Automation – Page 7 – Cloud2030 Podcast

Can Machines Update Themselves?

We know that humans have trouble keeping systems updated, but… how can we address the challenge of knowing which updates are required and, critically, if the updates with break other systems? Even knowing if they worked is a really thorny problem!

In this episode, we focus on actions about what’s going on and why this problem has persisted in industry for so long. Starting from the news of the day about CentOS 8 mirrors being taken down. That’s exactly the type of challenge we are facing when we think about where updates and repos are coming from.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/rRMIT6kkTTtyWrzdBnuq63nvKuE
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Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN, discusses the challenges of system maintenance and lifecycle in the Cloud 2030 podcast. He emphasizes the difficulty of keeping systems up to date and understanding dependencies, leading to a lack of confidence in system updates due to the fear of breaking or degrading them. Hirschfeld advocates for a change in the industry to prioritize test and verification practices, enabling more effective and confident system updates.

What’s up with Containers for 2022

This discussion sifts into tactical concerns for containers in the near term. We’ve gotten far with containers and Kubernetes. But what about process controls that we need to wrap around containers?

We talked through how we need to be thinking about containers now that we have good control surfaces around them to make things work. If you were using containers and Kubernetes, this podcast will certainly inform your thinking.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/NKNuTQQCXGXbVrZq_4pHazt4sZA
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Reliable License Models

We talk about software licensing in open source, and what it means to the broader market. In fact, we cover how it’s changing what the market actually is!

This is not not just open source licensing in general because at the end we didn’t care about the license. We are more concerned about utility, serviceability and operability of the products we use. We need to understand whether or not we can rely on them!

In short, the supply chain of the software was much more important than the licenses of the software

Transcript: otter.ai/u/kH-vbVxoymH9GGdNEi3jvF07c5s
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/gray-planes…om-window-127441/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, reflects on the October 28th discussion about software licensing. He highlights the industry’s indifference towards software licensing as a critical battleground and questions the necessity of open source for good software, asserting that system support, maintenance, and trusted partners are more crucial. While acknowledging the importance of community goods like Kubernetes for creating abstraction layers, Hirschfeld emphasizes that the ultimate focus should be on the supply chain and invites listeners to explore the extended conversation at the2030.cloud.

Can DevOps Be More Collaborative / MSFT & Activision

We have a lot of questions about improving collaboration in organizations:
How do we deal with change in organizations
How can we get organizations to work together better?
How do we encourage collaboration around the automation spaces that we’re trying to build in DevOps.

In our discussion, a lot came back to something as simple as version control!

We also discuss how we handle coupling between systems. In order to collaborate, we have to couple systems. But if we couple them, we create complexity.

This podcast includes our warm up conversation about Microsoft acquiring Activision because that is ALSO about how you integrate to organizations and business plans! This was news of the day and I think you’ll be very interested in our take on it.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/itNrmoL9MgG980D8CZdo9XWd-xI
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-pla…ith-kids-7176471/

Using Blockchain for Edge Computing

We started talking about blockchain and the edge, but that is not where it ended up at all! Our fascinating journey started with web3, and surprisingly, it’s potential for distributed infrastructure and distributed web.

That led us to edge: managing and trusting devices on the edge through distributed ledger (DLT). That led us to the distributed ledger landscape. The journey is important because some of these technologies will be essential for establishing trust in systems.

In this conversation, we walk through the progression of these very important topics.

Exploring Edge Applications

This episode explores applications for the edge. We really try to dig in on what will work in the edge from an application perspective. We also explore what’s holding us back.

Every time we have a conversation about Edge, we help undangle the components of Edge. In this discussion, we get more concise about what type of infrastructure is needed to build real edge applications. We also define where edge applications are expected to work and where they don’t.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/7uwv5Z3aupwE5ZGBXBEUqw9zkbE
Photo: www.pexels.com/photo/red-and-bla…ot-statue-185725/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, offers insights from the December 2nd Edge Applications discussion. The conversation focuses on the challenges of building integrated edge applications composed of various components like platforms, compute, networking, and sensors. Hirschfeld highlights the need for collaborative data planes, digital twins, and an ecosystem that allows applications to utilize existing resources, emphasizing that these challenges in the edge space have yet to be fully addressed. He encourages listeners to explore the comprehensive discussion at the2030.cloud.

Is Edge HCI Necessary?

To explore HCI at the edge, we started with SUSE’s Harvester. It’s an HCI integration of Kubernetes, KubeVirt, and Longhorn (their storage system) plus some PXE booting magic they threw in there. From there we explored how Kubernetes can fit into Edge HCI.

That really morphed into Edge operations more generally. It’s not clear if hyperconverged infrastructure can or can’t fit. We covered items like AWS Outpost which is Amazon’s edge. We included items for the cloud to edge migration from an application development perspective.

There are a lot of fascinating ops and development topics throughout the conversation.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/Y2OH7SuJhPp4VRQSBAJk31-0_eI
Photo: www.pexels.com/photo/crop-person…ontainer-4498143/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, provides insights from the January 4th discussion on hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) for the edge. The conversation explores the operational desire for clean and simple architectures with modular building blocks for easy implementation. However, it challenges the notion that platforms like Kubernetes can create a straightforward, self-building architectural solution for edge clusters, emphasizing the associated cost considerations. Hirschfeld suggests exploring the full episode at the2030.cloud for a comprehensive discussion on the complexities and potential solutions in the realm of hyper-converged infrastructure for the edge.

Resolving Software Dependency Chains

Dependency chains are complex and fragile when you’re depending on software, hardware cloud services that go away or change. In this conversation, we really examine the challenge of having dynamic vendor relationships and what we can do to fix and protect our environments.

It’s really hard to fix what can be vulnerable when it also changes your software supply chain at any moment! And that can impact any device in your infrastructure!! We work through that problem means in practical terms.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/mwpwVINGYfkQ5F5IERXgsM2oHsA
Photo: www.pexels.com/photo/focused-kid…d-puzzle-5063480/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, reflects on the January 11th DevOps lunch and learn focused on managing dependencies in technology. The discussion reveals a critical realization that the interconnected and short lifecycle of technology components results in a near certainty of repercussions when patching or updating one part of the infrastructure. Hirschfeld highlights the serious security and continuity risks associated with unmaintained projects, emphasizing the need for improved visibility and management of software dependency graphs. He encourages listeners to explore the comprehensive conversation at the2030.cloud for insights into addressing these challenges.

A Pathway to Standardization

This episode was a fun and interesting ride from boring standards to locking APIs via NFTs!

We started talking about “civilization technology” where standards and regulations are applied to infrastructure. We are expecting this to happen in cloud (eventually) because it allows us to create ecosystems around the infrastructure. The historical patterns that we see in railroads, buildings and electricity will emerge in IT too.

Or maybe they won’t! We haven’t yet seen standards emerging in cloud or open source. And we had some really significant conversations around the interactions between these systems that would drive or resist standardization.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/-hhn6VEjtIQDl3UAHaCPUxCUaXo
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A Pathway to Green Data Centers?

How do we make data centers green because, fundamentally, they are going to use electricity. But the sources of that electricity, how we respond to shortages of electricity and cost signals about that electricity are all critical to consider. These are the questions that lead us to how a green data center or green infrastructure gets created.

Our discussion also includes how infrastructure at the edge can play a role. Overall, there are A LOT of the factors that go into building and creating green infrastructure, including the motivations and signals that will hopefully change the market.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/9eirv3Rs292n7M1m8d1VaRPPRgA
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/clear-light…ray-rock-1108572/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, discusses the importance of green infrastructure in today’s episode. He emphasizes the need to understand the impacts of power availability on the cost and design of applications and infrastructure. Hirschfeld stresses that building for the future requires consideration of unreliable power, whether due to cost, availability, or shifting dynamics, and encourages listeners to explore the comprehensive discussion in the full podcast at the2030.cloud.