Personal notes on systems engineering and IT: guides, deep dives, dissections, and sometimes reflections.
In a time when RAM and GPU prices are through the roof and every service wants its "just 7 bucks, bro" from you, where can you turn to utilize modern technologies in the form of Large Language Models? That's right, your gaming PC! That is if you're a gamer, of course. And if so, this post is just right for you.
Today I maked a tool that solves one of my headaches: keeping GitHub Actions in workflows up to date and current. In this post I'll tell a bit of the history behind it and what it can do.
As a long-time smartphone user, I always found the idea of storing a hefty amount of cards in a single convenient place mighty impressive. Instead of cluttering the whole wallet with plastic, you just add a virtual card to an app -- and it's right there when you need it. After all, the data remains the same -- only the format changes. It's especially convenient (and cool -- I just like the feature so much) for storing temporary data -- cinema tickets, boarding passes, museum tickets, etc. But what's inside these magic pkpass files, exactly? Today we're gonna dive deep into the topic and figure out what convenience looks like under the hood.
I think some of us thought the same at least once. Me, I've thought this hundreds of times. And today, instead of a usual strict technical format, I want to talk a bit and share my thoughts on feeling like an impostor.
Happy 2026, dear visitor! I know, it's already been a whole month of 2026, but only now have I found some time to write a new article. Today we're going to discuss migration from ingress-nginx to Kubernetes Gateway, particularly Envoy.
The New Year is nigh, and it's time to look back at the past year. Let's take a look at some numbers and noticeable changes, however big or small they might be. Mostly related to this blog, though some may be personal.
Advent season is here! And that means advent challenges as well!
After a disastrous attempt at Advent of Code last year, this year I was very happy to see that Sad Servers started an Advent challenge of their own -- Advent of Sysadmin! At last, a challenge I can (hopefully) progress further than task 3. And this means more challenges for us to tackle. The Advent will consist of 12 challenges. To keep things slightly more interesting, I will publish the solution to each task the day after it's released: for example, today, on December 2, I will solve the task from December 1, and so on. Have fun!
All tasks are available!
Several weeks ago, while tinkering with a Wi-Fi router in a coffee shop, a thought occurred to me: "Some networks might be blocking user activity based on MAC addresses. It might be a good idea to automate MAC address changes." So I decided to write a script that would change my laptop's MAC address.
Complex systems require extensive monitoring and observability. Systems as complex as Kubernetes clusters have so many moving parts that sometimes it's a task and a half just to configure their monitoring properly. Today I'm going to talk in depth about cross-account observability for multiple EKS clusters, explore various implementation options, outline the pros and cons of each approach, and explain one of them in close detail. Whether you're an aspiring engineer seeking best-practice advice, a seasoned professional ready to disagree with everything, or a manager looking for ways to optimize costs -- this article might be just right for you.
I love a good challenge. I love the feeling when the brain sparks and screeches while trying to solve another mystery. For several years, I've been tackling all sorts of nut-cracking challenges, and for several months, I've been thinking of creating one myself. Luckily, I have just the right resources for that: a personal website and a blog. And finally, we're here. Welcome to hatedabamboo's ARG:2025!
Enter the game