Technology · Infrastructure

Proxmox — the basis of our managed hosting

Our managed hosting runs on our own Proxmox clusters, on our own servers in Germany. Every client project gets its own isolated environment, sized for that one system — no mass hosting, no standard packages. Environments can be moved to other hardware while they are running, restoring from backup is routine rather than a project, and resources are predictable rather than shared. Sharpness Solutions in Oldenburg is a Proxmox Reseller Partner (Silver).

The basis of our hosting

What is Proxmox?

The basis of our managed hosting: our own clusters, servers in Germany, one environment per project.

What we use Proxmox for

Proxmox VE is open-source virtualisation at enterprise level — and for us the basis of every hosted project. The clusters carry Shopware shops, TYPO3 and WordPress sites, Symfony applications, along with databases, search indexes and interface services. Each project gets its own virtual machine, cut to fit its system: memory, CPU and storage are allocated according to actual need, not according to a package name.

The difference from shared hosting shows on the bad day. If a neighbouring project generates load, yours notices nothing, because it does not share the resources. If a PHP version has to be updated, that affects your system and no other. And if an update goes wrong, there is a snapshot from before. These are unspectacular advantages — they count precisely when things get uncomfortable.

How we run the clusters

The clusters stand on our own servers in Germany. We run them as a group so that environments can move to other hardware while in operation — for maintenance, when hardware is replaced, or when a project has grown. Storage is redundant, backups run through Proxmox Backup Server with versioned states. Restoring is rehearsed, not assumed: a backup nobody has ever restored is a guess.

Operations covers everything around it: operating system and PHP updates, database maintenance, monitoring, certificates, DNS and domains. New environments are set up from a template so that test and production systems look the same. On request, individual services run in containers inside the virtual machine. We are available Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 16:00 CET; cover beyond that is set out in individual service level agreements.

Limits and alternatives

Our own infrastructure has one clear limit: capacity does not grow without end at the click of a mouse. If you expect many times the load overnight and only on a few days a year, you are better off with AWS or Google Cloud. The same goes for worldwide delivery with low latency across several continents, and for managed services you could only run yourself with considerable effort.

The price is no automatic win either. Your own environment costs more than a slot in mass hosting — in return you get resources that belong to you and someone who knows the system. For a small business-card website with no particular demands that is oversized; there are cheaper routes for that, and we say so. It becomes worthwhile as soon as a system carries revenue or maps a process.

Frequently asked questions

Where are the servers?

The servers are in Germany. We run our own Proxmox clusters on them and set up a separate, isolated environment for every client project. Data therefore stays within German jurisdiction, and responsibility is unambiguous: operating system, database, application and backup are in one pair of hands. For data processing agreements and the record of processing activities we supply the technical details your data protection officer needs.

What happens if hardware fails?

If a server fails, the affected environment is started again on other hardware in the cluster. The group is built for exactly that: environments are not tied to a single machine, and storage is redundant. On top of that there are versioned backups through Proxmox Backup Server, from which individual systems or individual files can be recovered. For planned maintenance, environments can be moved while they are running.

Can we move our existing hosting to you?

Yes, migrations are everyday work — from shared hosting, from your own server room or from another provider. The usual route has two steps: first a copy of the environment is built for testing, then the switch follows with a short freeze, mostly outside business hours. We take domains, DNS and certificates over with us. Whatever was unclear in the old setup gets documented during the move.

Are you an official Proxmox partner?

Yes, we are a Proxmox Reseller Partner at Silver level. That means we obtain subscriptions directly, have access to the enterprise repository with tested package versions, and can escalate support cases to the vendor instead of searching the community forum. For you the second point matters most — a cluster carrying client projects should not run on package versions the vendor has never checked.

Proxmox: existing system or new build?

We also take over systems that were built elsewhere — after a look at the code and the hosting.

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