1. Choose the Right Filesystem
The default ext4 filesystem works well for most workloads, but consider XFS for large-file storage or ZFS if you need built-in checksumming and snapshots. For NVMe-heavy I/O, XFS with appropriate mount options (noatime, discard) can yield 15-20% better throughput.
2. Tune Your Kernel Parameters
A few sysctl tweaks can make a noticeable difference:
# Increase network buffer sizes
net.core.rmem_max = 16777216
net.core.wmem_max = 16777216
# Enable TCP BBR congestion control
net.core.default_qdisc = fq
net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control = bbr
# Increase file descriptor limits
fs.file-max = 20971523. Enable NUMA-Aware Memory Allocation
If your server has multiple CPU sockets, ensure your applications are NUMA-aware. Use numactl to pin processes to specific nodes and avoid expensive cross-node memory access.
4. Use a Lightweight Web Server Stack
Replace Apache with NGINX for static content and reverse proxying. Combine it with PHP-FPM (if running PHP) or Gunicorn/uWSGI for Python apps. This alone can double your requests-per-second capacity on the same hardware.
5. Monitor and Iterate
Install monitoring tools such as Netdata, Prometheus + Grafana, or our built-in server monitoring dashboard. Identify bottlenecks — CPU, RAM, I/O, or network — and address them systematically rather than guessing.
Need help implementing any of these optimizations? Our managed services team is available 24/7 to assist.