- On site, then remote monitoring
Systems and server administration
A structured infrastructure, with access rights that finally match the organisation chart.
Many businesses run on a “server” that is in fact a home-edition Windows machine in a cupboard, with one shared folder open to everyone and a backup on a USB stick. It holds up, until someone deletes the wrong folder or the disk gives out.
We install and administer Windows Server with an Active Directory directory, rights per department, named shares and a backup strategy whose restores are actually tested. The aim is not to add complexity, but to make explicit who has access to what.
The problems this actually solves
Five findings we regularly make when arriving on an existing estate.
Everyone has access to everything
A single shared folder, writable by all staff. Contracts sit next to payslips. One wrong move is enough to lose a file, and nobody needs bad intent for the problem to exist. We build a directory, groups per department, and rights that follow the organisation chart.
Every machine has its own account, unconnected to the others
A departure means visiting each machine. A forgotten password blocks a day. A directory centralises accounts: one deactivation closes every access at once.
The backup exists, but nobody has ever restored
A backup never tested is a hypothesis. We verify that a full restore works, on real hardware, and we note how long it takes.
The server is an office machine in a cupboard
No UPS, no ventilation, a single disk, an operating system never meant for it. We assess what can be kept and what must be replaced, without forcing a full renewal where it is not needed.
Nobody reads the logs
A disk announces its failure weeks ahead; so does a service restarting in a loop. Someone has to read them. Remote monitoring turns those signals into alerts.
What we build
Four areas: what is installed, what is structured, what is watched, and what we run for you, on site or in the cloud.
Installation
- Windows Server installation and configuration
- Hardware sized for real usage, not from a catalogue
- UPS and clean shutdown on power loss
- File and business-application servers
- Virtualisation where it genuinely simplifies operations
- Migration from an existing server, with rights and data preserved
Directory and shares
- Active Directory: domain, organisational units, users, groups
- Group policies: passwords, screen locking, mapped drives
- Internal DNS and DHCP services
- Shared folders structured by department, with explicit rights
- Machines joined to the domain, roaming profiles where useful
- Joiner and leaver procedures
Backup and monitoring
- Backup strategy: what, how often, retained for how long
- Local backup plus an off-site copy
- Documented restore test, repeated periodically
- Remote monitoring: disk space, disk health, services, backups
- System updates and security patch tracking
- Logging of connections and of access to sensitive shares
Cloud and managed IT
- Servers and applications hosted in the cloud, or hybrid with a server on site
- Hosting chosen for cost, security and the connection you actually have
- Off-site backup in the cloud, on top of the local copy
- Migration of a local server to the cloud, scheduled outside working hours
- Managed IT: we run your servers and your estate for a monthly fee
- Written monthly review: backups, updates, incidents handled
How a project runs
Four stages, and an opening audit that shapes everything else.
Rights, backups, logs, updates
A well-administered server is not a more closed one: it is one where you know who can do what, and where you can go back.
- Rights granted by group and by department, never user by user
- Administrative accounts kept separate from everyday working accounts
- Password policy enforced by group policy
- Local backup doubled by an off-site copy, verified by a real restore
- Logging of connections and of access to sensitive shares
- Security updates applied in an agreed window, not at random
- Leaver procedure: one action closes every access
A share open to everyone in write mode is the most common configuration and the most expensive. Fixing it requires a decision from you about who should see what: that is the only part of the work we cannot do for you.
Who it is for
A server becomes useful once several people work on the same files and their rights must differ.
Structured small businesses
From around ten machines and several departments with distinct needs.
Firms and regulated professions
Client files, retention obligations, separation between partners.
Schools and training centres
Student and administrative accounts, profiles and quotas.
Multi-site businesses
A common directory, replicated shares, controlled remote access.
Real use cases
Five situations that trigger the call.
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Your request:
“An important folder has disappeared and nobody knows who deleted it”
Ivory Coast Connect
Restore from backup, then rights per department and logging of access.
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Your request:
“We are hiring three people next month”
Ivory Coast Connect
Accounts created in the directory, assigned to groups, profiles and drives applied automatically at first login.
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Your request:
“The server is full”
Ivory Coast Connect
Analysis of real usage, archiving of what can be archived, then a priced extension or replacement.
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Your request:
“Our server is eight years old”
Ivory Coast Connect
Audit, migration of roles and data to a new machine, rights and paths preserved.
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Your request:
“We want to work remotely, securely”
Ivory Coast Connect
Controlled remote access with strong authentication, rather than a share exposed on the internet.
Why give us this work
Nothing unverifiable: no years in business, no client count, no certification. Only the way we work.
Rights are decided with you
We do not guess your organisation chart. We present a proposed structure, and you decide.
Restores are tested, not assumed
We restore for real, on real hardware, and we time it. That is the only proof worth having.
We do not replace what still works
An old but healthy server can last. We say so, even when it shrinks the quote.
Our other services
One point of contact for all of your IT.
An infrastructure to put in order?
On-site audit of what exists, written findings and an itemised quote — free and with no obligation.