Hunting For Zombie Pods
At almost exactly 0300 (UTC) on the morning of 22/05 our monitoring systems started sending alerts for a handful of websites. They had begun to respond slower. This was very strange, the sites...
Satis Queue Worker
As part of a recent server migration we had to move a Satis instance. The server it was being moved from was a baremetal server, the server it was going to was a Kubernetes cluster, quite...
On server migrations…
Server migration: there’s a term bound to strike fear into the heart. Horror stories of downtime and lost data abound. This post looks at the good and bad of our migration from dedicated to Cloud...
Misleading Validation Messages When Creating BitBucket Pipeline Variables
Just in case anyone else finds themselves wrestling with this: I was recently attempting to create BitBucket Pipeline variables via BitBuckets API using curl: curl -X POST --data...
Protecting Against Textfile Collector Script Failure
Monitoring bespoke metrics with Prometheus textfile collector scripts can fail in such a way that all your monitors look fine but actually there is a problem. Here's how to prevent that. When...
You want security? You have to ask for it
I know at Freshleaf we’re a bit guilty of going on (and on) about website and application security, code quality, and the consequences of leaving online data protection to chance. We treat...
We need to talk about tech debt
Technical debt is part of the landscape of development. But so often it's the elephant in the room - we all know it's there, but we can't talk to customers about it. Why is that? What is...
GDPR – Gigantically Dull Privacy Rubbish, or vital for the greater good?
Yes, I know, yet another blog post about GDPR. I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time and effort on reading, understanding and implementing the new regulations over the last 12 months, and like...
Technical SEO: Is It Relevant To My Website?
Guest Post: Victoria Greene looks at whether technical SEO is relevant to your website. Is it relevant? In a nutshell: yes. Even a small portfolio website needs strong SEO foundations, and a...
Why code quality matters
Over the years at Freshleaf we’ve spent a bit of time thinking about what makes us successful. What’s important to us. And one thing that’s consistently top of the list – no matter who you ask at...
Website security: nobody cares until something goes wrong
I know you don’t want to, but take two minutes to read this post because the 7 tips below can help make sure your website doesn’t get hacked. Website security. You don't want to know, right?...
High-profile hacks and data leaks, and what we should learn from them
When are we going to learn that if we leave an open door to our data, someone will walk right in and help themselves? Data isn’t inherently unsafe. And yet it seems like not a day goes past...
Why the evolution of web publishing means web developers will raise their game
I’m a big fan of the question-and-answer website Quora. Being that I follow various topics around web design & development, it’s not uncommon to see this question posed: Now that there’s...