Here are a collection of posts from our team on DevOps culture, tools and collaboration.

• Cloud provisioning for container hosting
  26 Sep 2024
  Containers are a great way to run software or deliver services, they just need hosting in such a way that they're manageable, scalable and secure
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• Kubernetes exercises
  09 Sep 2024
  Create a simple hosted service using Kubernetes and kubectl
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• How to use Markdown for future-proof publishing
  12 Aug 2024
  Simple text-based structures allow you to write once, publish everywhere, and in such a way it will still be editable in 10 years
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• Terraform-Docker integration exercises
  19 Feb 2021
  Azure provides all the building blocks we need to securely run containers in the Cloud, we just need Terraform to glue them together
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• Docker exercises
  08 Feb 2021
  Containers allow us to run isolated processes in a controlled security context. Try out these exercises to hone your skills!
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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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• 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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• Terraform exercises (Part 2 - Secret management)
  20 Sep 2020
  Terraform provides a great way to create resources in the cloud using infrastructure-as-code. Just ensure you grant yourself permission to delete the things you create!
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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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• Set up PostgreSQL cluster on Kubernetes in 5 minutes
  29 Jun 2020
  Managing the data layer is non-trivial because containers need redundancy and high-availability in order to be reliable. Enter Helm, the Kubernetes package manager, to make the orchestration simpler.
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• Use free tools to provision infrastructure-as-code
  17 Mar 2020
  Avoid click-and-tick web interfaces that lose or obfuscate config. Instead write simple code to provision your environments using free and open-source software (FOSS).
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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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• Create an Oracle Cloud VM (always free) instance using Terraform
  12 Feb 2020
  Oracle Cloud is still something of the new kid on the block, but their always-free tier offers a great starting place for some automated cloud resources provisioned with Terraform
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• Beware open ports in Oracle Cloud's Default Security Lists
  12 Feb 2020
  Setting up a Network Security Group confers additional (OR) access, not restrictive access (AND)
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• Puppetting machines from a puppetmaster
  16 Nov 2019
  Here are some exercises to get you using Terraform and Puppet together
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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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• Terraform exercises (Part 1 - Language)
  11 Sep 2019
  These exercises for part of the Terraform section of our Cloud training courses.
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• Manage secrets in Git repos using Eyaml
  10 Sep 2019
  Strong asymmetric encryption can keep secrets confidential even if the repository that stores them is open source
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• Create a Puppetmaster using Puppet masterless
  17 Aug 2019
  A simple exercise in bootstrapping the most complex config-managed server in the estate, the Puppetmaster.
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• Use Puppet for templating Hiera data into configuration files
  14 Aug 2019
  Maintaining infrastructure-as-code at scale requires a clear, logical and ruthlessly consistent approach to machine state. Hiera is the way.
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• Multiple node definitions in puppet's site.pp
  13 Aug 2019
  A single node defined in site.pp is how all vast server estates begin, but multiple node definitions allow us to build out while sharing common configuration.
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• Import Hiera values into Puppet classes
  13 Aug 2019
  When configuration code contains 'hard-coded' configuration values, it's much harder to maintain. Hiera allows us to break the latter out into something readable.
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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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• Create resource groups in Microsoft Azure using Terraform
  11 Aug 2019
  Resource groups hold everything together in Azure, like virtual containers for the resources we provision.
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• Organise Puppet manifests using classes
  10 Aug 2019
  Classes are to resources like folders are to your Physics revision notes.
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• Getting started with Puppet, masterless
  07 Aug 2019
  Getting going with Puppet can be as simple a few lines of infrastructure-as-code (IAC).
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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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• Force your attackers to cross multiple security boundaries
  06 Jul 2019
  While a single firewall should be enough, the number of successful attacks implies that it's not.
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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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• Transferring Terraform state in S3 over to another project
  22 Jan 2019
  Terraform state files in S3 are the way forward, but when you need to split a project, managing those state files requires care
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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 framework
  (Roadmap)
  Start simple, start with people, but aim for a holistic well-constructed Cloud.
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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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• 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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• 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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• Doing it Smart
  10 Feb 2018
  It's great fun doing it clever, but sometimes keeping it simple is harder.
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