Welcome to Nine's Managed Services
Welcome to Nine's Managed Services. We'd like to provide a comprehensive overview of our services, tools, best practices and general things you should know about our offering.
Maintenance Window and Status Page
To ensure smooth and reliable operations, we regularly need to execute maintenance tasks.
To do this with the least impact, we have defined Tuesday, 00:00 - 02:00 CET/CEST as recurring maintenance window.
In case of unplanned events, we'll keep you posted on our status page.
You'll find detailed information in our corresponding support article.
Available Software Versions
Nine is using the Ubuntu Linux distribution for managed servers. The available software versions are tied to the Ubuntu version of your server.
We've compiled an overview of the most commonly used software for your convenience.
Webserver Configuration
Configuring the webserver to suit your requirements is made possible through our command-line interface (CLI) tool,
nine-manage-vhosts.
nine-manage-vhosts allows you to create new "Virtual Hosts", adjust the PHP version to your needs and even allows you
to create Let's Encrypt certificates for your websites.
We recommend our nine-manage-vhosts documentation as a starting point, before you advance to the more specific documentary on using Let's Encrypt with nine-manage-vhosts.
In case you're interested in buying certificates with Nine, you'll find the product details in this article.
Managing Databases
Similar to the configuration of the webserver, the management of databases is handled by an CLI tool called nine-manage-databases.
No matter if you're using MySQL or PostgreSQL, our documentation for nine-manage-databases got you covered.
Working with Backups
For all our managed servers, we're including a 7 day file backup. We also make sure that your databases are secured daily.
Both of these backups are directly and easily accessible for our customers. We even enable you to create additional database dumps with our backup solution.
The file backup documentation can be found here, while the MySQL and PostgreSQL documentation cover each of the two DBMS.
Running User Services
Modern applications regularly require services / daemons in user space. To ensure your applications are running smoothly, we recommend the usage of SystemD to manage them.
An example on how to implement and customize these to your needs can be found in this article.
Security recommendations for your Managed Server
The security of your server environment and applications is essential. We have summarized some recommendations in this article for you.
System Lifecycle
Canonical, the developer of Ubuntu Linux, releases a new LTS ("Long Term Support") version every two years.
Each LTS version will receive 5 years of regular support and updates. After 5 years, there is a connecting ESM period ("Expanded Security Maintenance") of 5 more years. During the ESM period, security-relevant patches are backported by Canonical.
Nine will proactively inform customers about an upcoming ESM period and is committed to support customers in upgrading their systems and we're encouraging our customers to upgrade their systems wherever possible.
Please be aware that Nine will charge additional fees once a system will enter the ESM phase.
The last release that entered the ESM period is Ubuntu Bionic from 2018. Even though details may change in the future, you can use our Ubuntu Bionic Upgrade FAQ as reference on how such an upgrade could look like.
Matching your needs
At Nine, we're working closely with our customers to match your architecture needs and short term demands. Besides organical growth of a platform or application, often times a marketing campaign, a newsletter or even the end of the summer holiday season will cause additional demands for the application and architecture.
The earlier we know about such events, the better we're able to prepare your environment for it. Please reach out to us as soon as you're aware of upcoming eventsor are planning marketing measures. Together we'll find the best solution possible.
Get in touch
Our goal is to provide you with excellent service and to ensure flawless system operation. In order to further develop our service and our services, your feedback is therefore highly appreciated.
We look forward to hearing from you!