Linux server support in Pittsburgh and Cleveland
KawaConnect administers and supports Linux servers for businesses in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania and in the Cleveland area of Northeast Ohio. We work with Ubuntu, Debian and RHEL-family systems, as a defined project or as ongoing operations with a named engineer.
Talk about your servers Kubernetes consulting
What we do
A Linux server that runs a business application needs an owner. We take on the routine work and the problems that interrupt it.
Users and permissions
Accounts, SSH keys, sudo rules and file permissions set so each person and service has only the access it needs.
Patching and security updates
Updates applied on a schedule, tested first where the application is sensitive, with a plan for kernel reboots.
Monitoring
Disk, memory, services and certificates watched through Grafana dashboards and uptime checks, so problems surface before users report them.
Backups
Offsite copies of data and configuration, with restores tested and the recovery steps written down.
Hardening
Firewall rules, key-only logins, removal of unused services and a review of what is exposed to the network.
Troubleshooting
Slow servers, failed services, full disks and boot problems traced to a cause instead of restarted and forgotten.
Hosting business applications
Most of our Linux work supports an application someone depends on every day. We install and configure the application, its database and its scheduled jobs. A reverse proxy sits in front, handling HTTPS certificates and routing by hostname, so the application is never exposed directly.
- Services: systemd units that start on boot, restart on failure and log somewhere useful.
- TLS: certificates issued and renewed automatically, with an alert if a renewal fails.
- Containers: when an application ships as a container, we run it with Docker and Docker Compose.
Taking over a server another admin left behind
Servers often arrive with no documentation and a departed administrator. Before changing anything, we list the users, services, scheduled jobs, open ports, certificates and backups, and write down what we find.
Credentials are transferred and rotated, and a gap list tells you what is unpatched, unbacked up or unsupported. Then we fix things one change at a time. The same approach applies to takeovers from another IT provider, with a parallel-run week before we become the primary contact.
Migrations between hosts
Moving an application to a new server, a new operating system release or a virtual machine on Proxmox follows a written plan. We build the new host beside the old one, copy data, test the application, and schedule the cutover outside business hours. The old server stays available until the new one is proven.
To see where Linux fits next to containers and clusters, read our Linux and Kubernetes overview, or browse the Linux guides in our knowledge base. Workloads that outgrow one server may suit Kubernetes, though many never need it. Backups and recovery planning are covered in backup and disaster recovery.
How an engagement works
- Discovery call. A short talk about your servers, applications and what is going wrong.
- Written scope. The work, the order of changes and the rollback path, agreed before we touch anything.
- Implementation. We build, patch, migrate or repair, then test and document the result.
- Ongoing operations. Optional monthly support from a named engineer, with no lock-in.
Our offices are in Coraopolis and Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Cleveland-area on-site work is arranged around the project, and remote support is available nationwide. We reply within one business day.
Questions about Linux server support
Which Linux distributions do you support?
Ubuntu, Debian and RHEL-family servers. If you run something else, ask us during the discovery call.
Can you support a server without moving us to the cloud?
Yes. We manage servers in your office, in a rack, on Proxmox virtual machines or in Azure, and we advise on which suits the workload.
Do you only do ongoing support?
No. We take on a single migration, a hardening review or the rescue of one failing server as a project in its own right. Ongoing operations can follow if you want them.
What if we have no documentation at all?
That is common. The inventory described above becomes the first document, and it belongs to you.
Who it is for
- Businesses with an application on a Linux server and nobody assigned to look after it
- Companies whose administrator or IT provider has left and who need the servers understood
- Teams planning a move to new hardware, a new operating system or a virtual machine
- Regulated operations that need patching, access control and backups they can show an auditor
Related guides
Plain-English explanations from our knowledge base.
LinuxUbuntuDebianSSHAnsibleGNUDocker
Put a named engineer on your servers
Tell us what you run and where. Remote nationwide, on-site by appointment in Pittsburgh and the Cleveland area.
Start a conversation