Why we install software on the client's own server

Most software today lives in the cloud, and for many businesses that is the right answer. For a business that quotes large jobs, holds supplier prices and customer details, and already runs its own network, there is a good case for keeping the system on a server it controls.

What changes when it runs on your server

The data stays inside your network. Access is by your office network or your VPN. Your IT provider already knows how to look after the machine, and you decide when it is updated. Nothing breaks because a vendor changed a price or shut a service down.

The trade is that someone has to do the things a cloud host does for you: backups, updates, certificates and monitoring. That is why we treat the install as a project, not a download.

What we put in place

• An encrypted front door. The application only listens on the server itself; a web server in front of it handles the encrypted connection.
• A firewall rule for your network only. Not the whole internet.
• Nightly backups and an hourly health check, with problems written to the Windows event log your IT provider already watches.
• Updates with an automatic rollback. The update script takes a backup, swaps the files and migrates the database; if anything fails it puts everything back.

What we always check on the day

Servers are never quite as described. On our latest install two things differed: the web ports we expected to be free were in use by another service, and a folder permission was stricter than usual. Neither stopped the project, because we leave time for them, and we wrote both into the notes so the next install is smoother.

Is it right for you?

If you have an IT provider, a server you trust and software you do not want to rent forever, it is worth a conversation. If you have none of those, a good cloud host is usually simpler, and we will say so.