Category: Linux

Converting AWS ACM PEM Certificates to PFX for Windows IIS

December 6, 2025

When AWS Certificate Manager hands you a bundle of PEM files and your Windows admin demands a .pfx, it can feel like two different worlds colliding. In the cloud and Linux ecosystem, PEM is the natural format for TLS: simple text files that are easy to script, inspect, and deploy. Windows and IIS, on the other hand, live in a certificate-store universe where PFX rules. In this article we walk through the quick OpenSSL conversion from PEM to PFX, then dig into why these formats exist, why AWS only gives you PEM, and what you gain (and lose) when you move everything into a .pfx file.

Beyond Apache and Nginx: A Brief History of Web Servers and the Unsung Daemons

December 5, 2025

When we talk about web servers, the story usually stops at Apache and Nginx. But the web was shaped by a long line of lesser-known daemons—from thttpd and lighttpd to Zeus, Cherokee, Caddy, and H2O—that quietly pioneered performance, automation, and new HTTP protocols behind the scenes.

Debian: The Quiet Giant of the Linux World

November 26, 2025

If you’ve used Linux in the last 20 years, there’s a good chance you’ve met Debian—even if you didn’t realize it. This is the story of how a college student’s manifesto became one of the most quietly influential projects in the open-source world.

NTP — A Practical Introduction for Engineers

November 8, 2025

NTP keeps distributed systems in step with reality. This practical introduction explains what NTP is, how its algorithms work, the history from early ARPANET experiments to NTPv4 and NTS, and why accurate time underpins security, logging, replication, and operations—plus how NTP compares with PTP in modern environments.

Systemd Timers: A Practical Guide to Replacing Cron on Linux

October 15, 2025

Systemd timers are a modern, observable replacement for cron. This guide explains how timers work, how to create and enable them, and how to translate common cron patterns to OnCalendar. You’ll also get monotonic timer recipes, hardening tips, verification commands, troubleshooting steps, and a reusable email‐on‐failure notifier.