Dead Synthetic Targets Should Be Removed, Not Hidden
Placeholder or obsolete probe targets can stay in configuration after architecture changes and permanently pollute availability dashboards.
Blackbox Exporter
DNS Is a Production Dependency, Not Plumbing
A production-engineering deep dive into dns is a production dependency, not plumbing, grounded in the 2014 Mac mini hserver observability stack and its accepted runtime evidence.
Certificate Expiry Is an Availability Signal
TLS can work perfectly today and still have a known future outage date embedded in the certificate.
TLS Certificate Expiration Is an Availability Incident Waiting to Happen
A production-engineering deep dive into tls certificate expiration is an availability incident waiting to happen, grounded in the 2014 Mac mini hserver observability stack and its accepted runtime evidence.
GitHub Actions as Five-Minute External Infrastructure
A production-engineering deep dive into github actions as five-minute external infrastructure, grounded in the 2014 Mac mini hserver observability stack and its accepted runtime evidence.
Dead-Man Monitoring Should Not Need a Credential from the Dead System
A production-engineering deep dive into dead-man monitoring should not need a credential from the dead system, grounded in the 2014 Mac mini hserver observability stack and its accepted runtime evidence.
I Deliberately Broke the Probe to Test the Monitoring System
A production-engineering deep dive into i deliberately broke the probe to test the monitoring system, grounded in the 2014 Mac mini hserver observability stack and its accepted runtime evidence.
Public and Internal Probes Answer Different Availability Questions
A service can be healthy on the LAN and unreachable through Cloudflare, TLS, DNS or authentication at the public edge.
Why a 302 Redirect Can Mean the Service Is Healthy
A production-engineering deep dive into why a 302 redirect can mean the service is healthy, grounded in the 2014 Mac mini hserver observability stack and its accepted runtime evidence.
A TCP Database Probe Is Not a Database Health Check
A listening PostgreSQL or Redis port proves that something accepted a TCP connection, not that queries, authentication or storage are working correctly.
Building a Dead-Man Monitor Outside the Machine It Watches
A production-engineering deep dive into building a dead-man monitor outside the machine it watches, grounded in the 2014 Mac mini hserver observability stack and its accepted runtime evidence.
Internal Probe and Public Probe Answer Different Questions
A production-engineering deep dive into internal probe and public probe answer different questions, grounded in the 2014 Mac mini hserver observability stack and its accepted runtime evidence.
DNS Lookup Time Belongs in an Edge Dashboard
A slow public request is not always slow application code; DNS resolution can consume a meaningful part of the user-visible path.