Blog

Technical deep dives on Docker monitoring, container observability, and building infrastructure tools. No fluff.

How we built a monitoring SaaS with 90% gross margins

Full transparency post on building Kernus: real architecture decisions, actual cost breakdown per customer tier, gross margin calculation, and what we'd do differently.

Apr 23, 202510 min readsaasengineeringbusiness

Docker Compose monitoring: how to track all your services

Practical guide to monitoring a Docker Compose stack. Healthchecks, monitoring all services from one place, and getting alerted when one fails.

Apr 16, 20257 min readdockerdocker-composemonitoring

Self-hosted vs SaaS monitoring: when each makes sense

Genuinely balanced comparison of self-hosted vs SaaS monitoring for Docker. Real costs, real tradeoffs, data sovereignty, and at what scale self-hosting wins.

Apr 9, 20257 min readmonitoringself-hostedsaas

ClickHouse vs InfluxDB for time-series metrics: what we learned

Real comparison of ClickHouse and InfluxDB for storing time-series metrics. Compression ratios, query performance, cost at scale — from building Kernus on ClickHouse.

Apr 2, 20258 min readclickhouseinfluxdbtime-series

How to get alerted when a Docker container goes down

Set up a Docker container down alert in under 5 minutes. Email, Slack, Discord — step by step. The complete guide for anyone who needs to know now.

Mar 26, 20258 min readdockeralertsmonitoring

Docker monitoring on a budget: free and cheap options

Honest roundup of free and cheap Docker monitoring options in 2025. cAdvisor, Beszel, Netdata, Kernus free tier — what each actually gives you and when to upgrade.

Mar 19, 20257 min readdockermonitoringfree

How to monitor multiple Docker hosts from one dashboard

How to get unified visibility across 2-20 Docker servers without running a monitoring stack on each one. Multi-host Docker monitoring explained.

Mar 12, 20257 min readdockermonitoringmulti-host

Kernus vs Grafana Cloud: which is right for your team?

Honest comparison of Kernus and Grafana Cloud for Docker monitoring. Setup complexity, pricing, free tier limits, and who should use each.

Mar 5, 20257 min readdockergrafanamonitoring

Docker container keeps restarting: how to debug and fix

Systematic guide to debugging a Docker container stuck in a restart loop. Exit codes explained, reading logs, common causes, and restart policy behavior.

Feb 26, 20258 min readdockerdebuggingrestart

OOM kills in Docker: how to detect and prevent them

Deep dive on Docker OOM kills — what they are at the kernel level, exit code 137 explained, how to detect them, set memory limits, and prevent them in production.

Feb 19, 20258 min readdockeroommemory

How to set up alerts for Docker containers (Slack, Discord, Telegram)

Step-by-step guide to setting up Docker container alerts for Slack, Discord, and Telegram. Webhook configs, threshold strategies, and avoiding alert fatigue.

Feb 12, 20258 min readdockeralertsslack

Docker container monitoring: complete guide 2025

The definitive guide to Docker container monitoring in 2025. What metrics matter, how to set up alerts, how to debug crashes, and which tools to use.

Feb 5, 202510 min readdockermonitoringcontainers

Kernus vs Datadog: honest comparison for small teams

The most honest Kernus vs Datadog comparison you'll find. Where Datadog wins, where Kernus wins, real pricing scenarios, and how to decide for your team.

Jan 29, 20257 min readdockerdatadogmonitoring

How to monitor Docker containers without Prometheus or Grafana

Honest comparison of Prometheus+Grafana vs simpler Docker monitoring alternatives. Setup complexity, real steps, and when each approach makes sense.

Jan 22, 20258 min readdockerprometheusgrafana

Datadog is too expensive: we cut our monitoring bill by 90%

Real cost breakdown of Datadog for a 20-host team vs Kernus. See actual numbers, feature comparisons, and how we achieve the same Docker visibility for $29/mo.

Jan 15, 20259 min readdockermonitoringdatadog