Planning your cloud and hosting architecture
The right infrastructure for your application
Where and how an application runs determines its availability, security and running costs – and how easily it can grow. It starts with questions like these: a major cloud provider or servers in a German data centre? Virtual machines or containers? And what happens if a server fails?
We plan architectures around actual needs – as much as necessary, no more. A setup built from dozens of cloud services looks modern, but it is complex to run and hard to budget for. For many applications in small and mid-sized businesses, a well-designed, lean infrastructure is more robust and more affordable.
What we plan for you
Cloud and system architecture. Servers, containers, databases, storage and network – combined the way your application needs them. We use services from the major cloud providers where they add real value.
Security and scaling concepts. Access rights, network segmentation, encryption, backups and recovery – plus a clear path for the infrastructure to grow with your requirements.
Cost and resource planning. We size the infrastructure to fit and make the running costs transparent in advance, instead of buying reserve capacity just in case.
Location and data protection. For personal data, we plan operation in data centres in Germany or the EU, so that you can meet the requirements of the GDPR properly.
How we build infrastructure
We run our own products in containers with Docker and Kamal on servers in Germany, deployed automatically via GitLab CI. Error monitoring and analytics run on our own infrastructure rather than with third-party providers. We use the same proven building blocks for our clients' applications.
We host exclusively in data centres powered by green electricity and rely on virtualisation so that less hardware does more – find out more on our sustainability page. As a Proxmox Partner, we know the virtualisation platform from everyday use.
From our projects
For the event photo platform from PicturePartners, we combine automated deployments with storage in the AWS cloud and TLS certificates for customer domains that renew automatically. For Momenth, we introduced a VPN that securely connects three locations and gives staff access to the systems on the road and when working from home.
How we plan your architecture
- Capture requirements: users, data, availability, budget
- Analyse existing systems and dependencies
- Design the architecture with a security, backup and cost plan
- Support the setup and the transition into operation
- Capture requirements: users, data, availability, budget
- Analyse existing systems and dependencies
- Design the architecture with a security, backup and cost plan
- Support the setup and the transition into operation
Frequently asked questions about cloud and hosting architecture
Cloud provider or your own server – which is better?
That depends on the application. Large cloud platforms offer many ready-made services and can be expanded quickly, but their costs rise with usage and are harder to predict. Servers in a German data centre are often cheaper and easier to budget for. A combination often makes sense, such as dedicated servers for the application and cloud storage for large volumes of files.
Can our application be hosted in Germany?
Yes. We plan and operate applications on servers in data centres in Germany that are powered by green electricity. Especially with personal data, this makes GDPR compliance easier, because the data does not leave the European legal area.
How does the infrastructure grow with our application?
We plan a path for higher load from the outset: containers can be distributed across additional servers, and databases and storage can be expanded separately. This way, you start with a lean, affordable infrastructure and expand it when usage calls for it – not just in case.
What running costs should we expect?
That depends on size, availability requirements and data volume. Running costs include servers and storage, backups, monitoring, and maintenance and updates. Our guide to ongoing software costs gives an overview of all items; during architecture planning, we put figures on them for your specific project.
Do you also use services from major cloud providers?
Yes, when they suit the task. On the PicturePartners event photo platform, for example, the photos are kept in AWS cloud storage. But in each case we check whether a service really brings benefits or whether a simpler solution in a German data centre is cheaper and more independent.
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Together with you, we design an infrastructure that fits your application and your budget.