Published 30 May 2026
When a 1GB Instance Wasn't Enough
A production outage revealed how little headroom remained on a 1 GB Lightsail instance, leading to a deeper look at capacity planning, memory pressure and the decision to upgrade.
Read note →Cloud Engineering Portfolio
Real-World Architecture by Cliff Smith
Cliffable is a cloud engineering portfolio focused on AWS architecture projects. Each project documents the design, implementation and trade-offs of real-world systems, including static websites, WordPress hosting and infrastructure built on AWS.
View All ProjectsFeatured Projects
Static Website on AWS with Automated CI/CD Pipeline
Designed and deployed a static website on AWS using S3, CloudFront, Route 53, ACM and GitHub Actions, with automated CI/CD, HTTPS and DNS routing.
Migrating a WordPress Website to AWS Lightsail
Migrated a live business website to AWS Lightsail with HTTPS, static IP, DNS configuration, backups and a 96% reduction in hosting cost.
Designing the Cliffable Brand
Building the Cliffable identity from scratch — domain selection, logo design, and a minimal portfolio website.
Secure AWS VPC with Bastion Host
Designed a secure AWS VPC architecture using public and private subnets, a bastion host, NAT Gateway and route tables to control administrative and outbound network access.
Latest Field Notes
Short technical notes from building, operating and improving real cloud systems.
Published 29 May 2026
The Night Monitoring Paid For Itself
How monitoring and alerting detected a real production outage and helped trace the root cause to memory exhaustion, migration PHP settings and a stale plugin reference.
Read note →About
I’m transitioning into cloud architecture, focused on designing and building real-world systems on AWS.
Through hands-on projects, I explore how cloud services fit together in practice — from networking and DNS to scalable, production-ready architectures.
This site documents that journey, with a focus on clarity, structure, and real implementation.
Background in music and education (BMus Hons). AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, preparing for Solutions Architect (Associate).