Frequently Asked
Questions

Server setup and management, data storage and backup, network security, virtualization, business email, and IT training. If your business has technology that needs to work reliably — we're likely a fit. Reach out and we'll tell you quickly.

Primarily remote. Most infrastructure work is done over SSH and doesn't require physical presence. For hardware procurement, initial rack builds, or complex network changes, on-site is available depending on location. Ask when you reach out.

Depends on current workload. Discovery calls can usually happen within a few days. Active project start times vary. Contact us and we'll give you an honest timeline rather than a placeholder.

Both. Some clients are individuals or small teams building homelab-grade production systems; others are businesses replacing managed service providers. The common thread is caring about owning and understanding your infrastructure.

We support the full range of platforms businesses run on: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Linux (Ubuntu Server, Debian, Fedora Server), Windows Server, and Windows 10/11 workstations. BSD and Unix are our specialization for server infrastructure, but we work across whatever your business actually uses — including mixed environments.

Both. Greenfield builds are straightforward. Brownfield work (inheriting an existing environment) requires a discovery phase to understand what's there before committing scope. We don't make promises about existing systems until we've looked at them.

We can advise on hardware selection and help evaluate options. We won't sell you hardware directly, but we'll help you spec and source it from the right suppliers. For managed retainer clients, we can handle vendor coordination.

We recommend self-hosted infrastructure for most clients — it means you own your data and aren't subject to a cloud provider's pricing changes. We're not the right fit if you want to move everything to AWS, but if you want to move things off AWS and onto hardware you control, we're exactly the right partner.

Project work is quoted as a fixed price after a scoping call. Ongoing retainers are monthly flat-rate. We don't bill hourly for most engagements. Fixed pricing means you know what you're getting and we're incentivized to do it efficiently.

A project is a defined scope with a start and end: build and configure this server stack and hand it off. A retainer is ongoing: patching, monitoring, responding to incidents, handling changes. Retainers suit clients who want Arcline as their de facto sysadmin without hiring full-time.

Yes. Every project includes documentation and a handoff session. Post-handoff support options include: a defined support window included in the project price, a paid incident block, or transitioning to a retainer. We don't disappear after the project ends.

If it breaks because we made a mistake, we fix it, no charge. If it breaks because something changed in the environment or a third party failed, that's handled under whatever post-handoff support arrangement was agreed. We'll always be clear about which situation applies.

The hardware is ours. There's no Cloudflare, no third-party CDN, no shared cloud provider sitting between you and your site. Smaller customer base means real attention when something needs fixing. The tradeoff is honest: 99% SLA, not 99.9%.

99% monthly. That's roughly 7.3 hours of downtime per month as a ceiling. We run self-hosted infrastructure on self-owned hardware and don't claim hyperscaler reliability. If 99.9%+ is a hard requirement, a hyperscaler is probably the better fit and we'll say so.