Someone else's job to keep your server up.
You bought a VPS to run your shop, your app or your tools, not to become a sysadmin. Wardio handles the patching, monitoring, intrusion detection and backups, and tells you plainly when something needs your attention.
No commitment. You get the findings whether or not you hire me.
What VPS management actually covers
The phrase gets used for everything from a reboot button in a control panel to a full operations contract. Here is where the line sits for this one, so you can compare it against anyone else quoting you.
| The job | What it means in practice | Who usually does it |
|---|---|---|
| Provisioning and hardening | First boot to a machine that is safe to expose: non-root access, key-only SSH, deny-by-default firewall, admin interfaces off the public internet. | Wardio |
| Patching | OS and package updates on a schedule, plus rebootless kernel patching so security fixes do not wait for a maintenance window. | Wardio |
| Monitoring and alerting | Per-second metrics, and alerts that reach a person who can act rather than a dashboard nobody opens. | Wardio |
| Intrusion detection | Host-based detection, log collection and retention, file integrity monitoring on the paths that matter. | Wardio |
| Backups and recovery | Off-site, versioned, integrity-checked, with credentials the server itself cannot delete with. | Wardio |
| The server itself | The hosting account and the monthly bill stay in your name. You own the machine and keep root. | You |
| Your application | Building or debugging what runs on the box. Quoted separately when you want it. | Quoted |
A managed VPS plan from a hosting company usually covers the first two rows and calls it management. The difference shows up on the day something is actually wrong.
Online stores
If you take card payments, PCI DSS already requires you to run file integrity monitoring and retain access logs. Most small shops don't, and don't know they should. See which controls you're already obliged to have.
Freelancers and solo operators
One box running the thing your business depends on, and no one to call when it stops. You keep ownership and root; the operational load moves off your desk.
Teams of one to five
Too small for a sysadmin, too exposed to keep ignoring it. A managed stack costs less than the first hour of an incident you have to resolve yourself.
Game and community servers
Where this practice started, and still where the hardest problems come from. Traffic arrives in spikes, the community notices an outage before any monitoring does, and the data is irreplaceable. Most of the vouches on this site are from operators like that.
Straight answers
What exactly do you manage?
Linux servers: a VPS, a dedicated machine, or several. Setup and hardening, security patching, monitoring and alerting, intrusion detection, off-site backups with automated integrity checks and a documented restore path, and private access between your machines and your people. If it runs on a Linux box and going down costs you something, it is in scope. Windows Server is possible too, though Linux is where the depth is, so say so early and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it.
Do I need to be technical to work with you?
No. Most clients bought a server because they needed to run something (a shop, an app, a tool), not because they wanted to administer one. You keep root access and full ownership; the maintenance, monitoring and recovery planning are handled for you.
What happens when something breaks at 3am?
Alerting runs continuously and reaches me directly. Response is best-effort outside business hours by default. If you need a contractual response time, that is a separate agreement and priced accordingly. I would rather tell you that up front than sell you a promise I cannot keep as a one-person practice.
Are the software licences included in the price?
Yes. Rebootless kernel patching, monitoring and intrusion detection licences are part of the monthly fee, not billed on top. That is why the price is higher than bare sysadmin labour; you are not buying hours, you are buying a managed stack.
Can you take over a server someone else set up?
Yes, and it is the usual case. The engagement starts with a review of what is already running, what is exposed, and whether the backups would actually restore. You get that assessment before committing to anything.
More detail in the guides, written from production practice, not copied from vendor documentation. Or read what clients have said since 2023.