Performance

What is mbuffer and How It Can Be Useful When working with large data transfers in Linux — for example, copying databases, streaming backups, or piping data over the network — you might face performance bottlenecks. This is where mbuffer comes in. What is mbuffer? mbuffer (short for media buffer) is a tool that adds a high-performance buffer between a producer (like tar, dd, pg_dump) and a consumer (like ssh, gzip, disk). It works like a smart middleman: it temporarily stores data in memory and forwards it more smoothly. ...

Optimizing etcd on Slow Disks in Kubernetes In Kubernetes, etcd is the central database that stores the entire cluster state. If etcd runs on slow disks, you might notice performance issues: API requests slow down, pods take longer to schedule, and sometimes the cluster feels “laggy.” Why etcd Struggles on Slow Disks etcd is very I/O-intensive. Each write goes to disk to guarantee consistency. On spinning HDDs or cheap cloud disks with poor IOPS, etcd can quickly become a bottleneck. ...

Caching in Kubernetes Ingress Caching is a key strategy to reduce backend load and improve response times for clients. In Kubernetes, caching is usually implemented through the Ingress controller — particularly with NGINX. Why Use Caching? Reduce load on backend services Improve speed for repeated requests Minimize cost and bandwidth Smooth handling of traffic spikes Common Caching Setup: NGINX Ingress The NGINX Ingress Controller supports proxy caching via annotations. Step 1: Enable caching in your Ingress resource apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1 kind: Ingress metadata: name: my-app-ingress annotations: nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-cache: "my-cache-zone" nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-cache-key: "$scheme$request_method$host$request_uri" nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-cache-use-stale: "error timeout updating http_500 http_502 http_503 http_504" spec: rules: - host: myapp.example.com http: paths: - path: / pathType: Prefix backend: service: name: my-app port: number: 80 Step 2: Define the cache zone in the NGINX ConfigMap apiVersion: v1 kind: ConfigMap metadata: name: nginx-configuration namespace: ingress-nginx data: proxy-cache-paths: | my-cache-zone keys_zone=my-cache-zone:10m max_size=100m inactive=60m use_temp_path=off; ⚠️ Requires restarting the Ingress controller or reloading its config. ...

What is a CDN? A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a geographically distributed network of servers designed to deliver content (like images, scripts, and videos) to users faster by serving them from locations closest to them. Why Use a CDN? 1. Faster Load Times Content is cached at edge locations, reducing latency. 2. Reduced Server Load Requests are offloaded from origin servers, improving scalability. 3. Improved Availability CDNs handle traffic surges and DDoS mitigation. ...