As one of the most widely used scripting languages for web development, PHP is known for its flexibility and ease of use. However, with complex applications and increasing traffic, PHP performance can sometimes take a hit. Monitoring PHP performance and diagnosing bottlenecks is essential to ensure that your web applications are running smoothly and efficiently. In […]
Observability in 5 minutes. Plus, 20 observability software vendors
Previously we’ve covered the future of APM (application performance monitoring) and the expansion of APM into observability. Followed by the race between software vendors to define observability. Most recently, we looked at the evolution of observability as shared by industry-leading software vendors. This article will answer the following questions to bring clarity to the topic of […]
Which of These 2019 APM Companies’ Predictions Came True?
2023 update: The world of application performance monitoring (APM) has undergone significant changes in recent years, with the rise of observability as a key trend. As companies increasingly rely on complex distributed systems, traditional APM tools are no longer sufficient to provide the visibility and insights needed to ensure optimal application performance. To explore this […]
Peplink Balance 20x Router Review: So Good, I Forgot It Was There
As the world becomes increasingly connected, more people rely on routers to provide stable and fast internet connections for their residences, home offices, and small businesses. Moreover, it is now quite common for routers in these scenarios to possess enterprise-grade capabilities and scalability. One such router is the Peplink Balance 20x. For the last three […]
Prune any cache directory using cron (prune Magento cache/sessions)
Over the weekend, I received a “low storage space” alert for a client’s server, a Magento-based web store. Problem: /: Disk space is critically low (used > 90%) Upon investigation, the culprit was a Magento caching plugin that accumulated 62GB of cached data. The plugin was useful but did not invalidate or rather remove old […]
Stop trying to overclock the Raspberry Pi 3 B+
It’s been a while since I’ve written any Raspberry Pi-related posts. Primarily because I’ve been using used $200 to $300 Dell Optiplex Micro computers off eBay, they cost more than the same or less than a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ but can be custom configured with up to 8GB (3050 model), 16GB or 20GB of fast […]
PHP Performance: Additional CPU cores vs Faster CPU cores
Some time ago, I received an email from a client experiencing slow performance issues with a LEMP (Linux, Nginx, MySQL, and PHP webserver). During a full audit, I found that the server’s load average was pretty low (see below screenshot). However, the website was indeed very slow. There were some misconfigurations, but one of the […]
PHP 8: Only 3% installed it. Here’s why.
This morning, I read a comment by one of our online community members discussing some of the reasons behind the slow adoption of PHP 8. One member stated that it’s due to PHP compatibility issues across new releases. In contrast, another put it down to the fact that important software/frameworks did not support PHP 8 […]
The Two Generals Problem
Alice and Bob Imagine there’s a city in a valley. On either side of the valley, there’s an army commanded by a general. On the left hill stands General Alice and her army. On the right hill, General Bob and his army. Alice and Bob want to capture the city, but neither side has an […]
Strip Down Apache to Improve Performance & Memory Efficiency
Can you believe that it’s been more than a decade since the release of Apache 2.4?! If you haven’t replaced Apache with Nginx, then here’s a quick guide for boosting Apache’s performance using a method that’s often overlooked. Now, before we get into that, please note that I’m not claiming that Apache is faster than […]