The time came to take down a Docker container and deploy the image onto another server. Easy enough. Only, the original maintainer was long gone. Rumor had it that he was off the grid. So, even if he remembered what
Read moreAvoid Bastardizing Your Docker Images
Bastardize–cool word right? In this context it means something along the lines of debasing an original concept by tacking on elements that are incongruous. In the realm of gaming, for example, Pokemon Go is a bastardization of the original Pokemon
Read moreThe Case for Pinning Versions of Docker Dependencies
I’m not a fan of horror stories, but I often find myself as the main character in them. As a DevOps engineer, it’s important to approach production issues with poise and tact, regardless of how tempting it may be to
Read moreLoad Balancing Load Balancers
Load balancing is an integral component of any service oriented architecture. When deploying microservices, which can be thought of as a specialized subset of SOA, the need is even more apparent. Let’s say I have a service called Tim’s Petstore
Read moreUnit Tests for Microservices
“Did you write unit tests?” Well, uh, not exactly, because, you see… When I developed my first microservice, I was faced with this question. I struggled to explain why I hadn’t written unit tests. It’s a common programming adage–pragmatic application
Read morePragmatic Usage of requests-cache
It started as a regular day in the office. At my job, regularity implies that I sat down some time before 8:30. After that, there is rarely a predictable pattern of work, which is why being a DevOps Engineer is
Read moreParable of the Flaky Test
Jim, Tom, and Joe study Computer Science together in college. After graduation, the friends part ways and go to work at three different tech companies. The companies vary in size, business segment, mission, and technology stack. Nonetheless, on the first
Read moreSite Reliability Engineering Review
Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems by Betsy Beyer, Chris Jones, Jennifer Petoff and Niall Richard Murphy Rating: ★★★★★ Date Finished: February 6th, 2018 Reading Time: A month “Perfect algorithms may not have perfect implementations.” And perfect books
Read moreHotfixing Docker Containers
Sometimes production code blows up. Though rolling back to the previously tagged version is a common solution, it isn’t always the most appropriate. Certain situations demand a hotfix. In contrast to a rollback, a hotfix is a forward fix. It’s a modification to a live codebase,
Read moreThe Phoenix Project Review
The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win Rating: ★★ Date Finished: January 29th, 2018 Reading Time: Ten days This is the most cliché book I have ever read. The Phoenix Project uses a contrived
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