When you lease a virtual machine (VM), virtual private server (VPS), dedicated server, container, or similar system, you are usually given a choice of operating system to install. Most hosting providers have a selection of templates for a few different operating systems. In this article I highlight a few of the things you should examine after the OS is installed and before you begin using your new system. I assume a basic Debian OS template since that is what I’ve used the most, but much of what I have to say can apply to most Linux distributions if not various OS choices generally.Read more...
In what I hope will be the debut of many in a series to come, I want to share my experience and musings as a frequent traveler in the world of hosting providers. Sometimes it will be just curious anomalies, of little interest to but a few. But perhaps some tales told here will ultimately prove valuable to others looking for insight even if to obscure scenarios. Maybe especially to obscure scenarios.Read more...
The NANOG 93 meeting took place a few days ago. Slide decks for all the talks are on the meeting page and the corresponding videos should appear on the NANOG play list on YouTube soon. This is a very brief, likely imperfect summary of a few of talks from the meeting. I don’t review all talks, because I can’t attend them all and some I just wasn’t sufficiently moved to say anything useful about them.Read more...
My primary, personal computing platform for over 20 years has almost always been Debian on a ThinkPad laptop. Getting Linux running on the latest laptop hardware is often an experience worth documenting, as I have done a few times. I last wrote about Debian on a P15 Gen2 laptop in 2022. That just might have been my last ThinkPad. I recently acquired a Framework 16 and while the ThinkPad has practically nothing in common with it, the cycle of buying a new ThinkPad every three to five years may finally be broken.Read more...