Home Virtualization: What CPU Features Actually Matter
Practical guide to CPU features for home virtualization: VT-x/AMD-V, IOMMU, cores vs clocks, AES, AVX, RDT and how to verify with commands.
Why CPUs Bottleneck GPUs at 1080p (and Not at 4K)
At 1080p the CPU often gates frame rate by feeding the GPU draw calls, physics, and drivers; at 4K the GPU becomes the limiter.
ZFS Feature Flag Portability: Avoiding βCannot Importβ Surprises
Learn how ZFS feature flags break portability, how to audit pools before migration, and how to build import-safe workflows across OS and versions.
MariaDB vs Percona Server: Backup/Restore Speed on a Small VPS
On small VPS hardware, backup/restore speed is mostly I/O and choices. Compare MariaDB vs Percona with real commands, bottlenecks, and fixes.
MySQL vs SQLite Concurrency: Why Writes Become a Traffic Cliff
SQLite flies until concurrent writes hit a lock cliff. MySQL scales differently. Learn the mechanics, diagnostics, and fixes to avoid outages.
Office-to-office access control: enforce βonly servers, not the whole LANβ rules
How to restrict office-to-office traffic to server subnets only, using routing, firewalls, identity, and diagnostics that catch misroutes fast.
ZFS atime: The Tiny Toggle That Can Fix βSlow Writesβ
Learn how ZFS atime updates can quietly throttle write throughput, how to diagnose it fast, and when to disable atime without breaking workflows.
When βCleanerβ Tools Caused Mess: Trusted Utilities Gone Wrong
A practical SRE guide to how cleanup utilities break production: failure modes, fast diagnosis, commands, checklists, and boring guardrails that work.
Integrated Memory Controllers: the change you still feel today
Integrated memory controllers reshaped latency, bandwidth, and failure modes. Learn how to diagnose bottlenecks, avoid mistakes, and tune safely.
Pentium FDIV: the math bug that embarrassed Intel worldwide
A production-minded teardown of the Pentium FDIV bug: what failed, why it mattered, how it was found, and how to prevent silent math errors.
ZFS Feature Flags: Compatibility Rules Between Hosts and Versions
Learn how ZFS feature flags affect pool portability, upgrades, and replication across hosts. Practical commands, pitfalls, and incident-grade playbooks.
WooCommerce Checkout Not Working: Diagnose SSL, Payments, and Plugin Conflicts
Fix WooCommerce checkout failures fast: SSL/mixed content, payment gateway errors, plugin conflicts, caching, webhooks, logs, and server diagnostics.
ZFS logicalused vs used: The Numbers That End Arguments
Learn what ZFS logicalused vs used really mean, how snapshots, compression, and reservation skew reports, and how to diagnose space fast in production.
PostgreSQL vs SQLite Full-Text Search: When SQLite Surprises You (and When It Doesnβt)
A production-minded guide to full-text search in SQLite vs PostgreSQL: performance, correctness, failure modes, and how to diagnose bottlenecks fast.
AMD Bulldozer: the bold design that didn’t deliver
A production-minded postmortem of AMD Bulldozer: what the module design promised, why it underperformed, and how to diagnose it in real fleets.
OpenCL: Why Open Standards Donβt Always Win
OpenCL promised portable GPU compute. In production it often lost to CUDA and others. Hereβs why: drivers, tooling, vendors, and operational reality.
Office VPN user management: key rotation, revocation, and clean access workflows
Practical VPN user management for offices: rotate keys, revoke access cleanly, avoid outages, and run audits with real commands and decision rules.
Servers in Hot Closets: How βNo Ventilationβ Kills Uptime
Hot closets turn servers into space heaters: throttling, disk errors, and sudden reboots. Learn fast diagnosis, commands, and fixes for real uptime.
Docker Context: Manage Multiple Hosts Like a Grown-Up
Stop shipping containers to the wrong host. Use Docker contexts to switch targets safely, audit endpoints, and debug remote engines without drama.
Bottlenecks Without Hysteria: How to Measure the Real Limit
Find the real bottleneck with disciplined measurement: latency, throughput, queues, and saturation. Avoid myths, run concrete commands, and decide fast.
IPC > GHz: the simplest explanation you’ll actually remember
Stop buying CPUs by GHz. Learn IPC, latency, caches, and bottlenecks with real commands, failure stories, and a fast diagnosis playbook.
SMTP TLS handshake fails: fix certs, ciphers, and chains the correct way
Diagnose and fix SMTP TLS handshake failures by validating certificates, CA chains, SNI, protocol versions, and cipher suites with runnable commands.
Debian 13: SSHFS vs NFS β pick the one that wonβt randomly hang (and configure it right)
A production-minded Debian 13 guide to SSHFS vs NFS: what actually hangs, why, how to diagnose fast, and the exact configs that stay sane.
Debian 13: SSH keys rotated β revoke access cleanly and avoid key sprawl (case #13)
Rotate SSH keys on Debian 13 without downtime: revoke old access, hunt key sprawl, and prove who can log inβcleanly, auditable, and fast.
Docker Network MTU Issues: Why Large Requests Fail and How to Fix MTU/MSS
Learn why Docker traffic breaks with large payloads when MTU mismatches cause PMTUD failure, and how to diagnose and fix MTU/MSS safely.
ZFS Cache Hit Rates: When They Matter and When They Donβt
Learn when ZFS cache hit rates predict performance, when they mislead, and how to diagnose ARC/L2ARC, I/O, and latency with practical commands.
Ubuntu 24.04: Disk βhangsβ under load β timeout settings that prevent full stalls (case #90)
Stop Ubuntu 24.04 disk stalls under heavy I/O. Tune Linux block and SCSI timeouts, diagnose queueing, and keep services alive during slow storage.
ZFS canmount: The Setting That Prevents Boot-Time Surprises
Learn how ZFS canmount controls mounting at boot, avoids shadowed mountpoints, and prevents outages with real commands, pitfalls, and triage playbooks.
The IBM PC Decision That Created the Clone Industry
How IBMβs open-architecture PC and BIOS choices sparked the clone marketβand what todayβs SREs can learn about interfaces, risk, and control.
Real-world CPU testing: a simple method for your own workload
Stop guessing CPU needs. Measure your real workload with repeatable runs, perf counters, and latency-first decisions that hold up in production.
Apache for WordPress: Modules and Rules That Break Sites (and How to Fix Them)
Diagnose WordPress failures caused by Apache modules and rewrite rules. Fix redirects, 403/500 errors, caching bugs, and HTTPS loops fast.
MySQL vs PostgreSQL: Docker memory limitsβhow to stop silent throttling
Stop MySQL and PostgreSQL from silently throttling inside Docker. Diagnose memory limits, cgroups, OOM, and tune buffers to match real container budgets.
DNS: Dig/drill power moves β commands that answer 90% of DNS mysteries
A practical dig/drill playbook for diagnosing DNS outages fast: TTLs, caching, delegation, DNSSEC, and split-horizon issues with real commands.
ZFS Special VDEV Sizing: How Big It Should Be (So You Donβt Regret It)
Right-size your ZFS special vdev to avoid metadata bottlenecks and outages. Learn sizing rules, checks, commands, pitfalls, and a fast diagnosis playbook.
ZFS SMART Monitoring: Correlating Drive Warnings with ZFS Errors
Learn how to correlate SMART warnings with ZFS errors using practical commands, fast triage steps, and decision rules to replace disks before data loss.
ARMβs Rise: Will x86 Endβand When?
ARM is taking real workloads from x86, but x86 wonβt βendβ on a date. Learn where ARM wins, how to test safely, and what to migrate first.
AMD SMT: when the βIntel featureβ became a real rival
How AMD SMT evolved into a real operational lever: performance, latency, security, and practical Linux tasks to decide when to enable it in prod.
Windows Vista: the release that taught people to fear updates
Why Windows Vista made updates scary: drivers, UAC, I/O storms, and enterprise mistakes. Includes fast diagnostics, commands, and fixes.
WordPress WebP/AVIF Images Not Showing: Root Causes and the Correct Setup
Diagnose why WebP/AVIF images fail in WordPress: MIME types, CDN headers, cache layers, nginx/Apache rules, and safe conversion workflows.
Intel Arc: why a third player matters even if you don’t buy it
Intel Arc matters because a third GPU vendor changes pricing, driver quality, supply risk, and platform choicesβeven if you never buy one.
ZFS RAIDZ expansion: Whatβs Possible Today and Best Workarounds
Learn what ZFS RAIDZ expansion can and canβt do today, plus safe workarounds, commands, and a fast diagnosis playbook for real systems.
8088 and the IBM PC deal that crowned Intel (almost by accident)
How IBM chose the 8088, how licensing and supply decisions made Intel the default, and what SREs can learn about bottlenecks and risk.
Proxmox replication failed: why it breaks and how to recover
Diagnose and fix Proxmox replication failures fast: ZFS send/receive issues, snapshot problems, network bottlenecks, and safe recovery steps.
Legacy Magic: Nobody Knows How It Works, So Donβt Touch It
How to safely operate βmysteryβ legacy systems: diagnose bottlenecks, capture intent, reduce blast radius, and change with proof not faith.
Proxmox snapshot stuck: safely cleaning LVM-thin leftovers
Fix Proxmox snapshots that wonβt delete by diagnosing LVM-thin locks, orphaned volumes, and metadata pressureβthen cleaning up safely.
ZFS Encryption + Compression: The Order That Makes Performance
Get ZFS encryption and compression right: understand pipeline order, CPU costs, recordsize effects, and how to diagnose real bottlenecks in production.
ZFS dedup: The Checkbox That Eats RAM and Ruins Weekends
ZFS dedup can save space, but it often burns RAM, wrecks latency, and complicates recovery. Learn when it works, how to test, and how to escape.
Route-based vs policy-based VPN: which is better for offices and why
A practical, ops-first comparison of route-based vs policy-based VPNs for offices, with failure modes, commands, fast diagnosis, and safe defaults.
Modern Login and Register Forms That Donβt Betray You in Production
A production-minded guide to login/register UX: validation states, password toggles, and error messages that reduce tickets without harming security.
DNS EDNS0 Fragmentation: The Hidden Cause of βWorks on WiβFi, Fails on LTEβ
When DNS replies get big, EDNS0 and fragmentation collide. Learn how βWiβFi works, LTE failsβ happens and how to diagnose and fix it fast.