Under the Radar

00:00:00 ◼   ► welcome to under the radar a show but

00:00:01 ◼   ► independent ios and app development I'm

00:00:03 ◼   ► Marco Arment and I'm David Smith under

00:00:06 ◼   ► the radar is never longer than 30

00:00:07 ◼   ► minutes

00:00:08 ◼   ► so let's get started so last week we

00:00:10 ◼   ► mentioned at the end how we were gonna

00:00:12 ◼   ► tell this week tips and and stories and

00:00:15 ◼   ► setups of how to run your own Linux

00:00:17 ◼   ► servers because this is now you know in

00:00:19 ◼   ► the wake of the parse announcement last

00:00:21 ◼   ► week this is now kind of in the news and

00:00:22 ◼   ► we think it's kind of a core competency

00:00:24 ◼   ► that many app developers should know

00:00:26 ◼   ► just how to run your own servers and and

00:00:28 ◼   ► once you know this it enables your apps

00:00:30 ◼   ► to be better to be more capable and and

00:00:33 ◼   ► if you if you do kind of a standard

00:00:35 ◼   ► server route without doing these like

00:00:37 ◼   ► kind of more abstract proprietary

00:00:38 ◼   ► services like parse it gives you a lot

00:00:41 ◼   ► of flexibility with what you can do in

00:00:42 ◼   ► the future and it kind of decouples you

00:00:44 ◼   ► from depending on a particular third

00:00:47 ◼   ► party to keep their their platform going

00:00:48 ◼   ► yeah and this is probably fair

00:00:50 ◼   ► disclaimer to say this is going to be an

00:00:52 ◼   ► episode that goes a bit into the weeds

00:00:54 ◼   ► like Dennis had some pretty low level

00:00:56 ◼   ► stuff and if that's for you awesome if

00:00:59 ◼   ► it isn't for you you know maybe stick

00:01:01 ◼   ► around you might learn something and

00:01:02 ◼   ► know that you know some some episodes

00:01:04 ◼   ► are gonna be high level some episodes

00:01:06 ◼   ► are gonna be low level and hopefully we

00:01:08 ◼   ► can have a nice balance as a result so

00:01:10 ◼   ► at a high level it's probably worth

00:01:12 ◼   ► starting of just kind of talking about

00:01:13 ◼   ► the the spectrum of hosting before we

00:01:16 ◼   ► kind of end it before why we do it the

00:01:18 ◼   ► way we do it

00:01:19 ◼   ► so ultimately hosting see in many ways

00:01:22 ◼   ► comes down to levels of abstraction like

00:01:25 ◼   ► how abstracted away if they're like the

00:01:27 ◼   ► actual computer that you're running your

00:01:30 ◼   ► servers and your backends and systems on

00:01:32 ◼   ► how much that is abstracted away from

00:01:35 ◼   ► you so like at the lowest level you have

00:01:37 ◼   ► a but I think it would be called

00:01:38 ◼   ► colocation or something like that where

00:01:40 ◼   ► you have a computer that's like your

00:01:43 ◼   ► computer that you went to Best Buy or

00:01:45 ◼   ► whatever to buy and you're taking it and

00:01:47 ◼   ► you're putting it somewhere typically in

00:01:48 ◼   ► some kind of data center that you put in

00:01:50 ◼   ► a data center so that it has reliable

00:01:51 ◼   ► power and reliable internet and reliable

00:01:54 ◼   ► air-conditioning and all those types of

00:01:55 ◼   ► things but like it's your machine most

00:01:59 ◼   ► people don't do that I would really not

00:02:00 ◼   ► recommend doing something like that most

00:02:03 ◼   ► people with a very least we do but I

00:02:05 ◼   ► think most people call like bare metal

00:02:06 ◼   ► managed servers where it's not really

00:02:08 ◼   ► your machine it's a service that they

00:02:11 ◼   ► buy machines they manage machines if

00:02:13 ◼   ► harddrive dies in the machine they'll go

00:02:15 ◼   ► and fix it for you but it's you have

00:02:18 ◼   ► actual like a dedicated piece of

00:02:20 ◼   ► hardware you know a set of hard drives a

00:02:23 ◼   ► motherboard a CPU that's exactly yours

00:02:26 ◼   ► and you probably don't want that either

00:02:28 ◼   ► I've I've gone down that road it's fine

00:02:30 ◼   ► but it has a lot of difficulties that we

00:02:34 ◼   ► aren't really offset by its costs both

00:02:37 ◼   ► in monetary and like ease of use so most

00:02:40 ◼   ► people who didn't even doing any kind of

00:02:43 ◼   ► hosting themselves will use something

00:02:44 ◼   ► that's more like a VPS which stands for

00:02:47 ◼   ► virtual private server which is like

00:02:49 ◼   ► basically like it's a machine from your

00:02:52 ◼   ► apps perspective like you are your app

00:02:54 ◼   ► sees it's a hard drive it sees a CPU it

00:02:57 ◼   ► sees memory but all of those aren't

00:02:59 ◼   ► actually physical things they're it's

00:03:02 ◼   ► running on a shared environment with a

00:03:04 ◼   ► bunch of other systems that I'll see the

00:03:06 ◼   ► same things and share resources and you

00:03:09 ◼   ► know you can use something like the node

00:03:11 ◼   ► for this or digitalocean is another one

00:03:14 ◼   ► that's pretty common in many ways ec2

00:03:16 ◼   ► kind of runs like this but it's a bit

00:03:18 ◼   ► different but you have these kinds of

00:03:20 ◼   ► systems where you have a virtual Linux

00:03:23 ◼   ► machine that you can do and you have

00:03:24 ◼   ► some nice advantages that bit because

00:03:25 ◼   ► because it's virtual you can do things

00:03:28 ◼   ► like pick it up and move it around you

00:03:30 ◼   ► know like you take an image of your hard

00:03:32 ◼   ► drive and you can copy it onto another

00:03:33 ◼   ► one and things like that that are really

00:03:35 ◼   ► easy to manage and from a cost

00:03:38 ◼   ► perspective it's way cheaper because

00:03:40 ◼   ► you're sharing you know server resources

00:03:42 ◼   ► and then above that you have things like

00:03:44 ◼   ► virtual server environments things like

00:03:46 ◼   ► a juror or Heroku or total abstractions

00:03:49 ◼   ► like cloud cater parse or those types of

00:03:51 ◼   ► things that are completely abstracting

00:03:53 ◼   ► away from you and if I said for most

00:03:56 ◼   ► people you probably want to start at a

00:03:57 ◼   ► VPS like you want to find out where

00:03:58 ◼   ► you're comfortable if you if the thought

00:04:00 ◼   ► of administering a Linux server even

00:04:02 ◼   ► after this episode is completely

00:04:04 ◼   ► overwhelming like maybe go to something

00:04:06 ◼   ► like Heroku or Azure where you have a

00:04:09 ◼   ► little bit of control over what you're

00:04:11 ◼   ► doing but mostly there's something there

00:04:13 ◼   ► but it's still at least general-purpose

00:04:15 ◼   ► but I think we both run for like reap

00:04:18 ◼   ► yes sir vers because once you know what

00:04:21 ◼   ► you're doing it's really cheap it's

00:04:23 ◼   ► really efficient and you have a lot of

00:04:25 ◼   ► flexibility that you could move

00:04:27 ◼   ► providers you can spin up new servers

00:04:29 ◼   ► and take them down really quickly and

00:04:31 ◼   ► easily and you know especially like the

00:04:34 ◼   ► cost is amazing it's incredible the

00:04:37 ◼   ► amount of performance you can get from a

00:04:38 ◼   ► really basic set up I mean at this point

00:04:40 ◼   ► I think I administer 19 Virtual Private

00:04:43 ◼   ► servers or something like that to ramai

00:04:45 ◼   ► apps and it's a pretty big number but

00:04:48 ◼   ► the actual load of that of actually

00:04:49 ◼   ► doing that is pretty straightforward oh

00:04:51 ◼   ► yeah and I mean and things have gotten

00:04:53 ◼   ► so cheap over the years like I now pay

00:04:54 ◼   ► for all of overcast which is something

00:04:57 ◼   ► like something like 11 VPS instances on

00:05:00 ◼   ► Linode I now pay for all of them what I

00:05:03 ◼   ► used to pay for one database server for

00:05:05 ◼   ► Instapaper back in the day and that

00:05:07 ◼   ► wasn't that long ago that's like five

00:05:08 ◼   ► years ago

00:05:09 ◼   ► so what you can get now with with at the

00:05:12 ◼   ► VPS level is just incredibly good

00:05:14 ◼   ► I was the biggest fan of bare metal

00:05:15 ◼   ► dedicated servers before but now even I

00:05:18 ◼   ► have converted because you can just you

00:05:20 ◼   ► know the competition especially between

00:05:22 ◼   ► Linode and digitalocean has has really

00:05:24 ◼   ► made incredibly fast Hardware available

00:05:26 ◼   ► for almost no money and it also makes it

00:05:29 ◼   ► much easier to learn because you know it

00:05:31 ◼   ► lets you and we'll get into this in a

00:05:33 ◼   ► little bit but it lets you you know if

00:05:34 ◼   ► you can just like in you know in a

00:05:37 ◼   ► simple command on a web interface so not

00:05:39 ◼   ► involving buying anything not involving

00:05:41 ◼   ► emailing anybody or placing any orders

00:05:43 ◼   ► with anybody just in a web interface you

00:05:45 ◼   ► can quickly create an instance of a

00:05:48 ◼   ► server then you can do things like let

00:05:50 ◼   ► me see how easy is it to set up PHP or

00:05:53 ◼   ► whatever like you can do things like

00:05:54 ◼   ► that or you can say you know I wonder

00:05:55 ◼   ► how whether whether this new district

00:05:58 ◼   ► district of linux makes more sense to me

00:05:59 ◼   ► or or I wonder if my software will run

00:06:01 ◼   ► on this other distro or this other web

00:06:03 ◼   ► server or whatever you can just spin up

00:06:05 ◼   ► a new instance in minutes and you know

00:06:08 ◼   ► run your install script and and you know

00:06:10 ◼   ► try poke around try things out see what

00:06:12 ◼   ► works you would you know see what breaks

00:06:14 ◼   ► and if if at any point you decide this

00:06:17 ◼   ► wasn't for you or this didn't go well

00:06:18 ◼   ► you can just delete the instance and

00:06:20 ◼   ► you've paid up to that point maybe 50

00:06:23 ◼   ► cents like it's it's crazy how easy this

00:06:26 ◼   ► is to to both administer servers and to

00:06:29 ◼   ► learn how to administer servers now in

00:06:31 ◼   ► the world of VPS yeah because it's

00:06:33 ◼   ► lovely think of most of these are

00:06:34 ◼   ► charged by hour of use or something like

00:06:38 ◼   ► that and so you can they're just kind of

00:06:39 ◼   ► like utility in that way they

00:06:41 ◼   ► you can just spin them up when you want

00:06:43 ◼   ► him but take him down when you don't

00:06:44 ◼   ► want them anymore and like it's very

00:06:47 ◼   ► straightforward and easy to do in a way

00:06:49 ◼   ► that is kind of scary the first time you

00:06:50 ◼   ► do it that you just like hit a button

00:06:52 ◼   ► and it's like oh here's a machine go

00:06:54 ◼   ► ahead and ssh into it and get started

00:06:56 ◼   ► yeah I mean it's so easy that like you

00:06:58 ◼   ► know one way you could have done it

00:06:59 ◼   ► before is by running something like

00:07:01 ◼   ► VMware fusion or parallels on your

00:07:03 ◼   ► computer and virtualizing little Linux

00:07:05 ◼   ► setups on your computer and doing that

00:07:07 ◼   ► but now it's so cheap and easy to go do

00:07:10 ◼   ► it on linen or digital ocean that it's

00:07:13 ◼   ► actually easier to do that than it is to

00:07:15 ◼   ► do it on your local computer like now I

00:07:18 ◼   ► do all my experimentation on VPS I don't

00:07:20 ◼   ► even have our tools agent software

00:07:21 ◼   ► installed anymore on my Mac yeah and I'm

00:07:23 ◼   ► the same way like the only thing I used

00:07:25 ◼   ► my Mac for when I'm doing this kind of

00:07:27 ◼   ► thing is like the first level of the

00:07:30 ◼   ► nice thing about using listen like Linux

00:07:32 ◼   ► is that it's you know these are the

00:07:34 ◼   ► basic underpinning is underneath our

00:07:36 ◼   ► Macs are like it's you know it's some

00:07:38 ◼   ► kind of UNIX space thing I couldn't tell

00:07:40 ◼   ► you all of the history of it but

00:07:41 ◼   ► functionally like your Mac is running

00:07:43 ◼   ► the same basic stack kernel the types of

00:07:46 ◼   ► things that your ultimate server is

00:07:48 ◼   ► gonna run and so like I use my Mac

00:07:50 ◼   ► because I can learn and kind of

00:07:52 ◼   ► prototype and try some of the things

00:07:54 ◼   ► that ultimately I'm gonna run on my

00:07:55 ◼   ► linic I might like main so server

00:07:57 ◼   ► locally like I have a development

00:07:58 ◼   ► database that runs on my on my machine I

00:08:00 ◼   ► have a web have a web server that runs

00:08:02 ◼   ► on my local machine which makes

00:08:04 ◼   ► prototyping really quick but as soon as

00:08:05 ◼   ► I want to do anything that's going to be

00:08:07 ◼   ► simulating my end environment I just

00:08:11 ◼   ► yeah I just spin up an instance and run

00:08:12 ◼   ► it and I have a couple of just instances

00:08:14 ◼   ► that you're just bringing up you're like

00:08:15 ◼   ► try it out if it works great if it

00:08:17 ◼   ► doesn't you know you can just delete it

00:08:18 ◼   ► and start again so wait once you've

00:08:21 ◼   ► decided you're going to build and build

00:08:23 ◼   ► in a Linux instance and get started like

00:08:26 ◼   ► I'm the actual process is pretty

00:08:29 ◼   ► straightforward she'll go to a virtual

00:08:30 ◼   ► private server provider and just sort of

00:08:34 ◼   ► you'll be set up your instance it'll

00:08:36 ◼   ► give you some credentials and an IP

00:08:37 ◼   ► address and a few things that you'll

00:08:38 ◼   ► have for like how to log into it and

00:08:40 ◼   ► then you just log in and get started and

00:08:42 ◼   ► for most applications you're going to

00:08:44 ◼   ► install at least two things on that

00:08:46 ◼   ► you're going to install a web server and

00:08:48 ◼   ► a database of some kind and starting out

00:08:52 ◼   ► you could probably put them both on the

00:08:53 ◼   ► same machine

00:08:54 ◼   ► eventually you'll probably do a thing

00:08:56 ◼   ► where you'll split the web database onto

00:08:58 ◼   ► its own machine and put a one or more

00:09:00 ◼   ► web servers in front of it but if you

00:09:03 ◼   ► know the very least you're going to

00:09:04 ◼   ► install some kind of web server

00:09:05 ◼   ► environment some kind of database the

00:09:07 ◼   ► web server that you choose it's entirely

00:09:09 ◼   ► up to you like I use Ruby on Rails for

00:09:12 ◼   ► all my backends I think all of your

00:09:13 ◼   ► ziering PHP yeah I mean and I have many

00:09:16 ◼   ► opinions on like how you choose these

00:09:18 ◼   ► tools I will summarize them for the sake

00:09:21 ◼   ► of this being a short show I will

00:09:23 ◼   ► summarize them as what you want most of

00:09:26 ◼   ► all when choosing server software if you

00:09:28 ◼   ► don't want to be administering and

00:09:29 ◼   ► tweaking with your server constantly

00:09:31 ◼   ► what you want is old boring and popular

00:09:34 ◼   ► those three things old boring and

00:09:37 ◼   ► popular new and trendy does not

00:09:39 ◼   ► necessarily always mean better in this

00:09:42 ◼   ► case you know especially like what what

00:09:45 ◼   ► makes some people think that the new

00:09:46 ◼   ► stuff is better is vague claims of it

00:09:49 ◼   ► being quote scalable and beware of any

00:09:52 ◼   ► claims of things being scalable because

00:09:55 ◼   ► in reality scaling web services up not

00:09:59 ◼   ► only is it the kind of thing that you

00:10:00 ◼   ► will probably never need for almost any

00:10:02 ◼   ► project that you do but when you do need

00:10:04 ◼   ► it it is way more complicated and there

00:10:08 ◼   ► is no silver bullet for scaling there is

00:10:10 ◼   ► nothing that automatically scales unless

00:10:13 ◼   ► it also automatically scales on for all

00:10:14 ◼   ► of your money away but there there is

00:10:16 ◼   ► nothing that automatically and easily

00:10:18 ◼   ► scales scaling is always complicated and

00:10:20 ◼   ► always tricky it's just you know the new

00:10:22 ◼   ► things that claim scalability just scale

00:10:24 ◼   ► differently and it the challenges are

00:10:27 ◼   ► just different challenges the newer

00:10:29 ◼   ► something is the trendy or new or

00:10:31 ◼   ► something is that means you know the

00:10:35 ◼   ► fewer people have experience with it and

00:10:37 ◼   ► and the the fewer large installations it

00:10:41 ◼   ► has and so that means there's less

00:10:43 ◼   ► knowledge in the world about how it

00:10:45 ◼   ► fails or what the anti-patterns

00:10:47 ◼   ► of it might be so as you go a lower

00:10:50 ◼   ► level in the stack being this kind of

00:10:52 ◼   ► conservative preferring things that are

00:10:54 ◼   ► old boring and popular it becomes more

00:10:55 ◼   ► important so like if you want to use

00:10:58 ◼   ► like a brand new cutting-edge CSS

00:11:00 ◼   ► library go for it doesn't matter really

00:11:02 ◼   ► you know if it works for you go for it

00:11:04 ◼   ► your risk is pretty low there but you

00:11:06 ◼   ► you probably would not want to use

00:11:08 ◼   ► a beta version of the Linux kernel you

00:11:11 ◼   ► know it's like as you go down the stack

00:11:13 ◼   ► you want to be more conservative because

00:11:15 ◼   ► it's just it's just kind of a bad idea

00:11:16 ◼   ► to take risks lower down and I include

00:11:19 ◼   ► things like the database in that you

00:11:21 ◼   ► know MySQL and Postgres are great

00:11:23 ◼   ► they're battle-tested they are old

00:11:25 ◼   ► boring and popular that is what you want

00:11:28 ◼   ► in your database just like you wouldn't

00:11:30 ◼   ► want a trendy new kind of breaks on your

00:11:32 ◼   ► car like you want to time-tested breaks

00:11:35 ◼   ► that everyone knows works and everyone

00:11:37 ◼   ► knows that you aren't going to be

00:11:38 ◼   ► pushing the boundaries of them you know

00:11:40 ◼   ► you want a really boring database and I

00:11:44 ◼   ► would say you want a really boring

00:11:45 ◼   ► language - because let really new

00:11:47 ◼   ► cutting-edge languages are still in flux

00:11:50 ◼   ► and so if you want to have this kind of

00:11:53 ◼   ► like set it and forget it kind of server

00:11:55 ◼   ► approach you don't want to have to deal

00:11:57 ◼   ► with a young languages frequent changes

00:12:01 ◼   ► and frequent needs for being updated you

00:12:04 ◼   ► know you want to minimize anything that

00:12:06 ◼   ► will require your attention or that

00:12:08 ◼   ► might break your app so you want to

00:12:10 ◼   ► minimize the need for you know backward

00:12:12 ◼   ► compatible updates and things like that

00:12:14 ◼   ► or crashes and you know having to

00:12:16 ◼   ► install little bug fixes constantly for

00:12:18 ◼   ► the for the language of database you're

00:12:20 ◼   ► using you want to avoid all of that

00:12:22 ◼   ► because new really new means untested or

00:12:26 ◼   ► less tested another thing that you hit

00:12:28 ◼   ► with new stuff is in the language layer

00:12:31 ◼   ► new means that you have fewer

00:12:34 ◼   ► third-party libraries and and generally

00:12:36 ◼   ► less third-party code and this is a

00:12:38 ◼   ► problem like I I'm using PHP forever and

00:12:41 ◼   ► PHP third-party code is mostly garbage

00:12:43 ◼   ► but there is so much of it out there

00:12:45 ◼   ► that any any need that I have I can find

00:12:48 ◼   ► something to do it and it isn't always

00:12:50 ◼   ► good but I can find something and as

00:12:52 ◼   ► I've started writing some newer things

00:12:54 ◼   ► and go and go I like as a language

00:12:56 ◼   ► conceptually but there because it's such

00:12:59 ◼   ► a such a younger language and it isn't

00:13:01 ◼   ► that popular yet and might never become

00:13:03 ◼   ► popular who knows but because it's it's

00:13:05 ◼   ► younger and less popular there is very

00:13:08 ◼   ► little third-party go code for some very

00:13:11 ◼   ► common things that I keep meeting to do

00:13:12 ◼   ► and I keep every time I need to write

00:13:14 ◼   ► something new and go I hit this wall of

00:13:16 ◼   ► oh I'll just load up the you know

00:13:17 ◼   ► markdown module and I look and there's

00:13:19 ◼   ► like three of them that are all kind of

00:13:22 ◼   ► half

00:13:22 ◼   ► and you know and I haven't looked in a

00:13:24 ◼   ► while for markdown so maybe that's a bad

00:13:25 ◼   ► example but I keep hitting that wall

00:13:27 ◼   ► whenever I do anything in a new language

00:13:29 ◼   ► if oh I just want to see how oh how do I

00:13:31 ◼   ► resize an image oh well you kind of

00:13:33 ◼   ► can't unless you do this and so it's

00:13:36 ◼   ► always easier to use old boring and

00:13:38 ◼   ► popular stuff it may be less interesting

00:13:40 ◼   ► and if you are the kind of person who

00:13:42 ◼   ► wants you know cutting-edge languages

00:13:45 ◼   ► and who find that satisfying then you

00:13:48 ◼   ► will trade time and maintenance for that

00:13:50 ◼   ► and so if for the goal of

00:13:51 ◼   ► low-maintenance and and you know low

00:13:54 ◼   ► server maintenance I highly suggest that

00:13:56 ◼   ► you use other parts of your app to get

00:13:59 ◼   ► the kind of like newness out of your

00:14:01 ◼   ► system like yeah use the higher-level

00:14:02 ◼   ► parts or use maybe the iOS side of it if

00:14:04 ◼   ► if you have an iOS and a web app use

00:14:06 ◼   ► that side of it to do new cool stuff and

00:14:08 ◼   ► make the server as boring old and

00:14:11 ◼   ► popular as possible because the old

00:14:12 ◼   ► boring popular stuff works it really

00:14:15 ◼   ► works it hardly ever breaks and if and

00:14:18 ◼   ► you will never be the biggest person

00:14:20 ◼   ► using it because long before you know

00:14:22 ◼   ► even suppose that you build something

00:14:24 ◼   ► with old boring stuff suppose it gets

00:14:27 ◼   ► like the size of Etsy right Etsy is huge

00:14:29 ◼   ► it's not the biggest website on the on

00:14:31 ◼   ► the internet but it's huge right it gets

00:14:32 ◼   ► the size of Etsy if you get that big

00:14:35 ◼   ► will you be the biggest user of anything

00:14:39 ◼   ► in your stack because once you're the

00:14:40 ◼   ► biggest user of like your database or

00:14:42 ◼   ► something then you basically become a

00:14:45 ◼   ► developer of that database you will hit

00:14:47 ◼   ► all the bugs you will have to go in and

00:14:48 ◼   ► make patches yourself to customize

00:14:50 ◼   ► things that aren't working or that

00:14:51 ◼   ► aren't working well or aren't working

00:14:52 ◼   ► right for you you know so like Facebook

00:14:54 ◼   ► if Facebook rolls out tons of patches

00:14:57 ◼   ► and things Twitter has rolled out tons

00:14:58 ◼   ► of patches or things like memcache I

00:14:59 ◼   ► mean like there's there's all these like

00:15:01 ◼   ► big companies all these big web

00:15:02 ◼   ► companies end up having to basically

00:15:04 ◼   ► partially take over parts of the stack

00:15:06 ◼   ► that depend on open source wise and make

00:15:09 ◼   ► their own contributions and fixes

00:15:10 ◼   ► because they hit tons of bugs you never

00:15:12 ◼   ► want to be the biggest user of anything

00:15:14 ◼   ► in your stack and you know when you

00:15:16 ◼   ► start out of course you won't be the

00:15:17 ◼   ► biggest user of basically anything but

00:15:19 ◼   ► you could become the biggest user like

00:15:20 ◼   ► you'd be surprised you know you hear

00:15:22 ◼   ► about new trendy things but you'd be

00:15:24 ◼   ► surprised how few big companies actually

00:15:27 ◼   ► use them so you never want to be that

00:15:29 ◼   ► because he was ever anything you want

00:15:30 ◼   ► Facebook to have fixed every bug in that

00:15:32 ◼   ► stack years before you ever hit it

00:15:35 ◼   ► yeah I think we're ready rubber both

00:15:36 ◼   ► coming at it from the perspective of

00:15:38 ◼   ► being apt developers like what makes our

00:15:40 ◼   ► apps cool is not the back end stack

00:15:42 ◼   ► that's got nothing to do with like the

00:15:45 ◼   ► thing that I'm gonna be marketing my app

00:15:46 ◼   ► has like my customer shouldn't care no

00:15:49 ◼   ► one like it's only it exists for the

00:15:52 ◼   ► sole purpose of just getting a job done

00:15:54 ◼   ► like my most of my backends are the most

00:15:56 ◼   ► ridiculously boring simple applications

00:15:59 ◼   ► as I can possibly make it I put all the

00:16:01 ◼   ► much logic and smarts as I can in the

00:16:04 ◼   ► apps itself like the database is just

00:16:06 ◼   ► it's mostly just a nice wrapper for a

00:16:08 ◼   ► database and something that's simple and

00:16:10 ◼   ► straightforward that I can set up and

00:16:12 ◼   ► then I never think about again like the

00:16:16 ◼   ► only time I ever really think about my

00:16:17 ◼   ► databases is or like my servers is like

00:16:20 ◼   ► when there's some big security thing

00:16:22 ◼   ► that I need to make sure was Auto

00:16:23 ◼   ► updated or I'm adding major new

00:16:26 ◼   ► functionality to the front end to my

00:16:28 ◼   ► applications and then I have to go back

00:16:30 ◼   ► and like you know add something to it

00:16:33 ◼   ► but otherwise I just wanted as simple

00:16:34 ◼   ► and basic as can be it's just like a big

00:16:36 ◼   ► dish just like a big database that I

00:16:38 ◼   ► just a database that I can put things in

00:16:39 ◼   ► and then later get them out and as long

00:16:41 ◼   ► as it can do that I'm good and if

00:16:43 ◼   ► anything what are you using old boring

00:16:45 ◼   ► and popular if anything ever goes wrong

00:16:48 ◼   ► or if you have any questions whatsoever

00:16:50 ◼   ► or anything comes up you can just search

00:16:52 ◼   ► the web and you have hundreds of answers

00:16:55 ◼   ► from the thousands of other people who

00:16:57 ◼   ► have used that already and have

00:16:58 ◼   ► documented it like three years earlier I

00:17:00 ◼   ► think like it's just it's so much easier

00:17:03 ◼   ► to to make your your your server-side

00:17:06 ◼   ► stack something that you can easily

00:17:08 ◼   ► forget about most of the time and you

00:17:10 ◼   ► know you don't even have to deal with it

00:17:12 ◼   ► exactly and I guess once you decide on

00:17:16 ◼   ► which one you want to do it's like it

00:17:17 ◼   ► the process from there is honestly

00:17:18 ◼   ► pretty straightforward you pick

00:17:19 ◼   ► something you install it usually these

00:17:22 ◼   ► kind of things that are pretty

00:17:23 ◼   ► straightforward install process like if

00:17:25 ◼   ► you're you know there's you be some kind

00:17:27 ◼   ► of version of like go get me my sequel

00:17:30 ◼   ► go get me Postgres go get me nginx go

00:17:33 ◼   ► get me apache and the server will go get

00:17:36 ◼   ► it install it configure it you'll change

00:17:38 ◼   ► a few configuration files and you'll be

00:17:40 ◼   ► up and running because it's boring and

00:17:42 ◼   ► the process that I'm getting it set up

00:17:46 ◼   ► has been done by thousands of people so

00:17:48 ◼   ► everything's

00:17:48 ◼   ► automated inscripted and the only thing

00:17:51 ◼   ► that I had mentioned there is one thing

00:17:52 ◼   ► that I learned early on is once I've set

00:17:54 ◼   ► up a server the first kind of what the

00:17:56 ◼   ► first time for I always a document how I

00:17:59 ◼   ► did it like the steps I did and then I

00:18:01 ◼   ► will usually destroy what I did the

00:18:02 ◼   ► first time and do it again

00:18:03 ◼   ► to make sure I actually know what I'm

00:18:05 ◼   ► doing to avoid the situation where down

00:18:07 ◼   ► the road you are trying to like recreate

00:18:09 ◼   ► a web server and you can never get it to

00:18:11 ◼   ► work quite right and it turns out it's

00:18:13 ◼   ► because the first time you did it you

00:18:15 ◼   ► did this step that you forgot to

00:18:16 ◼   ► document and so that was like no one

00:18:19 ◼   ► will approach first little pro tip is

00:18:21 ◼   ► like the first time you when you think

00:18:22 ◼   ► you got it right that's great

00:18:24 ◼   ► now do it again because if you if it

00:18:26 ◼   ► works the second time then you know you

00:18:28 ◼   ► actually understand your city or your

00:18:29 ◼   ► setup and could we'll be able to do it

00:18:31 ◼   ► multiple times if down the road you need

00:18:33 ◼   ► to because when you need to do it down

00:18:34 ◼   ► the road it's usually under some kind of

00:18:36 ◼   ► duress because you're like wow things

00:18:39 ◼   ► are going really well I needed another

00:18:40 ◼   ► web server to keep up with the load like

00:18:43 ◼   ► that's a good thing but it's also a bit

00:18:44 ◼   ► of an urgent thing yeah and VPS does

00:18:46 ◼   ► make this so much easier because not

00:18:47 ◼   ► only can you like you know you can just

00:18:49 ◼   ► clone whatsoever you already have if you

00:18:50 ◼   ► need to but also like you can do things

00:18:52 ◼   ► like you know automate this with a big

00:18:54 ◼   ► shell script as you as you figure out

00:18:56 ◼   ► like this is what I do like whenever I

00:18:57 ◼   ► have to install you know something new

00:18:58 ◼   ► or change something I format everything

00:19:01 ◼   ► I'm doing as a shell script as I'm going

00:19:02 ◼   ► and then I can then I can rerun it on a

00:19:05 ◼   ► fresh server from a VPS like you know it

00:19:08 ◼   ► just what you said that you can kind of

00:19:09 ◼   ► verify your work and it's it's so much

00:19:12 ◼   ► easier man it's like doing this and I

00:19:15 ◼   ► should also say like anything that is

00:19:17 ◼   ► not really easy to install from a

00:19:19 ◼   ► package manager like if if suppose

00:19:21 ◼   ► you're looking at you know I'm looking

00:19:23 ◼   ► at some PHP library to manipulate an

00:19:25 ◼   ► image or something you know that this is

00:19:27 ◼   ► just a weird example and if there's like

00:19:29 ◼   ► three of them and one of them is in the

00:19:32 ◼   ► repository that my server comes with

00:19:34 ◼   ► like the the UM or apt-get repo like one

00:19:37 ◼   ► of them is in the repo and I can install

00:19:39 ◼   ► it with what with you know one word on

00:19:41 ◼   ► the command line and one of them needs

00:19:43 ◼   ► to be built from source I'm going with

00:19:44 ◼   ► the one in the repo because like that's

00:19:47 ◼   ► like anything as a general rule of thumb

00:19:49 ◼   ► anything that you need to build from

00:19:51 ◼   ► source or manually download from

00:19:53 ◼   ► somewhere that is not in your package

00:19:54 ◼   ► manager try to avoid needing that and

00:19:58 ◼   ► and everything becomes a lot easier and

00:20:00 ◼   ► package managers are not flawless you

00:20:01 ◼   ► know sometimes

00:20:02 ◼   ► you'll hit some weird conflict but

00:20:04 ◼   ► that's very rare

00:20:06 ◼   ► if you especially if you stick with the

00:20:07 ◼   ► with like the the default repositories

00:20:09 ◼   ► that come configured with it because

00:20:11 ◼   ► those are so heavily tested by other

00:20:14 ◼   ► people and again old boring and popular

00:20:16 ◼   ► that you might not be able to use the

00:20:17 ◼   ► newest version of something or or a

00:20:19 ◼   ► cutting-edge feature of something or or

00:20:20 ◼   ► an obscure module of something but if

00:20:23 ◼   ► you can if you can get away with not

00:20:24 ◼   ► using it you are saving yourself time in

00:20:26 ◼   ► the future

00:20:27 ◼   ► exactly we're sponsored this week by our

00:20:30 ◼   ► friends at a glue the intranet you will

00:20:32 ◼   ► actually like with a glue you don't have

00:20:34 ◼   ► to be stuck at your desk to do your work

00:20:36 ◼   ► you can manage your task list from your

00:20:37 ◼   ► laptop during a meeting you can share

00:20:39 ◼   ► status updates from your phone as you're

00:20:40 ◼   ► leaving a client site you can even

00:20:42 ◼   ► access the latest version of a file from

00:20:43 ◼   ► your home whether you're wearing pants

00:20:46 ◼   ► or pajamas or anything nobody will even

00:20:47 ◼   ► know these days everything is mobile

00:20:50 ◼   ► your work should be - now if you've ever

00:20:52 ◼   ► looked at a corporate intranet you can

00:20:54 ◼   ► possibly thought whoever designed this

00:20:56 ◼   ► must truly hate me and everyone I know

00:20:57 ◼   ► with a glue those days are over

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00:21:02 ◼   ► want to be they're surprisingly

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00:21:21 ◼   ► responsive they work on every device any

00:21:23 ◼   ► screen size new devices come out they

00:21:25 ◼   ► work on day one and they have all these

00:21:27 ◼   ► great integrations with modern services

00:21:29 ◼   ► that you actually use things like box

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00:21:36 ◼   ► platform they do things like 256 bit

00:21:39 ◼   ► encryption single sign-on Active

00:21:40 ◼   ► Directory integrations you if you know

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00:21:44 ◼   ► how safe and secure a glue is so share

00:21:46 ◼   ► your files with your co-workers for

00:21:47 ◼   ► everyone to collaborate on do everything

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00:22:05 ◼   ► today thank you so much to a Lou for

00:22:06 ◼   ► supporting under the radar and all of

00:22:08 ◼   ► real afm okay so once you now have this

00:22:12 ◼   ► the server set up its running your

00:22:15 ◼   ► systems up and going

00:22:16 ◼   ► the thing that of course seems worth

00:22:18 ◼   ► pointing out is some of the lessons

00:22:20 ◼   ► we've learned about how things typically

00:22:23 ◼   ► go wrong when they actually you know

00:22:26 ◼   ► said if you got this deployed you got it

00:22:27 ◼   ► running hopefully you have something

00:22:29 ◼   ► running to monitor it I think I use

00:22:32 ◼   ► Pingdom I don't know what you use but

00:22:34 ◼   ► you have some kind of call where I also

00:22:35 ◼   ► use big dumb there you go they're a

00:22:37 ◼   ► great service it just you give them a

00:22:39 ◼   ► URL and they will hit it and one thing I

00:22:41 ◼   ► always like with those kinds of URLs is

00:22:44 ◼   ► don't point it to like the root URL of

00:22:47 ◼   ► your site to make sure that it's up like

00:22:50 ◼   ► have a special URL that it hits that

00:22:52 ◼   ► will test your whole stack you know so

00:22:54 ◼   ► it'll go down to the database make sure

00:22:55 ◼   ► the database is running it if you have

00:22:58 ◼   ► like a certain search you know query

00:23:00 ◼   ► system like it'll go and hit that and

00:23:02 ◼   ► then report back results so that you're

00:23:04 ◼   ► actually testing your whole thing but

00:23:05 ◼   ► you know you have something that's

00:23:07 ◼   ► testing it every now and then you'll get

00:23:09 ◼   ► a little message that says oh it's down

00:23:11 ◼   ► like why is that and usually on the nice

00:23:16 ◼   ► thing like it doesn't actually happen

00:23:17 ◼   ► very often like for running of as many

00:23:19 ◼   ► services I think we both run like

00:23:20 ◼   ► outages are pretty rare things are

00:23:22 ◼   ► pretty reliable and stable these days

00:23:23 ◼   ► like in general like you every now and

00:23:25 ◼   ► then you'll hit some kind of network

00:23:27 ◼   ► outage in the data center which you

00:23:29 ◼   ► can't really do anything about which is

00:23:31 ◼   ► awesome because you can't do anything

00:23:32 ◼   ► about it yeah you know you go you go on

00:23:34 ◼   ► Twitter and you apologize to your users

00:23:35 ◼   ► and you just wait for the host to fix it

00:23:37 ◼   ► yeah and that's great it's it's there's

00:23:40 ◼   ► nothing to be done and that's gonna

00:23:41 ◼   ► happen no matter where you are to like

00:23:43 ◼   ► originally I think oh well you know

00:23:46 ◼   ► maybe I if I was using something else I

00:23:48 ◼   ► wouldn't have this problem but it's like

00:23:49 ◼   ► everything has this problem like I've

00:23:52 ◼   ► been on a lot of hosts before they've

00:23:53 ◼   ► all had outages yeah like those are just

00:23:56 ◼   ► built into it but like beyond that

00:23:59 ◼   ► there's not that many of things that

00:24:00 ◼   ► happen like usually the issues I run

00:24:02 ◼   ► into you like the most common thing that

00:24:04 ◼   ► I'll hit is something like a machine

00:24:08 ◼   ► will run out of disk space which seems

00:24:10 ◼   ► kind of basic but it's happened to me

00:24:11 ◼   ► several times where I turns out I have

00:24:13 ◼   ► some log file that isn't being rotated

00:24:15 ◼   ► correctly and it's you know it's just

00:24:18 ◼   ► like my machine it's completely out of

00:24:19 ◼   ► space and so some things it'll just like

00:24:22 ◼   ► start falling over in a really confusing

00:24:23 ◼   ► way so I just go and check on my servers

00:24:26 ◼   ► every now and then and just like make

00:24:28 ◼   ► sure that they have space and the space

00:24:30 ◼   ► isn't

00:24:30 ◼   ► getting smaller and smaller because most

00:24:31 ◼   ► servers should just be very stable and

00:24:33 ◼   ► unchanging and once you do that things

00:24:36 ◼   ► are pretty good and then you run into

00:24:39 ◼   ► unfortunately the the next most likely

00:24:42 ◼   ► case of problems is probably what we

00:24:44 ◼   ► would call human error and unfortunately

00:24:48 ◼   ► you are the human that is causing the

00:24:50 ◼   ► error

00:24:51 ◼   ► so we've when you're administering your

00:24:53 ◼   ► own servers you have all these little

00:24:55 ◼   ► opportunities for you to do something

00:24:57 ◼   ► that ends up breaking your back-end I've

00:25:01 ◼   ► run a deployment to one of my to my via

00:25:03 ◼   ► RSS syncing system feed Wrangler or I

00:25:05 ◼   ► roll the deployment out that dropped the

00:25:08 ◼   ► main feed item table accidentally that

00:25:11 ◼   ► was that was an interesting test of how

00:25:13 ◼   ► good my backup strategy was and took the

00:25:16 ◼   ► service down for four hours but you know

00:25:19 ◼   ► that's why you have backups and that's

00:25:21 ◼   ► why you eventually learned to be very

00:25:23 ◼   ► very very careful whenever you're

00:25:26 ◼   ► touching your production databases yes

00:25:29 ◼   ► yeah database backup is very very

00:25:31 ◼   ► important

00:25:32 ◼   ► every VPS provider I know of supports

00:25:35 ◼   ► snapshotting the machines backup usually

00:25:37 ◼   ► you have to do something special to

00:25:38 ◼   ► backup a database because you can't just

00:25:40 ◼   ► like copy the file and have it be

00:25:42 ◼   ► consistent but there are tools for every

00:25:43 ◼   ► popular database to take like snapshot

00:25:45 ◼   ► backups of them and dump them into files

00:25:47 ◼   ► or whatever so so look into that for

00:25:49 ◼   ► your database of choice for MySQL it's

00:25:51 ◼   ► definitely a extra backup as the one I

00:25:53 ◼   ► recommend from Percona Postgres probably

00:25:55 ◼   ► you Postgres people you probably go oh

00:25:57 ◼   ► just automatically does this for you you

00:25:58 ◼   ► don't have to even think about it cuz

00:25:59 ◼   ► Postgres is amazing in MySQL you know

00:26:01 ◼   ► bad but right is that is that roughly

00:26:03 ◼   ► correct not exactly I used a thing

00:26:05 ◼   ► called Wally as my backup system which

00:26:10 ◼   ► is yeah like the nice thing about a most

00:26:12 ◼   ► good backup systems to with databases is

00:26:15 ◼   ► they can often allow you to do point in

00:26:17 ◼   ► time recovery mmm which is really

00:26:20 ◼   ► helpful for that kind of a human error

00:26:22 ◼   ► problem where you issued a particular

00:26:24 ◼   ► command at a particular time and that

00:26:27 ◼   ► destroyed all your data so like even if

00:26:29 ◼   ► you had like your backup if you had a

00:26:32 ◼   ► snapshot right afterwards like wouldn't

00:26:33 ◼   ► you know it's like you need to recreate

00:26:35 ◼   ► the database you need to go back in time

00:26:36 ◼   ► and like undo queries and so if you have

00:26:39 ◼   ► an a system where that uses point in

00:26:42 ◼   ► time recovery which I don't like while

00:26:43 ◼   ► he does and I'm sure there's

00:26:44 ◼   ► sequal things to do the same thing like

00:26:45 ◼   ► you can kind of replay what your

00:26:47 ◼   ► database was doing and recreate it like

00:26:49 ◼   ► just before you were an idiot yeah bitch

00:26:51 ◼   ► binary logging in my school yeah which

00:26:53 ◼   ► is awesome being able to do that is a

00:26:55 ◼   ► tremendously helpful thing hopefully you

00:26:57 ◼   ► never use it but you know I think given

00:27:00 ◼   ► that we've both done it or done things

00:27:02 ◼   ► like that it probably happened at some

00:27:04 ◼   ► point and you just want to be prepared

00:27:05 ◼   ► oh yeah one thing also uh you know

00:27:08 ◼   ► earlier research about automating as

00:27:09 ◼   ► much as possible with the set up as much

00:27:11 ◼   ► as you can automate the the health of

00:27:14 ◼   ► your servers like you know Pingdom

00:27:16 ◼   ► monitoring for the overall uptime of

00:27:18 ◼   ► your app is great one thing I do to

00:27:20 ◼   ► prevent like your disk space issue is I

00:27:22 ◼   ► have to Pingdom alerts for any surface I

00:27:24 ◼   ► run one of them is is it up and that

00:27:26 ◼   ► one's on high alert if anything goes

00:27:28 ◼   ► down it that would like the main site is

00:27:31 ◼   ► down then everything of mine beeps and

00:27:34 ◼   ► vibrates like everything alerts me but I

00:27:36 ◼   ► also have have a lower class one usually

00:27:39 ◼   ► called stats or vitals where that hits a

00:27:41 ◼   ► special URL which checks all the servers

00:27:44 ◼   ► for things like low disk space and very

00:27:47 ◼   ► high CPU load and things like that and

00:27:49 ◼   ► it it gives Pingdom a down result if

00:27:53 ◼   ► anything like that is out of whack and

00:27:56 ◼   ► then it's logged in a place that I can

00:27:57 ◼   ► see like what caused this so I can see

00:27:59 ◼   ► Oh at you know at noon every day this

00:28:02 ◼   ► server has a really high load or I can

00:28:05 ◼   ► see oh this server right here has low

00:28:07 ◼   ► disk space right now so I'm never

00:28:08 ◼   ► surprised by things like low disk space

00:28:11 ◼   ► or very high load because I have that

00:28:12 ◼   ► automated and being automatically

00:28:14 ◼   ► checked by another Pingdom check yeah

00:28:16 ◼   ► that's a great idea like it's it's it's

00:28:18 ◼   ► those types of things that you're just

00:28:20 ◼   ► trying to think of ways to anticipate

00:28:22 ◼   ► the problem before it happens yeah I

00:28:24 ◼   ► mean even like a low-tech version of

00:28:25 ◼   ► that which I've done on some servers is

00:28:27 ◼   ► you just put a cron job that runs every

00:28:29 ◼   ► five minutes that emails you of disk

00:28:31 ◼   ► space is too low yeah worst case

00:28:33 ◼   ► scenario you wake up to a pile of 40

00:28:34 ◼   ► emails okay you go you go and fix it

00:28:36 ◼   ► like so it's yeah it's great there's so

00:28:39 ◼   ► many easy ways to do this kind of

00:28:40 ◼   ► automated maintenance of servers now

00:28:42 ◼   ► it's running a server is really not as

00:28:45 ◼   ► hard as you might think if you've never

00:28:47 ◼   ► done it before yeah and I really think

00:28:50 ◼   ► that if you can't if the things that

00:28:51 ◼   ► we're talking about this week sounds

00:28:53 ◼   ► scary like that's an important thing to

00:28:55 ◼   ► get over and get used to and comfortable

00:28:57 ◼   ► with

00:28:58 ◼   ► because as a developer it's just like it

00:29:01 ◼   ► feels like it's like in some ways like a

00:29:03 ◼   ► very basic skill that if you can't do

00:29:06 ◼   ► you're kind of holding both your your

00:29:09 ◼   ► work back in terms of the things that

00:29:10 ◼   ► the the level of complexity of other

00:29:12 ◼   ► projects you want you can take on as

00:29:15 ◼   ► well as your career in terms of like the

00:29:16 ◼   ► things that you're able to do and the

00:29:18 ◼   ► things that you know the jobs you could

00:29:20 ◼   ► potentially get and those kinds of

00:29:21 ◼   ► things like these are useful scales that

00:29:23 ◼   ► don't go out of date if you know at a

00:29:25 ◼   ► basic level like how to administer a

00:29:27 ◼   ► server that's always going to be useful

00:29:29 ◼   ► and interesting like I don't think

00:29:30 ◼   ► that's going away like as much as new

00:29:32 ◼   ► high level abstractions and things up

00:29:33 ◼   ► here like that's cool and all but like

00:29:36 ◼   ► UNIX has been around for a very long

00:29:38 ◼   ► time

00:29:38 ◼   ► for very good reasons all right we're

00:29:40 ◼   ► out of time this week we'll probably

00:29:41 ◼   ► cover more of these topics in the future

00:29:43 ◼   ► or expand on them so keep listening if

00:29:45 ◼   ► you want more of this or anything else

00:29:46 ◼   ► for that matter because we are great and

00:29:48 ◼   ► you can keep listening to our show

00:29:49 ◼   ► thanks a lot for listening everybody and

00:29:51 ◼   ► we'll talk to you next week

00:29:52 ◼   ► bye