tini vs dumb-init vs --init
PID 1 zombie reaping in containers — tini, dumb-init, and docker --init compared; when each one fixes your signal handling and stops your 10s shutdown tax.
Tag: sysadmin
All the articles with the tag "sysadmin".
RAID Is Not Backup: Rebuild Math
Your RAID 5 rebuild on a modern multi-TB drive has a 40-50% chance of hitting a URE before it finishes. Here's the 2026 math and what to do about it.
Incident Response for Self-Hosters
You've been compromised. Now what? A practical incident response playbook for self-hosters who didn't think they'd need one until right now.
Bash One-Liners Worth Remembering
Twenty powerful bash one-liners every sysadmin should know—file ops, process hunting, networking, text processing, disk analysis
Compiling on Linux With Low RAM
Compile software on Raspberry Pi or cheap VPS with 512MB–2GB RAM. Swap, parallel jobs, ccache, and swappiness tuning make it work.
nftables: Modern Linux Firewalling
iptables is being phased out. nftables is faster, cleaner, and already the default on modern Linux. Here's how to actually use it without wanting to quit.
Sysctl Tuning: The Linux Kernel Settings Nobody Told You About
Linux ships with conservative kernel defaults meant for general use. These sysctl settings tune your server for networking, memory, and file I/O — with explanations, not just values to paste.
Cockpit vs Webmin: Web Admin Panels That Don't Make You Cry
Cockpit is the modern systemd-native Linux admin panel. Webmin is the veteran that configures everything. Here's which one should be on your servers — and which shouldn't.
2FA for SSH and sudo via PAM
Adding TOTP to SSH and sudo takes 10 minutes and makes password spray attacks useless. Here's the setup that won't lock you out of your own server.
Systemd Timers vs Cron: Scheduling That Doesn't Suck
Cron has been scheduling your jobs since before you were born. Systemd timers do everything cron does, plus logging, dependencies, and missed-run recovery.
SSH CA: Finally Ditch authorized_keys
Managing authorized_keys across 10 servers is how you lose track of who has access to what. An SSH CA lets you sign keys and revoke access without touching every server.
LUKS Full Disk Encryption on Linux
LUKS encrypts your drives so a stolen server is just expensive recycling. Here's how to set it up, manage keys, and unlock headless boxes remotely.