Security and continuity without compromise
SIDN manages a significant portion of the Netherlands’ digital infrastructure. Every .nl domain registration, modification, or transfer—as well as email traffic to a .nl email address and access to .nl websites—runs through systems managed by SIDN. This makes 24/7 availability an absolute requirement. With a future plan to migrate a limited portion of its core services to the cloud, the organization needed to ensure continuity today while simultaneously laying a solid foundation for tomorrow. This presented a strategic opportunity: to transform the infrastructure from a bottleneck into a launchpad for the next phase.
The goal was clear
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Free up internal capacity by reducing dependency on hard-to-find infrastructure specialists
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Improve service resilience
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Shift the focus to platform innovation rather than maintaining legacy systems
Operational drag and hidden risks
Although the .nl systems had proven themselves reliable for many years, the platform still required a great deal of manual management. SIDN saw this as an opportunity to further automate processes such as patching, monitoring, and infrastructure tuning. There was also room for improvement in the area of security. Although backups were already in place, the next step was to set up and test a reliable, documented recovery strategy, particularly for critical databases. Because, as the saying goes: “It’ s not your backup strategy that counts, but your recovery capability.”
Internally, SIDN had chosen to allocate its cloud-ready talent toward the future. That meant the “old” environment needed to be kept alive by external partners. But that didn’t mean it had to stay static.
From Reactive to Resilient
SUE stepped in not only to manage, but to take the platform to the next level. A small, hands-on team worked across operations, security, and coordination. The improvements were immediately measurable:
Greater resilience
SIDN’s mission-critical systems are now continuously monitored. A structured morning triage process ensures that issues are identified and addressed early on. Manual patching, which was previously fragmented, is now part of a documented, team-wide process, ensuring greater consistency and accountability. Infrastructure updates are carefully planned, minimizing risks and ensuring that essential services remain available without interruption to users throughout the country.
Stronger security posture
The team strengthened the security baseline by identifying and replacing passwords throughout the infrastructure. Credential hygiene is actively monitored, with clear accountability assigned within teams to ensure ongoing vigilance. In parallel, backup and restore tests for critical databases have been formalized and scheduled.
Improved collaboration
Collaboration across teams has become more structured and effective, with smoother coordination between key domains such as storage, DNS, and networking. Requests for infrastructure changes, such as additional storage, are properly tracked, triaged, and handled transparently, reducing bottlenecks and miscommunication. At the same time, other team members are actively supported and coached, ensuring that knowledge is transferred and long-term capabilities are built within the organization.
Prepared for what's next
To ensure a smooth transition to the future, configuration management tools such as Ansible have been restored and consistently aligned across all relevant servers. This reduces technical debt and increases reliability. In addition, a test-driven approach to system recovery has been introduced, enabling the team to respond with confidence to worst-case scenarios.
What we did, step by step
We began by stabilizing day-to-day operations: refining dashboards, streamlining ticket processes, and ensuring that nothing business-critical fell through the cracks. Morning stand-ups became the beating heart of the team, ensuring continuous coordination and rapid follow-up. At the same time, we worked closely with SIDN’s internal security team to address areas for improvement. The password vault was cleaned up, recovery plans were drawn up and implemented, and responsibilities between the infrastructure and database teams were clearly defined. Projects such as configuration management tooling were reactivated and rebuilt into a workable, easily maintainable solution. Where necessary, we trained internal teams and ensured structured knowledge transfer. We also reversed the backup strategy: no longer checking whether backups exist, but testing whether they can actually be restored. The team now conducts full restore drills twice a year, based on realistic scenarios. This not only increases technical readiness but also builds valuable “muscle memory” within the teams. One of the most impactful changes? We helped the team transition to structured, proactive improvement—even in an environment that will eventually be phased out.
To learn how SUE moves applications and data in waves, visit the page Cloud Migration.
Learn how SUE keeps critical infrastructure stable, increases resilience, and frees up capacity for cloud innovation. Contact us if you want to transform your “keep it running” environment into a foundation for change.
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