06 · Resources

Infrastructure and cloud: hosting, operating, leaving SaaS

A small business's infrastructure is the servers and cloud services its tools run on: CRM, automation, website, analytics, AI. Choosing it means deciding between renting software by the month, running it on a cloud you control, or hosting it yourself, each with a fixed cost and a very real operating workload.

This category covers choosing cloud hosting for a small business (dedicated server, VPS, European cloud), the operations that come with it (backups, monitoring, updates, recovery plan), setting up a self-hosted stack with Docker behind a Traefik gateway, leaving SaaS and its real three-year cost, and sovereign alternatives to common tools (Matomo vs Google Analytics, e-signature) with the GDPR questions that usually start the conversation. Incident post-mortems belong here too: a badly targeted cleanup command once took our entire production down, and that is worth reading.

Start with the guide

Cloud infrastructure: the foundation for all your projects

Before the first project, a cloud infrastructure foundation settles accounts, access, backups and budget once and for all, and every later project inherits it. What it contains, where to put it, what it costs and why running it matters more than installing it.

7 articles

  • Practical guide13 min The topic guide

    Cloud infrastructure: the foundation for all your projects

    Before the first project, a cloud infrastructure foundation settles accounts, access, backups and budget once and for all, and every later project inherits it. What it contains, where to put it, what it costs and why running it matters more than installing it.

  • Practical guide9 min

    Cloud migration: moving what you have without breaking it

    A successful cloud migration does not move everything in one block: it picks a strategy for each workload, copies instead of moving and keeps a way back. This is the method we apply, with three migrations we have carried out as examples.

  • Choose and price8 min

    Leaving SaaS: the real three-year cost for an SME

    Before you drop a single subscription, you need to compare two full costs over three years, human hours included. Here is the method, line by line, and what the calculation does not see.

  • Practical guide9 min

    Self-hosted n8n with Docker: what production requires

    Installing n8n with Docker takes a few commands; making it hold up in production takes a handful of decisions. Database, encryption key, updates, telemetry and GDPR: what the n8n documentation says, and what our own operation adds.

  • Practical guide7 min

    Backing up your own server: what really breaks

    Everyone knows the 3-2-1 rule, but what loses data is more mundane: a backup never restored, a forgotten volume, a global clean-up command run in production. Here is what we learned from operating our own server.

  • Stepping back11 min

    Sovereign cloud: can you do without the American giants?

    European providers now hold only 15% of their own cloud market. Full sovereignty is out of reach; selective sovereignty starts with sorting your data and planning an exit.

  • Practical guide7 min

    Self-hosting: which tools to move out of SaaS first

    Not all subscriptions are equal when it comes to self-hosting: some open-source tools are mature and easy to run, others need a real team. Here is the order we recommend, and what stays on SaaS.

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