Daniel Reiss
Daniel runs Hostilo's performance lab. He builds the synthetic load harnesses behind our TTFB and uptime numbers, and writes our VPS and cloud coverage. Before Hostilo he was an SRE at two cloud providers, which is why he is unusually patient with — and unusually skeptical of — vendor benchmark claims.
- Areas of expertise
- · VPS & cloud benchmarking
- · Time-to-first-byte methodology
- · Synthetic uptime monitoring
- · Linux server hardening
12 articles by Daniel Reiss
What Are Nameservers? A Simple Guide for Beginners
Jul 2026Confused about nameservers? Learn what nameservers are, why they're essential for your website, and how to correctly point them to your web host. Get answers.
How to Safely Edit Your .htaccess File (3 Methods)
Jul 2026Need to edit your .htaccess file but afraid of breaking your site? Learn how to safely modify .htaccess using a file manager, FTP, or a WordPress plugin.
Reduce Web Hosting Costs Without Downtime
Jun 2026A practical checklist for reducing web hosting costs without downtime, covering plan audits, renewals, migrations, backups, and hidden fees.
What is Hosting Bandwidth? A Plain-English Guide
Jun 2026Confused about web hosting bandwidth? Learn what it actually is, how much you need, and how to avoid overage fees. Stop overpaying for traffic you don't use.
Set Up SSH Keys for Login & Secure Your Server
Jun 2026Stop using weak passwords. Learn how to set up SSH keys for login on your VPS or cloud server. Boost your security and simplify access in minutes.
Moving from shared hosting to VPS: when, how, and what changes
May 2026Signs you've outgrown shared hosting, what to expect from VPS, and how to migrate without setting fire to your weekend.
Shared vs VPS vs cloud hosting, explained simply
Apr 2026The plain-language version of the comparison most articles overcomplicate — with practical recommendations by site type.
TTFB: what time-to-first-byte tells you about your host
Apr 2026TTFB is the cleanest single metric for comparing hosts. Here's what it measures, what's good, and what to do when yours is bad.
What uptime numbers really mean
Mar 202699.9% sounds reassuring. Here's what it translates to in downtime per year, and which providers consistently exceed it.
US vs EU hosting: which to choose
Feb 2026Latency, data residency, GDPR, and audience — the decision tree for picking the right region.
Nginx vs Apache: which web server should your host be running?
Feb 2026Apache, Nginx, and LiteSpeed each have different strengths. Here's a plain-English breakdown of what each does well and which to look for.
CDNs explained: do you actually need one?
Feb 2026A CDN can be the single biggest performance win for a global site — or pure complexity overhead for a local one. Here's how to tell which side you're on.