How I Keep Your Linux Server Running Perfectly
for Just $250 a Year

I charge a flat $250 one-time fee to set up a secure, high-performance Linux VPS.
I charge the same $250 per year to keep it that way.

Most clients are surprised it’s so cheap — when they realise what “maintenance” actually means when I do it.

What the $250/year actually covers

• Monthly security patching (OS + PHP + Nginx/Apache)
• Kernel live-patching when available (zero reboot downtime)
• 24/7 uptime monitoring with instant SMS/email alerts
• Immediate response if anything goes wrong (usually fixed in under an hour)
• Performance tuning as traffic grows
• Backup verification (not just “it ran” — I actually test restores quarterly)
• SSL renewal before it ever expires
• Log monitoring for suspicious activity
• Brute-force protection updates (Fail2ban, IPTables rules)
• Free minor config changes (new site, email account, redirect, etc.)

Why this is cheaper than doing it yourself

Let’s say you’re a busy accountant, lawyer, or clinic owner. Your time is worth $150–$300/hour.

Keeping a server secure and fast yourself typically takes 2–6 hours per month once you add up:

• Reading security advisories
• Testing updates on a staging copy
• Actually applying updates
• Fixing the thing that inevitably breaks
• Checking backups worked
• Worrying at 2am when the monitoring email arrives

That’s easily $300+ worth of your time every month.

I do it for less than $21 a month — and I actually enjoy it.

I spend one day a month checking, updating and optimising my customers servers. Most servers will only need 10 minutes of my time. All my servers run Linux (Debian or Ubuntu Server) and they almost always run Apache and MYSQL. When there is an issue with one of the common components that affects all the servers I can resolve it incredibly fast.

What happens when something breaks

As I monitor my servers I usually detect any issues before you do. If a server I look after detects an issue, for example low memory it will let me know immediately and I will resolve the issue ASAP. Sometimes these issues happen whilst I am asleep, but they are usually resolved as soon as I am awake.

That’s included. No emergency rates, no “after-hours surcharge”.

And yes — the first 12 months are free

Every custom website or web app I build includes 12 months of free server maintenance if I set up your VPS.

After that it’s still just $250/year — the same price I’ve charged since 2018.

— Rolf
LampDatabase | Victoria, Australia
Running secure Linux servers since dial-up was considered “fast”