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What is Kubernetes?
06 Nov 2020
From the ground up, or really the application down, we look at the transformative effect that Kubernetes is having and the container technology that underpins it
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Kubernetes as a service
(Managed)
We provide a high-powered (24 Xeon cores/48vCPU/256GB RAM) Kubernetes cluster, ready-to-go for £885/month + VAT, fully-managed and monitoring by Lightenna engineers. Deploy your production workload in minutes using kubectl, Helm or visually with Rancher.
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Building blocks for hosting containers
06 Oct 2020
Build a simple, secure platform to host containers on-prem or in the Cloud
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Adopt GitFlow for team collaboration
06 Sep 2020
Git scales well from a 1-2 person team to a vast enterprise of developers, but the key is branching and merging.
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Put containers into production, in weeks not months
04 Mar 2020
If you've got a beta app but no production environment to host it in, start small and iterate towards a full Cloud
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Kubernetes on-premise or in any cloud
(Part/fully-managed)
Bootstrap a Cloud presence or make the most of your existing tin with a standardised platform. Our part or fully-managed, on-premise or any-cloud Kubernetes offerings give you improved reliability and resilience, reduced Operations costs and a migration path to the Cloud.
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Multi-cloud first
10 Feb 2020
Going to the Cloud? Don't let your investment get lost in just one. Instead, use infrastructure-as-code to make the vendors compete for your custom.
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Push back against IT vendor hype
11 Dec 2019
IT vendors are always pushing the next big thing, but knowing if it's right for your organisation cannot be answered by a sales pitch
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Git for Version Controlled magic
07 Oct 2019
There are many version control systems (VCS) but few have the reach or convenience of git
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Master the Migrate-Train-Run cycle
30 Sep 2019
IT is endlessly keeping up with the future, but there are things that make it dramatically easier
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String substitution in Puppet using variables
12 Aug 2019
Variables allow us to start genericising Puppet configuration and allow us to keep things DRY (don't repeat yourself)
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Set up Terraform to provision in Microsoft Azure
05 Aug 2019
Terraforming your Azure Cloud means building out a more predictable, reliable and extensible Cloud estate for the future
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Puppet for configuration-managed Windows desktops
02 Aug 2019
Configuration management makes homogenising similar machines easier and there are some great free tools to get started
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GraphQL using AWS AppSync
31 Jul 2019
An AppSync GraphQL example, automatically provisioned with Terraform
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Get started with remote provisioning using Terraform
30 Jul 2019
Often local machines or firewalls make it impossible to run Terraform locally, but remote provisioning offers a convenient secure alternative
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Keep track of AWS costs in real-time
27 Jun 2019
Don't wait to find out tomorrow what you could learn today, or for a big bill from your Cloud provider at the end of the month
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Cloud data warehouse, just-in-time
02 Apr 2019
Gone are the days when you needed a massive online database 24/7 for analytics
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Fear not the technical debt
16 Jan 2019
Tech debt is great, if managed.
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Tell me what you've got, what you've really really got
14 Nov 2018
Whether you've got a web site, web service or full web business, understanding where it's at requires a clear view of where it's headed.
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Cloud strategy inception
15 Oct 2018
Know where you're going, but then focus on the first step not the destination.
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Web service review and Cloud audit
(Checklist)
Beyond the code, there's so much that needs to be thought about when launching and running a production-grade, scalable and extensible app or web service. Let's get specific!
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Storing Terraform state in S3
01 Oct 2018
Terraform is a great solo tool but, when you start working together as a team, keep the tfstate files in the Cloud (S3)
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How to go to the Cloud, well
01 Oct 2018
Cloud might feel like a tick-box purchasing decision, but getting tangible business outcomes from a Cloud strategy is all about the people.
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Cloud starter
(Training course, 1/2 day)
Inspire your team to greater heights in the Cloud.
Audience: Developers, Architects, Testers.
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Cloud framework
(Roadmap)
Start simple, start with people, but aim for a holistic well-constructed Cloud.
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Zero to GraphQL
19 Jun 2018
Much-hyped and misunderstood, GraphQL isn't for everything but it might be just right for your API.
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Sympathy for the devil (or his legacy anyway)
21 May 2018
Legacy systems (of any type) pervade almost every one of our roles, yet they are pretty universally hated. What can we do for our tomorrow-selves to break the circle?
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Sunsetting Surfy Surveys
13 May 2018
Without iteration and test-and-learn, we never stood a chance of commercial success, but lots of good things came from doing it all wrong.
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Doing work with a passion for excellence
06 May 2018
As the earth hosts greater numbers of human and artificially intelligent lifeforms, excellence is becoming more than a nice-to-have.
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Spinning up AWS Lambda functions (Part 1)
22 Apr 2018
Serverless infrastructure holds great promise but building something fast that runs fast requires planning.
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Cost of Dev-Ops Collaboration
08 Apr 2018
Collaboration is brilliant - the only way - but managing the volatility, uncertainty, confusion and ambiguity associated with it is expensive.
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Buying software with integrity
07 Apr 2018
The ephemeral nature of a digital download can make for murky transactions. What we need isn't a 40-page EULA, it's a clear agreement of how and how long the software will work.
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Getting Started in the DevOps space
01 Apr 2018
The Development-Operations world is a wash with some fantastic tools, but sometimes getting started can be too great an impediment to realise the 'DevOps' efficiency promise.
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Scalability trumps speed
25 Mar 2018
Serverless promises a world without low-level worries, but what's it like at scale?
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Help! We can't find the DevOps people. Do we already have the DevOps people?
19 Mar 2018
With market demand for Site Reliability engineers, DevOps engineers and Service Automation engineers eclipsing supply, at what point does cross-training become the only way to keep pace with the ever-more-automated world?
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VR, wow... now what?
11 Mar 2018
Each iteration of VR technology creates a wow factor, but the annoyances slowly suck the life out of the experience. Are we getting close to a minimum viable sustainable VR hit?
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VR for the near future
25 Feb 2018
VR has been a tantalizingly close proposition for years but where will it land first?
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Kubernetes for a migratable future
18 Feb 2018
Serverless function-as-a-service (like AWS Lambda) is magic, but it's hard to commit at this early stage.
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Miss the old site? So do we, but fear not, the old Lightenna.com site is still preserved for posterity.