00:00:15.430
So here's Paweł Pacana from our team, Tymon Tobolski, and anyone else.
00:00:21.640
Today we will discuss cloud versus dedicated hosting.
00:00:33.210
My idea is that you might want to use dedicated hosting when you're focused on performance.
00:00:40.600
Dedicated hosting and bare metal servers might provide you some performance benefits over cloud solutions.
00:00:52.000
However, I'm not sure if I would recommend starting with dedicated servers because it means you'll have to worry about the hardware.
00:01:06.490
Cloud hosting is nice because it gives you an abstraction over hardware, so you don’t have to deal with failed disks or set up RAID.
00:01:13.180
Using dedicated servers might require more work from you compared to cloud, where things are sorted out already.
00:01:27.060
In my opinion, I would always start with cloud.
00:01:35.729
Of course, if you have a dedicated administrator who can manage this stuff, then okay, you can consider dedicated servers.
00:01:40.750
However, since we are mostly developers, we should focus on development rather than on the IT side of things.
00:01:53.590
For example, I used to hate Heroku because I thought I could set everything up myself. I wondered why I would pay Heroku to handle it.
00:02:05.950
However, I had a lot of problems with that approach.
00:02:11.850
Clients would call me directly, saying something wasn't working at night.
00:02:24.660
Since then, I decided that I wanted to make my life easier and focus on development and providing features.
00:02:32.200
That's why I prefer to let Heroku or any cloud platform manage those IT concerns.
00:02:39.670
So for me, the first thing to clarify is what 'cloud' really means.
00:02:45.100
We can go from real machines in our basements or data centers through VPS to fully managed environments like Heroku.
00:02:53.050
There's a huge variety to choose from, and I had a similar story.
00:03:05.050
I used to hate Heroku for their pricing, lack of features, and a lot of limits that I had to keep up with.
00:03:12.069
However, from my experience, it kind of makes sense.
00:03:17.739
For example, one of the worst features of Heroku is the read-only file system.
00:03:22.810
Setting up the initial app is a pain because you need to establish something remotely.
00:03:28.930
But when the app grows, it actually pays back.
00:03:37.420
Recently, we moved all our internal applications from DigitalOcean to Heroku for a few reasons.
00:03:44.530
Those apps started tiny; nobody was using them at first.
00:03:51.070
But it turns out we are using those apps now, and we encountered issues.
00:03:58.450
For example, there was no more memory on the server, and we needed to upgrade it.
00:04:04.150
At that point, how to do it became complicated.
00:04:09.250
This is simply because when you start, you do not prepare for high scale; you just put it there and expect it to run.
00:04:21.010
But then it's easy to overlook when you should start taking care of hosting.
00:04:28.240
Right now, we moved everything to Heroku. When the app is too slow, we can increase the resources in five minutes.
00:04:33.669
That's the main point for me.
00:04:40.990
In addition, if Heroku is too expensive for you, there is an alternative called Dokku.
00:04:46.420
It's like Heroku written in a hundred lines of Bash.
00:04:50.350
It turns out it uses Heroku buildpacks, so pretty much, what you can deploy to Heroku, you can also deploy to Dokku.
00:05:03.370
You can buy a cheap dedicated server, for example, from Hetzner.
00:05:08.530
You can have a very strong 16-core machine for fifty dollars.
00:05:13.810
After that, you can install Dokku and run multiple staging servers; the load is usually very small.
00:05:19.810
Of course, this depends on the application, but you can run twenty staging servers.
00:05:29.900
So, I would recommend giving it a try.
00:05:50.350
My comment on that would be that at some point your disk will fail, and you'll have to learn the process of replacing it or requesting its replacement.
00:06:04.510
So that's the issue with relying on dedicated hosting.
00:06:10.150
My recommendation would be to start with something like Heroku, which does almost everything for you.
00:06:15.910
If you're not comfortable with it due to pricing or lack of features, just explore what's out there.
00:06:24.760
You might want to move to something more optimized, but starting with Heroku provides a path to dedicated servers.
00:06:30.430
Starting with Heroku means less maintenance and more ease of use for developers.
00:06:37.090
Do we have any questions about Docker itself?
00:06:42.120
Doku is based on Docker, and Docker uses a layered, content-based filesystem, which can break sometimes.
00:06:50.050
You need to still upgrade your system and Ruby versions, so there's quite a bit of maintenance involved.
00:06:56.640
It works well for apps but not really for data storage.
00:07:04.540
So, you have to be aware of losing your data if you accidentally delete a container.
00:07:10.080
And that's why you should always have backups.
00:07:17.420
Okay, let's move to the next question.
00:07:18.400
What does your deployment process look like? What tools do you use?
00:07:25.680
I can start this time. I like Git-based deployment, like Heroku.
00:07:31.800
If you don't want to use Heroku, you can use deploy from repositories.
00:07:39.620
Deployment is an easy task; you just have to place the code on the server and run certain processes.
00:07:46.030
I don’t find the need to use Capistrano for that, as I already have a tool that does it for me. I like to push code to some branch and expect it to be deployed.
00:08:02.370
For simplicity, I prefer tools based on Git.
00:08:09.430
Another option is a project called Mina, an alternative to Capistrano that generates batch scripts with all the processes.
00:08:16.030
For simpler projects, it's easy to set up, even simpler than Capistrano.
00:08:22.870
However, it doesn’t support multiple servers out of the box.
00:08:31.250
If you're on a hosting platform, that platform probably provides a deployment script.
00:08:38.620
But let's talk about a different concept.
00:08:44.220
If you aren't on a platform, what's your deployment process like?
00:08:52.330
You push new code to the machine, but it might also require some supporting services.
00:09:01.020
You may need to install additional software or libraries your application relies on.
00:09:07.200
For instance, you might use Chef to spin up a Chef client on the machine, which incorporates software installation and configuration.
00:09:16.420
For me, those are separate concepts, since I rarely need to push code and install software simultaneously.
00:09:24.010
I prefer to separate installation from deployment.
00:09:29.050
Okay, that's a good point.
00:09:30.220
There is a question related to it.
00:09:36.390
Ansible, Puppet, Chef, Salt—do you have any experience?
00:09:41.580
I started with Chef, so I'm familiar with it, and I consider all these tools to be quite similar.
00:09:53.480
If you're proficient in one, there’s no compelling reason to look for another.
00:10:01.580
I know all the quirks of Chef since I have been using it for years, so I wouldn't be comfortable switching to Ansible.
00:10:15.290
I've tried Puppet but didn't love it, and I found Chef to be confusing with some of its packages.
00:10:25.000
Ansible has its issues as well, like verbosity.
00:10:34.310
But the configuration files in Ansible are easy to manage and generate, which is a plus.
00:10:46.050
Also, documentation is key with these tools; understanding the problems they solve helps.
00:10:53.450
If you are comfortable with Chef, stick to it.
00:11:03.000
Ansible is easier to learn. Sometimes simplicity leads to better outcomes.
00:11:08.110
All these tools essentially achieve the same goal.
00:11:12.010
They manage installations and process start-up.
00:11:21.350
They are particularly useful for larger setups, around fifty servers or more, or simpler applications.
00:11:29.070
In smaller setups, tools like Heroku often suffice.
00:11:37.590
My point is that all these tools serve their purpose, and your choice depends on your familiarity.
00:11:44.250
I also want to mention Nix and NixOS as part of the software configuration management tools.
00:11:56.640
I prefer Nix because of its stateless approach, fully model-driven architecture, and reproducible deployments.
00:12:04.430
However, it has its challenges, as it requires capturing configurations accurately.
00:12:12.100
Being model-driven means you deploy everything based on specifications.
00:12:20.360
You need to ensure everything is documented in the expression language.
00:12:29.399
For managing dependencies, I believe tools should address your specific context.
00:12:36.202
In many environments, one might need to share configs in microservices, which can lead to management issues.
00:12:44.210
My point here is that effectively managing configurations requires careful consideration and tools tailored to your context.
00:12:52.220
Next question: how do you handle deployment artifacts and builds?
00:12:57.710
We have a continuous deployment pipeline.
00:13:00.000
We build our assets and deploy applications using a CI server.
00:13:07.780
There’s a lot of value in separating application code from assets.
00:13:15.200
That way, application servers can be treated as stateless, focusing on their core functionality.
00:13:27.000
You can simply serve your assets from external storage like S3.
00:13:35.000
This way, scaling becomes easier since you no longer need to worry about replicating state.
00:13:41.000
For deploying large files to S3, I personally prefer to use caching strategies.
00:13:45.930
You can keep your build artifacts clean before deploying, which helps avoid complexity.
00:13:53.180
In regards to npm, it’s more like dependency management.
00:14:02.200
Tools like npm are too loose in organizing dependencies, which can lead to headaches.
00:14:09.640
We handle copies cautiously, especially for large databases.
00:14:17.740
When deploying to staging, we separate concerns like data management from application deployment.
00:14:25.640
For all these processes, the approach should be to keep some level of abstraction for limited dependency.
00:14:35.220
Another thing is to keep track of backups in case any data is lost.
00:14:49.180
In terms of backup strategies, automation works wonders.
00:14:56.080
There should be a reliable rollback in the event a deployment goes south.
00:15:05.200
That’s something every team should take into consideration.
00:15:17.940
Regular backups are crucial, so even if you do an automated deploy, you’ll have safeguard measures.
00:15:26.700
In case of issues arising, rollbacks should be decided by accountability and clear metrics.
00:15:34.860
At first glance, continuous deployment plans feel daunting, but taking small steps certainly benefits.
00:15:47.420
Next question: how do you manage configuration across environments?
00:15:58.640
It's vital to keep your configuration handled cleanly, avoiding redundant work.
00:16:09.840
My recommendation is to handle environment variables effectively by keeping them in your CI/CD process.
00:16:21.720
Tool-wise, something like dotenv can help in isolating these configurations.
00:16:29.360
Using a secret management service makes it easier to handle credentials.
00:16:41.060
In Jenkins or other CI tools, you can set up environments effectively for development and testing.
00:16:55.100
Sharing configurations boosts consistency across teams.
00:16:59.360
Ultimately, avoid committing sensitive data into not secure places.
00:17:10.070
Let’s move on to the next question.
00:17:17.300
Do you have a rollback plan in place?
00:17:24.440
Yes, we have plans that revolve around robustness.
00:17:34.330
One fallback is that we have configurations stored to deal with failures.
00:17:45.050
This involves monitoring relevant logs in case setups don't work right.
00:17:51.610
Automated rollbacks through CI complexity enable a smooth transition.
00:18:00.350
Often, rollbacks depend on the routing layers with automated cloud infrastructure.
00:18:17.134
Next question: how frequently do you deploy?
00:18:22.480
We are aiming for more frequent deployments.
00:18:31.390
Although I never worked on projects that pushed changes frequently, we can work on that.
00:18:40.570
It's ideal for workflows to deploy several times a day.
00:18:49.868
With Heroku, deployments often draw small updates, which can be completed without a hitch.
00:19:03.310
In conclusion, deploying closer to the customer needs makes all the endeavor worth it.
00:19:10.450
Yeah, we are currently deploying around five times a day.
00:19:20.330
The architecture and compact nature enable us to deploy effectively in balancing load.
00:19:30.420
Remember, deploy incrementally and maintain good testing coverage.
00:19:38.950
Next question: How do you manage database migrations?
00:19:52.080
For migrations, responsibility is shared across teams. It's crucial to keep all migration well-articulated.
00:20:06.220
In regular practice, using Rails migration tooling helps guide through smooth progress.
00:20:16.570
Use associated strategies to manage rollback with migrations.
00:20:28.480
Separation between development and production with migrations helps avoid hiccups.
00:20:35.700
Even with migrations, extensive testing bridges along the way.
00:20:43.900
That way, you encounter fewer surprises on big rollout days.
00:20:52.960
New databases configured against releases also help navigate functionalities.
00:21:00.157
Another aspect discussed earlier was backup strategies.
00:21:06.059
Essentially, state management addresses several concerns in any deployment.
00:21:15.155
So if you deploy something that fails, which is common in practice, backups give you peace of mind.
00:21:25.240
And indeed, stored databases should retain clarity.
00:21:33.460
Consider having a framework that enables you to reconfigure sets of recipes.
00:21:44.780
At times, situations feel overwhelming, but seek improvement diligently.
00:21:57.680
For evolving workloads, restore schemas come in handy.
00:22:08.890
Next question: how do you handle sensitive or production data?
00:22:14.790
Anonymizing or obfuscating production data ensures sensitive details are safe during testing.
00:22:25.670
Some use scripts to handle information like emails or names, and that way the data remains secure.
00:22:36.470
Your operational environment should always reflect those best practices.
00:22:45.370
And you should definitely avoid leaking sensitive information.
00:22:55.920
So, let’s keep the focus on maintaining production integrity.
00:23:06.360
Let’s address the next question.
00:23:10.130
How do you share configuration across your Rails applications?
00:23:17.840
The difficulty comes with having multiple environments.
00:23:27.470
Standardizing configurations results deliver improved efficiency.
00:23:36.370
My recommendation would lean towards setting the configurations clearly.
00:23:45.590
And separating services allows you to innovate with cleaner builds.
00:23:55.830
Lessons learned should apply to the sharing toolkits.
00:24:02.100
Ensure everyone understands how configurations spread across services.
00:24:09.470
Let’s proceed to the next inquiry.
00:24:16.320
How do you monitor your applications effectively?
00:24:25.190
Application monitoring can include health checks or active checks to validate functionality.
00:24:34.220
Next, how do you ensure that resources are allocated correctly to your app?
00:24:41.640
Monitor usage to anticipate resource difficulties before they become a blocking issue.
00:24:51.450
Ultimately, a focus on continuous improvement makes operations stronger.
00:24:57.740
So, do allocate time to things like performance reviews effectively.
00:25:08.750
Let's move on to the next question.
00:25:16.370
What about scaling your applications over time?
00:25:26.440
Focus on reliable architecture during growth phases.
00:25:35.330
And ensure redundancy is in place and appropriately configured.
00:25:41.640
For larger projects, utilize orchestration tools for better resource utilization.
00:25:49.950
Scaling can also connect directly to deployment frequencies.
00:26:01.090
In more mature organizations, these tools integrate into CI/CD pipelines well.
00:26:10.470
Having multiple servers also alleviates pressure in maintenance phases.
00:26:19.050
That’s enough buildup for deployments; just iterate and improve.
00:26:29.460
Next question: what tools assist with operational management?
00:26:38.150
Consider having a combination of server management systems and cloud monitoring.
00:26:45.680
Many of these tools tie back to domains of reliability within projects.
00:26:53.140
Lastly, let's summarize.
00:27:00.020
Thank you for engaging in this discussion today!
