Debug Kubernetes Pods: CrashLoopBackOff, Pending, Image Pulls
Fix failing Kubernetes pods: describe and events, logs --previous, CrashLoopBackOff, ImagePullBackOff, Pending, OOMKilled, readiness, and kubectl debug.
Blog
DevOps
Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Git and automation for deploying and running software on servers.
Docker Commands Cheat Sheet: The Commands You Actually Use
A practical Docker cheat sheet: run, ps, logs, exec, images, volumes, networks, cleanup and Compose — with examples and the flags worth knowing.
CI/CD Pipelines Explained: From Commit to Production
What CI and CD mean, the stages of a typical pipeline, tools to choose from, deploying to a VPS, and practices that keep pipelines fast.
Ansible Playbook Tutorial: Configure Servers as Code
Write Ansible playbooks: tasks, variables, templates, handlers, loops and conditionals, check mode and tags, plus a full web server example.
Alpine vs Debian Slim vs Distroless: Choosing a Docker Base Image
Choose a Docker base image: Alpine (musl) vs Debian and Ubuntu slim vs distroless and scratch, with size, compatibility, Python and Node pitfalls, security.
Docker vs Virtual Machines: Differences and When to Use Each
How containers and virtual machines differ in isolation, performance, startup and security, why they work best together, and which to choose.
MySQL or MariaDB in Docker Compose: A Safe Setup
Run MySQL 8 or MariaDB 11 with Docker Compose: volumes, secrets, init scripts, health checks, custom config, backups with mysqldump and version upgrades.
Reduce Docker Image Size: 10 Techniques That Work
Shrink Docker images: smaller base images, multi-stage builds, cleaning package caches, .dockerignore, production-only dependencies and dive.
Kubernetes ConfigMaps and Secrets: Configure Apps the Right Way
Configure Kubernetes apps with ConfigMaps and Secrets: env vars or mounted files, updates and restarts, why base64 isn't encryption, and safer secret options.
Deploy to a VPS with GitHub Actions (SSH, rsync or Docker)
Automate deploys from GitHub to your VPS: a restricted deploy user, SSH keys as secrets, known_hosts, rsync and Docker workflows, rollbacks.
Feature Flags Explained: Ship Code Safely and Release Gradually
Use feature flags to separate deploying from releasing: flag types, a simple implementation, gradual rollouts, kill switches, Unleash, and avoiding flag debt.
Docker Networking Explained: Bridge, Host and Custom Networks
How Docker networking works: default vs user-defined bridges, DNS between containers, publishing ports safely, host mode and debugging.
OpenTofu vs Terraform: The Open-Source Fork Explained
OpenTofu vs Terraform: why the fork exists, licensing, compatibility, installing tofu, migrating a project, state encryption, and how to choose.
Speed Up Docker Builds with Layer and BuildKit Caching
Make Docker builds fast: layer caching, Dockerfile ordering, .dockerignore, BuildKit cache mounts, CI cache export and busting the cache.
Install Ansible and Run Your First Commands on Servers
Install Ansible on your workstation, set up SSH keys and an inventory, run ad-hoc commands across servers, and understand modules, become and idempotency.
Git Submodules Explained: Add, Clone, Update and Remove
Work with Git submodules: add one, clone with --recurse-submodules, update to new commits, CI and deploy setup, remove cleanly, and when subtrees are better.
SRE Basics for Small Teams: SLOs, Error Budgets and Toil
SRE ideas for small teams: SLIs and SLOs, error budgets, measuring availability and latency, burn-rate alerts, reducing toil, and blameless postmortems.
Scale Services With Docker Compose (Replicas and Load Balancing)
Run multiple replicas with Docker Compose: --scale and deploy.replicas, avoiding port conflicts, Nginx or Traefik load balancing, updates, Swarm.
Server Alerting Best Practices: Fewer, Better Alerts
Design alerts people trust: symptoms over causes, severities, thresholds with durations, Alertmanager routing, avoiding fatigue, must-have VPS alerts.
Docker Compose in Production: A Checklist for VPS Deployments
Run Docker Compose in production: pinned images, restart policies, healthchecks, limits, secrets, log limits, private ports behind a proxy, backups, updates.
Docker Health Checks: HEALTHCHECK, Compose and depends_on
Add health checks to Docker containers: Dockerfile HEALTHCHECK, Compose healthcheck, depends_on service_healthy and good health endpoints.
Self-Host GitLab CE on Ubuntu: Install and Configure
Install GitLab Community Edition on an Ubuntu VPS: sizing, HTTPS with Let's Encrypt, email, SSH, memory tuning for small servers and backups.
Docker Logging Drivers: json-file, local, journald and Rotation
Configure Docker logging: json-file and its disk risk, the local driver, journald, rotation with max-size and max-file, daemon.json, central logs.
Dockerize a Node.js App: Production-Ready Dockerfile
Containerise a Node.js app properly: multi-stage Dockerfile, npm ci, non-root user, signal handling, health checks and Compose with a database.