September 2022 Summaries

Kubernetes is an open-source system that automates container deployment tasks and solves many challenges around using containers in production. It provides high-level abstractions for defining applications and their infrastructure using declarative schemas. Key features include automated rollouts, scaling, and rollbacks; service discovery, load balancing, and network ingress; storage management; and a highly extensible architecture. Kubernetes works by coordinating the operations of a cluster, which includes one or more nodes that run containers. It has several components such as kube-apiserver, kube-controller-manager, kube-scheduler, kubelet, and kube-proxy. The basic terms and concepts in Kubernetes include Nodes, Namespaces, Pods, ReplicaSets, Deployments, Services, Jobs, Volumes, Secrets and ConfigMaps, DaemonSets, and Networking Policies. Interacting with Kubernetes can be done using the Kubectl CLI tool for tasks such as listing Pods, creating a Pod or Deployment, scaling a Deployment, exposing a Service, using port forwarding, and applying a YAML file.

This article discusses best practices for setting up Ansible projects and suggests approaches to deal with Ansible's internals effectively. It covers generic & project structure best practices, plays & playbooks best practices, variables best practices, modules best practices, roles best practices, execution and deployments best practices and tricks, and how Spacelift can help with Ansible projects. The article emphasizes the importance of keeping Ansible projects simple, using a consistent naming strategy, storing projects in a Version Control System (VCS), testing Ansible projects, and following a style guide for consistency. It also provides tips on organizing directory structure, inventory best practices, using plays & playbooks efficiently, managing variables effectively, utilizing modules optimally, creating well-defined roles, and controlling execution and deployments in Ansible projects.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a crucial aspect of DevOps culture that enables the creation and management of infrastructure through code. Terraform's plan command plays an essential role in ensuring visibility and control over IaC deployments by generating reviewable execution plans without applying any changes. The plan command can be executed in three modes: normal, destroy, and refresh-only, each serving different purposes. Additionally, various options are available to modify the behavior or output of the plan command. It is recommended to use the plan command before applying changes to avoid unexpected infrastructure alterations.

A survey conducted by Spacelift reveals that IT professionals experience workplace stress less frequently than people working in other sectors. The primary stressors in the IT industry include heavy workload and tight deadlines, while the most common symptoms are irritability and mood swings. Some of the best ways to cope with job-related stress are listening to music, playing video games, and exercising. DevOps professionals appear to be the second most frequently stressed group within the IT industry, with the highest percentage of people holding no degree, doubting their skills, and criticizing themselves. However, they also come across as family-oriented people due to putting "heavy workload" almost on a par with "work interfering with personal or family time" as the main source of work-related stress.

DevSecOps is a methodology that integrates security practices into the DevOps pipeline to ensure increased productivity and reduced risk. It involves shifting security left by including it from the beginning, which helps reduce friction and delays in the development process. Advantages of DevSecOps include reducing risk and legal liability, identifying bugs and vulnerabilities earlier in the process, and making security more manageable. Proper implementation requires organizational culture change, management buy-in, and training for all team members. The DevSecOps lifecycle includes various stages with specific actions, processes, and tools to achieve its objectives.

The article discusses the use of Policy as Code and its implementation using Open Policy Agent (OPA) and Rego language. It explains how decisions in Rego are used as outputs of policies and can be strings, arrays, objects, sets, etc. Additionally, it covers the use of block notation for assignments, OR conditions, set-based decisions, and custom functions. The author emphasizes that Policies can have arbitrary sets of decisions with those decision being of arbitrary types. Finally, the article encourages readers to explore more about Rego policy language through the official documentation and consider using Spacelift for IaC development.

Ingress in Kubernetes (K8S) is an object that enables access to services within a cluster from outside the cluster. It provides load balancing, SSL termination, and name-based virtual hosting. Traffic routing rules are defined by rules specified on the Ingress resource. To set up Ingress in K8S, you need to configure an Ingress controller, which is typically a reverse web proxy server implementation in the cluster. NGINX is a widely used Ingress controller that works with the NGINX webserver as a proxy. This article provides a step-by-step guide on setting up an NGINX Ingress controller with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

DevOps is a crucial discipline in automation that ensures the reliable delivery of software products and services in today's complex world. Some key DevOps tools include Azure DevOps, Docker, GitHub Actions, Terraform, and Spacelift. These tools play a significant role in continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) automation for software development. Azure DevOps is an all-in-one platform that features entire software delivery in one place, while Docker is used to build application images run in standalone mode on virtual machines or in a cluster as pods. GitHub Actions is a CI/CD platform integrated within GitHub repositories and available for all the repositories one may have. Terraform is an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool by Hashicorp that provides automation capabilities for infrastructure provisioning, and Spacelift provides a platform to manage IaC in an automated, easy, controlled, and secure manner. These tools are essential for managing the lifecycle of cloud resources and enhancing automation capabilities to newer heights.

This blog post compares two Infrastructure as Code (IaC) automation tools, Atlantis and Terraform Cloud/Enterprise. Atlantis is an open-source tool that allows users to orchestrate Terraform automation through pull requests using comments. It's suitable for small-scale projects and casual usage but lacks scalability and queueing support. Terraform Cloud, on the other hand, provides a specialized CI/CD platform for Terraform automation and is more scalable than Atlantis but offers fewer extensibility options. The post also discusses an alternative to both tools, Spacelift, which offers enhanced collaboration, automation, and controls for IaC development.

The `terraform fmt` command is used to format configuration files into a canonical format and style, ensuring consistency across all team members' work. It applies Terraform language style conventions and other adjustments for readability. Running this command each time a different version of Terraform is used is recommended. To ensure the `terraform fmt` command has been run on configuration files, it can be inserted into a CI/CD pipeline or automated checks can be set up using the `-check` option. The `-diff` option displays diffs of formatting changes, while the `-recursive` option processes files in subdirectories.

In this article, we discuss the use of providers in Terraform and provide examples on how to use the provider for Amazon Web Services (AWS). A provider is a plugin that enables interaction with an API, such as Cloud providers like AWS. The AWS provider is used to manage and deploy resources and infrastructure to AWS after proper configuration with credentials. Authentication can be done using parameters in the provider configuration or environment variables. Spacelift is also mentioned as a tool for managing Terraform infrastructure, supporting Git workflows, policy as code, programmatic configuration, context sharing, drift detection, and more features.