Tag Archives: Infrastructure

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
Photo: www.pexels.com/photo/slatted-woo…en-trees-1423827/

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.

Software Supply Chains [#Log4Shell]

Our scheduled topic was supply chains generally, but the Log4Shell vulnerability dominated the discussion. We dove into the challenge of patching and fixing a library that is literally in nearly every device or service for years and years.

That led us to supply chains in the context of software, and specifically Java Log4j. This is a critical topic and our conversation about it was very thoughtful. We really covered the angles of what it takes to produce and maintain a supply chain for software. Then we discussed alternatives and things to consider when you building anything: software products or physical products in which embedded systems and components impact your designs.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/CJ8pYF1La6tetFasqZhEojo_zoY
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/carton-cont…-in-rows-6294430/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, reflects on the December 16th discussion centered around the supply chain, particularly focusing on Log4j and software components. He underscores the importance of understanding the provenance of software components and emphasizes the necessity of maintaining a robust patch and update process, especially considering embedded systems like Java. Hirschfeld advocates for a shift in mindset towards viewing software as an ongoing process rather than a static deliverable, inviting listeners to explore the insightful discussion further at the2030.cloud.

Broader Impacts of AWS Outage

We discussed the Amazon outage of December 7. Instead of simply blaming Amazon, we went looking for how the outage impacted people globally. We considered how hyper scalars are being treated and how these outages can be avoided or understood. We focused on who is impacted and what companies who are building on top of Cloud providers can do going forward.

We really took a classic Cloud 2030 approach for a very important and timely topic. Enjoy our discussion about the business impacts, understanding of the market and forward looking approach.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/cY4fk8mWIovIfkwfT4LDw2uy4QY
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-ho…ked-eggs-7719168/

Rob’s Hot Take:


Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, provides insights on the December 9th discussion regarding the Amazon outage on December 7th. Fresh from the outage’s impact, Hirschfeld highlights the industry’s reliance on cloud providers as utilities and underscores the need to acknowledge their business interests, which may not always align with customer needs during disruptions. He advocates for building resilience both at the provider and consumer levels, emphasizing the importance of understanding and mitigating the risks associated with hyperscale infrastructures. Hirschfeld invites listeners to explore the comprehensive conversation at the2030.cloud, focusing on industry-wide reflections rather than attributing blame to specific providers.

What is Platform Engineering?

What is platform engineering? And why is it necessary and how to make it work compared to DevOps.

In this conversation, we really hit on the challenges of creating automation teams for building automation in scalable ways. Frustratingly, we never really came up with a particularly good answer to “what is a platform team” and why you should care. Strangely, your organization is probably building one.

Transcript otter.ai/u/zJeQbqXIyD8kZUxfKQdvQAfQGog
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/building-co…chnology-9617733/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, reflects on the November 9th DevOps Lunch and Learn session focused on platform engineering. He highlights the challenge of executing platform engineering initiatives despite the straightforward concept of improving automation and tooling at an architectural level. Hirschfeld emphasizes the importance of defining success metrics, empowering teams to enforce standards, and adopting consistent, repeatable patterns and practices to advance the industry’s maturity. He encourages listeners to explore the insightful discussion at the2030.cloud for a deeper understanding of platform engineering’s significance.

Edge Networking: Facebook, BGP and 5G

Edge networking is hard! Because before we can talk about edge networking, we actually have to talk about edge management and edge control, and what it takes to build resilient infrastructure and train people to use it.

In the first half, we’re talking about the challenges of managing infrastructure, using the Facebook outage of the week we recorded as a starting point for how challenging it is to build resilient infrastructure.

In the second, we talk about edge networking with solid insights about how challenging edge networking really is not just creating networks in edge locations, but what does it take to sustain an edge network and the integration and technologies over the course of multiple technology generations?

Caption: otter.ai/u/U6PvW4S34DUi1Awiu4gcYMLp-pk
Photo by Tony Mucci from Pexels [ID 5367334]

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, reflects on the October 5th discussion about edge networking, highlighting the conversation’s focus on the long lifecycle expectancy of edge technologies and the challenges associated with their maintenance and evolution. He emphasizes the need to address these critical topics in edge networking discussions, inviting listeners to explore the in-depth conversation at the2030.cloud.

Your next DC… Edge or Cloud?

Cloud versus Edge? This panel dove into what makes edge different than cloud.

There are a lot of different technical and commercial drivers. And fundamentally, it matters who owns the sources of data and how data sources are different. This underscores how it is critical to understand data sources, infrastructure ownership, and how everything fits together.

This discussion will change to you rethink what makes Edge different than Cloud.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/y2ubHGGIhY31hRyiV6mW_B8e-os
Photo by Agafonova Photo from Pexels [ID 5284983]

Modular Automation via Pipelines and Digital Twins

Today’s episode, we talked about the challenge of making Modular Automation. We broke down why that is so hard and really dug into ways in which we can increase the modularity and reuse of automation.

That led us to talking about infrastructure pipelines, infrastructure, reuse, and sharing state via digital twins in infrastructure.

All of this comes together in really fascinating ways!

Transcript: otter.ai/u/O1KFCsmEpMpV-hNZjTzJ_ewxaUA
Photo by Alena Darmel from Pexels [ID 7751055]

Deep Dive into Secrets Management

We go into the details about Secrets Management. We explore how the process works, and how to do it right. We also cover the alternatives.

This podcast is for you if you are trying to understand how secrets management works. We cover different scenarios where it can be applied, and where can go wrong.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/SvO6_I3RIiGmc2FLJM70y9xoQB4
Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels [ID 4587991]

Continuous Infrastructure Automation

Continuous Infrastructure Automation is a critical concept about driving much more resilient and repeatable systems.

As we build out applications on infrastructure, we should not treat them as a static deployment. Instead, we should think of infrastructure as constantly evolving, growing and changing.

There’s a lot of technology and challenges in building that! In discussion, we firmly believe that this is the right path, but the path to get there is challenging. There are a lot of components that have to be considered: everything from artificial intelligence or machine learning, to how to manage and control and standardize the automation that does all that work.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/KmdQpMPJDPL1BjzXjEIEeavQRco
Photo by Aleksejs Bergmanis from Pexels [ID 681335]