The Two Generals Problem
Table of Contents Alice and Bob Imagine there’s a city in a valley. On either side of the valley, there’s an army commanded by a general. On the left hill stands General Alice…
50 Essential Linux Commands that You Should Know
To build experience with Linux commands, there are a few things you can do. First, try to use the command line interface as much as possible. This will give you practice with the…
Improving OpenVPN performance and throughput
You may have been following my Linux home lab build. One of the most important decisions when building your home lab is selecting the proper router/firewall for your network. After many hours of…
What CentOS alternative distro should you choose?
The official alternative to CentOS 8 is CentOS Stream. Read: Converting from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream. According to Chris Wright, Red Hat’s CTO, the CentOS Stream project provides “a rolling preview of…
Set PHP realpath_cache_size ‘correctly’
<?php var_dump(realpath_cache_size()); ?> Enjoy! realpath_cache_size = 4M realpath_cache_ttl = 120 Note that if your using Apache Prefork-mpm mod_php to run PHP (the fastest when loading only PHP and not with static content) then…
atop for Linux server performance analysis (Guide)
atop -m Additional examples of using the ‘atop’ command for Linux server performance analysis: atop -c atop is an ASCII full-screen performance monitor that can log and report the activity of all server…
Top Serverless Monitoring Tools + Serverless Resources
Every few weeks, I will edit and add to this list of Top Serverless Monitoring Tools/Solutions. These tools represent the current recommended Serverless Monitoring Tools. Table of Contents What is Serverless Computing? The…
PHP performance: oPcache Control Panels
OPcache is a PHP extension that improves PHP performance by storing precompiled script bytecode in shared memory, thereby removing the need for PHP to load and parse scripts on each request. The extension…
htop: Quick Guide & Customization
htop uses a cursor-controlled interface for sending signals to processes. One example where this is helpful is: you don’t have to type in PIDs; select one or more processes using your mouse cursor…
PHP Benchmarks: OPcache vs OPcache w/ Performance Tweaks
These are not mind-blowing results. However, depending on your current throughput of PHP requests, you may be happy to take whatever improvements you can find. Also, this test was with WordPress only; with…
How to Integrate Cloudflare with CSF Firewall
For added security, you can also use additional tools or services, such as ModSecurity and Sucuri. Or, instead of CSF + LFD, you can use APF + BFD. There’s also bitninja.io, Imunify360 and others….
Observability, Getting Started – 50 Free Access and Open-Source Solutions
So, what is observability? Well, rather than adding to the many different published definitions, I’ll point you to a few articles and pages recently published (all within the past six months) by some…
MySQL Performance Tuning: Tips, Scripts and Tools
MySQLTuner supports Galera Cluster, TokuDB, Performance schema, Linux OS metrics, InnoDB, MyISAM, Aria, etc. – MySQLTuner on Github. You cannot replace Professional MySQL tuning with scripts. Scripts serve as essential guides, sometimes spot-on,…
dstat command in Linux w/ examples
-y, –sysenable system stats (interrupts, context switches)–snmp-cpu–floatforce float values on-screen (mutual exclusive with –integer)–top-io-advshow most expensive I/O process (incl. pid and other stats)–qmailshow qmail queue sizes (needs qmail)–top-bioshow most expensive block I/O process…
iftop command in Linux w/ examples
sudo iftop -F 192.168.1.0/24 pacman -S iftop iftop command examples iftop is a terminal program that shows network activity and details in text form. It’s suitable for users who want to monitor network…
Best Linux Distro (2024)
This collection isn’t your typical lineup; it’s for the enthusiasts who relish in customization, efficiency, and a deep understanding of their system’s workings. From the ambitious endeavor of crafting your system from scratch…
Home Lab Beginners guide (Hardware)
My Home lab – a work in progress (everything pictured is listed below) As of today, I’ve almost completed the setup of my new Home lab, and it’s now fully functional. I’m pleased…
Generating Secure Passwords for your Linux Server
Authentication keys for SSH, biometric authentication, and single sign-on (SSO) are exemplary alternatives that bolster security and enhance user convenience. Update: March 4th 2024: While the guidance below – originally provided in 2013 –…