System Administration

Your Personal Codespace: Self-Host VS Code on Any Server

GitHub Codespaces and other cloud IDEs have revolutionized development, offering a complete VS Code environment that runs on a remote server and is accessible from any browser. It’s a game-changer for productivity and flexibility.

But what if you could have that same powerful, seamless experience on your own terms?

This guide will show you how to build your very own private Codespace, replicating the convenience of the GitHub experience on any server you control—be it a machine in your home lab, a dedicated server, or a budget-friendly cloud VM. We’ll explore two distinct paths to get you up and running with a persistent, browser-based VS Code instance on Ubuntu 24.04, complete with AI assistants like Gemini and GitHub Copilot to boost your workflow.

Unlock Your CXL Memory: How to Switch from NUMA (System-RAM) to Direct Access (DAX) Mode

As a Linux System Administrator working with Compute Express Link (CXL) memory devices, you should be aware that as of Linux Kernel 6.3, Type 3 CXL.mem devices are now automatically brought online as memory-only NUMA nodes. While this can be beneficial for most situations, it might not be ideal if your application is designed to directly manage the CXL memory as a DAX (Direct Access) device using mmap().

This blog post will explain this behavior and provide a step-by-step guide on how to convert a CXL memory device from a memory-only NUMA node back to DAX mode, allowing applications to mmap the underlying /dev/daxX.Y device. We’ll also cover troubleshooting steps if the memory is actively in use by the kernel or other processes.