Tag Archives: Infrastructure

APIs With Composable State

What makes API’s complex? In this episode, we talk about how we compose APIs into higher level systems, and how we think about the design elements that go into building durable, reusable API’s.

This is a classic topic for us, and in this discussion we looked beyond the API itself and started talking about the state of the system and how you manage that state.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/Oae5e_ay0d_l48TmWk3PO3lpIDU
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/a-nacho-chi…ng-sauce-5848731/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 podcast on April 21st, Rob Hirschfeld delves into the complexity of APIs, emphasizing the layered and nested nature of API systems. The discussion unveils the challenges of managing distributed state within APIs, where each layer needs to be aware of and interact with the state of adjacent or underlying APIs. The key insight is that without a well-understood distributed state model at the architectural level, building resilient APIs becomes inherently complex. Join the conversation at the2030.cloud for a comprehensive exploration of API design challenges and solutions.

Orchestration Automation Workflow [with Terraform]

Building reliable automation at scale for infrastructure presents challenges. In this episode, we discuss orchestration, workflow automation, and the reconciler pattern in the context of Terraform.

We refer to the pattern of Terraform, automation, and orchestration systems as “TACOS” and today we dig into how you test it and check it against drift. These are real topics of operational concern for anybody building any type of infrastructure.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/w-NA0HBsTc5NRaqWQQwlWUj4Whw
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/person-hold…ith-food-8448079/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the April 5th Cloud 2030 Podcast episode, Rob Hirschfeld discusses orchestration, automation, and workflow, focusing on Terraform and introducing the “Terraform Automation and Orchestration” (TACO) pattern. The conversation emphasizes that while Terraform is a valuable tool, the broader patterns of reconciliation, GitOps, and event-driven automation are crucial for building and maintaining complex systems over time. Hirschfeld encourages listeners to view tools like Terraform and Ansible as initial steps in a journey, prompting consideration of scaling, building orchestration systems, and understanding the importance of comprehensive system development. For more in-depth discussions, explore the full episode on orchestration, automation, and workflow from April 5th, and join the ongoing conversations at the2030.cloud.

How Lock in Creates Risk

Organizations take a risk when they get locked into a vendor. In today’s episode, we talk a lot about the risks of lock in, both in general and in the context of Oracle.

That discussion takes us into a question of insurance, and if insurance policies could ultimately drive people to reduce lock in exposure. This was a fascinating discussion, not only about lock in but about what would drive organizations to fix their lock in problems.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/zJf0WMUwJgamk7IpscHCsL2vsV4
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/closed-white-door-3119977/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 Podcast episode on March 31st, Rob Hirschfeld discusses the intricate aspects of vendor lock-in, focusing on the risks associated with relying on a single provider, such as an authentication service like Okta. The conversation delves into the challenges of migrating away from tightly integrated platforms and emphasizes the importance of assessing and mitigating lock-in risks. The broader theme within Cloud 2030 discussions seems to revolve around identifying and understanding various risk factors in building complex infrastructures, aiming to drive market dynamics by addressing and managing these risks. To explore this insightful discussion further, check out the full episode on March 31st at the2030.cloud and become part of these engaging conversations.

Improving Automation Safety

Making automation safe is essential to making it usable at scale. How do we make automation safe? We found a lot of great insights drawing from space craft design, aircraft, aircraft design and other systems where safety is super important.

Automation is a force multiplier. If we don’t factor in safety when we build it,then we could create a lot of harm in systems from wasteful spending to actual injury. These designs have very real implications.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/p9w4aKOqm3rpHhbDtRTaLgN3GIA
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/toddler-usi…-on-road-1642055/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 Podcast on March 15th, Rob Hirschfeld underscores the critical importance of automation safety in system design. Emphasizing the need for thorough testing, he discusses how safety, especially in complex systems like airplanes and spacecraft, requires continuous testing and monitoring. The conversation delves into the significance of not just completing tasks but also exercising and testing systems in various scenarios to ensure their safety. To explore these insights further, listen to the full episode on March 15th at the2030.cloud and participate in the ongoing discussions.

Data Center Users: Majors vs Miners

Majors versus minors are enterprise data centers versus blockchain, bitcoin and distributed ledger data centers. We dive into the differences in processing and environmental requirements for those two different use cases.

While the idea of blockchain and distributed ledgers generate very different computational profiles, what we’re building keeps coming back to the design of a data center is design of a data center. The exception is proof of work like Bitcoin. In those cases, it’s really just how many CPUs you can run.

For this episode, we focus on proof of stake data center infrastructure. This podcast is helpful to understand the difference between proof of work and proof of state. There’s clear consensus on the call that that proof of work is not environmentally sustainable. So proof of stake is much more interesting.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/uuPJSF_nWeDLF64lZlsGLOY8JWw
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/man-holding-shovel-3285094/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 Podcast, Rob Hirschfeld explores the distinctions between majors and minors in data center design, specifically comparing traditional enterprise workloads with proof of stake (PoS) and proof of work (PoW) data centers used for distributed ledgers and blockchains. The discussion reveals that the transition to PoS aligns more closely with enterprise data center needs, emphasizing reliability, performance, and security. Contrarily, PoW environments prioritize cost efficiency but face environmental challenges. This assessment suggests that PoS is likely to drive a resurgence in traditional data center designs. For a more in-depth exploration, join the ongoing conversations at the2030.cloud.

Expanding GitOps Beyond K8s

GitOps is a really important way of collaborating and communicating about infrastructure.

But can GitOps escape from Kubernetes? While we did talk about Kubernetes too, we mainly talked about what it takes to implement GitOps outside of Kubernetes. We considered building a GitOps architecture and then having people understand and use it. We also cover the fundamental parts of GitOps like having a reconciler and a bunch of tools that drive clusters.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/oq4D06Sd_rtUvXBVXC0Wx3KA2sQ
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/people-with…popcorns-7234318/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the March 8th DevOps Lunch and Learn session on GitOps, Rob Hirschfeld emphasizes the crucial role of immutability in operations. The concept of specifying a fixed state, configuration set, or resource transforms how automation, infrastructure building, and system maintenance are approached. The investment in immutable components enhances change resilience, making it easier to adapt and keep up with changes while ensuring stability. Join the ongoing conversations and roundtables at the2030.cloud to contribute to discussions on these transformative concepts.

Is Web3 Legit?

Today’s episode is about Web3. By now hopefully you’ve heard of Web3, but… what is Web3 really!?!

That’s exactly what this conversation is about! We really talked about how Web3 is more than tech bros marketing Bitcoin. There actually are real legitimate business interests around Web3. Uses like breaking transaction log jams when a small number of providers are actually controlling and running the internet. Or looking at ways to decentralize infrastructure and remove bottlenecks within transactions flows.

You will be surprised at how much of the evolution of the Internet is captured in what Web3 could be.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/j9LW8BlgtDoCMw5JyweGiyGIS5o
Photo: www.pexels.com/photo/three-gray-…ntroller-2106215/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the February 10th episode of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, Rob Hirschfeld explores the concept of web3, initially skeptical but finding it to be a potential evolution of the Internet toward its decentralized roots. Acknowledging the current dominance of a few major players in shaping the Internet, web3 aims to reclaim control and decentralize influence. Hirschfeld emphasizes the importance of shifting the balance of power back to consumers, fostering discussions beyond cryptocurrency investments, and invites engagement at the2030.cloud to delve deeper into these transformative conversations.

https://videopress.com/v/pnWqZPdY?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

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/

Building Green(er) Data Centers

What is a “green datacenter?” Can we make the IT infrastructure we use more environmentally sound?

Maybe, but… it’s a challenging problem because fundamentally running servers uses power.

We went into how data centers use power with an eye to making them more efficient. But that’s only part of the story. We discussed ways to incent people to give up resources, CPU cycles, and idle servers. Those are the items that really help with savings.

Ultimately, building a next generation infrastructure is more about the behaviors of the users as the efficiency of the equipment. In that case, what’s holding us back?

Transcript: otter.ai/u/RbDO1zLmb3JbEcmm6bsw6pihvQE
Photo: www.pexels.com/photo/three-brown…n-surface-799465/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, shares insights from the January 27th discussion on data center efficiency and greening. While addressing the challenge of using power more efficiently and exploring cleaner locations for data centers, Hirschfeld emphasizes that the primary obstacle is a human behavior problem. He advocates for immediate improvements in resource utilization, portability, and supply chain performance, asserting that the benefits are pervasive and can positively impact both businesses and the environment. Hirschfeld encourages listeners to check out the full episode at the2030.cloud for a comprehensive exploration of creating greener data centers.

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.