Servers
How to Add Swap Space on an Ubuntu VPS
Add a swap file on an Ubuntu VPS in five commands: choose the size, make it permanent in fstab, set swappiness to 10 and check it is not overused.
Author
Munaf Sheikh
I’m an open-source enthusiast and web hosting specialist who builds on raw Ubuntu servers and NGINX, with nothing in the stack I didn’t put there myself. I’ve helped Fortune-listed companies deploy their platforms/applications and still work with several of them. I assess new tools, technologies tune stacks until they run lean, and write up what works here.
Articles by Munaf Sheikh
85 articles
Servers
How to Recover a Locked-Out Server With IPMI
Get back into a dedicated server after a firewall, SSH or network mistake using the IPMI console: five causes, the fix for each, and a password reset.
Web Hosting
How to Fix ASP.NET Core Error 500.30 on Plesk
500.31 means the .NET runtime is missing; 500.30 means your app crashed at startup. How to read the stdout log on Plesk hosting and fix both.
Domains
How to Transfer a Domain Without Downtime
A domain transfer moves the registration, not the DNS. Check your nameservers, move records first, handle DNSSEC and the 60-day lock, then transfer.
Website Security
What Does a Wildcard SSL Certificate Cover?
A wildcard for *.example.com covers one level of subdomains. Why the root domain usually works, why a.b.example.com never does, and how to check.
Email
How to Migrate Email to a New Host With imapsync
Copy mailboxes to a new host with imapsync, switch MX with a short TTL, then sync again. The order, the commands and the mistakes that lose mail.
Email
How to Set Up DMARC Without Losing Email
A week-by-week plan to reach DMARC p=reject without losing real mail: read the reports, fix SPF and DKIM alignment for every sender, then enforce.
Servers
How to Monitor VPS Bandwidth With vnStat
Install vnStat, read monthly and daily totals, get a warning at 80% of your traffic allowance, and find which files and visitors use the most.
Servers
How to Back Up MariaDB and PostgreSQL on a VPS
A nightly script that dumps every MariaDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL database to its own file, keeps 14 days and checks each one, plus how to restore.