Back in September 2014, I wrote about an article that touched on the subject of server performance monitoring. After which, a reader asked me via LinkedIn: “I am using New Relic to monitor my cloud servers but need an alternative. Any suggestions?” So I wanted to share and expand on my answer to that question […]
50 Top Server & Application Performance Monitoring (APM) Solutions
Back in 2014, I compiled a list of top server and application performance monitoring solutions. Sharing that list publicly was a great way to gain feedback and recommendations on other tools available. In time that list grew from 20 to over 100 server monitoring and APM solutions! Because of it’s growing size, I’ve created below, a smaller, more […]
Optimizing APM in the Cloud: A Retrospective Approach for Future Success
The growth and maturity of the cloud has required us, as tech pros, to manage an increasingly complex web of applications spanning on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. While this affords us greater flexibility, agility, and scalability day-to-day, these changes to how we deliver applications are making traditional monitoring techniques much more difficult (sometimes impossible), while […]
Could not increase number of max_open_files to more than… (Solution)
A quick solution to the warning “Could not increase number of max_open_files to more than” when starting MySQL or MariaDB. For some background read How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables. Here’s an excerpt: “The table_open_cache and max_connections system variables affect the maximum number of files the server keeps open. If you increase one or both of these […]
Choosing the right infrastructure technology for your application
Your infrastructure is the backbone of your application; knowing what works best for the application you’re running is the first step towards an efficient application and costs which fit your budget. With an ever-growing number of new infrastructure options, it can be hard to choose the best option for your application, and it often requires […]
How To Create Optimized Docker Images For Production
Optimizing Docker images is a tricky feat. You have a lot to learn, with numerous things that can go wrong. Ask Matthew McConaughey from Interstellar. “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” – Murphy, a smart dude You want to have a quick feedback loop between pushing code to your GitHub repository and deploying […]
Finding Linux Compatible Printers
Here’s all the info and links needed to find printers or all-in-one printers that currently support Linux. If you don’t want to spend hours comparing printers, have a look at my recommended Linux compatible printers. Last updated Oct 23th 2019, replaced a few printers with their newer models. This is the promised update as per the comments section below, […]
How to Enable Unattended Upgrades on Ubuntu/Debian
Linux server security is of critical importance to sysadmins. One central part of keeping Linux servers secure, is by installing security updates in a timely manner. Too often there are compromised servers on the internet due to pending security updates waiting for a manual update. On both Ubuntu and Debian, the unattended-upgrades package can be configured […]
59 Linux Networking commands and scripts
Today, I wanted to test network throughput via command line with at least 3 tools. For the life of me, I could not remember iperf. We can all relate. It was a bit frustrating, so I decided to create a network tools go-to-list for myself. Then, I thought, why not turn the list into a […]
I asked 12 APM companies about the future of APM, here’s what they said
Application 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, […]