Your WordPress sites stay up.
Even when your server doesn't.
Tergum automatically detects server failures and switches traffic to your standby server — before visitors even notice. No manual intervention. No 3am phone calls.
Tergum is Latin for "back." We've got yours.
The problem
Downtime isn't a technical problem.
It's a business problem.
Every minute your WordPress site is down, you're losing sales, leads, and trust. Most hosting setups have a single point of failure. When it goes — and eventually it will — your site goes dark.
“Does thinking about this kind of scenario cause you to lose sleep?”
— Overheard on r/sysadmin
Your server fails at 2am
No one notices until a customer emails to say the site is down. By then you've lost hours of traffic.
Manual failover takes too long
Even if you're watching, switching DNS manually takes 10–30 minutes and requires access you may not have.
You can't be everywhere
Agencies managing dozens of client sites can't monitor all of them simultaneously. One failure slips through.
How it works
Set up once. Protected forever.
No complicated networking. No firewall changes. Works on any servers you already have.
Install the agent (5 minutes)
Run our one-line installer on your primary and standby servers. The Tergum agent installs quietly and starts reporting health data immediately. No inbound ports required — agents initiate outbound HTTPS connections.
We set up replication
Tergum automatically configures MySQL/MariaDB replication between your servers, syncs your WordPress files in real time, and verifies everything is working before marking setup complete.
We watch, you relax
Our independent monitoring node checks your site every 30 seconds from outside your network. If your primary server stops responding — to us and to the internet — failover begins automatically.
Automatic failover
Within minutes, Tergum promotes your standby server, updates your Cloudflare DNS, and your site is back up. You get an alert. Your visitors notice nothing.
Set your policy to Manual and we'll alert you the moment action is needed — you login and 'Throw the Switch'. Full control, zero lag.
Features
Everything your WordPress sites need to stay online
Automatic Failover
Detects failure within 30 seconds. Promotes your standby server and updates Cloudflare DNS automatically. No manual steps.
Real-Time Replication
MySQL/MariaDB binary log replication keeps your databases in lock-step. inotify + rsync keeps your WordPress files current.
Independent Monitoring
Health checks from an Oracle Cloud node — completely separate from your hosting. We see failures before your visitors do.
Instant Alerts
Email and push notifications (NTFY) on all plans. SMS escalation is a premium add-on (included on Sentinel). Notified when anything goes wrong: server offline, replication stopped, disk space, failover.
Your Servers, Your Data
We never read your content or databases — only health metrics. Your data stays on your servers, under your control, always.
Flexible Failover Policies
Conservative, Tolerant, Strict, or Manual. Each domain can have its own policy. Change-control environments welcome.
Automated Setup
Our installer handles Tailscale networking, SSH keys, MySQL replication, Cloudflare Tunnel, and file sync. Most setups complete in under 30 minutes.
Multi-Site Support
One server pair protects multiple domains. Each domain has its own failover policy, health check URL, and Cloudflare zone configuration.
Tergum agents initiate outbound HTTPS connections — meaning they work from any server, anywhere, even behind a residential NAT or corporate firewall. Your standby can sit behind a Cloudflare Tunnel with no exposed ports on your end.
Server Intelligence
Your Tergum dashboard gives you a live view into both servers — not just a traffic light, but real operational data you can act on.
CPU, memory, and disk usage trends. MySQL replication lag in real time. Network latency between your servers. Per-domain web traffic parsed directly from your server logs. Agent heartbeat status. Disk alert thresholds you can tune independently per server.
When something is trending the wrong way, you'll see it before your visitors do. Server Intelligence is also the engine behind Tergum's proactive alerting — the same data that triggers a notification is visible in your dashboard, so you always understand why an alert fired, not just that it did.
🔐 No risk. No lock-in.
- 30-day free trial — your card is on file but nothing is charged until day 31
- Month-to-month billing — no annual contract, no commitment
- Cancel any time from your dashboard — service runs until the end of your paid period
- Your servers keep running normally after cancellation — Tergum uses standard MySQL replication and Cloudflare, both of which remain yours
- One-command agent removal for a completely clean exit if you need it
Pricing
Simple pricing. No surprises.
30-day free trial on all plans. Card required — nothing charged until day 31. Cancel any time.
Starting at — add-ons optional. For site owners and small agencies who need reliable protection without complexity.
- Up to 3 WordPress sites
- Automatic failover with Cloudflare DNS
- MySQL/MariaDB replication setup
- Real-time file sync
- 30-second health checks
- Core alerts (disk, agent, failover)
- Email support
Enhanced Monitoring & Alerts +$5/mo
SMS Escalation +$5/mo
Get Both for +$7.50/mo
Everything included. For agencies and professionals who want the full picture and nothing to think about.
- Up to 10 WordPress sites
- Everything in Shield
- Enhanced Monitoring & Alerts included
- SMS escalation included
- Installer + setup assist
- Priority support
For agencies and MSPs who want to deliver failover under their own brand.
- Unlimited WordPress sites
- Your brand, your portal
- Dedicated onboarding
- Priority SLA
- Full setup assist
- Custom contract
All prices in USD. Canadian customers: GST/HST added at checkout based on province. Stripe handles all payment processing.
FAQ
Common questions
Do I need to change my hosting provider?
No. Tergum works with any Linux server you already have — VPS, dedicated, or cloud. Your primary is your current server. Your standby can be any second server (a $6/month VPS works fine). Tergum connects them and keeps them in sync.
How long does failover actually take?
Tergum checks health every 30 seconds. After 2 consecutive failed checks (~1 minute), failover begins. DNS updates via Cloudflare propagate within seconds for most visitors. Total time from failure to traffic on standby: typically under 2 minutes.
What if I want to approve failovers manually?
Set your failover policy to Manual. Tergum will alert you immediately when failover conditions are detected — primary down, standby ready — and wait for you to approve from the dashboard. It won't act without you.
Do my servers need to be in the same location?
No. Tergum uses Tailscale for secure networking between your servers, so they can be in different data centres, different countries, or different providers entirely. The only requirement is that both can connect to the internet.
Does it work with WooCommerce?
Yes. Tergum replicates your full MySQL database in real time, including all WooCommerce orders and product data. Note: for high-volume stores actively processing orders during a failure, some in-flight transactions may not have replicated yet — this is inherent to any asynchronous replication system.
What MySQL/MariaDB versions are supported?
Tergum supports MySQL 5.7+, MySQL 8.0+, and MariaDB 10.4+. Primary and standby must run the same database type and be within one major version of each other. Tergum validates compatibility before completing setup.
What happens if I cancel?
Your servers keep running normally. Replication continues if you configured it, or you can remove the agents with a single command. There's no lock-in — Tergum uses standard MySQL replication, Tailscale, and Cloudflare which you continue to control independently.
Is my data safe?
Tergum agents send health metrics (disk usage, CPU, replication status, etc.) to our backend for monitoring. We never read or store your WordPress content, customer data, or database contents. Your data stays on your servers. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Still have questions? Email us at hello@tergum.ca →
We typically respond within a few hours.
Requirements
Nuts & Bolts
Tergum has a few technical requirements. Check these before signing up — we'd rather you know upfront than discover a limitation at setup time.
Your Servers
- Two Linux servers — one running WordPress (primary), one for failover (standby)
- Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or 24.04 LTS, or Debian 11+
- Both servers must run the same distro & major version
- Root or sudo access to run the Tergum installer (one-time — it handles all package installation and configuration automatically)
- Outbound HTTPS (port 443) — no inbound firewall changes required
Database
- MySQL 5.7+, MySQL 8.0+, or MariaDB 10.4+
- Same engine on both servers (MySQL or MariaDB)
- Within one major version of each other
- Binary logging enabled (Tergum checks this during setup)
- MySQL ↔ MariaDB cross-engine replication not supported
Web Server & PHP
- Nginx or Apache on the primary server
- PHP 7.4+ with standard WordPress extensions
- Both servers must use the same web server type
- Standby can be a fresh OS install — Tergum auto-installs matching software versions during setup
Cloudflare
- Free Cloudflare account
- Domain DNS managed through Cloudflare
- API token (DNS Edit + Tunnel Read) — setup wizard walks you through creation
- Cloudflare Tunnel is installed on your standby server during setup and provides its public HTTPS endpoint
Tailscale
- Free Tailscale personal or team account
- Installed on both servers
- Key expiry disabled (prevents automation from breaking on token renewal)
- Tailscale creates a secure private network between your servers — no VPN configuration or open firewall ports needed
Current Limitations
- Shared hosting, cPanel, or Plesk environments
- Windows servers
- Mixed OS versions (e.g. Ubuntu 22.04 primary + 24.04 standby)
- Non-WordPress CMS (Joomla, Drupal, Ghost, etc.)
- Active-active (multi-primary) database replication
Your sites deserve better than hoping nothing breaks.
Tergum runs quietly in the background, watching every heartbeat of your server, ready to act the moment something goes wrong. Most customers never need to think about it — which is exactly the point.
No commitment. Cancel before day 31 and pay nothing.