qasim@wiki:~$
// MQ Knowledge Base

A working wiki of what I actually run in production

Every topic here follows the same shape: the concept, the real configuration, and the project it came from. This grows one page at a time as I write it up — the dots show what's ready versus what's still a template.

Networking

2 topics

Infrastructure & Systems

2 topics

Security

2 topics

Automation & Cloud

3 topics

AWS

architecture + 23 services

CI/CD Pipeline Series

7-part build log · complete

Elasticsearch Troubleshooting

6-part incident series · complete

Visual Explainers

16 branded infographics · concept + breakdown

Latency vs Throughput vs Bandwidth

The three network performance terms people mix up most — and why 'more bandwidth' often doesn't fix 'slow'.

Networking

The SIEM Pipeline

How raw events become actionable alerts — agents, manager, indexer, dashboard, and the routing stage most teams neglect.

Security

IDS vs IPS vs SIEM vs XDR

Four security tools constantly confused — what each one actually does, and why they're layers rather than rivals.

Security

How a WAF Decides to Block

The journey of an HTTP request through a Web Application Firewall — and the professional way to fix a false positive.

Security

AAA — Authentication, Authorization, Accounting

Three questions every secure system must answer: who are you, what may you do, and what did you do?

Security & GRC

Public vs Private vs Hybrid Subnets

The servers are identical — only the route table makes a subnet public, private, or hybrid.

Cloud

S3 Storage Classes & Lifecycle

Data has a temperature — how lifecycle policies move it from hot to cold as it ages, and the cost trade-off behind each tier.

Cloud

How Auto Scaling Actually Works

The five-link chain from a CPU spike to a new healthy server — and where 'auto' scaling silently stops being automatic.

Cloud

TCP vs UDP

Reliable delivery or raw speed — the classic transport-layer trade-off, and why HTTP/3 flipped it.

Networking

How DNS Resolution Works

The five hops behind every website visit — and the real reason DNS changes 'take time to propagate'.

Networking

NAT vs PAT vs Proxy

Three 'middlemen' with very different jobs — address translation versus speaking the protocol itself.

Networking

Full vs Incremental vs Differential Backups

Three backup strategies — and what restore day actually looks like for each.

Data Protection

CI vs CD vs CD

Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment — three terms, and the single approval button between the last two.

CI/CD

Anatomy of a Real Pipeline

Six stages from git push to production — each one a reason to say no before code ships.

CI/CD

Vulnerability vs Threat vs Risk

The three words security teams mix up most — explained with a house, an open window, and a burglar.

Security & GRC

Bare Metal vs VM vs Container

Three ways to run the same application, defined by what gets shared — hardware, OS, or kernel.

Infrastructure