NixOS Servers: Reproducible Declarative Configuration in Nix
NixOS rebuilds a whole server from one declarative file: packages, services, users, and firewall in code, with rollbacks that make changes boring.
Linux8 min read
NetBay journal
Guides for operators
Practical guides for Linux, containers, CI/CD, self-hosting, and running VPS infrastructure from Netbay Engineering.
599 articles · 24 topics
AllLinuxLinux AdministrationWindowsLinux SecurityLinux NetworkingContainersContainers & OrchestrationKubernetesCI/CDGitHubSelf-HostingBackups & DataDatabasesApp DeploymentDNS & TLSObservabilityEmailAI AgentsAI InfrastructureAPI & AutomationProxiesCloud ArchitectureHardware & PerformanceDevOps Practices
Self-Hosted Analytics With Umami: Privacy-First
Replace Google Analytics with Umami, a cookieless self-hosted analytics tool with a Postgres backend, real-time dashboards, and no consent banners.
Self-Hosting6 min read
Infrastructure as Code: Declarative, Testable, Reviewable
Apply the four IaC principles — declarative, version-controlled, reviewable, testable — to stop infrastructure drift and sketchy manual changes.
API & Automation7 min read
Context Length vs RAM vs Tokens per Second
See how context length grows KV cache RAM and slows prompt eval on a CPU VPS so you can pick 2k, 4k, or 8k windows without an OOM on 8 GB RAM.
AI Infrastructure8 min read
VLANs on Linux: Tagging Interfaces with ip link
Create 802.1Q VLAN interfaces on Linux with ip link and use them with bridges for isolated virtual network segments.
Linux Networking7 min read
ConfigMaps and Secrets in Kubernetes
Inject configuration and sensitive values into your pods with ConfigMaps and Secrets, and learn the right way to mount or reference them.
Kubernetes6 min read
JWT Explained: Claims, Signatures, and Where to Store Them
Understand JWT structure, signing algorithms, and token storage so you can avoid XSS and CSRF exposure when securing your API against attackers.
API & Automation8 min read
TRIM and Discard for Virtualized SSD Storage
How fstrim and the discard mount option keep a virtualized SSD from wearing out or reporting phantom usage, with the guest-side commands to verify.
Hardware & Performance5 min read
Windows Firewall Rules That Will Not Lock You Out
Add inbound Windows Firewall rules without locking out RDP. Scope by remote IP, confirm with a second session, then drop the wide-open defaults.
Windows8 min read
Slow Query Log and EXPLAIN for MySQL on a VPS
Enable the slow query log, read EXPLAIN without folklore, and fix the table scans that actually burn CPU on a busy production MariaDB VPS host.
Databases9 min read
Use Redis as a Session Store for a Web App
Store web sessions in Redis with short keys, SETEX TTLs, and cookie hygiene so logins survive app restarts without turning Redis into a public session dump.
Databases8 min read
journald as the Source of Truth, Not Log Files
Treat the systemd journal as the canonical log store on a VPS: persistent disk, field queries, vacuum limits, and one pipeline into Promtail or nothing.
Observability8 min read