October 2021 Summaries

In October, DigitalOcean released several key features and updates to its products. These include a new Monitoring API for programmatically gaining insights into apps, the ability to disable automatic DNS A record creation when Let's Encrypt Certificates are added through forwarding rules on a LoadBalancer, and a redesigned control plane in Managed Kubernetes for high availability. Additionally, App Platform now supports log forwarding, and 1-Click Apps from the Marketplace can seamlessly integrate with DigitalOcean Managed Databases. The company also released updates to its Command Line Interface (CLI) and Terraform Provider.

Getting started with cloud computing can be simplified into three steps: considering goals, resources, and joining a community. Firstly, outline your goals and requirements for a cloud provider, taking into account your current needs and future growth plans. Secondly, evaluate your team's size, experience, and budget to determine the appropriate level of support and complexity required from a cloud provider. Lastly, engage with developer communities for knowledge sharing and collaboration opportunities. DigitalOcean offers various products and services such as Droplets, App Platform, Managed Kubernetes, and Managed Databases to cater to different needs and stages of development.

Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It has become the de facto leader for container orchestration and management due to its ability to accelerate deployment frequency, increase automation, and reduce IT costs. Companies can leverage the power of Kubernetes through either vanilla Kubernetes (a basic setup) or managed Kubernetes providers that offer support and maintenance of Kubernetes clusters. DigitalOcean's Managed Kubernetes service is designed to provide users with a hassle-free control plane, easy deployment options, and ongoing Kubernetes maintenance while reducing operations overhead and enabling faster time to market.

DigitalOcean is hosting another deploy conference, a virtual event for global development teams on November 16th and 17th. The focus will be on cloud native applications and how to use them to grow businesses. Technical experts from DigitalOcean will share practical takeaways on using cloud technologies. The event will cover topics such as setting up Kubernetes clusters, best practices for critical operations like logging, security monitoring, backup, and more. Attendees can also connect with developers worldwide in the deploy Discord server to discuss business challenges and network with other attendees.

The Chief Product Officer of DigitalOcean shares their excitement in joining the company, emphasizing their passion for open source communities and cloud native space. They discuss their previous experience at Microsoft's Azure Developer Experience group and their contributions to Docker and Kubernetes projects. The author highlights the importance of empowering developers, especially small teams and businesses, and how DigitalOcean is uniquely focused on supporting these groups. They also mention the company's commitment to providing a full spectrum of managed services with a focus on developer experience and success.

DigitalOcean has introduced a new Monitoring API that allows users to programmatically manage their alert policies and retrieve Droplet insight metrics from their own applications and scripts. This extension of the DigitalOcean API enables users to create automated alerting solutions, custom metrics dashboards, or pass performance data on to end users. The API also reduces the time spent manually managing alert policies via the DigitalOcean cloud console.

DigitalOcean has released updates to its App Platform, including the ability to forward application logs to external logging systems for better analysis and support for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS). The platform now supports deployment of apps using GitHub Actions. Additionally, new developer guides and sample apps have been introduced for Go and NodeJS applications. DigitalOcean has also expanded App Platform's availability to more regions, including London and Toronto datacenters.

In 2018, DigitalOcean launched Kubernetes, a managed offering that simplifies the provisioning and deployment of production-grade Kubernetes clusters. Over time, they have added features such as autoscaling for clusters, tokenized authentication, Container Registry, automatic upgrades and patches, and an extensive collection of popular 1-Click Apps like Prometheus, Linkerd, Grafana, and Loki. Today, businesses use DigitalOcean Kubernetes to deploy web applications, microservices, CI/CD pipelines, IoT applications, blockchain-based services, and more. They recently redesigned the control plane of their Kubernetes offering to provide high availability, faster creation, self-repair capabilities, and enhanced security. The new control plane is available for all users at no additional cost, with an option to add high availability for $40/month. DigitalOcean Kubernetes helps businesses scale effectively while keeping teams lean, as evidenced by customers like Hack The Box and Atom Learning.

Managed hosting providers have become increasingly popular as businesses and developers seek to offload their infrastructure management, configuration, and support to external experts. These services offer several benefits, including cost and time savings, improved performance and reliability, enhanced security and backups, dedicated support, and pricing transparency. When choosing a managed hosting provider, consider factors such as cost, type of website or application, support tiers, and the public clouds utilized by the provider. DigitalOcean partners with several leading managed hosting providers to offer their services in a managed environment, making it easier for businesses to focus on their core work while benefiting from the simplicity, flexibility, and reliability of DigitalOcean's cloud services.

DigitalOcean is a sponsor of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2021 and will be participating virtually. They have planned conference talks, virtual booths with demos and interactive sessions, as well as additional Kubernetes events throughout the week. Kim Schlesinger, Developer Advocate at DigitalOcean, will give a talk on understanding Kubernetes architecture. The company also offers managed Kubernetes services for developers and businesses.