Everyone talks about moving to the cloud, but is it always the right choice?

For a small business with stable workloads (website, email, file storage, backups, internal apps), does buying a server once and running it for 5–7 years make more financial sense than paying cloud bills every month?

I'm asking because I'm building ComputeLabs (computelabs.in) and trying to decide on a long-term infrastructure strategy. If you were starting a small infrastructure for business today with a limited budget, what services would you offer that generate recurring monthly revenue?

I'd love to hear real experiences from people who run infrastructure or do businesses from home network not just theory or marketing.

Need Immediate Candidates, 10+ Yrs Experience

Position: Network & Security Architect
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Company: Del Technologies
Employment Type: 3-Month Contract
Salary: ~10K - 20K AED Per Month (Around 4000-5000 USD ) ( exact salary not yet given by customer )

How to Apply:
Send your CV to me via DM and i can share my email

Job Description

We are looking for an experienced Network & Security Architect to join a customer engagement in Abu Dhabi for a 3-month contract. The ideal candidate will have strong enterprise network and cloud security architecture experience and be capable of leading technical discussions with customers, SMEs, and project stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead network and security architecture workshops with customers and technical SMEs.
• Design and recommend secure enterprise network and cloud security solutions.
• Provide architecture guidance and best practices for large enterprise environments.
• Review existing infrastructure and recommend security improvements.
• Work closely with customer teams to develop secure, scalable, and resilient architectures.
• Support solution design, implementation planning, and technical governance.
• Ensure alignment with enterprise security standards and industry best practices.

Required Skills

• Strong experience in Network Security Architecture.
• Hands-on expertise with Palo Alto Firewalls and Panorama.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure Security.
• Experience with Wiz (Cloud Security Platform).
• Experience with AppOmni for Oracle SaaS security.
• Experience with Tenable (including vulnerability management, TPM/CIS-related security assessments).
• Strong understanding of enterprise network security, firewalls, VPNs, IDS/IPS, and security best practices.
• Excellent customer facing, consulting, and communication skills.

Preferred Experience

• 10+ years of experience in Network and Information Security.
• Experience working as a Security Architect, Network Security Architect, or Enterprise Security Consultant.
• Experience designing and delivering enterprise security solutions in large environments.
• Relevant certifications such as PCNSE, CISSP, CCSP, Azure Security, TOGAF, or equivalent are advantageous.

If you have the required expertise and are available for an immediate assignment, we'd love to hear from you.
We would prefer candidates already within UAE currently looking for work !

Hi all, I am currently looking for people who are either Infrastructure, Application or Runbook SME's.

Location: Saudi
Company Name : Infra Zure
Salary : Market Standards
How to Apply : Send your cv to amin@infraassure.com
Contract : 6 months contract

The 3 roles are as follows with their Job Descriptions

INFRASTRUCTURE SME

Project: DR Automation Managed Services

Contract Type: 6-Month Contract

Location: On-Site / As Required

Role Overview

The Infrastructure SME will serve as the technical authority for all infrastructure components underpinning the DR Automation platform. Acting as the primary bridge between the customer's infrastructure teams and the Dell DR Automation team, this individual will ensure that compute, storage, virtualization, and datacenter components are correctly configured, validated, and optimized to support seamless automated failover and failback operations.

Key Responsibilities

Review the infrastructure architecture supporting automated DR failover/failback, including compute, storage, virtualization, and datacenter components.

Act as the primary liaison between the customer's infrastructure teams and the Dell DR Automation team.

Review infrastructure-layer RTO targets and ensure alignment with application and business requirements.

Validate that DR infrastructure capacity — including the Runbook environment and Automation tooling — is sufficient for full and partial failover scenarios.

Lead technical discussions specific to the infrastructure stream during Discovery, Validation, and Tabletop sessions.

Review automated failover/failback workflows related to Servers, Storage, DNS, Virtualization, and Containers in collaboration with the Automation team.

Review and validate performance verification of infrastructure components during and post failover/failback exercises.

Review audit and regulatory requirements for infrastructure-level logging and ensure compliance readiness.

Engage in cross-functional collaboration with Application SME, Runbook SME, Network SME, and Business Continuity stakeholders.

Drive continuous improvement and optimization of infrastructure components within the DR Automation platform.

Collaborate with the Automation team to build pre-failover validation scripts to assess infrastructure readiness before DR execution.

Required Skills & Experience

Proven experience in infrastructure architecture covering compute, storage, and virtualization in enterprise environments.

Hands-on experience with DR frameworks, automated failover/failback mechanisms, and RTO/RPO management.

Strong background in server and storage technologies (SAN/NAS, Dell PowerStore, PowerMax, or equivalent).

Experience with virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere, vCenter, NSX) and/or containerization (Kubernetes, Docker).

Knowledge of DNS management, network switching/routing concepts as they relate to DR failover.

Familiarity with DR automation tooling and orchestration platforms.

Experience with scripting for infrastructure validation (PowerShell, Python, Bash, or equivalent).

Understanding of audit and regulatory requirements for DR infrastructure (logging, evidence collection, compliance frameworks).

Strong communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to translate technical findings to non-technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

Dell Technologies product experience (PowerEdge, PowerStore, PowerMax, RecoverPoint, Site Recovery Manager).

Relevant certifications: VMware VCP, Dell Technologies Certified, ITIL, or equivalent.

Prior experience operating within a Managed Services or Professional Services engagement.

Experience with DR regulatory compliance frameworks (ISO 22301, NIST, or industry-specific standards).

APPLICATION SME

Project: DR Automation Managed Services

Contract Type: 6-Month Contract

Location: On-Site / As Required

Role Overview

The Application SME will own the application and database failover/failback strategy within the DR Automation Managed Services engagement. This individual will bridge the gap between the customer's application and systems administration teams and the Dell DR Automation team, ensuring that application-layer DR requirements are accurately captured, automated, and continuously optimized. The goal is to eliminate manual intervention during both emergency and planned DR events across all application and database tiers.

Key Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end Application and Database Failover/Failback Strategy and Planning for the DR Automation engagement.

Define application-specific DR requirements including RTO targets, startup sequences, dependency ordering, and data consistency needs.

Review application-layer RTO and drive optimization through automation to reduce recovery time across application and DB tiers.

Collaborate with application owners and system administrators to design and automate failover processes covering application and database components, including all database flavors (Oracle, MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and others).

Create and validate data collection templates in coordination with the Automation team to ensure all required information is captured from DRPs and validated during Application/DB workshops.

Act as the primary liaison between the customer's Applications team and the Dell DR Automation team.

Regularly review the Application and Database sections of Disaster Recovery Plans (DRPs) to ensure accuracy and alignment with current environments.

Govern technical discussions specific to the application stream during Discovery, Validation, and Tabletop exercises.

Review automated failover/failback workflows with the Automation team to ensure application correctness and data integrity.

Review and advise on audit and regulatory requirements for the Applications/DB stream, supporting the customer in meeting compliance obligations.

Drive continuous improvement and optimization of application DR automation processes throughout the engagement.

Required Skills & Experience

Strong background in enterprise application architecture and application-layer DR design.

Hands-on experience with multiple database platforms — Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or equivalent — including failover, replication, and consistency validation.

Experience defining and executing DR plans including RTO/RPO management, startup sequencing, and application dependency mapping.

Working knowledge of DR automation principles and orchestration tooling.

Ability to design data collection templates and lead structured application/DB workshops.

Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams including infrastructure, network, DBA, and business continuity stakeholders.

Strong understanding of audit and regulatory requirements as they apply to application and database DR (SOX, GDPR, ISO 22301, or equivalent).

Excellent communication and documentation skills; capable of governing technical discussions across multiple stakeholder groups.

Preferred Qualifications

Dell Technologies product familiarity, particularly around application-aware DR solutions.

Experience in a Managed Services or Professional Services DR engagement.

Knowledge of middleware, ERP platforms, or industry-specific applications in complex enterprise environments.

Relevant certifications: Oracle DBA/RAC, Microsoft SQL Server, ITIL, BCI (Business Continuity Institute), or equivalent.

Experience with container-based applications (Kubernetes workloads) and their DR considerations.

RUNBOOK / DRP SME

Project: DR Automation Managed Services

Contract Type: 6-Month Contract

Location: On-Site / As Required

Role Overview

The Runbook/DRP SME will own the end-to-end DR documentation framework for the DR Automation Managed Services engagement. This individual is responsible for developing, maintaining, and continuously improving Disaster Recovery Plans (DRPs) and runbook documentation in alignment with the live automation workflows being deployed. The role is the central documentation authority, ensuring that all technical decisions, test outcomes, lessons learned, and remediation actions are formally captured and reflected across the DR documentation estate.

Key Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end DR documentation framework, including the definition and maintenance of standards, templates, and version control processes.

Develop, maintain, and continuously update DRPs in alignment with automation workflow documentation, reflecting changes in applications, infrastructure, and network as they occur.

Ensure that application and infrastructure dependency maps, startup/shutdown sequences, and impact analyses are accurately represented in DR runbooks and operational guides.

Coordinate with the Technical Lead, Application SME, Infrastructure SME, Network SME, and Business Continuity stakeholders to capture design decisions, test results, lessons learned, and remediation actions as formal documentation updates.

Support DR tests, exercises, and live events by preparing and distributing documentation packs, and capturing outcomes, deviations, and improvement actions in post-event documentation.

Maintain traceability between automation workflow logic and corresponding runbook steps, ensuring alignment is preserved through every change cycle.

Establish and enforce documentation governance processes, including review cycles, approval workflows, and change control integration for DR documentation.

Work with the broader team to identify gaps between documented procedures and actual DR automation behaviour, and drive resolution through structured updates.

Produce clear, audit-ready documentation that satisfies regulatory and compliance requirements for DR evidence and operational records.

Required Skills & Experience

Demonstrable experience in developing and managing DR documentation frameworks, runbooks, and DRPs within complex enterprise environments.

Strong understanding of DR and Business Continuity principles, including RTO/RPO, dependency mapping, failover/failback sequencing, and impact analysis.

Experience working alongside technical teams (infrastructure, application, network) to translate technical designs and test outcomes into accurate, structured documentation.

Proficiency with document management and version control tools and processes.

Experience supporting DR tabletop exercises, DR tests, and live failover events in a documentation capacity.

Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent documentation streams across different technical domains.

Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to produce documentation that is clear, concise, and suitable for both technical and non-technical audiences.

Familiarity with audit and regulatory requirements for DR documentation and evidence retention.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience working within a Managed Services or Professional Services DR engagement.

Exposure to DR automation platforms and familiarity with how automation workflows translate to runbook procedures.

Knowledge of ITIL, ISO 22301, BCI Good Practice Guidelines, or equivalent business continuity and DR frameworks.

Experience with Dell Technologies infrastructure environments is an advantage.

Relevant certifications: BCI (CBCI/MBCI), DRII (CBCP), ITIL, or equivalent.

Hi,

We're a team building an open-source AI tool. Right now, deployments are fully self-hosted, which is great for power users but a massive friction point for getting anyone else onboard.

We want to build a managed hosting layer where a user can simply log in, pick a hardware tier, and instantly get their own isolated, authenticated environment running the app. We have the core product handled, but infrastructure orchestration isn't our main focus, so we are looking for an expert to architect and build this piece from the ground up.

The main challenges are programmatic provisioning, handling the user lifecycle, and ensuring rock-solid data persistence so users never lose their state if a server goes down.

We aren't going to dictate the stack. We just need a pragmatic builder who can design a cost-effective, scalable, and future-proof solution without defaulting to massive cloud lock-in.

We have a fixed budget of $10,000 to $20,000 for the initial build, which we can break down into clear milestones. Once the MVP is live, we are hoping to keep you around to handle ongoing maintenance, scaling, and alerts. We can easily transition that into a monthly retainer or a revenue-share model once the platform starts generating MRR.

If a greenfield project like this sounds like fun, shoot me a DM. Just include a quick note on how you would roughly approach the architecture and your current availability.

Location - Remote, United States
You will be responsible for maintaining a network server uptime.
Prerequisites- Basics of computer engineering

Location - Remote, United States
You will be responsible for maintaining a network server uptime.
Prerequisites- Basics of computer engineering

Hey everyone — I'm an IT Infrastructure & Managed Services leader with over 14 years of experience (including 4 years managing enterprise-level infra teams) looking for a remote Associate Manager or Senior Systems/Infrastructure Engineer role residing here in Philippines.

What I bring:

- Leadership & Delivery: Led and managed cross-functional teams of service delivery professionals at Accenture, consistently meeting strict enterprise SLAs and overseeing incident/change control management end-to-end.

- Deep Infrastructure Expertise: Expert in Windows Server Administration, Active Directory & DNS, VMware administration, SCCM deployment, and vulnerability management/remediation.

- Cloud & Identity Mastery: Multi-certified in Microsoft Azure (AZ-900, AZ-104, AZ-305 Solutions Architect) alongside hands-on MS365 administration and Identity and Access Management (IAM).

- Global Offshore Experience: Extensively experienced working in an offshore capacity for global tech giants like Accenture and Trend Micro — zero adjustment period needed.

Tools I used: Service now, connectwise, IT Glue, Jira, Atllasian, Ninja RRM

Available for fully remote.

If your organization or MSP needs a highly skilled, certified leader who can optimize operations and handle advanced infrastructure escalations from day one, drop a comment or DM me. Happy to share my resume.
Thanks!

**BitWits — a small, established Phoenix MSP — is hiring a Senior Engineer on a path to Technical Lead.**

I recently bought the company and I'm hiring the person who'll grow into running the technical side as I move into the CEO/growth seat. My background is sales and ops, not technical — so this isn't a "slot into the hierarchy" role, it's a "become the technical leader" one.

**The work (core of the role):**

* Lead infrastructure projects end to end: M365 tenant migrations, server replacements, network refreshes, security stack deployments, new client onboardings

* Own the systems/network/security stack across our SMB client base — Entra ID, Azure IaaS, firewalls (Fortinet or similar), Windows Server, backup/DR

* Make the architectural calls and own them — you scope it, build it, deploy it, and you're the one who knows it inside out afterward

* No handing projects off to the next tier, no inheriting someone else's half-finished job

**What makes it different:**

* **Full-stack ownership** — you see your own work through, start to finish

* **Real growth path** — Senior Engineer now → Technical Lead / Director of Service Delivery in 2-3 years, with comp and eventually equity/profit-share to match

* **A dedicated mentor for the ramp** — our outgoing senior has 20+ years with these clients and is staying on specifically to train his successor. Structured, paid overlap — not sink-or-swim.

**Honest about the small-team reality:** it's a small shop, so everyone pitches in on frontline tickets until we grow enough to add helpdesk. This is part-time and eases as we grow — the core of the role is senior project work, not a help desk seat.

**Logistics:**

* Mostly work-from-home, ~2 days/week in the field (office moves, hardware refreshes, client visits) — **must be Phoenix-based and local. Not remote/out-of-area.**

* **$90-110K base** + benefits: QSEHRA health reimbursement, 401k w/ 4% match, 15 days PTO, $3,500/yr cert budget

**To apply:** email your resume + a few sentences on a complex project you owned end to end to **careers@bitwits.com**. Full details provided on first contact. I check that inbox, not Reddit DMs.