Server Maintenance Contract - Planned Operations Instead of Firefighting
Fixed maintenance windows, monthly patch cycles, backups with restore tests and monitoring including response - contractually defined, for Linux servers at any provider. Your servers stay where they are.
Leading companies worldwide trust WZ-IT
The following are trademarks of their respective owners: Hetzner (Hetzner Online GmbH), OVHcloud (OVH Groupe SAS), IONOS (IONOS SE), netcup (netcup GmbH), Contabo (Contabo GmbH). WZ-IT is an independent service provider and has no business, partnership, or contractual relationship with these companies. We offer independent migration, installation, hosting, and operations services.
Why a Maintenance Contract for Your Servers
Linux server maintenance is not a project, it is a cadence. Without a contract, experience shows it does not happen exactly when it matters.
Unpatched servers are the biggest entry point
Most successful attacks exploit known vulnerabilities for which a patch has long existed. A server that "just runs" and is therefore never touched collects exactly these gaps - month after month, until someone exploits them.
Ad-hoc hourly rates are unpredictable
Without a contract, every incident becomes a one-off job: availability unclear, hourly rate open, priority a matter of negotiation. A server maintenance contract turns unpredictable emergency costs into a fixed, calculable item in the IT budget.
Responsibility needs a contract
Who patches, who verifies the backups, who responds to alerts? Without a written agreement, operations rely on gut feeling and shouting across the room. A maintenance contract defines responsibilities, cadence and response times bindingly.
What the Maintenance Contract Includes
Six building blocks that together form server maintenance - from patch cycle to report.
Monthly Patch Cycles
Fixed monthly maintenance cycles for OS and package updates on your Linux servers. Critical security updates do not wait for the cycle - they are applied promptly.
Planned Dist Upgrades
Major upgrades (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu LTS) are planned ahead: testing, a coordinated maintenance window and a rollback strategy - instead of an upgrade backlog until end-of-life.
Monitoring incl. Response
Your servers run on our highly available Zabbix cluster, and our team responds to the alerts - with a defined response time. Grafana dashboards are available as an option.
More about Managed ZabbixBackup Checks & Restore Tests
We check daily that your backups complete successfully - and regularly prove via restore tests that they can actually be recovered. A backup only counts once the restore is proven.
Maintenance Windows & Change Docs
Changes happen in coordinated maintenance windows - not in the middle of daily business. Every change is documented: what was changed when, why and with what result.
Patch Reports & Recommendations
After each maintenance cycle you receive a report: applied patches, handled alerts, backup status and concrete recommendations for the next steps.
The Maintenance Contract Is Tier 3 - with a Fixed Cadence
Our operations model has three tiers. Many customers start with monitoring and hand over step by step - the maintenance contract is the third tier: full operations on a fixed maintenance cadence.
Monitoring
from €79.90 / month
The entry point: we connect your servers to our HA Zabbix cluster, alerts go to your team. You see how we work - and respond yourself.
- Zabbix onboarding & templates
- Maintained triggers & escalation
- Alerts to your team
Monitoring + Response
individual
We respond to the alerts: analysis, countermeasures and escalation with a defined response time. Patching and maintenance stay with your admins.
- Defined response times
- Incident handling included
- Escalation & incident report
Maintenance Contract: Full Operations
individual
Server maintenance sits fully with us: monthly patch cycles, planned dist upgrades, backup checks with restore tests and monitoring with response - governed by an SLA.
- Monthly patch cycles & maintenance windows
- Backups with restore tests
- Patch reports & SLA
The maintenance contract is calculated individually based on your environment - number of servers, criticality and service level - and presented transparently in a free initial consultation. Response times and responsibilities are governed by an SLA.
How Your Maintenance Contract Goes Live
Four steps from the first look at the systems to the ongoing maintenance cadence.
Server Audit
We assess the current state of your servers: update status, security, backups and monitoring gaps - documented and prioritized.
More about the server auditMaintenance Plan & SLA
The audit results in the maintenance plan: patch cadence, maintenance windows, backup strategy and response times - bindingly defined in the SLA.
Onboarding
Your servers are connected to our Zabbix cluster, access and escalation chains are set up and documented - the contract goes live.
Ongoing Cycles with Reports
Monthly maintenance cycles, prompt security updates and regular patch reports - you always see what happens on your servers.
Ad-hoc Support vs. Maintenance Contract
Ad-hoc support repairs what is already broken. A maintenance contract makes sure it does not get that far in the first place - with a fixed cadence, clear responsibility and calculable costs.
| Maintenance contract (WZ-IT) | Ad-hoc support | |
|---|---|---|
| Response | Defined response times per SLA - alerts land directly with our team | Response when someone happens to have time - often only after the outage |
| Predictability | Fixed maintenance windows and monthly patch cycles | Intervention only when something breaks - updates pile up |
| Cost structure | Calculable monthly fee, transparent in the initial consultation | Open hourly rates per incident - emergencies get expensive |
| Responsibility | Contractually defined: patching, backups and monitoring sit with us | Effectively stays with you - the provider works on demand |
| Documentation | Change docs, patch reports and maintained operations documentation | Rare - knowledge stays in heads and ticket histories |
Further Guides
The right entry points and additions to the maintenance contract.
More Managed Operations Services
SLA & Service Levels
Defined response times and availability guarantees.
24/7 Monitoring
Proactive infrastructure monitoring.
Managed Zabbix
Monitoring operations from €79.90/month.
CVE Monitoring
Vulnerability scanning and patch management.
Compliance
GDPR, ISO 27001 and BSI C5.
Maintenance Contract
Patching, backups and monitoring on a fixed cadence.
Legacy Operations
Operation and modernization of legacy systems.
That depends on the number of servers, their criticality and the desired service level - which is why we calculate every maintenance contract individually based on your environment and present the offer transparently in a free initial consultation. As a concrete anchor: entry via our monitoring starts at €79.90 per month. You keep paying for the hardware directly to your provider; only the maintenance fee goes to us.
Debian, Ubuntu and RHEL derivatives such as AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux are our daily business. We also take older systems (e.g. CentOS 7 or Ubuntu 18.04) into maintenance - including hardening the current state and a joint plan for the dist upgrade to a supported version.
The standard is a monthly maintenance cycle with a fixed maintenance window for OS and package updates. Critical security updates do not wait for the cycle - they are applied promptly. We adapt the cadence to your environment, for example for systems with their own release processes or tight operating hours.
We handle critical vulnerabilities outside the regular cycle: we assess whether your systems are affected, apply the patch promptly or implement a workaround if no patch is available yet. Afterwards you receive a short note on what was done and why.
Yes, within the agreed service level: monitoring runs around the clock, and we respond to alerts with defined response times. For critical systems we offer a 24/7 option with on-call duty. What counts as an emergency and how fast we respond is defined in the SLA - not by gut feeling.
No. Your servers stay where they are: with your provider, in your account and under your contract. For maintenance we only need administrative access (SSH key, technical user). There is no forced migration and no vendor lock-in - you retain full commercial and technical control.
Fairly and without hurdles: we work with fair terms and no lock-in contracts - the specific conditions are set out transparently in the offer. Servers, access and the maintained operations documentation belong to you at all times, so switching is possible at any point without lock-in.
What should your server maintenance look like?
Tell us briefly what it is about - we will get back to you within one business day.
Let's talk about your project - honest and no strings attached
- Straight with Timo and Robin - no sales team, no pitch
- An honest take, including when we are not the right fit
- Concrete next steps for infrastructure, software or AI
No risk: worst case, you leave with a clearer understanding of your project than before.
“WZ-IT's advice on our Azure migration was technically sound and completely non-binding right from the intro call - we took away a great deal.”
Let's Talk About Your Idea
Whether a specific IT challenge or just an idea - we look forward to the exchange. In a brief conversation, we'll evaluate together if and how your project fits with WZ-IT.
Leading companies trust WZ-IT
Timo Wevelsiep & Robin Zins
Managing Directors of WZ-IT