Knowledge
Cloud Library
Reference entries on cloud account structure, provider infrastructure, compute and storage concepts, networking, billing, security and migration. Each entry covers one subject and links to the listings and comparisons it relates to.
AuditAuditing What Is Actually Running in an Unfamiliar AccountA systematic sweep of every region for compute, storage, addresses, schedules and identities, so nothing keeps running or billing unnoticed.LifecycleDecommissioning a Cloud Account CleanlyClosing down costs more attention than starting up. Data extraction, dependency checks and billing closure each have a failure mode.CreditsHow Cloud Credits Are Applied, and What They Never CoverCredit is not cash. It applies to eligible services, expires on a date, and is consumed silently. Those three properties explain most credit surprises.CreditsPlanning for the Day the Credits Run OutCredit exhaustion is predictable, which makes it manageable. Work out your burn rate early and decide in advance what happens at zero.Cost controlBudget Alerts That Actually Fire in TimeMost budget alerts are configured to notify you after the damage. Thresholds, forecasting and recipients all need deliberate choices.Cost controlTagging Resources for Cost Allocation From Day OneTags turn an unreadable invoice into a report by project, environment and owner. Retrofitting them is far harder than starting with them.Cost controlWhy Cloud Bills Surprise People: The Usual SuspectsUnexpected invoices are rarely caused by the servers you deliberately launched. Here are the line items that actually cause the surprise.AWSReading AWS Configurations: Credits, vCPU and Service ReadinessAWS listings describe several unrelated dimensions at once. Separating credit, capacity and service readiness makes them straightforward to compare.ComputeWhat vCPU Counts Do and Do Not Tell YouA vCPU is usually a hardware thread, not a core, and counts are only comparable within one provider and family. Here is how to read them.ComputeShared and Dedicated vCPU: Which One You Actually NeedShared vCPU is cheaper and usually sufficient. Dedicated matters when consistency matters more than average speed.ComputeMemory, Swap and Why Servers Die Under LoadRunning out of memory rarely produces a clear error. It produces a server that gets slower and then kills a process. Here is how to read it.ComputeSnapshots, Images and a Rebuild StrategySnapshots restore a machine. Images create new ones. Knowing which you need decides whether recovery takes minutes or hours.ComputeRunning Containers on a Single Cloud ServerContainers are useful long before you need an orchestrator. One well-configured server runs far more than most teams expect.ComputeScale Vertically Before You Scale HorizontallyA bigger machine is simpler than more machines. Horizontal scaling introduces coordination problems that are worth delaying until you need them.NetworkingCloud Networking Basics: Addresses, Firewalls and Security GroupsPublic and private addressing, default-deny firewalls and the difference between a provider firewall and a host firewall.NetworkingPort 25 and Outbound Mail From Cloud ServersProviders restrict outbound port 25 by default. Understanding why, and what deliverability actually requires, decides whether you need it at all.StorageBlock Storage and Object Storage: Choosing CorrectlyBlock storage is a disk for one machine. Object storage is a key-value store over HTTP. Using the wrong one causes predictable problems.NetworkingBandwidth, Egress and the Cost of Moving DataData in is usually free, data out usually is not. Transfer direction is the variable that turns a predictable bill into a surprising one.NetworkingDNS Basics for Cloud-Hosted ApplicationsRecord types, TTL and propagation explained in the terms that matter when you are pointing a domain at a cloud server.NetworkingPrivate Networking Between Cloud ServersKeeping internal traffic on private addresses is faster, cheaper and safer than routing it over the public internet. It is also easy to get subtly wrong.SecurityA Practical Security Baseline for a New Cloud ServerEight measures that take under an hour and remove the overwhelming majority of routine risk on an internet-facing server.SecurityMulti-Factor Authentication on Cloud AccountsNot all second factors are equal, and team accounts need an approach that survives one person losing a phone.SecuritySSH Key Hygiene on Cloud ServersKeys accumulate silently and rarely get removed. A few habits keep access accurate over the life of an environment.SecurityLeast Privilege Without Slowing Your Team DownLeast privilege fails when it is applied as a blanket restriction. Starting from real usage rather than guesses makes it practical.