Category: hosting

A practical look at SmartOS, illumos, zones, LX compatibility and the way this operating system approaches servers. Not a complete guide, just enough to understand why I like it.

The same URL serves HTML to browsers, JSON to apps, and ActivityPub to remote instances. Here's how I cache Mastodon with nginx without betraying any of them.

How FediMeteo uses HAProxy caching, static pages, and small FreeBSD jails to keep snac quiet and serve ActivityPub traffic efficiently.

A guide on how to set up LibreNMS inside a FreeBSD jail.

Three episodes, one week. AI bots that hallucinate VPN requirements, recommend Apache configs on nginx servers, and suggest replacing 128 GB of RAM with a cloud VPS. A field note on the cost of mistaking confidence for competence.

Compare static web hosting performance on an Intel N150 using the same nginx.conf across FreeBSD jails, SmartOS zones, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Linux, focusing on HTTP vs HTTPS and TLS CPU usage.

A practical guide to boosting Mastodon performance by self-hosting your media with SeaweedFS. Configure a fast, S3-compatible storage backend to efficiently handle your instance's files and take full control of your data.

Which virtualization host performs better? I put FreeBSD and SmartOS in a head-to-head showdown. The performance of Jails, Zones, and bhyve VMs surprised me, forcing a second round of tests on different hardware to find the real winner.

A new article on running WordPress on FreeBSD with BastilleBSD has been published on the BSD Cafe Journal, plus a small update on future technical content.

A practical guide to installing FreeBSD on hosting providers that don't officially support it, using the powerful mfsBSD tool for rescue mode installations.

How a simple idea turned into an international weather service on the Fediverse.

Using nginx to cache proxied media in snac to improve performance and privacy

Using nginx to cache snac multimedia files to boost performance

A healthcare client risks IT failure by ignoring outdated infrastructure in favor of an impractical cloud migration plan.

Mastodon imposes a limit of 500 characters and 4 poll options. Here's how to change them.

Using a Permanent WebFinger Address for My Fediverse Profile - Make it easy to find your profile from any instance.

A comprehensive guide on how to move a FreeBSD installation, including the operating system, from one host to another, with a focus on ZFS and bootloader configurations (UEFI and BIOS).

After revisiting my old Fediverse instances and helping friends set up new ones, I took the chance to update and evaluate several platforms. Here's my experience with Akkoma, GoToSocial, Mitra, Snac2, and Mastodon.

Learn how to configure a reliable read-only root file system on NetBSD, improving system stability and reducing the risk of corruption in embedded and remote setups.

Learn how to build a self-hosted CDN using NetBSD, Varnish, and nginx

Learn how to build a self-hosted CDN using OpenBSD base and just 2 packages

Learn how to build a self-hosted CDN using FreeBSD jails, Nginx, Varnish, WireGuard, and PowerDNS to improve media delivery for your website without relying on external providers.

Explore the evolution of the BSD Cafe network setup using FreeBSD, showcasing how to leverage advanced routing techniques for improved scalability and security.

Monitor your services efficiently by installing Uptime-Kuma in a FreeBSD Jail.

Learn how to bridge networks across multiple VPS instances using Wireguard and VXLAN on FreeBSD, enabling secure and flexible service distribution.

A simple method to limit the priority of processes within a FreeBSD jail using the nice(1) command.

Experience a journey from Kubernetes to FreeBSD, achieving major cost savings and efficiency through real-world optimization.

Learn how to block access from specific countries on your FreeBSD server using pf and ipdbtools to enhance security and manage traffic efficiently.

Comparative tests show FreeBSD's virtualization performance surpasses Proxmox, especially with NVMe drivers.

Learn how to create and use UFS snapshots on FreeBSD for reliable backups and system management, with practical examples using mksnap_ffs.

Many years ago, I needed to create some small servers using PCEngines Alix and had to choose the most suitable operating system. One of the...

Introduction A client recently asked if their approach to remote desktop access was correct. They leave their office PC on and connect to it via...

Enhance your FreeBSD-based mail server by adding Nextcloud for webmail, contacts, calendars, and IMAP integration. A step-by-step guide to building a full-featured groupware solution.

Make your own E-Mail server - Part 1 - FreeBSD, OpenSMTPD, Rspamd and Dovecot included

I recently faced the task of moving an Alpine Linux-based VPS onto a FreeBSD host. I decided to use a jail.

How to Create a FreeBSD Jail Hosting XRDP and XFCE for Remote Desktop Access Introduction This tutorial guides you through the process of setting up...

A detailed walkthrough of migrating from FreeBSD VMs to a hierarchical jail setup using BastilleBSD, optimizing resource usage and simplifying management without sacrificing isolation.

Since the time I left BlackBerry behind many years ago, I've consistently sought ways to keep my phones connected to my email accounts. I enjoy...

Set up your own secure VPN with FreeBSD, WireGuard, IPv6, and integrated ad-blocking using Unbound and Spamhaus. Get full control, enhanced privacy, and a performant solution.

In the world of FreeBSD, jails are a renowned feature that allows for system-level virtualization. As I was setting up the jails for BSDCafe, I...

Create your own secure, high-performance VPN with OpenBSD, WireGuard, IPv6, and integrated ad-blocking using Unbound and Spamhaus. Full control, enhanced privacy, and a lightweight setup.

While I love FreeBSD -based router solutions (OPNsense, PFsense, etc.), I also appreciate and use MikroTik devices and software. They produce and...

Part 3 of our migration series details the complex process of moving servers from Proxmox to FreeBSD, including overcoming challenges with old hardware, problematic LXC containers, and fine-tuning virtual machines for optimal performance on bhyve.

After Elon Musk’s Twitter deal , many users decided to “fly away” from the "traditional" commercial Social Networks . Some for good, some just...

A comprehensive guide to installing Mastodon on a FreeBSD jail using BastilleBSD

Bhyve is great - and we’re using it with a lot of guest operating systems. One of my favourite Linux distributions is Alpine Linux - it’s great as a...

Prodottoinrete loves Open Source . We massively deploy Open Source solutions and most of our business is based on Open Source software. Because of...

Caddy is a great web server. It is easier to configure than nginx and handles the SSL certificates requests and renewals so you don't need to mess...

After my post on why we’re migrating (many of) our servers to FreeBSD , I’ve received a lot of feedback. Many questions, many comments. Many e-mails...

More about this in the article I wrote to accompany my talk at EuroBSDCon 2024 . Please note: This article was (unexpectedly) quite popular and many...

OVH (and Soyoustart, of course) network seem to be configured in a "strange" way and setting failover IPs isn’t always as straightforward as you...

Last update: 01 November 2022 - Alpine 3.16 has lxd packages in contrib Lxc is a great technology. I’ve been using it since 2012 and I’ve always...