What I do
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Hosting and data
Multi-server estates on AWS, sites behind Cloudflare, Linux administration, and databases tuned for the load they actually carry. Plus the work nobody notices until it's missing: backups, recovery, hardening and cost.
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Joining systems together
Systems that were each the right choice but were never designed to know about each other, so somebody re-keys the same data every week. I build the connections that take that job away, including the retries, the error handling and the check that notices when a sync quietly stopped.
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AI development
AI built inside the client's own AWS account and against their own data, so nothing goes to a third party unless they decide it should. The model is rarely the hard part. The data underneath is: what's there, what state it's in, and who may see it.
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Building with AI tools
I've been using AI coding tools for a while now, and I've learnt how to get what I want out of them. Most of that is the process around them: tests, rules the build enforces, and a staging site to check every change on before it goes live. Knowing the code and the hosting underneath is what tells me when they've got something wrong.
Example
Twenty-six years on one platform
Since 2000 I've looked after all the hosting behind Wahoo Learning's training platform, and done much of its development. By Wahoo's own figures it serves 150,000 active learners and more than 4,000 partners in over 130 countries.
It has been rebuilt three times, each one a step up in technology. One of those was the move to AWS, where it now runs across several servers. The platform is Wahoo's, not mine. I'm the person who has kept it running.
I know I can rely on Julian and trust he can deliver what we need quickly and effectively.
- Since
- 2000
- Active learners
- 150,000
- Partners
- 4,000+
- Countries
- 130+
- Rebuilds
- 3
For small businesses
The everyday services, provided through Dalaric Limited.
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Websites for small businesses
A one-page website on your own domain, and the domain belongs to you. There's no database, no plugins and no login, so there's nothing to update and nothing to hack. When your details change, you ask and I make the change.
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Business email
Mailboxes at your own domain, set up by a person rather than a support article. Your existing mail is moved across as long as your current provider supports IMAP, which most do. You don't need a website from me to have one.
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Domain names
Registered in your name from the first day, pointed where they should be and renewed before they lapse. Dalaric Limited is a Nominet member and holds a Channel Partner tag, so .uk and .co.uk domains are registered directly rather than resold, and you stay the registrant throughout.
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WordPress hosting and care plans
A hardened server configured by me rather than a shared reseller plan, patched proactively, backed up and monitored around the clock, with one named person who knows your site. Existing sites can be moved in, and moved out again if you ever leave.
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Security testing
An automated security test of your public website, run with your written permission. The findings are read and written up by a person, so you get a plan rather than a data dump. I don't do manual penetration tests, and when you need one I'll tell you so.
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Advice session
An hour on a video call, with a written summary afterwards. Bring the quote, the supplier's email or the decision you're stuck on, and I'll tell you what I'd do, including when the answer is to do nothing. It's judgement rather than IT support.
The question nobody asks
What happens if I'm not there?
I'm one person, so it's a fair question. The answer depends on what you buy.
- Work on your own systems stays yours. Your cloud accounts, servers and domain are in your name. I have access, not ownership, and you can take it away whenever you like. The work is documented, and the documentation is yours.
- A website, email or hosting from Dalaric runs on Dalaric's accounts, but your domain is registered in your name from the first day. Your site, your mail and your content can be handed to you, or to another provider, whenever you ask.
- You can leave whenever you want, and I'll hand over cleanly and help the next person.
- If Dalaric ever stops, there's a written plan for handing every client over or winding down properly, with notice, so nobody is left without their website or email.
Background
Systems since 1988
I've worked with databases since 1988 and with Unix since 1990. My first client website went live in 1996 and I still manage it, and since 2000 I've looked after the hosting behind a training platform that has served more than 150,000 students. Dalaric Limited has been the company behind that work since 2009.
The tools are AWS and Cloudflare now rather than a modem and a Unix box, but the job is the one it always was: understand the system properly, build it so it doesn't fall over, and be there when something changes.
Work with me
Through Dalaric
I take on work through Dalaric Limited, my company, of which I'm the director. Tell me what you need and I'll say whether I'm the right person for it.
Book a call by Zoom or telephone, or email info@dalaric.com.
I'm also on LinkedIn.
Book a call