Docker on DevOps Engineer & CloudAdmin

.NET Backend Observability & Telemetry Integration

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

.NET Backend Observability: Telemetry Integration & Performance Optimization

Client

E-commerce platform with high-load .NET 8 backend

Challenge

The .NET backend had no observability — no distributed tracing, no centralized metrics, no structured logging. Finding slow requests required manual log digging. The team needed full OpenTelemetry integration: trace propagation from Ingress through .NET to downstream services (PostgreSQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, HTTP upstreams), automatic slow-query detection, and a path to optimize P99 latency.

CI/CD & Production Infrastructure for a Social App

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Client

Puzzle Master — a social matching platform

Challenge

The startup had a production-ready Nest.js backend and Angular frontend, but zero infrastructure: deployments were manual, there was no CI/CD, no monitoring, no backups, and no separation between dev and prod environments. The goal was to build a complete DevOps stack from scratch before the public launch.

Solution

1. Application Containerization

Multi-stage Dockerfile for backend (Nest.js + Prisma, non-root user)
Multi-stage Dockerfile for frontend (Angular 12, legacy OpenSSL, Nginx for static assets)
Docker Compose full stack: PostgreSQL 15, Redis 7, imgproxy, Nginx
Healthchecks and depends_on for correct startup ordering
Isolated dev and prod environments in /opt/dev and /opt/prod

2. GitLab CI/CD

Migration of repository from Bitbucket to GitLab
Pipeline for backend and frontend: build → push → deploy
GitLab Container Registry for Docker image storage
Automatic deploy to dev on every push; manual trigger for prod
SSH deployment to VPS via SSH_PRIVATE_KEY

3. Nginx Reverse Proxy

Environment-agnostic config via envsubst for dev/prod parity
SSL/TLS (TLSv1.2, TLSv1.3) with Cloudflare certificates
Routing: /api/* → backend:4000, /* → frontend:80
www → root domain redirect (301)
Separate imgproxy stack with SSL termination

4. Security (Ansible)

Server hardening via Ansible: SSH key-only auth, root login disabled
UFW Firewall: only ports 80, 443, and custom SSH open
Database accessible only via SSH tunnel
All secrets stored in GitLab CI/CD variables

5. Monitoring

Prometheus + Grafana with automated dashboard provisioning
Exporters: Node, cAdvisor, Postgres, Redis, Nginx, Blackbox
5 Grafana dashboards: server, Docker containers, PostgreSQL, Redis, Nginx
Alertmanager with Slack/webhook integration; alerts on CPU/RAM/Disk/API/SSL

6. Database Backups

Automated pg_dump every hour
gzip compression and upload to S3-compatible object storage (Cloudflare R2)
Prometheus backup metrics: success status, size, timestamp
Alerts: DatabaseBackupMissing, DatabaseBackupFailed, DatabaseBackupSizeAnomaly

Technologies

GitLab CI

Docker

Ansible

Prometheus

Nginx

PostgreSQL

Results

✅ Deploy: git push to main → automatic build and deploy to server
✅ Environments: full dev/prod isolation on a single VPS
✅ Monitoring: 5 dashboards, alerts across 6 categories
✅ Backups: automated hourly pg_dump to Cloudflare R2
✅ Security: UFW, key-based SSH, database inaccessible from outside
✅ Scalability: architecture ready for database extraction to a dedicated server

CI/CD & Production Infrastructure for a Web Application

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Production Infrastructure & CI/CD for a Company Website

Client

A manufacturer of branded research products that needed a website to present its product catalog to customers

Challenge

The developers had written the code of a conventional web application (NestJS backend + Next.js frontend), but infrastructure was completely missing: manual deployments, no CI/CD, no server setup, no monitoring, no backups and no separation between test and production environments. The goal was to build a complete DevOps stack from scratch: GitLab CI/CD, a self-hosted server, two isolated environments, HTTPS, monitoring, alerting and automated backups.

CI/CD with GitLab + Kubernetes: deploy in 10 minutes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

CI/CD automation: from 2 hours to 10 minutes per deploy

Client

E-commerce startup, 5-person engineering team

Challenge

Manual deployment took 2 hours
Frequent release errors
No fast rollback path
Required: CI/CD automation, GitOps, fast rollback

Solution

Self-hosted GitLab
GitLab CI pipeline (Build → Test → Deploy)
Managed Kubernetes in Yandex Cloud
Flux CD for GitOps

Technologies

GitLab

Docker

Kubernetes

Helm

Flux CD

Results

✅ Deploy time: from 2 hours to 10 minutes (12x)
✅ Errors: −90%
✅ Deploy frequency: from 1/week to 10+/day
✅ Rollback time: from 1 hour to 2 minutes

Migration and DevOps for a CS-Cart Marketplace

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Infrastructure and Deployment of a Multi-Vendor CS-Cart Marketplace

Client

Multi-vendor marketplace

Challenge

Revive a legacy marketplace project and migrate it from standard shared hosting to a modern cloud environment. Ensure high availability, build CI/CD infrastructure, set up test environments, integrate third-party delivery services, and automate routine operations with AI. At the final stage, prepare an on-premise server (NAS) on the client side for cold repository storage.

Solution

1. Infrastructure in Yandex Cloud (Terraform)

Built IaC configuration (Terraform) to provision Yandex Cloud infrastructure (virtual networks, VMs).
Configured separate virtual machines for production and development environments.
Attached and partitioned additional disks, deployed automated backups for databases and files to Yandex Object Storage (S3).
Used Yandex Cloud Postbox for reliable service email delivery (domain, SPF, DKIM configured).

2. Containerization and Microservices

Migrated the marketplace from classic hosting to a Docker-based VPS environment.
Built a custom Dockerfile for CS-Cart and a docker-compose stack with a microservice-oriented web server architecture.
Established full-featured dev and prod environments.
Configured deployment pipelines via a local Git server (Forgejo).

3. Marketplace Platform (CS-Cart)

Upgraded the CS-Cart core and optimized the database by removing obsolete, unused plugins.
Deployed a clean platform installation with a new commercial theme.
Configured multi-vendor business logic: role separation and seller dashboards.
Integrated and configured modules: dynamic product loading, AI capabilities, smart live search, and SEO module.
Integrated shipping (CDEK) and payment systems. Launched automated data exchange with 1C accounting systems.

4. Automation and n8n

Deployed n8n process orchestration.
Integrated ChatGPT API to automate repetitive operations such as content generation and normalization.
Configured workers and triggers for store business workflows.

5. Security and Cloudflare

Configured Cloudflare Proxy DNS.
Implemented Cloudflare Turnstile to reduce spam during sign-up and checkout flows.
Added bot protection: disabled direct registrations, configured strict caching, and filtered low-quality traffic.
Installed SSL certificates and configured proper redirects.

6. On-Premise Infrastructure and Documentation

Set up a dedicated subdomain with a wiki engine for technical and user documentation.
Implemented local infrastructure in the client’s office based on Synology NAS: Docker, S3 buckets, and backups.
Deployed a local Git server (Forgejo) with a CI/CD runner for version control and long-term preservation of project assets.
Collected a complete backup of Terraform states, passwords, codebases, and configurations.

7. Project Archival and Repositories

Migrated the production site to backup hosting for archival mode and disabled active synchronizations.
Procured and configured Synology NAS in the office: external access, Docker, S3 buckets.
Deployed Forgejo with a runner under the git.* domain.
Repositories included: website source code, theme and add-ons, documentation, n8n workflows, Telegram bots, DB backups, terraform-yandex, terraform-cloudflare, and password vault.

Technologies

Docker

Terraform

Yandex Cloud

Nginx

Forgejo

Linux

Results

✅ Infrastructure: shared hosting → VPS in Yandex Cloud via Terraform, fully containerized with Docker
✅ Platform: clean CS-Cart Multi-Vendor installation replaced a heavily modified legacy core
✅ Theme and modules: commercial theme, live search, UX/UI improvements, SMS authentication, AJAX catalog
✅ Integrations: CDEK, Boxberry, Russian Post, Faster Payments System (SBP), and dual-environment 1C exchange
✅ Documentation: wiki on docs.* subdomain with a complete project structure
✅ Automation: n8n + ChatGPT API for routine operations
✅ Backups: Yandex Object Storage + mirrored copy on office Synology NAS
✅ Git: self-hosted Forgejo on NAS with runner and full project repositories
✅ Archival handover: project fully transferred to the client’s on-premise Synology NAS, including a private Forgejo Git server.

Prometheus + Grafana Monitoring Stack

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Observability Stack for Microservices Architecture

Client

Early-stage startup

Challenge

After migrating to a microservices architecture (15+ services), the team had no centralized monitoring in place. Issues were only discovered through user complaints — typically 30+ minutes after they occurred. A full observability stack was needed to detect and diagnose problems proactively.

Solution

1. Monitoring Architecture

Prometheus for metrics collection
Grafana for visualization
Loki for centralized log aggregation
Jaeger for distributed tracing
Alertmanager for notifications

2. Metrics Collection

Automatic service discovery in Kubernetes
Application-level custom metrics
System metrics via node-exporter
Database metrics via postgres-exporter and redis-exporter

3. Grafana Dashboards

Per-service dashboards for each microservice
Unified infrastructure overview dashboard
SLA/SLO tracking metrics
Business metrics (RPS, conversion rate)

4. Centralized Logging (Loki)

Log aggregation across all services
Full-text log search via Grafana
Log-to-metric correlation

5. Distributed Tracing (Jaeger)

HTTP request tracing across services
Call chain visualization
Bottleneck identification
Per-service latency analysis

6. Alerting

Alerts delivered to Slack / PagerDuty / custom webhooks
Critical issue escalation
On-call rotation support
Automatic incident creation

Technologies

Prometheus

Grafana

Kubernetes

Docker

Helm

Linux

Results

✅ MTTD: reduced from 30 minutes to under 1 minute
✅ MTTR: recovery time reduced by 60%
✅ Alerts: proactive notifications before users are impacted
✅ Visibility: full observability across all services
✅ Capacity planning: data-driven resource forecasting

Self-Hosted Cloud Storage with Nextcloud

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Self-Hosted Corporate Cloud

Client

Mid-sized business with strict data privacy and data residency requirements

Challenge

The company relied on third-party cloud services to store and share work files, creating data leakage risks and dependency on external providers. They needed a self-hosted solution with in-browser document editing, deleted file recovery, revision history, and additional collaboration tools — calendar, notes, and email — all under their own control.

Solution

1. Nextcloud AIO Deployment

Nextcloud All-in-One — official Docker image with the full stack out of the box
PostgreSQL for application data storage
Redis for caching and background job queues
Nginx as a reverse proxy with automatic SSL/TLS

2. In-Browser Document Editing

Nextcloud Office (Collabora Online) — built-in office suite
Support for .docx, .xlsx, .pptx and ODF formats
Real-time collaborative editing
No local software installation required

3. File Management

Deleted files trash bin with configurable retention period
File version history — roll back to any previous revision
Granular access control: folders, share links, passwords
Mobile and desktop sync clients

4. Collaboration Tools

Calendar (CalDAV) — team scheduling and events
Notes — personal and team notes with Markdown support
Mail — built-in web client for corporate email (IMAP/SMTP)

5. Backup

Borg Backup — incremental backup built into Nextcloud AIO
Data deduplication and compression
Scheduled automatic runs
Remote storage for backups (S3-compatible / SFTP)

Technologies

Nextcloud

Docker

PostgreSQL

Nginx

Linux

Results

✅ Data ownership: files stay on company servers, no third-party providers
✅ In-browser editing: office documents open and edit directly in the browser
✅ Safety net: version history and trash bin protect against accidental data loss
✅ Unified platform: single solution for files, calendar, notes, and email
✅ Automated backups: incremental backup via Borg Backup on a set schedule

Self-Hosted Corporate Messenger (Matrix)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Self-Hosted Secure Messenger for Enterprise Communications

Client

Mid-size business with strict data privacy and security requirements

Challenge

The company required full control over its internal communications — no third-party servers, no data leakage risks. The solution had to support end-to-end encryption, voice and video calls, file sharing, and seamless integration with existing corporate infrastructure, all manageable by an internal team.

Solution

1. Server Stack

Matrix Synapse as the core messaging server
PostgreSQL 16 for persistent data storage
Caddy as reverse proxy with automatic SSL/TLS
Docker Compose for service orchestration

2. Client Applications

Element Web for browser access
Element Desktop for Windows/macOS/Linux
Element Mobile for iOS/Android
Consistent interface across all platforms

3. Voice & Video Calls

Coturn (TURN/STUN server) for NAT traversal
Group video call support
UDP ports 49160–49200 for media traffic
Automatic configuration via environment variables

4. Administration

Synapse Admin web UI for user and room management
Usage statistics and monitoring
Accessible on a dedicated port (8888)

5. Security

End-to-end encrypted messages
Automatic SSL/TLS certificates via Caddy
Public registration disabled
Optional federation with other Matrix servers
Healthchecks on all services

6. Automation

Single Bash script for full stack initialization
Automatic Synapse config generation
Automated admin user creation via expect
Docker Compose with dependency ordering and healthchecks

Technologies

Docker

PostgreSQL

Caddy

Bash

Linux

Element + Matrix + Synapse

Results

✅ Data ownership: full control over messages and user data — no third-party servers
✅ Scale: 100+ concurrent users
✅ Features: text, voice, video, file sharing up to 1.5 GB, E2E encryption
✅ Speed: full deployment in 5 minutes with a single script
✅ Reliability: automatic SSL certificates, healthchecks, auto-restart

Self-Hosted Project Management with Plane

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Self-Hosted Project Management with Plane So

Client

A company seeking its own project management tool hosted on their office infrastructure

Challenge

The client wanted an open-source alternative to Jira/Linear for project and task management, deployed on their own server within an existing Coolify environment. Requirements included: installing the latest version of Plane CE, ensuring proper operation behind Traefik reverse proxy, extracting the database as a separate Coolify service for convenient archiving, and setting up regular backups for all data.

Self-Hosted Remote Desktop with RustDesk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Self-Hosted Remote Desktop with RustDesk

Client

A company providing support and maintenance for the 1C platform

Challenge

The client needed a secure, self-hosted remote desktop solution to allow their support engineers to connect to client workstations and servers. They required full control over data, no reliance on third-party cloud services, and a solution that works reliably within corporate networks.

Solution

Deployed RustDesk OSS (open-source) server using Docker Compose
Configured hbbs (ID/relay server) and hbbr (relay server) components
Configured firewall rules and network access for secure connections
Provided client configuration files for easy deployment across the support team
Documented maintenance procedures and backup strategy

Technologies

RustDesk

Docker

Linux

Bash

Results

✅ Full data sovereignty — all connection metadata and relay traffic stays on client’s infrastructure
✅ Zero licensing costs — open-source RustDesk eliminates per-seat fees
✅ Reliable connectivity — engineers can access client machines from anywhere
✅ Simple client rollout — pre-configured client configs for quick team onboarding
✅ Corporate network friendly — works through NAT/firewalls with relay servers

WireGuard VPN Infrastructure

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

WireGuard VPN Infrastructure

Challenge

A distributed team of 15+ engineers working across multiple locations needed secure, low-latency access to internal corporate infrastructure — without relying on heavyweight legacy VPN appliances. The existing setup introduced significant overhead, was difficult to maintain, and caused frequent connectivity issues for remote employees. The goal was to replace it with a lightweight, self-hosted solution that is fast, auditable, and easy to scale.

Solution

1. Technology Selection

Protocol evaluation: OpenVPN, WireGuard, Outline
WireGuard chosen for its speed, simplicity, and modern cryptography
Docker for isolation and portability
Ansible for automated provisioning

2. Infrastructure

VPS hosted in a neutral jurisdiction (Netherlands)
Docker Compose for service orchestration
WireGuard running in a container
Nginx for the web management panel
Prometheus + Grafana for monitoring

3. Automation

# Ansible playbook for deployment
- name: Deploy WireGuard VPN
 hosts: vpn_servers
 roles:
 - docker
 - wireguard
 - monitoring
 - backup

4. Security

Automatic key rotation
Firewall rules (UFW)
Fail2ban for brute-force protection
ChaCha20-Poly1305 traffic encryption

5. Monitoring

Bandwidth and throughput metrics
Downtime alerts
Connection logging
Automatic restart on failure

Technologies

WireGuard

Docker

Ansible

Prometheus

Results

✅ Uptime: 99.8% over 6+ months of operation
✅ Speed: stable 100+ Mbps
✅ Access: OpenAI API, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, npm registry
✅ Deployment time: ~20 minutes per new server
✅ Users: 15+ developers with zero connectivity issues

Docker on DevOps Engineer & CloudAdmin

.NET Backend Observability & Telemetry Integration

.NET Backend Observability: Telemetry Integration & Performance Optimization

Client

Challenge

CI/CD & Production Infrastructure for a Social App

Production Infrastructure & CI/CD for a Social App Launch

Client

Challenge

Solution

1. Application Containerization

2. GitLab CI/CD

3. Nginx Reverse Proxy

4. Security (Ansible)

5. Monitoring

6. Database Backups

Technologies

Results

CI/CD & Production Infrastructure for a Web Application

Production Infrastructure & CI/CD for a Company Website

Client

Challenge

CI/CD with GitLab + Kubernetes: deploy in 10 minutes

CI/CD automation: from 2 hours to 10 minutes per deploy

Client

Challenge

Solution

Technologies

Results

Migration and DevOps for a CS-Cart Marketplace

Infrastructure and Deployment of a Multi-Vendor CS-Cart Marketplace

Client

Challenge

Solution

1. Infrastructure in Yandex Cloud (Terraform)

2. Containerization and Microservices

3. Marketplace Platform (CS-Cart)

4. Automation and n8n

5. Security and Cloudflare

6. On-Premise Infrastructure and Documentation

7. Project Archival and Repositories

Technologies

Results

Prometheus + Grafana Monitoring Stack

Observability Stack for Microservices Architecture

Client

Challenge

Solution

1. Monitoring Architecture

2. Metrics Collection

3. Grafana Dashboards

4. Centralized Logging (Loki)

5. Distributed Tracing (Jaeger)

6. Alerting

Technologies

Results

Self-Hosted Cloud Storage with Nextcloud

Self-Hosted Corporate Cloud

Client

Challenge

Solution

1. Nextcloud AIO Deployment

2. In-Browser Document Editing

3. File Management

4. Collaboration Tools

5. Backup

Technologies

Results

Self-Hosted Corporate Messenger (Matrix)

Self-Hosted Secure Messenger for Enterprise Communications

Client

Challenge

Solution

1. Server Stack

2. Client Applications

3. Voice & Video Calls

4. Administration

5. Security

6. Automation

Technologies