Maintenance & Troubleshooting
Updates, logs with journalctl, disks and LVM, boot failures and fixing what broke.
Offsite Backups to Backblaze B2 / R2 / S3
Back up Linux servers to Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, or AWS S3 using rclone, restic, and BorgBackup—with lifecycle policies and restore testing.
Monitor a Server with node_exporter
Install Prometheus node_exporter as a hardened systemd service, configure scraping, and set up Grafana dashboards for full server observability.
Install Netdata for Real-Time Monitoring
Install Netdata on Linux with kickstart.sh, connect to Netdata Cloud, configure alarms and plugins, and tune performance impact — step-by-step for all major distros.
Linux Server Disaster Recovery Checklist
A practical Linux server disaster recovery checklist: what to back up, RTO/RPO planning, immutable off-site copies, automated restore drills, and verification.
Snapshot Backups with Btrfs and Snapper
Set up Btrfs subvolumes, configure Snapper for automated snapshots, integrate with GRUB for bootable recovery points, and perform full system rollbacks.
Schedule Backups with systemd Timers
Use systemd timers to schedule reliable backups with OnCalendar, RandomizedDelaySec, and Persistent=true — replacing cron with better logging and catch-up runs.
Recover a Broken Package Database
Fix half-installed packages, corrupt RPM databases, and broken apt/dpkg states with targeted recovery commands for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and RHEL systems.
Manage Old Kernels and Clean /boot
Keep /boot from filling up by safely removing old kernel packages on Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch — with autoremove tips and emergency recovery steps.
Troubleshoot a Linux Bootloader (GRUB, systemd-boot)
Step-by-step repair guide for GRUB and systemd-boot on UEFI and legacy BIOS systems, covering BLS entries, dual-boot fixes, and EFI partition recovery.
Recover a Linux System from a Live USB
Boot a live USB, mount your broken Linux install, chroot into it, and fix the most common failures: bad fstab, forgotten passwords, and broken GRUB.
Analyse Linux Logs with journalctl, lnav and grep
Learn to investigate Linux logs using journalctl filters, grep pipelines, and lnav's interactive interface — then know when ELK or Loki makes more sense.
Diagnose and Fix "No Space Left" When Disk Is Empty (Inodes)
"No space left" with gigabytes free? You've hit inode exhaustion. Learn how to confirm it, find the culprit directories, clean up millions of files, and prevent recurrence.
Fix Locale, Charset and Timezone Issues
Fix broken locale, charset, and timezone settings on Linux—covering locale-gen, LC_* variables, timedatectl, container images, and cron environment traps.
Debug systemd Units that Won't Start
Learn a repeatable workflow to debug systemd services that won't start: status output, journalctl, systemd-analyze verify, and safe override.conf patches.
Back Up Linux with Borg or restic
Set up encrypted, deduplicated backups with BorgBackup or restic: local and remote repos, retention pruning, restoring files, and systemd timer scheduling.
How to Reset the Linux Network Stack
Reset a broken Linux network stack without rebooting: restart NetworkManager or systemd-networkd, flush the DNS cache, renew DHCP leases, and clear stale routes.
How to Recover Deleted Files on Linux with PhotoRec
Accidentally deleted files on Linux? PhotoRec scans raw disk sectors to recover documents, images, and more — no filesystem needed. Here's exactly how.
How to Fix dpkg "Broken Packages" Errors
Fix dpkg broken package errors step by step: configure pending packages, repair dependencies with apt --fix-broken, force-remove stuck packages, and rebuild the dpkg database.
How to Fix "Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock"
Fix the /var/lib/dpkg/lock error safely: identify the process holding the lock, handle stale files, and repair the package database without causing corruption.
How to Recover a Forgotten Root Password
Forgot the Linux root password? Boot into single-user mode or use rd.break to reset it safely, with steps for Debian, Fedora/RHEL, and Arch.
How to Read Logs with journalctl
Learn to filter systemd journal logs by unit, time, and priority with journalctl, follow logs live, and manage disk usage on any modern Linux system.
How to Mount and Unmount Drives
Learn how to mount and unmount drives on Linux using mount, umount, and /etc/fstab with UUIDs for reliable, persistent automounting across reboots.
How to Manage Services with systemctl
Learn to start, stop, enable, disable, and mask Linux services using systemctl, plus how to read failures and diagnose problems with journalctl.
How to Manage Disk Partitions on Linux
Learn to create, resize, and format Linux disk partitions using fdisk and parted, covering GPT, ext4/xfs/btrfs filesystems, fstab, and safe resizing procedures.
Linux Troubleshooting: A Practical First-Response Guide
A repeatable first-response method for Linux problems: read the error carefully, query journalctl, isolate the triggering change, search precisely, and ask for help effectively.
How to Keep Linux Updated
Learn how to safely update Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL, and Arch Linux systems using apt, dnf, and pacman — including how to hold or exclude packages.
How to Free Up Disk Space on Linux
Recover gigabytes on any Linux system by clearing package caches, trimming the systemd journal, removing old kernels, and hunting large files with ncdu.
How to Diagnose High CPU and Memory Usage
Learn to diagnose Linux CPU and memory problems using top, htop, load average, and the OOM killer log—from spotting runaway processes to preventing OOM kills.
How to Fix a Broken GRUB Bootloader
Fix a broken GRUB bootloader by booting from live media, chrooting into your installed system, reinstalling GRUB, and regenerating grub.cfg — covers BIOS/MBR and UEFI/GPT.
How to Check Disk Health with SMART
Learn to use smartctl to read SMART attributes, run drive self-tests, and identify early warning signs of HDD and SSD failure before data loss occurs.