Writing · Nº 041065 essays
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Clear filtersEngineeringOpen Source Is Not the Same as Owning Your StackUsing open source software does not mean you own your stack. If a vendor still runs it and holds your data, you are as locked in as with any SaaS. Here is why.EngineeringHow to Size a VPS for Your WorkloadHow to size a VPS for your workload without overpaying or starving your app: a practical method for choosing CPU, RAM, and disk based on what you actually run.EngineeringShould Postgres Share the App's Box or Get Its Own?Put the database on the same VPS as the app, or give it a separate box? Here is how to decide, when colocation wins, and the signals it is time to split.EngineeringSelf-Hosted vs Paid Uptime Monitoring: Which to UseSelf-hosted uptime monitoring like Uptime Kuma vs paid services like Pingdom. Why you should run both, and which one actually tells you your site is down.EngineeringAvoid Provider-Specific Infrastructure as CodeProvider-specific infrastructure as code locks your whole architecture to one cloud. How to write portable IaC so your infrastructure can move when you do.StrategyCloud Egress Fees Are a Lock-In TaxCloud egress fees are not a bandwidth cost, they are a lock-in tax charged to keep your data hostage, and here is how to stop paying it and design around it.EngineeringTurn On Automatic Security Updates on Your VPSUnattended security updates are the highest-leverage thing you can automate on a self-hosted Linux VPS. Here is how to set them up without breaking your apps.EngineeringDocker vs Bare Processes on a VPS: When to Use EachDo you need Docker on a VPS or can you run bare processes? Here is when containers earn their overhead and when a plain systemd service is simpler and faster.StrategyThe One-Feature Trap: How a Platform Feature Locks You InFeature lock-in happens when one proprietary platform feature becomes load-bearing and no competitor replicates it. Here is how to spot and defuse the trap.OperatingThe Revenue Point Where Self-Hosting Pays OffThere is a revenue crossover where self-hosting pays off and managed cloud stops making sense. How to find the point where owning your stack beats renting it.Engineeringfail2ban vs Cloudflare for Brute-Force Protectionfail2ban vs Cloudflare for stopping brute-force attacks on a self-hosted server. They protect different layers, and the right answer is usually to run both.EngineeringObject Storage You Control, Without S3 Lock-InHow to get object storage you control without S3 lock-in, using the S3 API as a portable standard so your files can move between providers without a rewrite.