If you are looking to automate the process of obtaining, installing, and updating TLS/SSL certificates on your web server, then Let’s Encrypt is a very useful tool. It is a certificate authority (CA) that comes packaged with a corresponding software client, Certbot, that will automatically install TLS/SSL certificates. This means that you can run encrypted HTTPS […]
I asked 12 APM companies about the future of APM, here’s what they said
July 29, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxApplication Performance Monitoring (APM) first started in the late 1990s with companies such as Precise (acquired by Symantec, spun off and then acquired by Idera), Wily Technology (acquired by CA Technologies) and Mercury Interactive (acquired by HP Software Division). In the 2000s APM tools continued to be acquired by larger vendors. Then over the past decade, […]
IoT Security: 42 Top Internet of Things Security Solutions
July 16, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxAfter researching IoT security. I’ve decided to maintain a list of companies which offer IoT (internet of things) security tools and solutions. Feel free to share your solutions, feedback and tips for securing IoT devices. This list will continue to grow in the coming days, week, months and beyond. In the aftermath of the 2016 DDoS […]
Your Web Host Doesn’t Want You To Read This: Benchmark Your VPS
June 17, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxJune 17th 2019: Added instructions for network speed test using speedtest-cli script. Oct 31st 2017: Also see this list of command line scripts. Nov 2nd 2016: Included quick dd commands to check cached vs uncached disk read performance. This article will highlight using the ‘dd’ Unix command for a quick benchmark of your Linux server or VPS. […]
Nginx tuning tips: TLS/SSL HTTPS – Improved TTFB/latency
June 14, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxSince 30th June 2018, the PCI Security Standards Council requires that support for SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 be disabled. TLS 1.1 or higher must be used and TLS 1.2 is strongly recommended. In addition, as of July 2018, Google Chrome began to mark ‘HTTP’ web sites as “not secure”. Over the past few years, the […]
When is it time to add more application monitoring?
June 12, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog GuestsGuest post by James Paden, Partner at Instrumental At Instrumental, we often talk about getting started with monitoring. In the past, we’ve covered the critical, but basic, metrics everyone needs on our Ultimate Monitoring Metrics Cheatsheet (many of which are gathered by out-the-box system and service monitoring). We also wrote the Quick-Start Guide to Monitoring […]
Zorin Linux – As a Windows OS (and MacOS) Replacement
June 10, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxThis article has been edited and updated from the original 2014 article. For 2019, I still recommend Zorin Linux as a Windows OS replacement and now as a MacOS replacement. Five years later and I’m more confident about this recommendation. You’ve probably heard about or been affected by the retirement of Windows XP support on April 8, […]
“MySQL server has gone away” error – Solution(s)
June 7, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxMySQL server has gone away error means that MySQL server (mysqld) timed out and closed the connection. By default, MySQL will close connections after eight hours (28800 seconds) if nothing happens. However, in some cases your web host, DBA or app developer may have decreased this timeout setting, discussed below. MySQL server has gone away, can be […]
How to Convert OpenSSH keys to Putty (.ppk) on Linux
June 3, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxPuTTYgen is an key generator for creating SSH keys for PuTTY. PuTTYgen is comparable in certain respects to the ssh-keygen tool. PuTTYgen can be used to create public and private key pairs (in .ppk file format). In addition, PuTTYgen can also be used to convert keys to and from other formats. On Windows PuTTYGen is a graphical tool. A command-line version is available for […]
25 Best CDN Providers 2019
May 24, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxA content delivery network, also referred to as a content distribution network (CDN) is a geographically distributed network of data centers containing proxy servers. CDN Providers serve Internet content, including web objects (text, graphics and scripts), downloadable objects (media files, software, documents), applications (e-commerce, portals), live streaming media, etc… closer to and thus faster, to end users. Some of the main advantages […]
Pruning Magento Cache & Sessions Using Cron
May 22, 2019 by Hayden James, in Blog LinuxNote: Magento 1.x only. Over the weekend a client contacted me because they had serious performance issues with their Magento based store. The three main issues were: Checkout taking more than 30 seconds to complete after clicking to submit payment. (Causing double orders/payments and users just leaving the store) Login to the front or back end […]