Last Update: May 16th 2018, 100+ December 1st 2017 update: 70 100 Top Server Monitoring & Application Monitoring Tools. August 6th 2017 update: 50 70 Top Server Monitoring & Application Monitoring Tools. Back in 2014, I compiled a list of the top 20 server performance monitoring solutions. Largely because I already had a list saved locally for my own reference. Sharing that […]
Choosing the Best Linux Distro for Desktop 2018
March 28, 2018 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxSearching for the best Linux distro (distribution)? This article will probably be most useful to those who don’t know what /etc/fstab is used for. Also, this post does not cover Linux server distributions, but instead focuses on Linux desktop distributions. One great way to increase your familiarity with Linux servers is to run Linux on your laptop and/or […]
Analyze Your Website’s TTFB (Time to First Byte)
February 19, 2018 by Hayden James, in Bookmarked Linux UpdatesI’ve been using online services to analyze TTFB (time to first byte) or TTFB check using curl command line. High TTFB will often cause your page loads to be mysteriously slow or at the very least increase the latency between page loads. You should check to see if your TTFB is a performance issue or not. Try […]
Increase Performance and lifespan of SSDs & SD Cards
January 30, 2018 by Hayden James, in Blog Bookmarked LinuxSSDs (solid-state drives) and SD (Secure Digital) cards have a limited number of writes before they wear out. To get the most out of this storage type lets investigate, then make a few adjustments to maximize the life of your SSDs and SD cards. Article refreshed from 3 years ago. Using iotop to monitor and minimize […]
Avoid This When Tuning MySQL Query Cache for Performance
January 15, 2018 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxOne of the most misconfigured MySQL performance features, is MySQL Query Cache Size. This post references a web server with 32 gigabytes of RAM where the existing config had MySQL’s query cache size set incorrectly to 4 gigabytes. The thought behind it seemed to be that more is better. Since the server has free RAM available, setting MySQL Query Cache […]
80% of the web powered by PHP
December 15, 2017 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxToday, PHP is used by more than 80% of all the websites whose server-side programming language we know. Popular websites such as Slack, Etsy, Cloudflare, Tesla, Wikipedia, WordPress.com, Tumblr and this website are all powered by PHP. With such a large share of the web, it may or may not surprise you that more than 90% 88% […]
Best Linux Server Distro by main focus/strength
December 12, 2017 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxAre you trying to decide on a Linux server distro (distribution)? This article will help guide you based on the strengths of the Linux server distributions available. If you are looking for desktop advice, have a look at Choosing the Best Linux Distro for Desktop. Best Linux Server distro Again, the first rule to remember […]
Is Cloudflare Argo worth it?
December 9, 2017 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxCloudflare Argo reduces network latency on average by 35% and connection errors by 27%. Traditional network technologies use static routing information which can be slower and often use congested paths. Slow loading times and connection timeouts increase the likelihood of poor user experience. The Cloudflare company routes 10% of all HTTP/HTTPS Internet traffic. This provides […]
Linux benchmark scripts and tools
December 6, 2017 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxThis list of Linux benchmark scripts and tools should prove useful for quick performance check of CPU, storage, memory and network on Linux servers and VPS. Recently, I used a Linux benchmark script which was no longer maintained by the. As a result, I compiled this quick list of scripts and tools for Linux benchmarking. […]
MySQL Performance: Stop hoarding. Drop unused MySQL databases
November 26, 2017 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxLast week I was assisting a new client in addressing MySQL performance issues. Although there were several areas where MySQL performance and throughput were increased, one issue overlooked for years and throughout several migrations was that of keeping around unused databases. In this case, with 64GB of RAM there was over 15GB of unused MySQL […]