INSIGHTS
Step-by-step guides to building, hardening and running business servers, each one explaining in plain English why it is done this way and not another way.
25 articles
Server How-To Guides
An eight-step guide to the nginx FastCGI cache for WordPress on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04: cache zone, bypass rules for logins and shops, stampede protection, safe purging and measured lab numbers.
Server How-To Guides
An eight-step guide to the PROXY protocol between HAProxy and nginx on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04: send-proxy-v2, trusting one address, a firewall, health checks and the failures reproduced in a lab.
Server How-To Guides
Compare systemd timers and cron in plain English, then build three tested examples on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04: a WordPress cron replacement, a nightly job that catches up after downtime, and failure alerts.
Server How-To Guides
Set up a WordPress Redis object cache on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04 the safe way: a Unix socket, a memory cap, a Redis user for each site, Redis or Valkey on 26.04, honest lab numbers and the failure modes we tested on purpose.
Server How-To Guides
Install Matomo on Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04 with nginx, PHP-FPM and MariaDB: a GPG-verified download, an nginx allow-list proven with tests, systemd archiving, privacy settings, backups and a WordPress tracker.
Server How-To Guides
A complete, tested way to install WordPress on Nginx and Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04: its own Linux user and PHP-FPM pool, a least-privilege MariaDB account, a WP-CLI install with no passwords on command lines, and Nginx rules proven with curl.
Server How-To Guides
A safe-order, 12-step guide to hardening Ubuntu Server 24.04 and 26.04 with tested commands, and a plain-English explanation of why each step is done this way and not another.
Server How-To Guides
A seven-step guide to logrotate nginx on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04: read the stock rule, add per-site logs, avoid the permission trap and test it, with the reasons for each choice.
Server How-To Guides
Install Nextcloud 35 on Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04 with nginx, PHP-FPM, MariaDB and Redis or Valkey: a verified download, a headless installer, background jobs on a timer, hardening and restore-tested backups.
Server How-To Guides
Host several WordPress sites on one Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04 server with a separate user, PHP-FPM pool, database and nginx block each, and prove with lab-tested checks that the walls hold.
Server How-To Guides
A six-step guide to nginx rate limiting for WordPress logins on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04: limits, zones, wp-login.php, xmlrpc.php, allowlists and proxies, with the reasons for each choice.
Server How-To Guides
Ten SSH settings that matter and three that do not, tested on Ubuntu 24.04: the drop-in file trap, AllowGroups, Match blocks, forced-command keys, admin-network access and a rollback timer.
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