New servers
Physical or virtual, sized for the workload with headroom, roles separated and storage laid out so one busy share cannot starve the rest.
IT Projects
Software & Server Setup
A new server or application is only as good as the setup behind it. We size it, install it, licence it correctly and document it, so the whole thing still makes sense in three years.
Getting the sizing right the first time
The expensive mistakes in server work happen before anything is installed. Storage gets sized for today and not for the data you will have in two years. A database and a file server are put on the same disk. Licensing is bought in the shape that was cheapest rather than the shape you can grow into.
We work out what the server has to do, design for that, then build it. It takes an extra day at the front and saves a rebuild eighteen months later.
What we build and configure
Line-of-business apps
Your accounting, CRM, CAD or industry software installed, configured and tested with real data before go-live.
File shares and permissions
A folder structure people can understand, with permissions set by group rather than one painful file at a time.
Licensing done properly
Correct licence types and counts, with the paperwork filed so an audit is boring rather than frightening.
Backups and patching
Backup jobs, update schedules and monitoring wired in from day one rather than bolted on a month later.
Testing before handover
Restore tests, reboot tests and a walkthrough with your team, because a server that has never been restarted is not proven.
Signs of a server set up in a hurry
- One giant shared folder called Data, with permissions set on individual files
- A database and a file share fighting over the same disk, so a big copy slows the accounts system
- Locally created administrator accounts with passwords nobody can find
- Backups written to a USB drive that lives next to the server it protects
- No documentation, so the next engineer starts from guesswork
- Windows Server running two versions behind because nobody owned the upgrade
Before go-live
We cut over in a quiet window and keep the old system available until the new one has run for a few days. If something was missed, the fallback is a config change rather than a rebuild.
Users get a short walkthrough on anything that has moved, and the changes are documented with a diagram, a build sheet and a note of where everything lives.
Timings to plan for
- Sizing and design: a few days, depending on the applications involved
- Hardware delivery or cloud provisioning: one to two weeks
- Build and configuration: one to three days
- Data migration and go-live: a quiet period, often a weekend
Questions we get asked about Software & Server Setup
Do we need a physical server, or can we move to the cloud?
Either can be right. If you run an application with awkward licensing or a heavy local data requirement, on-premise may still win. We will give you the honest comparison rather than pushing one answer.
Can you set up software we already bought?
Yes. We install and configure what you own, and we will tell you if a licence is wrong before you buy more of it.
Who owns the hardware?
You do, along with the documentation. If you ever change provider, the setup and the paperwork go with you.
Can you migrate our data from the old server?
Yes, including permissions. We test the migration on a copy before we trust it with the live system.
What about updates and backups after go-live?
They are configured as part of the build. If you are on a support agreement, we then monitor and manage them for you.
Not sure whether you need software & server setup?
Book a free 60-minute health check. We will tell you what you actually need, including when the answer is nothing.