Many small and medium-sized companies have servers that have simply been running for years. A VPS at the hoster. A Docker host with more and more tasks. An old WordPress instance. A NAS that has long been doing more than just files. Many things still work. The overview has been lost over time.
It is then often no longer clear which systems are in place, which services are running where, which of them can be accessed from outside and where risks have grown silently.
That’s exactly where I start.
I go into grown, confusing server landscapes and bring clarity to the existing situation. I visualise what is there, how it is connected and where there is a need for action. It’s not about alarmism. It’s about clarity, technical calm and a state in which it is once again possible to understand what this system is actually doing.
What it’s all about
In many companies, IT is growing bit by bit. A server is added because a service is needed. Then a container, a reverse proxy, a release in the firewall, a quick solution for a special case. Many things remain in operation, but the connection becomes blurred over time.
Then questions like these arise:
Which systems are still running at all.
Which services are accessible from outside.
Which accesses still exist.
Which authorisations are wanted.
Which legacy systems should be removed.
Which configuration still works.
I go right into this situation and bring it back into an understandable form.
What I do specifically
I get a reliable overview of the existing infrastructure. I check systems, services, access, firewall rules, containers, logs, reverse proxies, backups and the relationships between them.
I work not only with experience and classic system analyses, but also with AI-supported analysis. This helps me to analyse larger log volumes, configurations and technical correlations more quickly and to identify anomalies earlier.
Then I organise the situation:
What is public.
What is internal.
What is forgotten.
What is unnecessarily open.
What is risky.
What should be changed in the short term.
If it makes sense, I harden directly during operation: access, SSH, firewall, service boundaries, container publishing, protection against login attacks and other places where systems are silently open.
How I work
I am a generalist with around 30 years of professional experience in large German companies. I have largely developed my technical path myself. As a result, I don’t have a narrow specialism, but rather a broad understanding of systems, interfaces and typical error patterns in established infrastructures.
In complex situations, this is often the decisive advantage. I recognise correlations, ask the questions that lead further and use AI specifically as an additional tool for analysis and troubleshooting. AI speeds up work in the material. I check whether the answers work.
I really enjoy doing this kind of work. I’m particularly interested in systems that have grown, are confusing and have been left behind. I go in without reproach. Not with a view to who has failed to do something, but with the question of what is there, what is sustainable and how clarity can be restored.
This takes the pressure out of the situation. And it helps to make joint decisions that are technically sensible and practically feasible.
Who this is for
This offer is aimed at small and medium-sized companies that have set up several systems, services or servers over the years and can no longer reliably grasp the overall context.
Typical situations include evolved hosting landscapes, multiple virtual servers, Docker hosts with special solutions, NAS systems with additional tasks or infrastructures that have become confusing due to personnel changes and incomplete documentation.
What you get out of it
You don’t get a general safety lecture, but clarity in the real inventory.
You will then know better which systems are in place, what can be accessed from outside, which access points should be closed or hardened and which next steps make sense.
I approach such situations with the attitude that there were good reasons for every setup. Many things arise from the demands of everyday life, from tasks that have grown, from personnel changes or simply from too little time and too little capacity to deal with them earlier. It’s good that we’re taking a look now.
This does not create additional pressure, but rather a better overview, more order and a sustainable direction.
In the best case scenario, the problem is solved in one day. At the very least, the situation is much clearer, the pressure is reduced and a sensible next step is visible.
My commitment
For such assignments, my usual hourly rate model does not apply for once.
When I go into a server landscape that has grown, become confusing or critical, it is not a question of small-scale synchronisation or a loose sequence of small steps. Then it’s down to the nitty gritty. Then it’s about clarity, responsibility, decisions and often also about systems on which more has been hanging for a long time than is visible in everyday life.
My daily rate for such assignments is 1,500 euros net plus board and lodging.
A daily rate is not a rigid eight-hour window. It means: I work my way into the situation and keep at it until we are either finished or decide together that a good and responsible point has been reached for that day. That could be eight hours. It can also be ten or more. The crucial thing is that at the end of the day, not only has time passed, but that order has been noticeably restored, risks are clearer and the system is in a better state.
This offer is deliberately not aimed at every situation and not every budget. Anyone who has lost track of multiple servers, services, containers, access points and technical dependencies is already responsible for an infrastructure that is economically relevant. This format is designed precisely for such situations.
Last Updated on March 14th, 2026 by Rene Terruhn