Field Note: Before Blaming DHIS2 for Slowness, Check These Five Layers
A short field note: in most slow-production complaints, the bottleneck is upstream of the application, not inside it.
Read articleInternational IT Infrastructure & Cybersecurity Consultant & Trainer — Digital Health, DHIS2 & Cloud
IT Infrastructure • Cybersecurity • Cloud & Hybrid • Data Centers • DHIS2 • Linux • PostgreSQL • EDR
IT infrastructure and cybersecurity consultant and trainer with 24+ years designing, implementing and securing enterprise environments across healthcare, finance and government — infrastructure modernization, cloud and hybrid migration, data centers, disaster recovery, EDR and secure operations.
What I Specialize In
DHIS2 Infrastructure
Production environments, deployments, upgrades, troubleshooting and operational support for DHIS2.
Learn moreLinux Infrastructure
Linux server administration, troubleshooting, optimization and production operations.
Learn morePostgreSQL & Database Infrastructure
Database infrastructure administration — high availability, replication, performance tuning, backup and recovery for production systems.
Learn moreApplication Infrastructure
Nginx, Tomcat, web application architecture, reverse proxying and application operations.
Learn morePerformance & Reliability
Finding bottlenecks across infrastructure, application, database, storage and networking layers.
Learn moreCybersecurity & EDR
Risk assessment, infrastructure hardening, monitoring, EDR deployment and attack-surface reduction.
Learn moreDisaster Recovery & Business Continuity
Backup architecture, recovery strategies, retention, testing and business-continuity planning.
Learn moreMonitoring & Observability
Monitoring infrastructure and application behavior to identify problems before they become incidents.
Learn moreCloud & Hybrid Infrastructure
Azure and O365 migrations, hybrid architecture and zero-downtime modernization.
Learn moreData Center & Virtualization
Data-center design, compute and storage, VMware, Hyper-V, KVM and container platforms.
Learn moreEnterprise Networking & Hardening
Enterprise network design, DNS, routing, firewalls and security hardening.
Learn moreHow Engagements Work
Free · 30–45 min · no obligation
Book your free call
Every engagement starts with a free introductory call — a fit check for both sides before anyone commits further.
I work vendor-neutral and will tell you early if something falls outside what I can genuinely help with. I would rather point you to someone better suited than take on work that is not a good fit.
01
Understand the problem
Goals, constraints & context
02
Technical assessment
Architecture, risks & gaps
03
Recommendations
Options with clear trade-offs
04
Implementation support
Hands-on help shipping change
05
Knowledge transfer
Upskill your team, then hand over
From there, ongoing implementation support continues alongside your team, scoped to the engagement.
The Problems I Work On
“The DHIS2 system is slow.”
Investigating the complete stack rather than assuming the application itself is the problem.
“The database is growing rapidly.”
Analyzing PostgreSQL, storage, queries, WAL and retention.
“The server is under heavy load.”
Identifying CPU, memory, disk I/O, network and application bottlenecks.
“We need to upgrade DHIS2.”
Planning infrastructure and application upgrades while minimizing operational risk.
“Our backup strategy is not reliable.”
Designing and testing backup and recovery strategies that actually work.
“The system needs better security.”
Hardening the infrastructure and reducing the attack surface.
The Digital Health Infrastructure Stack
A production health information system is not just an application. Reliability depends on understanding the entire stack — from the user and the DHIS2 instance down to Linux, storage, the network, and the security and monitoring around all of it.
- 01 Users & Health Programs The people and programs the system exists to serve.
- 02 DHIS2 / Health Applications The application itself and its configuration.
- 03 Application Services Tomcat / application services running the software.
- 04 Web Layer Nginx / reverse proxy / TLS.
- 05 Database PostgreSQL and data storage.
- 06 Operating System Linux and the system services underneath.
- 07 Infrastructure Compute, storage and networking.
- 08 Security & Monitoring Security controls, monitoring, logging and alerting.
Selected Case Studies
Digital Health / Health Information System National Health Information System — Infrastructure Readiness & Performance Planning
Planning and preparing production infrastructure for a national-scale health information platform… Read the case study
Digital Health / Health Information Systems International Data Center Design & Modernization Planning for Health Programs
Designing and planning data-center infrastructure supporting medical records across multiple… Read the case study
Enterprise / Cybersecurity Enterprise EDR & Attack-Surface Reduction
Designing and implementing an endpoint detection and response strategy for a large enterprise… Read the case study
Who I Work With
Health Organizations
Organizations operating health information systems and digital health platforms.
Ministries of Health
Technical teams responsible for national or regional health information infrastructure.
Digital Health Implementers
Organizations deploying DHIS2 and related systems.
NGOs & International Organizations
Organizations that need technical expertise around health information infrastructure.
Private Sector Companies
Health-tech vendors, consultancies and technology companies that need experienced infrastructure and cybersecurity support.
Financial Institutions
Banks, insurance and financial organizations that need resilient, secure infrastructure and tested recovery.
Government & Public Sector
Government agencies and public institutions running critical services and enterprise IT infrastructure.
Technical Teams
Teams needing infrastructure architecture, troubleshooting, security or performance expertise.
Featured Technical Insights
Common DHIS2 Server Performance Issues and How to Fix Them
Slow dashboards, high CPU, bloated analytics tables. Practical fixes for the performance problems that show up on production DHIS2 servers.
Read article
Linux Disk Space Troubleshooting: A Practical Checklist
The disk is full but du shows nothing. A practical, ordered approach to finding what is eating space on Linux servers.
Read article
Troubleshooting PostgreSQL WAL Archiving Failures
WAL archiving stops silently and your backups are quietly going stale. Here is a repeatable checklist to find the cause and fix it for good.
Read articleMy Professional Journey
-
2002 – 2005
Full-Time Trainer — Microsoft & Networking Programs
Delivered MCSE and CCNA training programs to more than 500 IT professionals, building practical capability for the local IT workforce.
Microsoft · Networking · Training -
2005 – 2008
Computer Hardware & Technical Support Engineer (Networking)
Enterprise network integration and troubleshooting that reduced downtime, plus hardware maintenance, system upgrades and end-user training.
Networking · Hardware · Support -
2008 – 2011
System & Network Administrator — Security & Operations
Managed enterprise IT operations for multi-branch organizations with 1000+ endpoints, delivered Microsoft enterprise solutions and business continuity, and led enterprise HPE technical support and maintenance.
Microsoft · Active Directory · HPE · Operations -
2011 – 2014
Senior Implementation Engineer — Infrastructure & Security
Designed and deployed high-availability infrastructure and virtualization solutions, implemented advanced security controls, and delivered Microsoft enterprise solutions for government and enterprise clients.
VMware · High availability · Security · Microsoft -
2014 – 2021
Senior IT Consultant — Infrastructure & Cybersecurity
Led cloud and hybrid IT transformations, designed high-availability infrastructure and virtualization solutions, and managed large-scale deployment plans including servers, storage and disaster recovery.
Azure · Hybrid · Storage · DR · Virtualization -
2021 – Present
Senior IT Consultant — Infrastructure & Cybersecurity
Directed on-premises-to-Azure migrations with around 40% cost savings and zero downtime, implemented disaster recovery plans and conducted cybersecurity gap analyses.
Azure · Migration · DR · Security assessments -
2023 – Present
International Senior Infrastructure & Cybersecurity Consultant | Implementor
National health IT deployments serving 90M+ citizens, secure architectures for DHIS2 and health data platforms on open-source stacks, and TORs/BOQs for donor-backed health projects across 8+ countries.
DHIS2 · Linux · PostgreSQL · Nginx · Tomcat -
2024 – Present
Cybersecurity Consultant — Attack-Surface Reduction
Assessed enterprise security environments, implemented EDR solutions and delivered operational security training on attack-surface reduction for 20+ organizations.
EDR · Security assessments · Training
Speaking & Training
Jan 2002
Technical Training & Skill Development Programs
Since 2002 I have delivered professional training across Microsoft, networking, security, business continuity and open-source technologies — including MCSE and CCNA programs to more than 500 IT professionals.
Jan 2015
Career Mentoring for New IT Professionals
Free short trainings and consultations that help fresh graduates understand what the market actually needs and how to build practical skills.
Jan 2024
Cybersecurity & Attack-Surface Reduction Training
Operational security training for IT teams on handling the attack surface, mitigating threats and getting value from endpoint detection and response.
Have a Digital Health Infrastructure Challenge?
If you are building, operating or troubleshooting a health information system, I would be glad to talk it through.