Google Cloud Platform comes with a suite of monitoring tools that track metrics on any cloud resource you’re using, which can help you spot problems in your infrastructure. On top of that, it features full support for AWS as well. Setting Up A Monitoring Dashboard By default, GCP creates dashboard for some major resources, such as Cloud Storage buckets, storage disks, and Compute Engine instances, which are viewable from the “Monitoring” tabs of those resources....

Of course, doing this isn’t rocket science, and most people can probably figure this out. But have you done it yet? You should also note that you can use the Evernote extension to simultaneously search Google and Evernote at the same time. Integrate Evernote Search into Google Chrome You’ll start by right-clicking on the location bar and choosing Edit Search engines… Then click Add… And then enter in the search details....

Open up Pidgin and choose Accounts –> Manage Accounts. Then click the Add button. Then you’ll want to enter in your username as the beginning of your email address, and the Domain as the part after the @ symbol. For instance, mine is geek@howtogeek.com, so I’m using geek as the username and howtogeek.com as the Domain. Then flip over to the Advanced tab, and enter talk.google.com as the Connect server....

How NGINX Load Balancing Works The basic principle of a Load Balancer is that it sits between the user and a set of servers, and proxies requests for them. Usually this is done with two or more servers, so that traffic can be distributed more easily between them. Most of the configuration happens in how NGINX selects which server to route to. The default is round-robin, which will send requests to each server in order, ensuring an equal load distribution....

Docker Compose lets you manage multiple Docker containers and their associated resources such as volumes and networks. You write declarative YAML files which Compose uses to create your container stack. Your docker-compose.yml files can become repetitive when you’re working with a complex stack. Services might share configuration options, causing you to duplicate sections of your file. Later updates can lead to mistakes if you forget to update every instance of a section....

$5 per month 250 GB of storage space 1 TB of outbound transfer Unlimited uploads Creation of unlimited number of spaces In this article, we are going to explore how to get started with DigitalOcean Spaces and some common operations that would be used. Creating a Space Once you have signed into DigitalOcean and chosen to create a new Space, you will be presented with the options to provision your Space....

Terraform is a popular infrastructure as code tool, and when paired with CloudFlare, makes managing complex configurations within CloudFlare much easier. For those not familiar, Terraform uses the HCL configuration language to define an infrastructure configuration that can then be used to apply the requested settings to the provider. CloudFlare offers DNS services, security, and edge computing services that pair perfectly with the Terraform tool. Installing Terraform Terraform can be used either on Windows or on Linux....

If you have a spare Nintendo Wii remote with the Motion Plus add-on, you can use it to control your Windows PC from across the room. Here’s how to get it working in a couple of easy steps. Using the Wii’s Motion Plus add-on and some software, you can easily control presentations or your home theater PC. You will need: A Wii remote (obviously) The Motion Plus add-on Windows XP, Vista, or 7 A Bluetooth dongle for your PC The WIDCOMM Bluetooth stack (from Broadcom’s website) (version 6....

Whether you’re just trying to open the attachment your friend sent in Publisher format or are wondering what the config and log files from your favorite programs contain, most computer users will encounter many files that their OSes don’t know how to automatically open. When you try to open an unknown file type on Windows, you’ll be presented with the following dialog. Microsoft’s own web service is notoriously bad at giving useful information about file formats, so if you choose to use the web service to find the correct program, you’ll often not find any information....

Computers are complex devices that cannot easily be explained, like say, a delicious Reuben sandwich. Let’s break down and explain your computer, over lunch. Yeah, we’re having some fun today with somewhat of an inside joke around here due to The Geek’s irrational love of the Reuben sandwich. Enjoy and join the discussion. Images by teujene and VirtualErn The Hardware Image by kimberlykv The start of a great Reuben is in the rye bread....

Installation Download and install MediaInfo. You can find the download link at the bottom of the page. Note: When installing MediaInfo there is a recommended software bundle which you can opt out of by selecting Do not install option. Each recommended software choice may be different, like in this example it offers Spyware Terminator. The cool thing though is they use Open Candy which opts you out of the install....

Docker usually provides a developer’s first introduction to containers. Kubernetes is an orchestration platform which solves challenges around running containers in production. Here’s how Docker commands map to their Kubernetes counterparts. You can’t use the docker CLI to interact with containers running in Kubernetes. Kubernetes provides its own command-line interface, kubectl, to help you manage your cluster. Read our guide to getting started with kubectl if you’re unfamiliar with the tool....

After installation a cool Appearance Wizard where you can choose the skin or look of Executor. Don’t worry you can change the initial section later on. This is my first time taking a look at Executor so I decided to take a look at the Fancy skin option right away so I can check it all out. The main thing to point out with Executor is the Keyword feature. It is very easy to add keywords for programs....

Scratching your head? Let’s take a quick run through what we’re talking about… Normally, if you typed in something like just “howtogeek” in the address bar, and then hit enter… you’ll be taken directly to the How-To Geek site. But how? Very simple! It’s the same place you would have been taken to if you typed “howtogeek” into Google, and then clicked the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, which takes you to the first result....

Random Games from MyGiochi.net in Action The really great thing about this extension is that each day you can have a new random game to play. If you love variety this is definitely going to be a perfect match for you. We got “Power Golf” as our random game of the day. Here is a look at things once we got started…this one can be a lot of fun to play....

Share Without Password Protected Sharing If you’re not worried about who’s accessing the files and folders, the easiest method is to disable Password Protected Sharing. So on the Vista machine open Network and Sharing Center. Under Sharing and Discovery make sure Network Discovery, File Sharing, and, Public Folder Sharing are turned on. Also turn off Password Protected Sharing… Now go into the Vista Public folder, located in C:\Users\Public, and add what you want to share or create a new folder....

Dropbox is a great service for keeping your files synced between your computers and the cloud. Unfortunately, though, you have to place files and folders in the Dropbox folder for them to sync. You could move folders to Dropbox and create a symbolic link to them in their original location, but this can be difficult to setup. An easier solution would be to sync the folders to a new folder in Dropbox, so everything will stay the same....

Would you like to get your Hotmail email, calendar, and contacts on your iPhone or iPod touch? Here’s how you get Windows Live content synced and pushed to your iOS device for free via Exchange ActiveSync. While Hotmail has remained one of the most widely used email systems for years, it has not always been the easiest to sync with your programs and mobile devices. This year, however, Microsoft has given the entire Windows Live suite an overhaul, and Hotmail has gained a number of new features....

Many cloud server providers operate at such large economies of scale that they’ll give away small instances for free, simply to entice you to use their platform. You can take advantage of this to run a small Linux box for development. If you’re just looking to run a simple website, you may not even need a Linux box—services like Github Pages and Google Sites can host simple pages for you for free....

Installation and Setup You can download the Tumblr app from the iTunes App Store through iTunes or directly from your device. The first thing you’ll need to do after launching the app is sign into your Tumblr account. If you don’t already have one there is an option to sign up for it. From here you can also select the option to start in the dashboard. Using Tumblr iPhone App Just like on the site you can make different types of posts from text, photo, audio, and more....