Cloud Hosting and Deployment Checklist

Use this checklist when setting up new hosting or reviewing an existing setup. It applies to websites, web applications and APIs on cloud platforms, VPS or static hosting. Read A Business Guide to Cloud Hosting and DevOps for background.

Accounts and ownership

• Cloud and hosting accounts are in the business's name.
• At least two trusted people have admin access.
• Multi-factor authentication enabled on all admin accounts.
• Billing alerts configured.

Environments

• Separate staging and production environments.
• Staging is blocked from search engines.
• Environment variables used for configuration and secrets.
• No secret keys committed to code repositories.

Server and network security

• Operating system and packages updated.
• Firewall allows only required ports.
• SSH key authentication; password login disabled where possible.
• SSL certificates installed and auto-renewing.
• Security headers configured on the web server.

Deployment process

• Code stored in version control.
• Builds are repeatable from a single command or pipeline.
• Deployments documented step by step.
• Rollback procedure tested.
• Database migrations run in a controlled way.

Static website specifics

• All pages exported as HTML files.
• Web server serves directory index files (index.html).
• Custom 404 page configured.
• Long-lived caching for hashed assets; short caching for HTML.
• Compression (gzip or brotli) enabled.

Performance

• CDN used for static assets where helpful.
• Database indexes reviewed for slow queries.
• Load tested if heavy traffic is expected.

Monitoring

• Uptime monitoring with alerts to email or phone.
• Error logging for applications.
• Disk, memory and CPU alerts.
• Log retention policy defined.

Backups and recovery

• Automated daily database backups.
• File and media backups.
• Backups stored in a separate location.
• Restore tested within the last three months.
• Recovery steps documented.

Cost control

• Server sizes match actual usage.
• Unused resources removed.
• Monthly cost review scheduled.

Next steps

If you want help setting up or reviewing your hosting, see our server setup and management and DevOps services.