Backend Development & Infrastructure

Technical notes, system design patterns, and infrastructure experiments. Learning and building in public.

47 Articles
12 Categories
3.2K Readers
⭐ Featured

Browse by Category

Explore articles organized by technical topics and technologies

🐧

Linux & Unix

14 articles

🐳

Docker & Containers

11 articles

🔧

DevOps & CI/CD

9 articles

🗄️

Databases

8 articles

🌐

Networking

7 articles

🔒

Security

6 articles

Recent Articles

Latest technical writeups and experiments

Optimizing PostgreSQL for High-Traffic Applications

Practical tips for tuning PostgreSQL configuration, indexing strategies, connection pooling with PgBouncer, and monitoring query performance. Based on managing a database handling 50K+ queries per second.

Kubernetes Cluster Setup: From Zero to Production

Step-by-step guide to setting up a production-ready Kubernetes cluster. Covers kubeadm installation, network plugins, ingress controllers, cert-manager, and monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana.

Understanding DNS: Resolution, Caching, and Security

Complete overview of DNS architecture, resolution process, caching strategies, and security considerations including DNSSEC, DNS-over-HTTPS, and protecting against DNS amplification attacks.

Redis as a Cache: Patterns and Best Practices

Effective caching patterns using Redis including cache-aside, write-through, write-behind strategies. Discusses key expiration policies, memory management, and handling cache invalidation in distributed systems.

Building Microservices with Docker Compose

Practical guide to orchestrating multi-container applications with Docker Compose. Covers service definitions, networking, volumes, environment variables, and development workflows for microservices architecture.

SSH Hardening: Security Best Practices for Servers

Comprehensive security guide for SSH configuration. Covers key-based authentication, disabling root login, port changing, fail2ban setup, two-factor authentication, and monitoring SSH access logs.

Automated Backups with Restic and Cloud Storage

Setting up automated, encrypted backups using Restic. Covers backup strategies, cloud storage integration (S3, B2), retention policies, restoration procedures, and monitoring backup health.

Monitoring Servers with Prometheus and Grafana

Complete monitoring stack setup with Prometheus for metrics collection and Grafana for visualization. Includes node_exporter configuration, alert rules, and building effective dashboards for system metrics.

Understanding TLS 1.3 and Certificate Management

Deep dive into TLS 1.3 protocol improvements, certificate lifecycle management with Let's Encrypt, automated renewal, and troubleshooting common SSL/TLS issues in production environments.

About ServerLab

This blog documents technical experiments, infrastructure projects, and lessons learned while working with backend systems at scale. The focus is on practical, production-ready solutions rather than theoretical concepts.

Topics covered include Linux system administration, containerization, orchestration, database management, networking, security hardening, and performance optimization. Most content is based on real-world scenarios and production deployments.

The goal is to share knowledge and provide detailed technical references that others might find useful when solving similar problems or building similar systems.

Current Tech Stack

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian) Docker & Docker Compose Kubernetes Nginx / Caddy PostgreSQL Redis Python Go Terraform Prometheus Grafana

Recent Project Timeline

January 2025

High-Availability PostgreSQL Cluster

Deployed PostgreSQL with streaming replication and automatic failover using Patroni and etcd. Handling 50K+ queries per second with sub-10ms latency.

December 2024

Kubernetes Migration

Migrated legacy Docker Swarm infrastructure to Kubernetes. Implemented GitOps workflows with ArgoCD and automated blue-green deployments.

November 2024

Observability Stack

Built complete monitoring solution with Prometheus, Grafana, and Loki. Integrated distributed tracing with Jaeger for microservices debugging.

October 2024

Infrastructure as Code

Converted manual infrastructure provisioning to Terraform. Implemented automated testing and validation pipelines for infrastructure changes.

Stay Updated

Get notified when new technical articles are published. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Currently on hold - feel free to check back later or contact directly