Monthly Archives: September 2014

DevOps Collections #3

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Another aggregation of Continuous X and DevOps news and information put together for colleagues at work but thought to be worth sharing outside of that group.  * = help with prioritising what to read if you’re hard pressed for time.

  • Where does DevOps work in the enterprise? (itskeptic.org) *
    • The terms “Bimodal IT” and “Trimodal IT” have recently been used to describe the potential split of strategies for different classifications of IT systems – i.e. ‘old stuff’ and ‘new stuff’ and the different opportunities with each (pretty much = don’t hold up ‘new stuff’ because of ‘old stuff’ requirements – they’re different).  This article talks about ‘DevOps in Enterprise’ being more successful when when addressing the ‘new stuff’ rather than being reverse engineered against existing/legacy systems.
  • Making DevOps Work in Complex Enterprise Environments (devops.com)
    • However, if you are going to try to reverse engineer against the ‘old stuff’ to some degree then here’s a starting point.  Interestingly, we have reference to where data centre tech/infrastructure services can make a different in a more generic sense: “Save that bespoke Windows config as a virtual machine, then you can subsequently redeploy it… use an enterprise infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), whether private or public cloud, hosted or on-premises, especially for newer applications… adopt platform-as-a-service (PaaS), either out-of-the-box or by building a PaaS that will support your unique environments”
  • DevOps with a purpose: It’s about your applications (devops.com) *
    • “I recommend analyzing your business goals and application portfolio using the pace-layering method, which focuses on three categories of applications – systems of record, systems of differentiation, and systems of innovation”.  Back to the ‘old stuff’ vs. ‘new stuff’ but with a bigger link to systems thinking and what can really affect the business – I like these classifications.
  • Docker closes C round for $40m (DevOps.com)
    • “There have now been 21 million downloads of the Docker platform, up from 3 million at DockerCon. Over 35,000 “Dockerized” applications are now available on the Docker Hub Registry, and more than 13,000 Docker-related projects have launched on GitHub. Docker has also seen rapid growth in the technology partner ecosystem with over 100 companies – including industry heavyweights Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat and VMware – having announced Docker–supporting platform initiatives.”
  • The DevOps Mindset: Real-World Insights From Tech Leaders (Rackspace – Click “Download Now”)
    • Collaborative culture, elevated & shared goals, collaborative culture, elevated & shared goals, collaborative culture… if people say it enough it will happen everywhere right?  Some interesting comments from ‘DevOps leaders’ within different orgs in this document.  The real question that still remains is what changes in the DevOps model in order to apply it within a large multi-national organisation? You may notice that none of the interviewees sit within an org bigger than 2000, most are in the hundreds… the question still remains.
  • Microservices and PaaS (activestate.com) *
    • An interesting overview of complementary application architecture changes – small distributed units/modules instead of big monolithic tiers.  A 3 part article.
  • Change your thinking about Change Management (devops.com – Chris Riley)
    • “change management, the tools, can be detached from change management the governance. And then no longer tied to the reactive philosophy”.  A practical look at opportunities around Change Management within a DevOps philosophy.
  • Putting the Ops in DevOps (indecorous.com)
    • “the nearest I can come to “you’re doing it wrong” is when people announce the death of Ops as a job function…. in truth it’s very, very hard to excel in both the development and operational aspects of building and running a large computer system. These people do exist, but trying to find them and hire them is hard (and expensive). Moreover, beyond a certain (small) scale it’s actually woefully inefficient to have everyone doing everything.”  Tips from someone ‘doing DevOps’.
  • To Help DevOps-ify The World, ScriptRock Raises $8.7M (Forbes)
    • ”the company’s product, GuardRail, focuses on helping IT departments understand how their various systems are operating wherever they may be located. Instead of this information being strewn across the organization in multiple departments and locations, GuardRail brings it all to one central location”.
  • How to skill up in DevOps and what rates you can expect in 2014-15 (eSynergy)
    • An insight into the kind of rates contractors can expect for a ‘DevOps’ skillset.
  • Developing and enabling a DevOps culture in your team (devops.com) *
    • An interesting take on how to revitalise existing personnel under a DevOps effort instead of seeing them as a barrier to change.
      • Additional anecdotal points elsewhere: theopsmgr
  • Dissecting Effective Developer Workflows to Save Time & Lower Costs (Flux7)
    • A look at the realities and results of ‘shifting things left’.
  • Harvard Business Review Survey: IT responsiveness predicts business success (devops.com)
    • “Nearly half of respondents reported that their companies have missed opportunities because their IT department was too slow to respond to shifting business needs. And approximately 49 percent reported that a lack of bandwidth in IT is the primary obstacle of the organization to take advantage of digital technologies… Approximately 42 percent of organizations report that they have a poor track record of facilitating collaboration across IT and business functions.”
  • The Road to DevOps (ActiveState)
    • An example of the dangerous mindset out there that can cause ‘Ops’ to go against the grain of a DevOps movement.  This article is not the guidance needed for establishing the right culture imo.
  • Q & A: Puppet Labs CIO Nigel Kersten (devops.com)
  • Leading the Horses to Drink … Support and Initiate a devops transformation – Damon Edwards (video)

FYI The DevOps Cookbook is reportedly at draft/review stage.  This will likely turn out to be a ‘must read’.

There is also apparently ‘DevOps Training’ for ‘DevOps Certifications’ popping up now.  While it helps with the foundational knowledge side of things it is also an indication of the beginnings of a cottage industry that might ultimately break the DevOps ‘following’.  With that in mind, two more articles:

 

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