Over the last couple of months I've had performance issues with Cloudflare (CF) about 2 times, including today. That's a sentence I never thought I'd write, because Cloudflare genuinely doesn't have performance issues most of the time, and when they do, it's usually on the status page as part of a l...

A practical guide to Linux environment variables: how to set, export, persist, and debug them correctly across shell sessions, user accounts, system-wide configs, and systemd services.Continue reading...

If you spend any time in Linux forums, you've seen DistroWatch's Page Hit Ranking cited as proof one distro is "more popular" than another. It isn't.Continue reading...

If the Linux desktop and applications on your thin and light laptop or low-end PC feel sluggish under a busy session, the usual suspects are slow storage R/W, not enough RAM, or occasionally a CPU bottleneck. But on machines with integrated graphics, there is a fourth bottleneck most people never ch...

A practical guide to Linux signals: how to use kill, pkill, and trap correctly to manage processes, reload configs, and write scripts that clean up gracefully instead of dying mid-operation.Continue reading...

A practical guide to Linux disk partitioning with fdisk, parted, and lsblk. Covers creating partition tables, formatting filesystems, mounting, and setting up persistent mounts via /etc/fstab.Continue reading...

The Linux filesystem hierarchy is not arbitrary. This guide explains what every top-level directory actually does, why it exists, and how that knowledge helps you troubleshoot and administer systems faster.Continue reading...

cron and systemd timers both schedule tasks on Linux, but they work very differently. This guide covers the practical differences, when to use each, and how to write both correctly.Continue reading...

If you're going to spend hours every day staring at a screen, how much does experience matter? Not yours. The experience behind the software you're trusting with your workflow.Continue reading...

A few days ago I received an email from Eric Marceau, a longtime member of the ubuntu-mate.community forum, reaching out to ask whether LinuxCommunity.io would be willing to accommodate a group for MATE Desktop users.Continue reading...

Learn how to use rsync over SSH for secure, encrypted file transfers and incremental backups on Linux. Covers key flags, SSH options, backup scripts with hard-link snapshots, cron scheduling, and common troubleshooting.Continue reading...

Monitoring dashboards occasionally indicate low CPU utilization (e.g., 22%) and ample free memory, yet applications may exhibit sluggishness and increased response times. This common discrepancy in Linux environments often stems from process states that are not captured by high-level resource summar...

As a Linux newbie looking for DIY projects, you have plenty to choose from. Linux is full of hands-on learning and experimentation opportunities. From virtualization to server management and security, there’s a project for every beginner who wants to learn Linux.Continue reading...

WireGuard is built into the Linux kernel and delivers faster, simpler VPN tunneling than OpenVPN with stronger default cryptography. This guide walks through a complete server and client setup on Linux, including key generation, firewall rules, IP forwarding, and troubleshooting common issues.Contin...

curl is more than just a download tool. This practical guide covers HTTP headers, API testing, authentication, SSL inspection, timing analysis, and real-world one-liners that sysadmins actually use.Continue reading...

xargs bridges the gap between commands that output text and commands that need arguments. This practical guide covers real-world examples including parallel execution, safe filename handling, bulk file operations, and multi-server SSH commands.Continue reading...

strace intercepts Linux system calls in real time, letting you see exactly what any process is doing. This practical guide covers the essential flags, real-world debugging scenarios, and ready-to-use one-liners for diagnosing hangs, permission errors, config issues, and slow processes.Continue readi...

Setting up a Linux server is one of the best ways to learn Linux and server management hands-on. Linux servers offer unmatched flexibility, performance, and control for hosting services, running applications, supporting production workloads, and even building your own homelab.Continue reading...

lsof (List Open Files) is an essential Linux troubleshooting tool for finding which processes are using a port, holding a file open, or causing disk space issues. This guide covers practical lsof commands that sysadmins actually use.Continue reading...

Bash aliases turn long, repetitive commands into short custom shortcuts that load every time you open a terminal. Here's how to set them up, where to store them, and a practical set of aliases built for real sysadmin work.Continue reading...

nftables has replaced iptables as the default firewall framework on most modern Linux systems. This practical guide covers the core structure, real rule examples, sets, NAT, rate limiting, and how to migrate from iptables to nftables cleanly.Continue reading...

A complete guide to cron and crontab on Linux: syntax explained, practical scheduling examples, environment variables, logging, system crontabs, and debugging tips for when jobs refuse to run.Continue reading...

A practical guide to the sed stream editor on Linux, covering substitution, in-place editing, line deletion, capture groups, and real-world examples sysadmins actually use.Continue reading...

If you are interested in Linux commands frequently used by Linux sysadmins and power users, I've published this five-part series with over 90 update: 100+ Linux commands with links to each of the five articles in this series — click on each subheading.Continue reading...

A practical guide to the awk command in Linux, covering real-world examples for sysadmins: parsing logs, extracting columns, summing data, filtering output, and building quick reports from the command line.Continue reading...

tmux lets you run persistent terminal sessions, split panes, and manage multiple windows from a single SSH connection. This complete guide covers installation, essential keybindings, a practical ~/.tmux.conf configuration, real-world workflows, and plugin management.Continue reading...

I run a Discourse forum behind Cloudflare, and getting the WAF rules right took more trial and error than I expected. Discourse is a Ruby on Rails application that most people self-host in a Docker container.Continue reading...

A practical guide to Linux file permissions covering chmod, chown, umask, and special bits like setuid, setgid, and sticky in real-world scenarios.Continue reading...

A practical, complete guide to journalctl for reading, filtering, and managing systemd journal logs on Linux. Covers time filters, boot sessions, service logs, priority levels, output formats, and journal size management.Continue reading...

If your Linux system takes longer to boot than you think it should, the answer is almost certainly hiding in your systemd startup chain. The good news: systemd already ships with everything you need to find the problem and fix it.Continue reading...