Infrastructure

This section covers server provisioning, configuration, and ongoing maintenance for production and staging environments. Servers are managed through Laravel Forge on Akamai Cloud (Linode) – with some legacy exceptions.

Forge

• Site setup – follow the guide for all new sites; covers www redirects and deployment script conventions
• Unattended upgrades – must be enabled on all production servers

SSL

Use Let's Encrypt (free, auto-renewing via Forge) for most sites. Use commercial DigiCert certificates only when specifically required by the client.

• SSL overview – certificate types and when to use each
• Create & renew – procedure for deploying and renewing DigiCert certificates

Backups

Production servers must have all three backup layers configured.

• Server backups – Akamai snapshots, Forge database backups, and Snapshooter file backups: configuration and restore procedures