Some time ago, I received an email from a client experiencing slow performance issues with a LEMP (Linux, Nginx, MySQL, and PHP web server). 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 […]
dnf error: cannot find the libbrotlidec.so.1 library (cPanel/WHM CentOS 7 to AlmaLinux 8)
Upgrading from CentOS 7 to AlmaLinux 8 is a significant step towards ensuring that your systems remain secure, supported, and up-to-date with the latest features and security patches. AlmaLinux 8, as a community-driven replacement for CentOS, offers a robust and reliable platform that is binary compatible with RHEL 8. This transition, however, can sometimes present […]
5 database metrics every DBA should monitor for peak performance
Database monitoring is indispensable for maintaining the health, performance, and reliability of your database system. It provides administrators and IT teams with real-time insights into the system’s operations, enabling them to proactively identify and address potential issues before they need to be escalated. You can confirm your database operates efficiently and delivers optimal performance by […]
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 […]
50 Essential Linux Commands that You Should Know
In this blog post, I will list 50 essential Linux commands you need to know to manage Linux systems effectively. These commands will help you perform various tasks efficiently. This post is a follow-up to my previous blog post: 90 frequently used Linux Commands. However, it’s designed to provide you with a carefully categorized list […]
Improving OpenVPN performance and throughput
OpenVPN, WireGuard, L2TP/IPSec, SSTP, IKEv2, PPTP, or others. If you had the luxury of choosing, which VPN protocols would you use? Therein lies my problem. In my current use case, I must find a way to improve OpenVPN performance and throughput. You may have been following my Linux home lab build. One of the most […]
What CentOS alternative distro should you choose?
In January 2014, CentOS announced it was officially joining Red Hat while staying independent from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) under a new CentOS governing board. However, in December 2020, Red Hat requisitioned that CentOS terminate the development of CentOS 8. They also announced that support would be shifting to a CentOS alternative rolling-release Linux […]
Set PHP realpath_cache_size ‘correctly’
In 2012, I started enabling PHP realpath_cache_size and realpath_cache_ttl for performance benefits. At the time, I followed the settings I found here (has since been deleted). It bugged me that I was blindly setting the cache size without knowing how much storage was actually being used. In this post, I will demonstrate how to view the […]
atop for Linux server performance analysis (Guide)
When optimizing Linux server performance, ‘atop’ is a command every system administrator should have in their toolkit. While many sysadmins are well-acquainted with top and htop, atop stands out as a powerhouse tool for real-time system monitoring and in-depth server analysis. In this article, we will explore the ‘atop’ Linux command, examine its advantages, and […]
PHP performance: oPcache Control Panels
OPcache is a PHP extension that improves PHP performance by storing precompiled script bytecode in shared memory, thereby removing the need for PHP to load and parse scripts on each request. The extension is built-in for PHP 5.5+. If you want to improve PHP performance, the first step should be to use PHP 8+, which […]