Author: Andrew Baker
iperf3 Guide: Top 10 Network Performance Testing Use Cases
When something is “slow” on a network, opinions arrive before evidence. Storage teams blame the network, network teams blame the application, and application teams blame “the cloud”.☁️ iperf3 cuts through that noise by giving you hard, repeatable, protocol-level facts about throughput, latency behavior, and packet loss. This post explains what iperf3 actually measures, how it […]
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Redis vs Valkey: Enterprise Architecture Guide 2025
The in memory data store landscape fractured in March 2024 when Redis Inc abandoned its BSD 3-clause licence in favour of the dual RSALv2/SSPLv1 model. The community response was swift and surgical: Valkey emerged as a Linux Foundation backed fork, supported by AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle, Alibaba, Tencent, and Ericsson. Eighteen months later, both projects […]
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PostgreSQL 18: Performance Guide for Serious Workloads
PostgreSQL 18: A Grown-Up Release for Serious Workloads Introduction Every few years PostgreSQL delivers a release that does not just add features, but quietly shifts what the database is capable of at scale. PostgreSQL 18 is one of those releases. This is not a flashy new syntax everywhere upgrade. Instead, Postgres 18 focuses on long-standing […]
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Mobile Chat at Scale: Apache Pekko, SSE, and Java 25 Guide
Real time mobile chat represents one of the most demanding challenges in distributed systems architecture. Unlike web applications where connections are relatively stable, mobile clients constantly transition between networks, experience variable latency, and must conserve battery while maintaining instant message delivery. This post examines the architectural decisions behind building mobile chat at massive scale, the […]
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The Last Mile Fallacy: Why Organisations Misvalue Work
1. Introduction Organisations like to believe they reward outcomes. In reality, they reward visibility. This is the essence of the Last Mile Fallacy: the mistaken belief that the final visible step in a chain of work is where most of the value was created. We tip the waiter rather than the chef, praise the presenter […]
Read more →WordPress on AWS Graviton: Deploy & Migrate in Minutes
Running WordPress on ARM-based Graviton instances delivers up to 40% better price-performance compared to x86 equivalents. This guide provides production-ready scripts to deploy an optimised WordPress stack in minutes, plus everything you need to migrate your existing site. Why Graviton for WordPress? Graviton3 processors deliver: The t4g.small instance (2 vCPU, 2GB RAM) at ~$12/month handles […]
Read more →Disable iCloud Desktop Sync Without Losing Files: 3 Steps
The Problem: macOS Will Delete Your Local Files If you try to disable iCloud Drive syncing for your Desktop and Documents folders using the macOS System Settings interface, you’ll encounter this alarming warning: If you continue, items will be removed from the Desktop and the Documents folder on this Mac and will remain available in […]
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Incompetence Asymmetry: Why Managers Override Engineers
There’s a peculiar asymmetry in how humans handle their own incompetence. It reveals itself most starkly when you compare two scenarios: a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, and a project manager pushing delivery dates on a complex technology initiative. Both involve life altering stakes. Both require deep expertise the decision maker doesn’t possess. Yet in one […]
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Rubrik Architecture: Why Restore, Not Backup, Is the Product
1. Backups Should Be Boring (and That Is the Point) Backups are boring. They should be boring. A backup system that generates excitement is usually signalling failure. The only time backups become interesting is when they are missing, and that interest level is lethal. Emergency bridges. Frozen change windows. Executive escalation. Media briefings. Regulatory apology […]
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Engineering AI Safety: When Helpful Systems Cause Harm
In September 2025, Matt Raine sat before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism and read aloud from his son’s ChatGPT logs. Adam Raine was sixteen when he died. His father described how the chatbot had become Adam’s closest confidant, how it had discussed suicide methods with him, how it had discouraged him […]
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