Linux Log Files: Guide to Reading, Searching, and Managing Logs
If something breaks on a Linux system, logs are almost always the first place to look. Yet many users treat log files as a last resort, digging through them only when things go…
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Watching Cloudflare Data Center Locations in real-time
Over the last couple of months I’ve had performance issues with Cloudflare (CF) about 2 times, including today. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d write, because Cloudflare genuinely doesn’t have performance issues…
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Why server health monitoring is non-negotiable for enterprise success
What if your servers crashed during your biggest sales event of the year? For enterprise IT leaders, that’s not a dramatic opening it’s a recurring risk. A few minutes of downtime can stall…
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What is Linux iowait? (Explained With Examples)
iowait (wait, wa, %iowait, wait%, or I/O wait) is often displayed by command-line Linux system monitoring tools such as top, sar, atop, and others. On its own, it’s one of many performance stats that…
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50 Top Observability and Monitoring Solutions – 2026
“A more targeted list that includes 50 server and observability solutions for 2026” Back in 2014, I compiled a list of top server and application performance monitoring solutions. Sharing that list publicly was a great…
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Free Linux Server Monitoring and APM solutions for SysAdmins
Today’s software applications require developers, testers, and SysAdmins to work together (DevSecOps) more seamlessly than ever before. A single line of code or poorly configured service can negatively impact your application’s performance, causing…
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Observability in 5 minutes. Plus, 20 observability software vendors
Previously we’ve covered the future of APM (application performance monitoring) and the expansion of APM into observability. Followed by the race between software vendors to define observability. Most recently, we looked at the evolution…
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Cloudflare outage on Nov 18, 2025 – Waking up to a broken internet
Cloudflare is one of those companies most people never think about, yet on mornings like this it suddenly becomes the main character. Its network sits in front of millions of sites, speeding them…
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How to Install Docker on Linux and Run Your First Container
Docker is a platform for packaging and running applications in isolated units called containers. Each container bundles an application together with its libraries and dependencies, sharing the host’s Linux kernel instead of a…
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How to set up the LGTM stack for end-to-end observability
May 30, 2025 Ariffud M. 11min Read The LGTM stack – consisting of Loki for logs, Grafana for visualization, Tempo for tracing, and Mimir for metrics – is an open-source observability suite developed…
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Recommended Cloudflare Performance and Security Settings (Guide)
Cloudflare is a great tool for website performance and security. They have a whole suite of tools to help with performance and security and are a staple in millions of DevOps professional’s toolbox….
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50 Top ‘Internet of Things’ Security Solutions
A couple of months years back, I decided to maintain a list of companies that offer IoT (internet of things) security tools and solutions, which you can find below. Please don’t hesitate to…
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100 Top Observability Tools (+ Server Monitoring and APM solutions)
Looking for application monitoring and observability solutions? On this page, I’ve listed the top application performance monitoring (APM), infrastructure monitoring, and observability solutions to date. The listings are updated periodically as APM and…
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btop – the htop alternative
Have you ever experienced slow application performance on a server and wondered which process was causing the bottleneck? In a production server environment, monitoring system performance and hardware resource usage in real-time is…
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Monitoring PHP Performance and Diagnosing Bottlenecks
As one of the most widely used scripting languages for web development, PHP is known for its flexibility and ease of use. However, with complex applications and increasing traffic, PHP performance can sometimes…
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Observability Platforms at a Glance: Which One Suits Your Needs Best?
Observability is a critical aspect of modern software development, providing teams with the ability to monitor and understand the performance of their applications and infrastructure. Recently, several companies have emerged as leaders in…
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What is observability?
Leading software vendors have completed the expansion from traditional monitoring to full observability. However, there’s still a knowledge gap for customers interested in observability. As a result, some are left feeling a bit…
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Observability: 15 Industry-Leading Companies Discuss its Evolution
In this article, you’ll find recent commentary from executives and decision-makers of industry-leading observability providers on two key questions regarding the evolution of observability. Published: May 17th, 2021 | Updated: Aug 1st, 2024….
