devopsy.kinsta.cloud

Author: Mark Rivington

  • The web-scale avalanche

    The web-scale avalanche

    Old-school businesses may not like it, but they’re competing with Google, Facebook, Amazon and other Internet powerhouses because those players have grown from day one with an eye on rapid, scalable, cloud-based and continuous IT operations.  

    Companies have been running application delivery aligned to an aging model based on low frequency release cycles. For decades, the major IT suppliers like Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, SAP and others have released software at the predictable, plodding cadence of annual or bi-annual releases. IT departments have adapted to the vendor release cycles with mirror-like processes: highly structured in the ITIL fashion with processes in place for working around lots of bugs that don’t get readily fixed by the vendors. Yet this delivery management model is now out of pace in today’s always-connected, Internet-based world in which apps and sites morph on a weekly or even daily basis.

    Suddenly, companies and vendors alike must change what they’ve been doing for years. They need to transform operations and products from the legacy-based delivery model to one which is faster, dynamic and proactive. But that’s hard for most companies. It’s like driving a 1979 Chevy pickup on the Autobahn. You can’t keep up with the pace of traffic, no matter how hard you try.

    Companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Netflix, born as Internet-age companies, don’t have the same problems adapting to modern times in which consumers expect instantaneous response times. They were built from the ground up to handle the relentless pace of technological change: their infrastructure and applications automatically shift according to network and CPU conditions and workload spikes. Such companies are masters at Web-Scale IT, and rely upon a multitude of open source and web-based technologies designed for distributed computing. More than just technology it also takes radically new processes and mindsets to become a Web-Scale IT company.

    Operating in the Web-Scale World

    Web-Scale IT consists of technologies and methodologies that enable developers to build, change and scale applications 10 to 100 times faster than in the past. Web-Scale IT relies upon many modern concepts, including cloud computing, peer-to-peer architecture, NoSQL, SOA, Agile development, DevOps, Continuous Delivery and Deployment and more.  Gartner describes Web-Scale IT as “a pattern of global-class computing that delivers the capabilities of large cloud service providers within an enterprise IT setting.” The research firm predicts that by 2017, Web Scale IT will be an architectural approach found in 50 percent of global enterprises, up from less than 10 percent in 2013. Below are a few areas of change that IT organizations must navigate to make the shift.

    1. Reevaluate IT partners. It’s not just CIOs that need to shift operations for Web-scale computing. The legacy IT vendors are struggling to walk away from profitable business models based on licensing to embrace the on-demand, services-based revenue that just a few years ago, catapulted startups like Salesforce.com into billion-dollar enterprises. The legacy vendors are unable to innovate fast enough and are having to rely on serial acquisitions to keep their technology relevant.  Yet rapid acquisition comes at a great price and is not sustainable. IT departments will need to look far and wide to find the best partners that can support their Web-Scale IT efforts moving forward.

    2. Acquire diverse, open-source based IT operations tools: CIOs will likely need to constantly review their technology sourcing and have a more critical method of choosing their technology partners. Relying on a few trusted long-term partners will likely not achieve the Web-scale IT goal. Consider that Netflix, which now runs its business almost exclusively on Amazon AWS, only a few years ago relied on its own datacenters full of legacy vendor equipment. Today, the company manages its high-availability video streaming business using a collection of inhouse-developed open source tools (coined The Simian Army) that test the fault tolerance of the company’s operations. Being flexible and open to change allows Web Scale companies to keep ahead of the competition. Standing still, even for a short while, is no longer an option.

    3. Foster iterative, collaborative processes: Strong DevOps cultures, where developers and IT operations personnel exchange information frequently to stay in step with changing business requirements, is also pivotal to making this shift. Companies with advanced DevOps practices are usually committed to running their businesses differently: more efficiently, more customer-focused and with the keen ability to respond quickly to change. CIOs and CTOs need people with strong Web technology skills yet also an unflinching commitment to collaboration and complex problem-solving. IT people today need to think on their feet and adapt as they go. Twelve-month planning cycles are out the window.

    The building of a storm

    Just a few years ago, it was considered evolutionary, if not revolutionary, to purchase CRM or HR as a service. That’s commonplace today. The next area for innovation is within core applications such as a retailer’s pricing application or a bank’s market forecasting tool. Those applications must now also run at Web Scale to be responsive, customer focused and speedy. Don’t count on your Oracle or SAP database to shift so easily or quickly—at least not yet. That’s why Internet leaders are managing IT infrastructure using the newer generation of Web Scale technologies including Puppet, Chef, AppDynamics, New Relic and yours truly, Boundary.

    If running at Web Scale sounds overly complex, it’s not. Since most of the latest, open source-based operational tools are highly automated, using them is actually simpler. Crowdsourcing is another strategy that companies are exploring for Agile development projects. The bigger hurdle is in moving from the old-fashioned software development style of over-engineering everything to the more intuitive, iterative style that characterizes modern Web application development. With Web-Scale IT, it’s okay to cut corners and take more risks, because the infrastructure will stand behind you.

    There are plenty of people who’ll disagree with me, but I can envision a world in which the Oracles and IBMs no longer run most of the companies in the world. — one that is adaptive, business-responsive and always forward-looking. The future is closer than we think. Will your business evolve?

  • Secrets to Collaboration in DevOps

    Secrets to Collaboration in DevOps

    In IT and engineering departments, the notion of teamwork hasn’t been a priority until recently. People were hired based on their in-depth knowledge of a particular technology category, such as networks or operating systems. There wasn’t much need for someone in networking to talk to his server colleagues, unless the whole team was going out for a beer. Those were the happy days of ITIL, in which processes and procedures for maintaining systems and solving problems were linear and preprogrammed. With a solid configuration management database on hand, the world of IT management was a well-oiled (although sometimes slow) machine.

    This approach was okay when companies were only relying upon a few large application suites. But now, of course, this arrangement has been turned upside down. With hundreds of applications running the business, and those applications dependent upon hundreds or thousands of services and components, ITIL falls short. People working in silos can no longer effectively manage performance and resolve issues with this level of infrastructure complexity. Companies nor their customers don’t have the patience to wait hours for a website to resume service or a critical application to function properly again. These disruptions cost too much money to fix and can darken revenues and customer relationships.

    Enter DevOps: the new way to deal with rapid change and complexity through ongoing releases and frequent adaptations to the environment. In a 2013 survey of IT decision-makers by research firm Vanson Bourne, the top reasons for adopting DevOps were the need for simultaneous deployment across different platforms, and business pressures to release apps more quickly to meet customer demand and to improve the customer experience. A majority of the 1300 survey participants, 66%, said they either have a DevOps strategy or are planning to implement one.

    At the core, DevOps success relies heavily on collaboration between developers and IT operations staff. Only through the daily, open sharing of knowledge and best practices can a company solve problems and optimize applications efficiently in the DevOps fashion. To complicate matters, employees are living and working all over the place today. Bringing their insights together when it matters requires not merely the right tools, but the right culture. Here are some ideas for fostering collaboration in DevOps environments.

    1. Get rid of departmental silos and rigid processes. With a culture focused on ITIL, problems eventually get resolved—but often after a few hours or even days of running a question through the ranks;  by then the damage is done. This is no longer acceptable when employees and customers expect always on, always speedy service. After all, that’s the standard they readily achieve from their personal applications and devices. If your organization relies upon modern, highly scalable and visible applications, you need to break down internal barriers without delay. Forget about DevOps for a moment, and determine how roles might need to shift or rigid processes (such as approval chains for changes) may need to dissolve for the sake of fixing a problem right now. Empowering individuals to make changes immediately when conditions justify it is how technology organizations must operate today.

    2. Encourage discussion: Do employees only talk in the break room? If so, start scheduling daily standup meetings for the purpose of sharing status, timelines and exploring ideas. Finding the right time to accommodate people in different time zones might be tricky; in large, dispersed organizations, holding two daily meetings may be required.

    3. Eliminate hierarchies: Even in the flattest of organizations, informal hierarchies persist. With DevOps, however, it matters little if you are “the smartest person in the room” or have been with the organization the longest. Maintaining organizational hierarchies too often works against the goal of sharing information across the organization to better IT operations and application performance. Managers should work hard to encourage open sharing and the notion of equality among team members. Reward employees for their teamwork efforts and for showing mutual respect. Instill the notion that everyone is responsible for delivering excellent service and for resolving problems, not guarding turf. While this is an idealistic philosophy that’s hard to carry through on a daily basis, working toward this goal will in time grow a collaborative culture.

    4. Develop a business orientation:  In a DevOps culture, understanding the needs of the business is the highest priority. In fact, respondents to the Vanson Bourne survey said that the top three skills needed for DevOps are knowledge of business, priorities, strategies, or metrics (47%); knowledge of current business processes (42%); and communication skills (32%). Keep these qualities in mind when hiring new employees and when promoting those from within to senior roles. Create opportunities in which technical staff can interface with business leads to gain that critical business perspective.

    5. Set the tone at the top: As in most companies, the people in charge maintain a heavy influence on corporate culture. So, what if your CEO places a higher value on individual contributions than teamwork? It may feel like fighting an uphill battle, yet the CTO of a CIO or other person in charge may need to spearhead an education initiative to help higher-ups strike a balance. That can result in small yet powerful changes, such as instituting new employee incentives and more frequent performance review programs that align with DevOps goals.

    6. Sometimes, outsiders are required: DevOps is still a fairly new practice, and companies may not have in-house expertise to develop a new culture around it. Fortunately, there are an increasing number of outside coaches that can help organizations jumpstart new ways to organize and work. These experts can also objectively assess progress and help team members navigate difficult transitions or high-stakes projects. If such a coach can help your team get up to speed 50% faster on new collaborative practices, it will be time and money well spent as the business will see results faster too.

    7. Attitude is everything: On the surface, it would seem that younger people, those highly coveted “Millenials”, will be the front runners in DevOps organizations. Yet don’t make assumptions. If an older employee with decades of experience in operations and across different industries is willing and open to change, he or she could be the most valuable person on your team.

    8. Get rid of the dinosaur tools. Traditional APM and IT monitoring tools from enterprise software vendors may not have the right interface nor feature set to help DevOps teams keep up with cloud and hybrid infrastructures. Whatever tools you select, make sure they incorporate the real-time, collaborative elements embedded in today’s top consumer apps and social media websites. Think open forums, comment streams, “more like this” intelligence, messaging and the ability to upload videos and images that enhance a conversation. If the tools are fun, simple and allow people to get the information they need in one place, they’ll use them. If manual correlation of data and events is required using a clunky interface, they won’t.

    What’s powerful about DevOps is that while it requires new attitudes, methods and skills, the end result is that people are working together toward a common goal. Better collaboration doesn’t just serve DevOps, but an organization at large. It could result in a new development approach that kills the competition, or an IT management best practice that saves the company hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Collaboration is the quintessential soft business skill, yet with the right intent, it can bring hard results that move the business forward.