Tag: Containerization

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Understanding Cloud-Native Collaboration and DevOps Culture for the New Engineer

As a new engineer, understanding cloud-native collaboration and DevOps culture is important for several reasons.

First, it is essential for building and deploying cloud-native applications. These practices emphasize collaboration and communication between teams such as development, operations, and security, and aim to streamline the development and deployment process. By understanding how they work, you can build, deploy, and manage cloud-native applications more effectively.

Second, they allow for faster time-to-market. By promoting collaboration and communication between teams, development and deployment can be sped up, leading to faster time-to-market.

Third, they promote better quality of the applications. By promoting collaboration and communication between teams, more thorough testing and debugging can be done, resulting in better quality of the application.

Fourth, they allow for better scalability. By promoting collaboration and communication between teams, resources can be allocated and scaled up or down as needed, without incurring additional costs.

In summary, understanding cloud-native collaboration and DevOps culture is important because it is essential for building and deploying cloud-native applications, allows for faster time-to-market, promotes better quality of the applications, and allows for better scalability. It is a powerful tool for building and deploying applications in a cloud environment and is essential for any engineer working in the field today.

Learning Materials

Here’s a list to get you started learning about cloud-native collaboration and DevOps culture. Note that some of these links may not be free and may require a subscription or payment. I receive no affiliate payments for these links.

Beginner:

Intermediate:

Advanced:

Videos to Watch

Cloud Native DevOps Explained

This video outlines the steps for migrating an application to a cloud-native approach, including breaking it into a pipeline, building and packaging components, running tests, and scanning for vulnerabilities. It also covers the use of DevOps and continuous delivery, as well as frameworks for test-driven development.

A Possible Learning Path

Hands-on experience: Start by setting up a simple Kubernetes cluster and experimenting with different DevOps tools such as Jenkins, Ansible, and Helm. This can be done by following tutorials and guides, and deploying these tools on a cloud platform like AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Theoretical learning: Once you have a basic understanding of DevOps, you can begin to explore the underlying concepts and technologies such as continuous integration, continuous delivery, and infrastructure as code. This can be done through online resources such as tutorials, courses, and documentation provided by Kubernetes, as well as books and blogs on the topic.

Understanding the principles and best practices: DevOps is an important aspect of a microservices architecture, so it’s important to understand the key principles and best practices of DevOps, such as collaboration, automation, and monitoring.

Joining a community: Joining a community of Kubernetes enthusiasts will help you connect with other people who are learning and working with DevOps for Kubernetes. This can be done through online forums, meetups, and social media groups.

Practice, practice, practice: As with any new technology, the best way to learn is by doing. The more you practice deploying and using DevOps tools in a Kubernetes cluster, the more comfortable and proficient you will become with the technology.

A Note from the Architect

OK, let’s talk about DevOps. So, what is it exactly? Well, DevOps is all about breaking down the barriers between development and operations teams, and promoting a culture of collaboration and communication. The goal is to speed up the software delivery process, improve quality, and increase efficiency.

Now, you might be wondering why we want to practice DevOps. Well, in the past, development and operations teams often worked in silos, which led to a lot of delays and inefficiencies. With DevOps, we’re able to bring those teams together and get everyone working towards the same goal: delivering high-quality software quickly and efficiently.

There are a few key principles of DevOps that we like to follow. One of the most important is automation. By automating as many processes as possible, we’re able to speed up the delivery process and reduce the likelihood of errors. Another key principle is continuous integration and delivery. By integrating code changes frequently and delivering them to production as soon as they’re ready, we’re able to get feedback and make improvements more quickly.

Now, when it comes to cloud native approaches like developing on Kubernetes, they fit really well within DevOps practices. By using containerization and orchestration, we’re able to automate the deployment and scaling of our applications, which helps us move faster and be more efficient.

As an individual team member, you can contribute to the DevOps culture by being open to feedback and suggestions, and by being willing to work collaboratively with other teams. Some good practices for a new engineer or developer to pick up include learning how to use automation tools, getting familiar with containerization and orchestration, and practicing continuous integration and delivery.

You might be wondering how DevOps is related to agile and SRE. Well, DevOps is closely related to agile, as both focus on delivering software quickly and efficiently. SRE, on the other hand, is all about ensuring the reliability and availability of software in production. All these practices come together to make sure the software is delivered fast, reliable and with high availability.

Finally, let me tell you, before DevOps became a common practice, IT departments faced a lot of problems. There were often delays in getting new features or updates to production, and there were also a lot of communication issues between development and operations teams. DevOps helps us to overcome all these problems.

Well, dear reader, we’ve come to the end of our series of blog posts on cloud native technologies and practices, and especially Kubernetes. Well, this won’t be my last post on Kubernetes, but at least as far as it relates to this series. I hope you’ve found the information we’ve covered to be helpful and informative.

Throughout the series, we’ve talked about a lot of different topics, including security, CICD, DevOps, and containerization. These are all critical concepts for anyone working in the cloud, and I want to emphasize that these concepts aren’t just short-lived trends, but tools and ideas that will serve you well for many years of your career.

We’ve covered a lot of ground in these posts, but there’s still so much more to learn about cloud native technologies and practices. As you continue to grow and develop your skills, I hope you’ll keep these concepts in mind and continue to explore the many different ways that they can be applied in your work.

I also want to take a moment to thank you for your time, support, and the conversations we’ve had throughout the series. Your feedback and input have been invaluable in helping to make these posts a success, and I appreciate the time you’ve taken to read and engage with the content.

As you continue your journey in cloud native technologies, keep in mind that it’s a constantly evolving landscape, and there will always be more to learn and explore. But with the concepts and tools we’ve covered in this series, you’ll be well-equipped to navigate this exciting and rapidly changing field.

Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed the series. Let’s continue the conversation and explore even more of this exciting field together!

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Connect with Shawn

Connect with me on LinkedIn. It’s where I’m most active, and it’s the easiest way to connect with me.

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Getting Started with Cloud-Native App Development: Best Practices, Learning Materials, and Videos to Watch

As a new engineer, understanding the concept of cloud-native app development is important for several reasons.

First, cloud-native app development is a key aspect of building and deploying applications in the cloud. It is the practice of using technologies, tools, and best practices that are designed to work seamlessly with cloud environments. By understanding how cloud-native app development works, you will be able to build, deploy, and manage cloud-native applications more effectively.

Second, cloud-native app development allows for better scalability and cost efficiency. By using technologies, tools, and best practices that are designed to work seamlessly with cloud environments, it allows for resources to be automatically allocated and scaled up or down as needed, without incurring additional costs.

Third, cloud-native app development promotes better collaboration and DevOps culture. By using technologies, tools, and best practices that are designed to work seamlessly with cloud environments, it becomes easier for different teams and developers to work together on the same application.

Fourth, cloud-native app development allows for better security, by using technologies, tools, and best practices that are designed to work seamlessly with cloud environments, it ensures that the application and infrastructure are protected from threats and can continue to operate in case of an attack or failure.

In summary, as a new engineer, understanding the concept of cloud-native app development is important because it is a key aspect of building and deploying applications in the cloud, allows for better scalability and cost efficiency, promotes better collaboration and DevOps culture, and allows for better security.

Learning Materials

Here’s a list to get you started learning about cloud-native app development. Note that some of these links may not be free and may require a subscription or payment. I receive no affiliate payments for these links.

Beginner:

Intermediate:

Advanced:

Videos to Watch

Best practices in Kubernetes app development

This document outlines best practices for developing with Kubernetes, such as using a tailored logging interface, debugging with CLI commands, and creating project templates with Cloud Code. Google Cloud DevTools are introduced as a way to simplify the process of incorporating best practices into the Kubernetes development workflow.

A Possible Learning Path

Hands-on experience: Start by setting up a simple Kubernetes cluster and experimenting with different app development tools such as Kubernetes Deployments, Services, and ConfigMaps. This can be done by following tutorials and guides, and deploying a simple application on a cloud platform like AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Theoretical learning: Once you have a basic understanding of app development, you can begin to explore the underlying concepts and technologies such as Kubernetes pods, services, and volumes. This can be done through online resources such as tutorials, courses, and documentation provided by Kubernetes, as well as books and blogs on the topic.

Understanding the principles and best practices: App development is an important aspect of a microservices architecture, so it’s important to understand the key principles and best practices of app development such as containerization, scaling, and rolling updates.

Joining a community: Joining a community of Kubernetes enthusiasts will help you connect with other people who are learning and working with app development for Kubernetes. This can be done through online forums, meetups, and social media groups.

Practice, practice, practice: As with any new technology, the best way to learn is by doing. The more you practice deploying and using app development tools in a Kubernetes cluster, the more comfortable and proficient you will become with the technology.

A Note from the Architect

Hey there, let’s talk about cloud native application development. So, what is it exactly? Well, it’s all about developing applications that are specifically designed to run in a cloud environment, like Kubernetes, which is one of the most popular container orchestration platforms out there.

What makes cloud native application development different from other approaches is that it’s all about leveraging the benefits of the cloud, like scalability and flexibility, to create applications that can easily adapt to changing workloads and environments.

When it comes to developing applications for Kubernetes, there’s a typical software development workflow that you’ll need to follow. First, you’ll need to choose the right programming languages and frameworks. Some of the most popular languages for cloud native development are Go, Java, Python, and Node.js.

Once you’ve chosen your languages and frameworks, you’ll need to design your application architecture to work well with Kubernetes. Some of the best patterns for Kubernetes include using microservices, containerization, and service meshes. On the other hand, monolithic applications and stateful applications are not well suited for running on Kubernetes.

And finally, let me tell you, we really like VS Code around here. It’s one of the best tools for cloud native application development, especially when working with Kubernetes. It provides a lot of great features for working with containerization and orchestration, like excellent plugins for Kubernetes, debugging, and integration with other popular tools like Helm and Kustomize. So, if you haven’t already, give it a try, you might like it too.

Be sure to reach out on LinkedIn if you have any questions.

Connect with Shawn
Connect with Shawn

Connect with me on LinkedIn. It’s where I’m most active, and it’s the easiest way to connect with me.

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Understanding Containerization: A Guide for New Engineers

As a new engineer, understanding the concept of containerization is important for several reasons.

First, containerization is a key component of cloud native application development. Containers are a lightweight and portable way to package software, making it easy to run and manage applications on cloud infrastructure. By understanding how containers work, you will be able to build, deploy, and manage cloud-native applications more effectively.

Second, containerization allows for greater consistency and portability across different environments. With containers, you can package an application and its dependencies together, ensuring that it will run the same way regardless of where it is deployed. This eliminates the “works on my machine” problem and makes it easier to move applications between different environments.

Third, containerization allows for greater scalability and resource efficiency. Containers use less resources than traditional virtual machines, and can be easily scaled up or down as needed. This makes it easier to handle the increasing demand for more computing power and storage.

Fourth, containerization also allows for better collaboration and DevOps culture, as containers can be easily shared and reused, making it easier for different teams and developers to work together on the same application.

In summary, as a new engineer, understanding the concept of containerization is important because it is a key component of cloud native application development, allows for greater consistency and portability across different environments, enables greater scalability and resource efficiency, and promotes collaboration and DevOps culture. It is a powerful tool for building and deploying applications in a cloud environment and is essential for any engineer working in the field today.

Learning Materials

Here’s a list to get you started learning about containerization. Note that some of these links may not be free and may require a subscription or payment. I receive no affiliate payments for these links.

Beginner:

Intermediate:

Advanced:

Videos to Watch

Kubernetes Crash Course for Absolute Beginners

Kubernetes is an open source container orchestration framework designed to manage applications made up of hundreds or thousands of containers across multiple environments. It offers features such as high availability, scalability, and disaster recovery, as well as a virtual network that enables communication between pods. This video provides an overview of the Kubernetes architecture and components, and a use case of a web application with a database to illustrate how it works.

Possible Learning Path

Hands-on experience: Start by installing Docker and Kubernetes on your local machine or in a virtual environment. This can be done by following the official documentation provided by Docker and Kubernetes. After that, you can follow tutorials and guides to build and deploy simple applications in containers using Docker and Kubernetes.

Theoretical learning: Once you have a basic understanding of Docker and Kubernetes, you can begin to explore the underlying concepts and technologies. This can be done through online resources such as tutorials, courses, and documentation provided by Docker and Kubernetes, as well as books and blogs on the topic.

Joining a community: Joining a community of Docker and Kubernetes enthusiasts will help you connect with other people who are learning and working with these technologies. This can be done through online forums, meetups, and social media groups.

Practice, practice, practice: As with any new technology, the best way to learn is by doing. The more you practice building and deploying containerized applications using Docker and Kubernetes, the more comfortable and proficient you will become with these technologies.

Specialize in a specific use case: Docker and Kubernetes can be used in a wide variety of scenarios and use cases, so it is beneficial to specialize in one or two that align with your business or career goals.

A Note from the Architect

I’m trying to think of the first time I worked with a Docker container. I believe it was almost four years ago, which in technology timeframes was forever. I was trying to decide if I wanted to use Angular or React to create components for a plugin framework running on SharePoint. It wasn’t the type of development I was used to doing at the time, but I knew the industry was heading away from Angular and more toward React. So, I installed Docker on my laptop, learned how to check out the images, and eventually started learning the basics of containers. I was hooked. Here was a great way to build apps, host them locally, and get the same experience locally that I could expect in production. No more, “It worked on my machine.”

In the last couple of years, I’ve used the remote connection capabilities of VS Code to run pretty much all of my development in containers. It gives me the freedom to try out different languages, frameworks, and libraries without ever needing to install those on my local operating system. I’m proud to say that I never get bugged for Java or .Net updates now. I just get the latest images and add a volume that connects to a local folder where I manage my Git repositories. It’s made my life as a developer much easier.

If you’re wondering, “What’s the big deal with containers? I just want to write code. Why do I need to use containers?” I’ll try to answer that question. Because we don’t just write code anymore. As developers and as operations engineers, we’re beginning to move into a phase where we are sharing the overall solution. This means that when I create something or have a hand in creating something, I have ownership over that thing. I’m responsible for it.

Now, you might work for an enterprise that’s still a bit behind the times. You may write code, and some other team might test that code, and then some other team might try to deploy that code. In that situation, you probably aren’t using containers or anything that looks like modern DevOps. And in that situation, the team between you and the customers who will derive value from your code is a bottleneck. If you rely on a QA team, they will find bugs, because that’s what they are incentivized to do. It’s their job to compare your code against some form of requirements and fail it if it doesn’t meet those requirements. Operations in this type of environment is incentivized to keep systems running smoothly, so they’ll look for any excuse to deny your code entry into production—that usually looks like a set of meetings designed to make sure you met all the criteria needed for something to go into production.

That is the old way of developing software. Let me tell you, if you’re working some place like that, get out. No. Seriously. Leave. Find a better job.

I believe this is the way software should be developed:

The Most Powerful Software Development Process Is The Easiest

In an ideal software development process, the only work done is understanding the problem, writing code to solve it, testing to confirm it is solved, and making progress in small steps to retain the ability to change the system when needed. The goal is to minimize work and maximize learning, allowing for changes to be made easily and with confidence.

Containers make this process easier. Your code remains modular, making it easier to version and manage libraries and dependencies. You can even build out the needed infrastructure for a container management system, such as Kubernetes, without involving operations in some cases.

As a developer and an architect, I have found that containers have improved the quality of my development life. They have allowed me to have more control over the solutions I deliver. I believe that if you start working regularly with containers, you will feel the same way too.

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Connect with me on LinkedIn. It’s where I’m most active, and it’s the easiest way to connect with me.

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Why Should a New Engineer Learn the Cloud Native Concepts?

As a new engineer, learning cloud native concepts is important for several reasons.

First, cloud computing is becoming increasingly popular and is now the norm for many organizations. Many companies are moving away from traditional on-premises data centers and migrating their infrastructure and applications to the cloud. Knowing how to build, deploy, and manage cloud-native applications will give you a valuable skill set that is in high demand in the job market.

Second, cloud native concepts and technologies are designed to be flexible, scalable, and efficient. They enable faster development and deployment of applications and make it easier to handle the increasing demand for more computing power and storage. By learning these concepts, you will be able to build applications that can handle large amounts of traffic and data and can easily scale up or down as needed.

Third, cloud native concepts and technologies are designed to work well together. They are all part of a larger ecosystem that is designed to make it easy for developers to build, deploy, and manage applications on cloud infrastructure. By learning these concepts, you will be able to take advantage of the full range of cloud-native tools and services, and will be able to create more powerful and efficient applications.

In summary, as a new engineer, learning cloud native concepts will give you a valuable skill set, allow you to build flexible, scalable, and efficient applications, and enable you to take advantage of the full range of cloud-native tools and services. It is an essential skill set for many companies today and will be essential in the future.

What is Cloud Native?

Cloud native is a term used to describe an approach to building, deploying, and running applications on cloud infrastructure. It involves containerization, microservices architecture, and the use of cloud-native tools and services.

Containerization packages software, its dependencies, and configuration files together in a lightweight and portable container, allowing it to run consistently across different environments.

Microservices architecture designs and builds software as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other via well-defined APIs. This approach enables faster development, easier scaling, and more flexible deployment options.

Cloud-native tools and services are designed specifically for cloud environments and provide capabilities such as auto-scaling, load balancing, and service discovery. They allow for faster and more efficient deployment and management of applications.

In summary, cloud native is a way of designing, building, and running applications on cloud infrastructure. It leverages containerization and microservices architecture, and utilizes cloud-native tools and services for faster and more efficient deployment and management of applications. As a new engineer, it is important to understand these concepts and how they work together in order to build cloud-native applications.

Learning Materials

Here’s a list to get you started learning about Cloud Native. Note that some of these links may not be free and may require a subscription or payment. I receive no affiliate payments for these links.

Beginner:

Intermediate:

Advanced:

Videos to watch

What is Cloud Native and Why Should I Care?

Wealth Grid is a mid-sized firm that has product and service market fit, but is struggling to shorten its time to value and stay off the front page news. To do this, they must embrace cloud native technologies, but this is not business as usual. With the help of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Wealth Grid can learn from their mistakes and use tools and techniques to achieve their goals.

Expert talk: Cloud Native & Serverless • Matt Turner & Eric Johnson • GOTO 2022

Matt Turner and Eric Johnson discuss the importance of Cloud Native Concepts for the new engineer to learn, such as Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery, and the benefits of testing in production to catch certain classes of bugs.

A Possible Learning Path

Hands-on experience: It is important to start by experimenting with different cloud providers, such as AWS, Azure, and GCP, to understand the basic concepts and services offered by each. This can be done by creating a free account and following tutorials and guides to build and deploy simple applications.

Theoretical learning: Once you have a basic understanding of cloud computing, you can begin to explore cloud native concepts such as containerization, microservices, and service discovery. This can be done through online resources such as tutorials, courses, and documentation provided by cloud providers, as well as books and blogs on the topic.

Joining a community: Joining a community of cloud native enthusiasts will help you connect with other people learning and working with cloud native technology. This can be done through online forums, meetups, and social media groups.

Practice, practice, practice: As with any new technology, the best way to learn is by doing. The more you practice building and deploying cloud native applications, the more comfortable and proficient you will become with the technology.

Specialize in a specific cloud provider: Cloud providers each have their own set of services and ways of working, so it is beneficial to specialize in one or two providers that align with your business or career goals.

A Note From the Architect

Don’t be intimidated by the volume of information you’ll need to learn to be proficient in cloud-native technologies. Because I have a secret for you from a twenty-five year veteran. There’s little chance you’ll ever be much more than competent. You may be able to master a few of these subject areas, and that’s great if you do, but it’s not necessary if you truly understand one important thing.

I call this important thing, “The Why”.

In each of these articles where I present an important topic from big concepts in cloud-native development I will give you my opinion based on personal experience as to why you should consider using this technology, what are other possibilities, and what are the trade offs.

I believe that ‘The Why’ is one of the most important parts of a technology consideration. So what is the, “why,” of Cloud Native? In my opinion, it’s the ability to develop and deliver solutions on their built-to-fit platform. Even though there’s still a huge market for large systems like SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, and Oracle, the future belongs to value created solutions running on platforms that best fit their need.

I’m sure some people are wondering if everything really needs to be containerized. No, there are plenty of alternative options for running your workloads that don’t involve containers.

As a developer, I have come across several alternatives to cloud native technologies. One alternative is using virtual machines (VMs) instead of containers. VMs offer a higher level of isolation and security, but they also have a larger footprint and are less portable. Another alternative is using on-premises infrastructure, which provides greater control over data and security, but also comes with higher costs and maintenance responsibilities.

Another alternative is using a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) instead of containers. PaaS provides a higher level of abstraction and can simplify the deployment process, but it also limits the level of control and customization that you have over the infrastructure.

It’s important to note that, while these alternatives can be viable options depending on the specific use case, they often trade off some of the benefits of cloud native technologies such as scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency. Ultimately, it’s important to weigh the tradeoffs and choose the solution that best aligns with the needs of your project and organization.

What I hope to accomplish with this series is to open your eyes to the possibilities of what Cloud Native has to offer.

Connect with Shawn
Connect with Shawn

Connect with me on LinkedIn. It’s where I’m most active, and it’s the easiest way to connect with me.

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