When it comes to setting up a cluster, there are a number of tools available, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Two popular options are Docker and Ansible that can be used to automate the setup and maintenance of a cluster, but they differ in their approach. We will see what they are and in which scenarios it is better to use each of them.
MongoDB is a popular NoSQL database system that needs a solid backup strategy to prevent data loss in case of unexpected events such as hardware failure. We will explore different strategies to ensure your data is properly backed up and secure and how you can implement them.
Many tasks need to be frequently repeated on dozens of servers and can be easily automated so they are done faster, effortless and in a more reliable way. We will see what is Ansible, that is one of the standard technologies for it, how to use and best practices.
This is the first post of a series about how to design a cluster, which is a group of servers working together to support a service and allow them to scale horizontally.
It is about monitoring, what allows us to detect issues and solve them before they become a problem and make businesses lose money.
One of our tasks as leaders is to identify and grow the next generation that will lead on the technical decisions of the company. This is not easy for new managers who still try to do everything themselves or only focus on the technical side without thinking about the persons they work with.
We should design and build systems in a way that ensures any change can be easily reverted even if the people who have worked on it are not available at that time. Imagine for example that a change starts causing memory issues on a Saturday evening, surely you want to be confident that the support teams can revert to a previous version without downtime and without involving multiple teams. The below changes are easy to implement and will give you peace of mind.
Many companies want to move their systems to the cloud to reduce costs and release faster. Let’s see the usual steps and their advantages.
Performance is key as companies may lose customers and even have to close if their applications are slower than competitors’ ones. We will see some strategies to improve it using caching in microservices architectures
Accessibility is one of the most underestimated areas in software development but it is key for users, companies and society. We are going to see what it is and why we should pay more attention to it.
Credential management is one of the most critical parts of the Ops/DevOps world as a leaked password may give full access to a database or queue that stores confidential data from customers. This could not only impact the reputation of the business but also imply very high fines, e.g. due to a GDPR data breach. Below are some practices that may sound obvious but you would be surprised by the number of companies that get hacked due to not following them.