This iotop command guide follows my previous 90 Linux Commands frequently used by Linux Sysadmins article. As time allows, I will continue to publish articles on the 90+ commands geared toward Linux sysadmins and Linux power users. Let’s continue this series with the iotop command. iotop is a simple top-like I/O monitor. A terminal program […]
PHP-FPM tuning: Using ‘pm static’ for max performance
Let’s take a very quick look at how best to set up PHP-FPM for high throughput, low latency, and more stable CPU and memory use. By default, most setups have PHP-FPM’s PM (process manager) string set to dynamic and there’s also the common advice to use ondemand if you suffer from available memory issues. However, let’s […]
Increase Performance and lifespan of SSDs & SD Cards
SSDs (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, let’s investigate, then make a few adjustments to maximize the life of your SSDs and SD cards. This article has been refreshed from 6 years ago. Using iotop […]
100 Top Observability Tools (+ Server Monitoring and APM solutions)
Looking for application monitoring and observability solutions? On this page, I’ve listed the top application performance monitoring (APM), infrastructure monitoring, and observability solutions to date. The listings are updated periodically as APM and observability solutions continue a rapid evolution. While I haven’t tested all of these solutions, I’ve used more than a third of them. […]
Free Linux Server Monitoring and APM solutions for SysAdmins
Today’s software applications require developers, testers, and SysAdmins to work together (DevSecOps) more seamlessly than ever before. A single line of code or poorly configured service can negatively impact your application’s performance, causing crippling slowdowns for end-users. This is where infrastructure and application monitoring comes in. Regarding Linux server monitoring, monitoring critical performance metrics of […]
Observability: 15 Industry-Leading Companies Discuss its Evolution
In this article, you’ll find recent commentary from executives and decision-makers of industry-leading observability providers on two key questions regarding the evolution of observability. Published: May 17th, 2021 | Updated: May 6th, 2022 The observability cloud continues to expand and evolve rapidly. Over the past year, millions of workers left their offices to work from […]
Docker monitoring 101
Docker has been a beneficial platform for developers who need to work with multiple containers at once. It is not just the cost benefits that created an interest in Docker among organizations, but also the flexibility of enabling applications to run in any cloud infrastructure. The layers built around Docker make it easy to move […]
MySQL 8 sample config (my.cnf example) and tuning.
With the release of MySQL 8 I wanted to paste my tuned my.cnf (MySQL configuration file) for discussion, suggestions, and questions. To get the most out of your MySQL 8 installation, you will need to configure it correctly and tune the settings for your specific use case. In this blog post, we will discuss my […]
MySQL Database Performance: Avoid this common mistake
One frequent topic of support request emails I receive is MySQL database performance. Clients complain about MySQL using too much server memory, too many MySQL slow queries, the famous Mysql server has gone away errors, and many other MySQL performance-related issues. As such, I wanted to share solutions to some common MySQL configuration mistakes. If […]
Redis Monitoring: Tools and Solutions
Redis (Remote dictionary server) is an open-source, in-memory key-value data store. It is widely used as a database, cache, and message broker. Redis is known for its high performance and scalability, making it an excellent choice for modern applications. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and managing Redis can be a challenging task, especially […]