Company
How operations keep running
How gh0stcloud is operated, who takes over when someone is unavailable, and what you keep in any case.
gh0stservice is a small company. For a provider that runs applications other people depend on, that raises a fair question, so here is the full answer rather than a reassurance.
Built to repair itself first
Our operating principle is full automation. Anything a person would otherwise do by hand, again and again, is automated, and the platform is built to recover on its own before anyone has to step in.
- The desired state of the platform and of every application is kept in Git. When a running system drifts from it, it is set back automatically.
- Failed components restart, and workloads move to healthy servers without anyone intervening. An application that runs on a single server is briefly unreachable while it moves.
- Certificates are renewed and Managed App backups run on a schedule, for each organisation in a storage area of its own with its own credentials. Both are monitored.
- Monitoring alerts us when something needs a decision that automation should not make on its own.
That is how a small team can run this responsibly: people are not the first line of defence, they are the escalation.
Who is responsible
- Falk Hähner, founder, is responsible for operations.
- Linus Stiehm, software developer at gh0stservice, builds the platform and the portal and takes over operations when Falk is not available.
- When a situation calls for specialist depth, we bring in experienced operators from a network we have worked with before.
You always know who is on the other end. There is no anonymous queue.
What we commit to
| Self-service | Managed App | |
|---|---|---|
| Answer to a support request | Usually within 24 hours on business days, best effort | Depends on the service level: first qualified response to critical incidents within 4 business hours (Managed Basic) or 2 business hours (Managed Business) |
| Availability | Best effort, with no committed figure. We publish what we measure. | No target on a single instance. We measure availability and state it in the monthly report. |
| Backing up your data | You do. The platform has no backup feature for it. | We do, with observed backups in a storage area assigned to your organisation alone, and regular restore tests |
| Your application | You operate it | We operate it as the service description sets out |
Business hours are Monday to Friday, 09:00 – 17:00, excluding public holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Managed Basic and Managed Business service levels are on the pricing page and, as binding terms, in the service description, and the details are in support and response times. Our status page publishes the availability we measure.
What you keep in any case
- Your desired state. In self-service, everything that describes your application lives in your own Git repository.
- Your data. It belongs to you and can be exported.
- The documentation. How the platform works is publicly documented, not kept in one person's head.
- A way out. How to leave gh0stcloud covers notice periods, data and refunds.