Use of ORMs is often a performance choke point. Raw DB queries are often much, much faster.
Almost always, the more you abstract, the worse you perform. It's great as a developer but not so great as a user.
This is relevant in my field (Waste Management) as there's the long ton, the short ton, and long and short hundredweight (CWT). All different and confusing!
Generally the rule is that if it's hard, you can cut it off, because the mold will have only spread on the surface (think moldy cheddar cheese rind), but if it's soft, throw it out (think blue cheese).
knockd is pretty easy to setup and use. I used it in a security lab class in college in the late 2000s and nobody could figure out why we didn't have any open ports!