42 articles

#devops-cloud

All articles tagged with #devops-cloud.

Project: ship Linkstash to a live URL

Put every piece of this series together into one deploy checklist and ship Linkstash for real, including the one teaching route that must never go live.

Sep 22, 20267 min

DevOps

Logs, monitoring and knowing when it breaks

Read Linkstash's logs through journalctl, watch resource use with real commands, and set up a basic uptime check so you find out about downtime first.

Sep 22, 20266 min

DevOps

Environment variables and config in production

Move Linkstash's config out of the systemd unit into a proper env file, and see why a real DATABASE_FILE path is where SQLite's WAL mode actually matters.

Sep 21, 20265 min

DevOps

Free HTTPS with Let's Encrypt

Get a real TLS certificate for your domain with Certbot, have Nginx terminate HTTPS automatically, and see how renewal keeps it from ever expiring.

Sep 21, 20265 min

DevOps

Pointing a domain at your server

Buy a domain, add an A record pointing at your server's IP, wire it into the Nginx config, and understand why DNS changes take time to show up.

Sep 20, 20265 min

DevOps

Nginx as a reverse proxy

Put Nginx in front of Linkstash so it answers on port 80 under a real hostname, and understand what a reverse proxy buys you over exposing Node directly.

Sep 20, 20266 min

DevOps

Users, groups and permissions on a real server

Create a non-root user to run your app, understand sudo, and see why root running a public web server is a real security risk, not a formality.

Sep 19, 20266 min

DevOps

Keeping your app running with systemd

Write a systemd unit that runs Linkstash as a non-root user, restarts it if it crashes, and starts it automatically on every server reboot.

Sep 19, 20266 min

DevOps

SSH, keys and getting in safely

Generate an SSH key pair, copy it to a fresh Ubuntu server, and turn off password login for good, the first thing you do before anything else.

Sep 18, 20266 min

DevOps

What deploying actually means

What happens between git push and a live URL, why manual servers still matter when Vercel exists, and the map of everything this series covers.

Sep 18, 20266 min

DevOps

Docker Best Practices: Smaller, Safer Images

Ship leaner, safer containers: multi-stage builds, slim base images, running as a non-root user, pinning versions, and .dockerignore. The production checklist.

Aug 10, 202610 min

DevOps

Docker Project: Containerize a Web App

Put it together: write a Dockerfile for a small web app, add a database with Docker Compose, wire them up with env and volumes, and run the whole stack.

Aug 10, 202610 min

DevOps

Docker Compose: Run Multi-Container Apps

Define a whole stack in one file: docker-compose.yml for an app plus a database, with docker compose up. Stop juggling long docker run commands.

Aug 9, 20267 min

DevOps

Docker Environment Variables and Networking

Configure containers with environment variables, and let them talk to each other: Docker networks, container DNS by name, and connecting an app to a database.

Aug 9, 20267 min

DevOps

Docker Image Layers and Build Caching

Why Docker builds are fast (and sometimes slow): images are stacked layers, the build cache reuses them, and command order is everything, plus .dockerignore.

Aug 8, 20267 min

DevOps

Docker Ports and Volumes, Explained

Reach into a container and keep its data: map ports with -p so you can hit the app, and use volumes so data survives a container being removed.

Aug 8, 20268 min

DevOps

Docker Images vs Containers, Explained

The key Docker distinction: images are the blueprint, containers are the running instance. Pull from registries, understand tags, and manage both, with a diagram.

Aug 7, 20267 min

DevOps

Dockerfile Basics: Build Your Own Image

Write a Dockerfile from scratch: FROM, WORKDIR, COPY, RUN, EXPOSE and CMD, then docker build your own image and run it. Package a real app step by step.

Aug 7, 202610 min

DevOps

Your First Docker Container: docker run

Install Docker and run your first containers with docker run (hello-world and a real web server), then list, stop and remove them with the core commands.

Aug 6, 20269 min

DevOps

Why Docker? Containers vs Virtual Machines

What containers are, the 'works on my machine' problem they solve, and how they differ from virtual machines: the mental model before you run anything.

Aug 6, 20267 min

DevOps

Command Line Project: Automate a Task with a Script

Put it together: build a small bash script that organizes a messy folder by file type using variables, loops, conditionals, and the tools from the series.

Aug 5, 202611 min

DevOps

Shell Scripting Basics: Your First Bash Script

Turn commands into a reusable script: the shebang, variables, arguments, if statements and for loops in bash, to automate the boring stuff.

Aug 5, 202610 min

DevOps

Environment Variables and the PATH, Explained

Demystify environment variables and $PATH: how the shell finds commands, setting variables with export, and making them stick in your shell config file.

Aug 4, 20269 min

DevOps

Understanding File Permissions: chmod Explained

Make sense of Unix file permissions: reading ls -l, the read/write/execute bits for user/group/other, and changing them with chmod (symbolic and numeric).

Aug 4, 20268 min

DevOps

Searching the Command Line: grep and find

Find anything fast: grep to search inside files (with regex basics) and find to locate files by name, type or time. The search tools you'll use daily.

Aug 3, 20268 min

DevOps

Pipes and Redirection in the Shell

Chain commands like Lego: pipes (|) pass output along, and redirection (>, >>, <) sends it to files. The idea that makes the command line click.

Aug 3, 20269 min

DevOps

Creating and Managing Files in the Terminal

Work with files and folders from the command line: mkdir, touch, cp, mv, rm and rmdir, including the flags that save you (and the one that bites).

Aug 2, 20269 min

DevOps

Viewing and Editing Files in the Terminal

Read files from the command line with cat, less, head and tail, then make quick edits with nano: the everyday tools for inspecting logs and config.

Aug 2, 20268 min

DevOps

Command Line Navigation: pwd, ls and cd

Move around the filesystem in the terminal: pwd, ls and its flags, cd, and absolute vs relative paths, with a diagram of the directory tree.

Aug 1, 20267 min

DevOps

Why the Command Line? A Developer's Superpower

What the terminal and shell are, why developers live in them, and how the command line makes you faster. The mental model before the commands.

Aug 1, 20268 min

DevOps

Git Project: A Real Feature-Branch Workflow

Tie it together: clone, branch, commit, push, open a pull request, handle a conflict, and merge. A realistic end-to-end Git and GitHub workflow, step by step.

Jul 31, 202611 min

DevOps

.gitignore and Git Best Practices

Keep your repo clean: how .gitignore works and its patterns, what you should never commit (secrets, node_modules), and how to write commits your team will thank you for.

Jul 31, 20268 min

DevOps

Pull Requests and Collaborating on GitHub

How teams ship with GitHub: branches, opening a pull request, code review, and merging, plus forks for open source. The everyday collaboration loop.

Jul 30, 20269 min

DevOps

Git Rebase vs Merge: When to Use Each

Understand git rebase versus merge: how rebase rewrites history for a clean line, when to prefer each, and the golden rule of never rebasing shared commits.

Jul 30, 20267 min

DevOps

Git Remotes and GitHub: push, pull, clone

Connect Git to GitHub: remotes and origin, clone an existing repo, push your commits, and pull others' work, plus how local and remote history stay in sync.

Jul 29, 20269 min

DevOps

Undoing Changes in Git Safely

Fix mistakes in Git: discard edits with restore, move HEAD with reset (soft/mixed/hard), undo a commit with revert, and amend. Which to use, when.

Jul 29, 20268 min

DevOps

Git Branches, Explained Visually

Branch in Git with confidence: what a branch really is (a movable pointer), git branch and git switch, and why you branch for every feature, with gitGraphs.

Jul 28, 20268 min

DevOps

Git Merging and Resolving Conflicts

Merge branches in Git: fast-forward vs merge commits, how to read and resolve a merge conflict, and finishing the merge, with gitGraph diagrams.

Jul 28, 20268 min

DevOps

Git History: log, diff and show

Read your project's history in Git: git log and its useful flags, git diff for unstaged and staged changes, git show, and what HEAD really means.

Jul 27, 20268 min

DevOps

Git Staging and Commits, Explained

Master the Git staging area: git add, what staging is for, and writing good commits with git commit, the core save-your-work loop, with diagrams.

Jul 27, 20268 min

DevOps

Git Basics: Create Your First Repository

Install Git, set your name and email, run git init, and read git status. The very first steps to put a project under version control.

Jul 26, 20267 min

DevOps

Why Git? Version Control, Explained

What Git and version control are, the problems they solve, and the mental model of commits as save points, the safety net under every project you build.

Jul 26, 20268 min