stonehenge; unchanging Immutable Unchanging over time or unable to be changed. This is one of the rules I use for cloud servers. This gives two advantages:- If you build servers using an automated, repeatable method, it is easy to build new ones. You know exactly what is on the server. No…

Datacenters of the 50s Datacenters have been with us for a very long time. Since the 50s with the large mainframes. Now the datacenters have moved and we can rent servers. In this article I will share my approach to building servers for the cloud instead of for the datacenter. Cloud? …

DevOps Culture and Business I am often asked what do I do? Until recently I didn’t have a clear way of describing my product / service of my role as a DevOps dude. After a pitch I presented at #Pitchfest as part of the Key Person of Influence programme, I received some feedback that annoyed me a bit…

On a daily basis, my code runs to build multiple environments for the database warehouse project. The dev side of DevOps is about the role of creating and testing the automation processes. As the cloud, AWS in this case, gives us flexibility to run servers on demand and charge by…

It has shipped! Puppet 5 is here and the gem has been available since the 27th June 2017. Puppet 5 shipped What does this mean to us DevOps techies though? The main ‘features’ of puppet 5 are largely around standardising on other product version numbers of the major puppet components…

AWS costs can burn your money Controlling your costs in an important aspect of any business and project; with cloud projects this is even more important due to the number of decisions that can have a drastic effect on your monthly AWS bill. The four main areas that will affect…

When a server doesn’t build Software versions are released constantly, but not all versions play nice. Bundles of compatible software versions will create stability. This is especially true when working with R or Python modules. I use puppet and the default state to install package is installed. …

This week I attended and spoke again, at PuppetCamp London 2017. We enjoyed some interesting talks off the back of the State of Devops report, and the DevOps Enterprise Summit. Whilst enjoying the views of london, I listened to several people from Puppet in the morning.

This week’s focus is on code quality. This is where the code that we create is clear and uniform for the purposes of making it easier to maintain. The ability to maintain code is very important as there are always bugs, security updates, features or simply a better way to…