sure that your WordPress solution will be fully tailored to your business message, model or community focus.

Try it for yourself: a WordPress solution tailored to your needs…

I will ensure that you will get an ideal WordPress website that really delivers the kind of user experience your visitors need and expect. I’ll also provide access to the full range of benefits offered by WordPress as a CMS Solution. I use state-of-the-art techniques and the latest versions to accomplish a perfect WordPress development. Here are some of the WordPress services I offer:-

• Free consultation to establish your needs
• Advice on the best options and features for your site
• WordPress integration with your existing Website
• WordPress hosting, implementation & setup
• WordPress SEO and Google Analytics integration
• Custom WordPress theme (look and feel of your site)
• WordPress design to theme conversion
• WordPress maintenance service
• WordPress Plugin development

Why choose WordPress?

With over 25 million users worldwide, WordPress is rapidly taking on increased importance as CMS solution, but here’s a brief Q&A to help you see why WordPress could be the ideal solution for your next website:

Q: Isn’t WordPress just for bloggers?

A: Short answer, No. The days of WordPress being used solely as a blogging platform are over. WordPress has extensive CMS capabilities built-in, and is naturally SEO-friendly, making it an ideal solution for building fully customisable, content-managed websites with an easy-to-use client content management interface.

Q: But it’s only for individuals, communities and small organisations, right?

A: Wrong. WordPress currently powers a vast array of sites across community, business, news and social sectors.When such well-known companies as Adobe, UPS, Pepsi, eBay, Ford and Sony are using WordPress, you can be sure that your site will be on a platform shared by some of the world’s biggest brands.

Community, Arts, Government and education are all sectors that make heavy use of WordPress: The Royal Ballet, Number 10 (the Prime Minister’s Office) to name some of the more high profile ones.

There’s also a strong media user-base, including Stephen Fry, singer Tom Jones, People Magazine, actor Alan Rickman, the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, F1 driver Mark Webber – all have high-profile sites built with WordPress which serve vast numbers of users, day-in and day-out.

Q: But it’s open source: here today gone tomorrow?

A: WordPress has been around for some years now, and the world-wide user base is absolutely enormous. As a result, WordPress is one of the most reliable solutions and well established CMS platforms out there, and with the recent release of WordPress 3.9, there’s no sign whatever that WordPress will fade away anytime soon.

Because WordPress is open-source, and free, there is huge a support base out there to call on for WordPress answers. Working with WordPress, I have one of the biggest extended developer pools at my finger tips, day and night to resolve problems and find solutions to just about any problem there might be.

To have your website built with WordPress, the world-class CMS platform, please call me now.

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