In our extensive testing across dev-ops environments, we’ve found that a “default” Docker installation often leaves significant performance and security gaps on Ubuntu systems. Whether you are running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, or the latest 24.10 release, simply running apt install is no longer sufficient for modern production standards....
Key Takeaways (TL;DR) A centralized observability dashboard enables you to gain deep insights, troubleshoot issues faster, and manage system stability. This article provides a complete walkthrough for setting up a comprehensive monitoring dashboard with: What Are the Three Pillars of Observability? The three pillars of observability are metrics, logs, and...
Key Takeaways (TL;DR) Why Should You Secure Your Grafana Dashboard with HTTPS? Grafana is a powerful tool for data visualization. However, if you run it over a standard HTTP connection, your login credentials, API keys, and visualized data are sent in plain text. This exposes your sensitive information to...
This guide provides a step-by-step procedure for protecting SSH access on a modern Linux server with SecurID multi-factor authentication (MFA). A lot has changed since I wrote the original article in 2019. Getting Started with RSA SecurID Before you can protect a server, you need to have an RSA SecurID...
What is Windows Nano Server? Windows Nano Server is a deeply refactored, headless installation option for Windows Server 2016. Designed for cloud-native applications, it runs with a minimal footprint, consuming significantly less disk space and memory than Server Core. However, it is crucial to understand that Microsoft has deprecated Nano...
HTTPS (HTTP over SSL/TLS) encrypts communication between a web browser and a server, which is essential for protecting data during online banking or shopping. This security is provided by an SSL certificate. While public websites use certificates signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA), internal or development environments can use...
This guide provides a secure and efficient method for deploying a monitoring stack on Ubuntu 24.04. You will install Prometheus to collect metrics, Node Exporter to expose system metrics, Grafana to visualize the data, and Nginx as a secure reverse proxy for Grafana. Part 1 — Install Grafana and Nginx...
Being locked out of a server because of a lost or undocumented root password is a stressful situation for any system administrator. Whether you’ve inherited a machine with no credentials or an OS error has left your system in a read-only state, regaining access is critical. While you’d normally use...
Backup failures and application-aware snapshots are a nightmare for any system administrator. A common culprit behind these critical errors is the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), specifically when its writers enter a failed state. Understanding how to diagnose and resolve these issues is an essential skill for maintaining data integrity...
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