Field Notes

A small collection of notes on networks, software and the occasional detour.

Keeping a lab notebook

Most useful conclusions arrive after the third failed attempt. Writing down what changed between attempts is the difference between a fix and a coincidence.

Prefer boring defaults

Every custom setting is a small maintenance contract. If the default is good enough, the operational cost is usually lower than the benefit of tuning it.

Measure before optimising

Latency and throughput are rarely where intuition puts them. A five-minute measurement commonly saves a weekend of rewriting the wrong component.