For the casual user of Windows, the Linux command line looks really intimidating and appears to be a complex and unfriendly interface that requires the knowledge of arcane commands. In reality, the command line is immensely powerful and actually allows an experienced user to monitor, control and tune every single aspect of the system. Even …
Grafana is a very useful open-source data visualization and monitoring platform that can use data from a variety of sources and display it based of custom filters and alerts. In this article, we will go through the setup of Grafana on a CentOS 7 system, using a MySQL database as a data source. Install MySQL …
Starting a VPS hosting business can require a significant initial investment. In theory, you have to buy servers and software, rent space in a datacenter, hire a few people and so on. By the time it starts to collect enough revenue, your company might accumulate a lot of debt and already be approaching bankruptcy. However, …
Self-hosting your application has many advantages but it also comes with a number of risks. Any web server is continuously attacked by hackers these days, with scripts that probe all services for potential vulnerabilities or configuration issues. In a managed environment, the server administrators will make sure that solid mechanisms are in place to protect …
We’re constantly striving to provide unparalleled value to our customers. The way we define value is proving more than what’s required for less than what’s expected. Put simply, our goal each day is to provide a great product at a price everyone can afford – no matter what you’re building. Given this mission of ours, …
The top command is one of the most common tools available to a system administrator. You can use it to troubleshoot CPU and memory usage, or as a general purpose application that allows you to monitor your system in real time. Top can be a very complex command, we will review the most common options …
Last month, Ubuntu announced the release of a Long Term Support version of Ubuntu 16.04. A few noticeable changes emerge in the official release notes. First of all, there’s a strong move toward Python 3 being the new standard. This had been coming for a while, and it has finally materialized. Python 3.5 now ships …
The CentOS project has released several security updates in the last week of the present month. Of particular relevance to VPSCheap customers we have a mariadb security release, as well as a mutt update. They’ve both been rated as ‘Important’. As usual, we recommend you to keep your systems updated as frequently as possible. yum …
Transport Layer Security (TLS), and it’s older brother Secure Socket Layer (SSL) are cryptographic protocols that clients and servers use for secure communication over the Internet. Today’s industry standards, and really just common sense, strongly encourage the use of cryptography. This is especially important if you’re running a webshop or any kind of site that …
Especially with the recent retiring of CentOS 5 on March 31, 2017, use of version 7 is on the rise. For new systems being installed now, it makes much more sense to go straight to CentOS 7 unless there is a specific compatibility issue. CentOS 6 will have maintenance updates through 2020. The minimum recommended …