Linux Kernel Parameters Tuning for Better Performance
This morning I sat down to update my Kali workstation running XFCE4, and instead of a quick sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y I ended up reinstalling from scratch. Took about…
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Linux Server Health Checks: 10 Metrics Every Sysadmin Should Monitor
Servers give you warnings before they fail. Most sysadmins performing Linux server monitoring miss them because they’re watching the wrong numbers. The metrics that actually matter are one level deeper: iowait instead of…
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Linux tmpfs for Speed and Temporary Storage
Some things in Linux are hiding in plain sight. tmpfs is one of them. You use it every day without thinking about it. Every time you use /dev/shm, inspect /run, or work on…
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Why Linux Servers Slow Down: R, S, D, Z and T Process States Explained
Monitoring dashboards occasionally indicate low CPU utilization (e.g., 22%) and ample free memory, yet applications may exhibit sluggishness and increased response times. This common discrepancy in Linux environments often stems from process states…
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Reduce Disk Writes on Debian & Ubuntu (Server & Desktop)
Every write to disk costs something, whether it’s wearing down an SSD, slowing I/O on a busy server, or draining battery on a laptop. One of the biggest offenders is logging. Between systemd-journald,…
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What to buy for your Raspberry Pi 4
Update 2026: This article has been updated to fix broken links and verify long-term reliability. After 4 years, every device recommended below is still working in my lab, including multiple SD cards that…
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VPS IOPS vs. Latency: Why NVMe Benchmarks Lie
Every VPS provider loves to advertise NVMe storage. It sounds fast on paper and is usually a noticeable upgrade over older disk (HDD) and traditional SSD storage. The problem is that those IOPS…
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Why Small VPSs Feel Slower Than They Used To
Servers aren’t what they used to be. If you’ve spun up a small VPS (Virtual Private Server) recently and felt underwhelmed by its snappiness, you’re not alone. A basic 1-core CPU with 1…
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Why Your Linux Server “Looks Idle” but “Feels” Slow
Servers can sometimes appear idle yet still perform sluggishly. This scenario is common across web hosting servers, database servers, VPS or cloud instances, or even containerized workloads. In all mainstream Linux distributions, the…
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Hytale server requirements: Minimum and recommended specs for 2026
Jan 15, 2026 Summarize with: Hytale server requirements are relatively modest for small player counts, but scale quickly as more players join and worlds grow. CPU performance and available memory become the main…
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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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5 best Drupal hosting providers for speed, security, and scalability
Nov 10, 2025 Leonardus N. Summarize with: Drupal hosting refers to web hosting solutions optimized for websites built with the Drupal content management system (CMS). Designed for developers and businesses that need flexibility,…
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Firewalla Gold Plus vs. Ubiquiti UDM Pro Max
In the market for a multi‑gigabit firewall/router, two names come up repeatedly: Firewalla Gold Plus and Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro Max (UDM Pro Max). Both cost around $600 USD, sit at or near…
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Linux benchmark scripts and tools
This list of Linux benchmark scripts and tools should prove helpful for quick performance checks of CPU, storage, memory, and network on Linux servers and VPS. Check each script before running it from…
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How to Upgrade ThinkPad Firmware on Linux (fwupd)
Two days ago I ran the command hostnamectl status and noticed that my laptop’s firmware date was Tue 2023-08-08. I purchased this ThinkPad T14s laptop 2 years ago. So it seems, since removing…
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Raspberry Pi Not Booting: How to Repair Micro SD Card
I have a Raspberry Pi 4 (2 GB RAM) that’s been running my UniFi Network Controller for about four years without issues. Yesterday it was unresponsive and would not boot at all. The…
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Linux Performance: Almost Always Add Swap Space – Part 2: ZRAM
In the previous article, we looked at how swap space, particularly swapping, can severely slow down Linux performance. We then tweaked Linux kernel parameters to better use server memory and avoid heavy swapping….
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I was wrong! zswap IS better than zram
Rule of thumb / TL;DR:If your system only uses swap occasionally and keeping swap demand within ~20–30% of your physical RAM as zram is enough, ZRAM is the simpler and more effective option….
