Reliable infrastructure.
Without the full-time hire.
Security patches, monitoring, backups, CI/CD, managed by a senior engineer on a monthly retainer. Starting at $1,000/mo. You get servers that stay online, without the overhead.
The Problem
Your servers need to stay online, secure, and maintained, but that shouldn't be your full-time job.
No monitoring, or alerts nobody sees. By the time you know, your customers already do.
Security updates get deferred. Again. And again. Until something breaks or gets exploited.
Full-time senior DevOps engineers are expensive. And your infra doesn't need 40 hours a week. It needs the right hours.
Whoever is babysitting servers right now has better things to do. Ops work is slow, risky, and unsustainable when it's not someone's real job.
The Solution: Fractional DevOps
You get a senior engineer who owns your infrastructure, for a fraction of what a full-time hire costs. Month-to-month. No overhead. No hand-holding.
Monitoring catches problems before they become outages. Patches are applied before they become vulnerabilities.
You don't manage me. I manage the infrastructure. You get on with what you do best. I keep everything running.
A single VPS with Docker Compose or a multi-cluster Kubernetes setup. You pay for what you need, not a penny more.
Runbooks, diagrams, and clear docs. You own your systems. I'm not building a dependency.
What's Included
Every engagement covers the fundamentals. Higher tiers add depth and coverage based on your complexity.
Firewall configuration, SSH policies, secrets management, vulnerability patching. Stay ahead of threats.
Prometheus, Grafana, Alertmanager: configured so the right people get the right alerts at the right time.
Security updates and kernel patches applied on a schedule. Tested, not just assumed.
Automated backups with tested restores. When something goes wrong, you know exactly how to recover.
From PR to production. Automated builds, tests, and deploys so your team ships with confidence.
Docker Compose for simpler setups. Kubernetes when you need it. Managed properly either way.
Terraform, Ansible, or your tool of choice. Everything defined in code, version-controlled, reproducible.
When something breaks, I'm the one who wakes up. Not a ticket queue. A real engineer who knows your systems.
How It Works
A free 30-minute call. I look at your setup, find the gaps: monitoring, backups, security, cloud waste. You get a clear picture of what's at risk.
If we're a fit, I take on the work. One price per month. No scope creep, no surprise invoices. Cancel anytime.
Patching, monitoring, on-call when it matters. You get runbooks and docs so you're never locked in. When something breaks, I'm the one waking up, not you.
Straightforward Pricing
Monthly retainers based on your infrastructure complexity. Start small, scale as you grow. No long-term contracts.
Starter
VPS + Docker Compose. Single-server setups.
Includes
Growth
Multiple servers, CI/CD, full observability.
Includes
Scale
Kubernetes, high availability, priority support.
Includes
Need more? On-prem Kubernetes, multi-region, and complex setups start at $7,500/mo. Let's talk.
Why Work With Me
I'm not an agency passing you to a junior. I'm the engineer doing the work.
No account managers, no handoffs. You talk to me, I do the work.
VPS to Kubernetes, Docker Compose to Kafka, CI/CD to security hardening. The underlying skills are the same. I adapt to what you actually run.
I automate everything that can be automated. That's how one person handles multiple clients reliably.
All configs, runbooks, and docs are yours. I build transparency in, not vendor lock-in.
Who This Is For
You're probably a fit if this sounds like your situation:
You have Linux servers (AWS, VPS, on-prem) and nobody whose job it is to keep them hardened and running.
You have a DevOps person, but they're overwhelmed. Things are falling through the cracks.
You've looked at hiring, but $150k+/year for a senior engineer doesn't make sense for your needs.
You just want your servers to work. Securely patched, properly monitored, backed up. Without thinking about it.
About Me
I'm Matt, a senior infrastructure engineer. I've spent years keeping Linux systems running, from single VPS setups to distributed container orchestration.
I started MA Software because I kept seeing the same pattern: people and teams spending too much time on ops, or ignoring it entirely and paying for it later. Fractional DevOps is my answer. You get senior-level infrastructure expertise without the full-time price tag.
I work across the spectrum: Docker Compose on a VPS, production Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, Kafka clusters, Nextcloud deployments, custom automations. The problems are the same (reliability, security, visibility) and so are the solutions. I just apply them to what you actually run.
Frequently Asked Questions
It means you get a senior DevOps engineer on a part-time basis, through a monthly retainer, instead of hiring someone full-time. I manage your infrastructure proactively: monitoring, patching, backups, security. And you pay a fraction of what a full-time hire would cost.
No. All retainers are month-to-month. You can cancel anytime. I believe if the work is good, you'll keep me around because you want to, not because you have to.
A broad range: VPS with Docker Compose, AWS/GCP infrastructure, Kubernetes clusters, CI/CD pipelines, Kafka, Nextcloud, custom automations, and more. The core DevOps skills transfer across all of these. I adapt to what you run, not the other way around.
Automation. Monitoring, patching, backups, and alerting are all automated with standard tooling. Most of the work is proactive and scheduled. When something breaks, I respond based on your tier's SLA.
That's what the discovery call is for. We look at your setup together, I tell you what I see, and we figure out the right level of support. No pressure.
You cancel, and I hand off all documentation, runbooks, and access. Your systems stay documented and operational. No lock-in, no drama.
My focus is ongoing retainer relationships. That's how I keep your infrastructure reliable over time. But the discovery call is free, and if a one-time audit makes more sense for you, we can discuss that too.