Talks
Give Cloud Foundry To Your Company
Summarized using AI
Give Cloud Foundry To Your Company
by Dr. Nic WilliamsIn the talk "Give Cloud Foundry To Your Company" by Dr. Nic Williams, presented at the LoneStarRuby Conf 2013, the speaker introduces Cloud Foundry as a significant technology that can enhance the way large organizations manage their applications. Dr. Williams, who has a background in engineering and previously worked at Engine Yard, highlights the importance of providing advanced cloud hosting options to companies that typically resort to outdated technologies.
Key Points Discussed:
- Dr. Williams shares his personal journey and how it led him to become passionate about Cloud Foundry, emphasizing the need for better technology in large companies lacking resources.
- Cloud Foundry is positioned as an alternative to Heroku, offering similar functionalities but with the added benefit of operating on one’s own cloud infrastructure.
- The speaker expresses the excitement around the ease of setting up Cloud Foundry compared to traditional configuration management tools like Chef or Puppet.
- He talks about the active development environment of Cloud Foundry, particularly its effective integration with automation and management tools, promoting a more efficient application lifecycle.
- A major feature of Cloud Foundry is its usability for developers and infrastructure managers, making it accessible and practical for those in the corporate world.
- Dr. Williams emphasizes the significance of container technology, specifically the shift from traditional methods to modern solutions for isolating and managing applications.
- He also discusses crucial considerations for establishing a Platform as a Service (PaaS), underlying the importance of resource management, API interactions, and overall system maintenance and upgrades.
- The use of Bosch, a tool for managing distributed systems, is highlighted as a means to simplify the Cloud Foundry deployment process, aiding those who might find the technology intimidating.
- The talk concludes with a call for developers to consider adopting these technologies to improve their workflows and enhance their businesses, reinforcing the idea that innovative tools should be accessible to all.
Conclusions/Takeaways:
- Dr. Williams urges the audience to explore Cloud Foundry as a means to democratize access to excellent technology for efficient application management.
- He emphasizes the collaborative potential of community-driven solutions in improving system management and application lifecycle practices.
- The importance of adapting to technological advancements while managing and maintaining existing systems is reiterated, suggesting that progress should not come at the expense of good technology.
00:00:15
Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Nick Williams.
00:00:26
Please welcome Dr. Williams!
00:00:32
Um, just a quick note about transitions. The good folks at Apple haven't come up with a "calmly soften to silence" option for slides. It just says to stop, which is a bit sad.
00:00:38
My name is Dr. Nic Williams. I am a doctor, and historically, there used to be some good jokes about that.
00:00:47
If you have a good joke about doctors on an airplane, please share. I've never been upgraded on a flight.
00:00:54
So, I have not found many pros to being a doctor. I remember when I started my PhD, I found a webpage warning against pursuing one.
00:01:05
It was a long program taking years of your life, and the advice was to help people avoid it and get real jobs.
00:01:12
However, half the reasons listed were the reasons I was pursuing it myself. I wanted to be called 'Doctor.' But none of those expectations turned out to be true.
00:01:24
The idea of being a doctor is just an interesting topic.
00:01:29
So, without digressing further, I want to introduce you to something I think is really cool: Cloud Foundry.
00:01:41
I originally came from Engine Yard, where we didn't use Cloud Foundry.
00:01:47
However, I secretly thought it was really cool but couldn't talk about it. This is all open source.
00:01:59
Currently, it’s running a Heroku build pack for Ruby, and it automatically picks up the Ruby version from my Gemfile.
00:02:06
It provides all the functionalities you get with Heroku, but the cool part is it's functioning on my Amazon account.
00:02:12
I could do exactly the same with OpenStack, but I only run OpenStack on one machine, which isn't the best way to run it in production.
00:02:30
During my time at Engine Yard, I realized I cared about those who don't have access to cloud hosting services like Heroku.
00:02:42
I started to think about how I could help those individuals in large companies forced to use inadequate technology.
00:02:51
We often talk about helping others, but I want you to think about how to improve my life—especially the future version of me.
00:03:06
I'm 38 and plan to work for a long time because it will keep me alive.
00:03:12
One crucial piece of advice: don't retire; it can be lethal.
00:03:18
I envision working in larger companies with poor technology. While we can create excellent technology, we need to get it into these corporations.
00:03:30
I became very interested in Cloud Foundry so that great tools could be introduced into big organizations.
00:03:39
The idea of Cloud Foundry excites me because, retrospectively, many people have worked in large companies with outdated technology.
00:03:51
People often leave these companies for better technology like Ruby and Heroku or other attractive options.
00:03:58
Getting Cloud Foundry into big organizations is my goal and dream. I work a lot, and the notion of work-life balance seems elusive.
00:04:09
I have children and a wife, and I must always look like I'm giving them my full attention, even when my mind might wander.
00:04:21
I am not necessarily a role model for living a happy and healthy life, but these are important issues I continuously ponder.
00:04:36
This may seem trivial, but I find it essential to provide good tools for those who don't have the ability to choose them.
00:04:45
I love Cloud Foundry because its setup is substantially easier than doing it with Chef or Puppet.
00:04:54
It simplifies everything with an easy interface and build packs, making sharing applications straightforward.
00:05:03
However, I'm particularly invested in how easy it is for someone to actually implement and run Cloud Foundry.
00:05:15
If someone expressed desire to run Cloud Foundry at their company, I'd want them to have a good process for getting started.
00:05:25
It's crucial that the shiny options we access are also accessible to those managing the infrastructure.
00:05:32
This is the logo for Cloud Foundry. It’s owned by Pivotal, which used to be a part of VMware.
00:05:41
Pivotal Labs was established as a new company to sponsor and maintain these projects.
00:05:54
You might have heard of tools like Redis and RabbitMQ, which are Java-based, and Pivotal is one of the owners driving Cloud Foundry.
00:06:04
What's cool is that, unlike OpenStack, which receives contributions from many organizations, Pivotal can control and build products efficiently.
00:06:15
Observing Pivotal's progress with open source projects has been impressive over the past six months.
00:06:25
This is a public website for Cloud Foundry that you might consider using instead of Heroku.
00:06:34
After leaving Engine Yard, I decided to venture into creating a company focused on Cloud Foundry because it seemed like sound business to me.
00:06:46
If you're a Rails developer, you may have felt that job opportunities seem too similar and non-differentiating.
00:07:02
Working in this space could thus provide a distinctive edge and yield a successful career.
00:07:10
Now I have to convince you all to believe in this vision so that it can become a reality.
00:07:20
Please agree with me upfront; it's crucial for my peace of mind as I don't like being wrong.
00:07:29
Many of you have likely used Heroku. Is there anyone who hasn’t? For those who haven’t, it's important for you to know what it offers.
00:07:39
Rather than compare them outright, I prefer to simply state that Cloud Foundry is the private version of Heroku.
00:07:46
Running your own instance is incredibly exciting, allowing you to work directly with your tools.
00:07:54
In the domain of DevOps, automation is a key advantage when it comes to managing applications.
00:08:03
This technology is under active development and shows great promise, making it important to consider it for your tech stack.
00:08:14
Jamie Vanny said that getting into Cloud Foundry is like a 'nerd fest,' which I agree with.
00:08:20
There is incredibly interesting technology, most of it written in Ruby with some components in Go.
00:08:26
Cloud Foundry has a unique model of saving money, which implies interesting propositions for developers.
00:08:33
I’m not discussing a specific clash between Heroku and Cloud Foundry; rather, it’s a presentation of their differing costs.
00:08:40
I've found the pricing at Digital Ocean compelling, though they may not provide a full PaaS experience.
00:08:52
AWS offers significant cost savings if you purchase reserved instances, which can drop to about $150 per container.
00:09:01
Keep in mind that this is not for everyone; if you're satisfied with your current setup, don't worry.
00:09:06
Heroku and other managed services are still fantastic.
00:09:11
However, for those running their own infrastructures, understanding Cloud Foundry becomes crucial.
00:09:19
Cloud Foundry initially wasn't built with Docker in mind, and I got frustrated when I first saw their Warden.
00:09:29
It was promising the potential to isolate apps nicely, just as Docker does now.
00:09:40
As we look at building a PaaS, we can reimagine it using modern container technology.
00:09:54
But after Cloud Foundry embraced containers, they brought the concept of building HA apps.
00:10:01
The reality of a PaaS starts with running processes effectively.
00:10:08
You're going to need a Ruby app—whether it’s Rack or Rails—and you must contain your app.
00:10:20
Container tech from Docker or Warden will help achieve this, and you must decide how to manage resources.
00:10:29
Remember, when Heroku started, they didn't use containers.
00:10:36
Instead, they implemented a more rudimentary way to isolate apps on shared machines, but containers brought them to the next level.
00:10:48
A container allows you to provide dedicated resources to apps, which is a feature we all want.
00:10:55
If you are contemplating building a PaaS, be aware of the challenges involved.
00:11:05
You'll need to understand application collection, scale out effectively, and maintain your processes.
00:11:12
Even system healing is essential; platforms need to be able to restart services when failures occur.
00:11:19
An API will centralize all this management. Command-line tools make it easier to interact with that API.
00:11:29
To enable external access, you must configure traffic management, not letting it bubble away in isolation.
00:11:37
Databases, message buses, and other components make a substantial impact on your architecture.
00:11:44
When managing multiple VMs, you can either collocate services or distribute them based on your available resources.
00:11:54
While managing Cloud Foundry costs can be challenging, co-locating workloads can help save money.
00:12:01
Recently, discussions have arisen around new PaaS solutions like Flynn or Doku.
00:12:11
These projects propose alternative approaches to constructing your own PaaS.
00:12:19
My advice is to prepare in advance and start establishing your infrastructure needs.
00:12:30
Cloud Foundry or similar structures can help improve your application lifecycle management.
00:12:41
I want to share an example of an open-source project, Zipkin, which captures traffic in a microservices architecture.
00:12:54
Despite its elegance, it comes with numerous requirements that complicate deployment.
00:13:03
Perhaps I’m overly critical of corporate open-source projects. I feel they should also provide practical aspects of their solutions.
00:13:14
This disconnection from practical usability extends to projects like Cloud Foundry, which can be intimidating and complex.
00:13:25
However, with Bosch, a tool designed to manage distributed systems, you can successfully deploy complex architectures.
00:13:36
I'll demonstrate Bosch and how to manage and deploy your Cloud Foundry for efficient operation.
00:13:46
The more I worked with Bosch, the clearer it became that it isn’t just for the technically advanced.
00:14:02
We want our tools to be simple and effective. Efficiency is key.
00:14:11
With Bosch, integrating different parts into Cloud Foundry is a breeze.
00:14:21
We want to simplify deployment for those who aren't as familiar with the intricacies.
00:14:31
Utilizing the command line effectively is essential for simplifying the process.
00:14:39
With Bosch, you can implement various components without heavy investment in time.
00:14:49
Optimizing the deployment process with templates simplifies how systems evolve over time.
00:15:01
Using preconstructed templates can save a considerable amount of effort.
00:15:08
I struggle to emphasize enough that Bosch is quite similar to Chef in managing your infrastructure.
00:15:19
Thus, if you are keen on building out your systems, automating this layer should be a priority.
00:15:29
A widespread issue is the lack of community-driven solutions for infrastructure orchestration.
00:15:39
There are immense benefits to employing Bosch, and I encountered significant challenges while at Engine Yard.
00:15:50
Stack control becomes critical when dealing with updates and scaling in production environments.
00:16:01
Through Bosch, I believe we can overcome limitations placed on scaling.
00:16:09
The significant matter of upgrading technologies without breaking existing systems is a key advance.
00:16:18
All these elements ensure smooth updates, enabling systems to evolve.
00:16:25
These processes facilitate maintenance and support over time, extending the system's life cycle.
00:16:38
The Unix principle of doing one thing well may not entirely align with Bosch's expansive aim.
00:16:46
While making progress on functions like building images and running deployments, it proves complex.
00:16:55
Bosch aims to tackle all aspects of system management effectively.
00:17:06
Running Cloud Foundry may initially seem complicated, but the diversity of tools facilitates its usability.
00:17:15
We should strive for newer, cutting-edge solutions that successfully manage production systems.
00:17:23
Maintaining legacy systems doesn't mean getting stuck; progress and innovation remain vital.
00:17:31
Setting up Cloud Foundry provides a pathway towards streamlined project management and bolstered efficiency.
00:17:43
I would love to see everybody utilize these resources toward a successful approach.
00:17:50
Building solid, reliable systems is built upon the foundation of effective collaboration with the community.
00:17:59
Investing time into building out this system is crucial and undoubtedly worthwhile.
00:18:07
In conclusion, good technology should always be accessible to everyone.
00:18:16
I appreciate your time, and I urge you to explore these options further.
00:18:26
Thank you for your attention!
00:18:47
Thank you!
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