NextGen IT
Innovative strategies for infrastructure, data, and automation.
The Human Side of Technology: Learning, Growing, and Creating
With 35 years of experience in programming and managing complex systems, I thought I had seen it all. But the past few months have shown me there is always something new to learn. While I have a strong foundation in IT, technologies like MongoDB, InfluxDB, SQLite, Python, and machine learning were uncharted territory for me.…
Read more about The Human Side of Technology: Learning, Growing, and Creating
Simplify Your Server Deployments with a Smart Installation Script
Server deployments can be tedious, especially when you need to configure each server manually. Tasks like setting up directories, copying scripts, installing dependencies, and scheduling periodic jobs can be repetitive and error-prone. Wouldn’t it be great if all of this could be handled with a single command? That’s where a robust installation script comes in.…
Read more about Simplify Your Server Deployments with a Smart Installation Script
By 2030, Our Monitoring System Decided We Weren’t Needed Anymore
Six years ago, it was just a humble monitoring project. We wrote a few scripts, set up agents, and proudly collected CPU and RAM metrics. But by 2030, that “simple system” has evolved into something far beyond what we ever imagined—or intended. Somewhere along the way, it decided it didn’t need us anymore. Spoiler alert:…
Read more about By 2030, Our Monitoring System Decided We Weren’t Needed Anymore
5 Things We Got Wrong While Building Our Monitoring and Backup Systems
Building a robust IT infrastructure is never a straightforward task. Between monitoring and backups, we thought we had it all figured out—until reality hit. While the end result is a system we’re proud of, the journey was anything but perfect. Along the way, we made our share of mistakes. But each misstep taught us something…
Read more about 5 Things We Got Wrong While Building Our Monitoring and Backup Systems
Proactive Monitoring: Building a Smarter IT Infrastructure
Managing an IT environment goes beyond simply keeping the lights on. As infrastructures grow, so do the complexities of managing them. Reacting to issues after they occur is no longer enough. That’s why we built a proactive monitoring system—one that doesn’t just detect problems but helps predict and prevent them. The Monitoring Challenge With dozens…
Read more about Proactive Monitoring: Building a Smarter IT Infrastructure
From Logs to Intelligence: A Day in the Life of Building a Smarter Monitoring System
What started as a normal workday quickly turned into an epic adventure filled with logs, tables, APIs, and the occasional “database locked” error. Today, I teamed up with my trusted assistant (yes, that’s you, Binky!) to build a smarter, leaner monitoring infrastructure. Along the way, we faced mysterious InfluxDB issues, tangled SQL logic, and the…
Read more about From Logs to Intelligence: A Day in the Life of Building a Smarter Monitoring System
Building a Web-Based SQLite Database Manager with React and Flask
In this blog, we’ll take you through the development of a feature-rich, web-based SQLite database manager. We’ll use Flask to build a backend API and React to create an interactive frontend. Along the way, you’ll see how to handle table views, CRUD operations, and even manage foreign key relationships dynamically. This project is perfect for…
Read more about Building a Web-Based SQLite Database Manager with React and Flask
From Chaos to Clarity: Modular API Design in Python
APIs are a cornerstone of modern software, but as they grow, their complexity can spiral out of control. What starts as a straightforward script quickly evolves into a tangled web of functions, routes, and hard-coded logic. We’ve been there. Today, we’re sharing how we transformed our monitoring API from a monolithic script into a modular,…
Read more about From Chaos to Clarity: Modular API Design in Python
Scaling Our Monitoring System with Dynamic Agents
In our previous blog, we explored how we integrated data collection and predictive modeling into our API. Since then, we’ve taken our monitoring system to the next level with a dynamic agent-based approach. Here’s what we’ve accomplished: The Problem We Solved As we scaled up, we realized that each server’s monitoring requirements could differ. Some…
Read more about Scaling Our Monitoring System with Dynamic Agents
From Data to Predictions – Building a Smarter Monitoring System
In the ever-evolving tech landscape, predictive monitoring isn’t just a luxury – it’s a necessity. What if your servers could tell you when they need updates, resources, or attention? With data collected via our API and some machine learning magic, we’re taking the first steps into smarter, data-driven monitoring. In this blog, we’ll explore how…
Read more about From Data to Predictions – Building a Smarter Monitoring System
Building a Secure, Configurable, and Scalable Monitoring API
In a world where infrastructure monitoring is vital, having a flexible and secure way to collect and process custom data is essential. In this blog post, we’ll take you through building an API that not only allows for dynamic field configurations but also includes robust security with API keys tied to specific servers. We’ll walk…
Read more about Building a Secure, Configurable, and Scalable Monitoring API
Securing APIs And Enhancing Flexibility and Security
APIs have become the backbone of modern applications, allowing seamless integration between systems. However, with great connectivity comes great responsibility. Securing APIs And Enhancing Flexibility and Security is critical, especially when handling sensitive or high-value data. In this blog post, we’ll dive into how we enhanced the security and flexibility of our previously developed API…
Read more about Securing APIs And Enhancing Flexibility and Security