DEVOPS WEEKLY ISSUE #212 - 25th January 2015
Next week it’s FOSDEM in Brussels, and then on to Configuration Management Camp in Ghent. Hopefully I’ll see a few readers there.
Sponsor
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Sponsored event
Technical Deep Dive: Prescriptive Topology Manager (PTM) Simplify Your Data Center Operations and Workflow
Make sure your actual, physical cabling within a network matches a predefined plan. This technical deep dive will allow you the opportunity to follow along and learn. Think of it is a mini-introductory-talk-workshop kind of event.
http://go.cumulusnetworks.com/devops-ptm
News
A nice experience report of using Logstash, ElasticSearch and Kibana. Includes details of scaling hardware as well as how the team became more data driven. A nice example of how investment in logging can pay off.
http://engineering.laterooms.com/elks-in-laterooms/
I’ve also found luck with talking about devops in terms of risk, this next post makes the nice point that “the essence behind the DevOps movements comes from the constant battle of balancing risk with process”.
http://russell.ballestrini.net/risk-process-and-balance/
The idea behind the recent App Container specification was for multiple compatible runtimes. Jetpack is an attempt to build a FreeBSD based version using ZFS and Jails. This presentation explains why, how and the state of the project so far.
https://speakerdeck.com/mpasternacki/jetpack-container-runtime-for-freebsd
A light hearted retelling of the typical development vs operations story, along with an introduction to devops and specific hints ideas to try for people working in large organisations.
http://www.slideshare.net/aestasit/enterprise-flight-into-devops-space-for-rigadevday-2015
SQL always feels like something everyone knows and few people know well. This presentation shows the gains that can be had using database views and how to integrate them with your code.
https://speakerdeck.com/robb1e/whos-afraid-of-database-views
A nice detailed presentation about the performance of distributed systems in general and elasticsearch in particular. Lots of tips for anyone building/running on the JVM in particular.
https://speakerdeck.com/elasticsearch/maintaining-performance-in-distributed-systems
Expanding the conversation around devops to other disciplines has been a theme for a few years. This post makes some comparisons with the designers in your organisation and how some of the central devops tenets of culture and communication can lead to better design.
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/is-devops-driving-the-future-of-ux-design/
A nice step-by-step introduction to using Socketplane as a virtual network between containers. Shows both installation and some tricks when you’re up and running.
http://aucouranton.com/2015/01/16/docker-virtual-networking-with-socketplane-io/
A nice example of using Etcd to build a high availability system, in this case PostgreSQL. It would be nice to see code examples, but the design approach is well explained.
https://blog.compose.io/high-availability-for-postgresql-batteries-not-included/
Tools
huptime is a clever utility to enable zero-downtime reloading of processes, without modifying the application. It supports running under init systems like upstart too.
https://github.com/amscanne/huptime
If you’re on Windows and prefer a bundled software over installing and managing lots of small pieces then Bills Kitchen might be for you. It provides Vagrant, Chef and a Ruby developent environment along with various Vagrant plugins, the Putty SSH client, the SublimeText editor and more.
https://github.com/tknerr/bills-kitchen
Devops Weekly is sponsored by Brightbox Cloud - serious UK-based cloud infrastructure from only 1.5p per hour (£10.95/month)
Start your £20 free trial now: http://brightbox.com/devopsweekly