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037 | Databases in Detail: Redis — A High-Speed Key-Value Store and Cache

June 29, 2025

#databases #DB #Redis #NoSQL #key-value #in-memory #caching #message broker #sessions #leaderboards #counters

We’ve already explored relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite), which are great for structured data and complex queries. Now we move into the world of NoSQL, starting with one of its brightest stars — Redis (Remote Dictionary Server). Redis is an incredibly fast and versatile server often described as a “data structure server on steroids.”

What is Redis?

Redis is a free and open-source (BSD licensed) NoSQL key-value database that stores data in memory (in-memory). Unlike traditional disk-based databases, Redis is designed to deliver maximum data access speed. While it’s a key-value store, Redis stands out because the values can be not only strings but also rich data structures like strings, lists, sets, hashes, sorted sets with scores, bitmaps, and hyperloglogs.

032 | Proxy Servers in Action: Squid — A Caching Proxy for Traffic Optimization

June 24, 2025

#proxy #Squid #caching #HTTP #HTTPS #traffic optimization #content filtering #corporate network

We’ve reached the final article in our proxy server series, and today’s topic is a true veteran and classic — Squid. This powerful proxy server has served for decades as a key tool for web traffic caching, significantly speeding up internet access and reducing network load.

What is Squid?

Squid is free, open-source software that functions as a caching proxy server for web traffic. It was specifically designed to optimize HTTP and HTTPS traffic, though it also supports FTP and Gopher protocols. Squid is primarily used as a forward proxy in corporate or academic networks but can also be configured as a reverse proxy to cache content from internal web servers.

028 | Proxy Servers in Action: Nginx — A Powerful Reverse Proxy and Web Server

June 20, 2025

#proxy #Nginx #web server #reverse proxy #load balancing #ssl termination #caching

In the previous article, we explored the general principles of proxy servers and their classification. Now it’s time to dive into specific solutions, and we’ll start with Nginx (pronounced “engine-x”) — one of the most popular and high-performance web servers and a powerful reverse proxy. Nginx plays a key role in modern web infrastructure, powering millions of websites worldwide.

What is Nginx?

Nginx is a free, open-source software that was originally developed as a web server to solve the C10k problem (handling a large number of simultaneous connections). Over time, its functionality has expanded significantly, and today Nginx is widely used as: