Where – The Hosting Strategy
Why “Where” Shapes the Operational Backbone
While the earlier Ws determine what gets built, “Where” defines how and where it runs. This is the layer where reliability, cost, scale, security, and developer experience come together. A solid hosting strategy is not just about cloud choice or cluster size, it’s about balancing simplicity, resilience, and affordability without compromising on performance.
“Where” ensures your solution is not only functional but operationally viable.
What You Define Here
Hosting platform(s) and orchestration strategy
Deployment automation and CI/CD pipelines
Backup, rollback, and recovery strategies
Observability and operational tooling
Cost-aware scaling and environment isolation
Security and access controls
1. Platform Foundations
The default environment for most solutions we design uses:
Kubernetes (K8s): Orchestrated via a managed service such as AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service)
GitHub Actions: For CI/CD pipelines
Containerisation: All services deployed as Docker containers
Helm Charts: For versioned deployments
Terraform or Pulumi: To provision cloud infrastructure
Deployment Environments
Dev – fast feedback, low cost
Staging – mirrors production, includes pre-release load
Production – high-availability, with HPA and strict policies
2. CI/CD and Deployment Strategy
We use GitHub Actions to drive all automation:
GitHub Actions CI/CD Pipeline Structure
On push to
mainor PR:Run lint, tests, static analysis
Build Docker image
Run security scan (e.g., Trivy)
On merge to
main:Push Docker image to registry
Deploy to AKS using Helm
Notify on Slack / Teams
Operational Repositories
Infra-as-code repo: Terraform modules for infra
App repo: Service code + Docker + CI/CD YAMLs
Ops repo: Runbooks, alerts, documentation
Rollback
Helm allows simple
rollbackto the last known stable chartAll changes gated by versioned values in
values.yaml
3. Scalability and Cost Optimisation
Smart Scaling
HPA based on CPU, memory, and custom Prometheus metrics
K8s node pools:
Spot instances used for stateless workloads
Dedicated nodes for Redis or stateful services
Redis vs MySQL
Cache first: session data, token lookups, config blobs
Reduce DB load: Redis memory is cheaper than scaling MySQL read replicas
CDN & Static Assets
Cloud CDN for React/Next.js bundles
Edge-caching of public images and documentation
4. Backup and Disaster Recovery
Backups
MySQL: Scheduled snapshot via cloud provider tools
Redis: Snapshot export daily, durable for cache miss restore
Persistent volumes: Snapshotted and versioned
Disaster Recovery (DR)
DR environments defined in Terraform
Automated restore jobs tested quarterly
Read-only recovery access for diagnostic teams
5. Network and Access Controls
Core Principles
Zero Trust Model within the cluster
Namespace and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in K8s
Firewall/NAT Gateway rules for egress restrictions
Service Mesh (Istio) for mTLS and traffic shaping
Cloud IAM integration with GitHub OIDC for secure deploy permissions
6. Observability and Operational Health
Tools Used
Prometheus + Grafana for metrics
Loki / ELK for logs
OpenTelemetry for distributed tracing
Monitoring Strategy
SLOs defined per critical endpoint
Synthetic tests via GitHub Actions or uptime robot
Custom alerts piped to Slack / OpsGenie
7. Environment Isolation & Cost Control
| Environment | Key Features | Cost Control Mechanisms |
|---|---|---|
| Dev | Auto-shutdown nightly | Ephemeral DBs + spot instances |
| Staging | Mirrors prod | HPA + daily scale-in jobs |
| Production | HA setup | Autoscaling + reserved base capacity + alerting on overrun |
Spot instances reduce cost for low-priority batch jobs, Redis saves on repetitive query costs, and API request limits protect downstream spend.
8. Summary
The “Where” ensures your brilliant technical design can thrive under real-world pressures. With smart defaults, tested recovery plans, and continuous automation via GitHub Actions, you can:
Deploy confidently
Scale responsively
Recover gracefully
Control cost without compromising quality
The best hosting strategy is the one your team can operate, evolve, and afford.
This is where systems stop being theory, and start being truly engineered.
Rhys Morgan
Enterprise Automation Services specializes in AI, automation, SaaS development, and digital transformation. We help businesses across the UK leverage technology to drive growth and efficiency.
