I've updated some of my Fediverse-related blog posts to feature the beautiful photo kindly provided by @_elena
Some of these are still on the index page, and I believe it's a much more fitting image than the previous one.
FediMeteo: How a Tiny €4 FreeBSD VPS Became a Global Weather Service for Thousands
I just finished the blog post on FediMeteo, how it was created and what it's made of. In the end, it turned out less technical than expected, but that's fine. I’ll be publishing it tomorrow morning.
Improving snac Performance with Nginx Proxy Cache
https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/01/29/improving-snac-performance-with-nginx-proxy-cache/
I Almost Died for a Full Sentry Database
https://it-notes.dragas.net/2024/12/28/i-almost-died-for-a-full-sentry-database/
In recent days, I've received a few messages and noticed some posts regarding my articles on the blog. The criticism is mainly about the fact that, in some cases, I don't document "every" step but assume a basic understanding of the topics discussed. For example, if the article is about "how to install Y within a FreeBSD jail," I don't document how to install FreeBSD, what jails are, or how they should be managed, etc. In some cases, I refer to previous articles, but my aim is never to create "for dummies" tutorials. I believe that self-hosting, if done without awareness, creates more problems than it solves.
I’ll probably need to publish an article specifically about this—and maybe link it to a menu at the top of the page to explain it. My approach has usually been to provide tools to understand how I solved a problem, not to hand out "ready-made solutions"—the goal is to help people understand, not to mindlessly copy without comprehension.
After all, the blog is called "IT Notes," and they are my notes, turned into articles, mostly related to direct experiences I’ve just had. It’s not called "IT Course"—those, when necessary, I create in other ways.
Outdated Infrastructure and the Cloud Illusion
https://it-notes.dragas.net/2024/10/19/outdated-infrastructure-and-the-cloud-illusion/
The slides, the video, and the text behind my presentation at EuroBSDCon 2024 - 'Why and how we're migrating many of our servers from Linux to the BSDs.'
https://it-notes.dragas.net/2024/10/03/i-solve-problems-eurobsdcon/
Update: now running nginx
Hi, my (host)name is rpi. I’m a Raspberry Pi Zero W running NetBSD in read-only mode. Stefano has decided that I will serve as a mirror for the IT Notes blog, so various Varnish reverse proxies will also direct traffic to me - some as a primary server, others as a failover. I only respond to the reverse proxies via IPv6 and I’m connected to the USB output of a Mikrotik switch, so my existence depends on that switch. Even if I'm connected via wifi only. When it gets rebooted, I’ll disappear for a while too, but since I’m in read-only mode, I’ll come back just as I was before.
After 7 years sitting in a drawer, Stefano decided it was time for me to go operational. When Stefano updates the blog, the script that generates it will connect to me, remount me in read-write mode, copy the new files, and I’ll return to read-only.
Oh, by the way, there’s no external web server involved—I’m running bozohttpd, integrated into NetBSD’s base system, and started by inetd when needed.
Proxmox vs FreeBSD: Which Virtualization Host Performs Better?
Since migrating many servers from Proxmox to FreeBSD, we have consistently felt that the VMs are more responsive. It's time to conduct some concrete tests.
https://it-notes.dragas.net/2024/06/10/proxmox-vs-freebsd-which-virtualization-host-performs-better/
