infrastructure gone wild

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

TAMING THE INFRASTRUCTURE GONE WILDIsaac ChristoffersenContributing Partner - Open Source Solutions, Colloquium

OVERVIEW

– THE VISIBLE RAT’S NEST

– THE OBFUSCATED RAT’S NEST

INFRASTRUCTURE SMELLS

– CONFIGURATION DRIFT

– SYSTEMS ENTROPY

– STAFFING ATROPHY

– GOLD IMAGE

– SOFTWARE STACKS

KEY TOOLS

– SYSTEM CONFIGURATION TOOLS

– OS INSTALLATION TOOLS

– VIRTUALIZATION TOOLS

SUMMARY

A NEW SERVER ROOM – COMPLETE WITH THAT “NEW CAR” SMELL

Cables all neatly tied and out of the way.

Room for expansion

THE VISIBLE RAT’S NEST

THE OBFUSCATED RAT’S NEST

PROVISIONING INFRASTRUCTURE IS HARD.

Tools People

Policy

LinuxXenHyperic & DroolsCobbler & KoanPuppet

Linux AdministratorsSAN EngineersNetwork Engineers

Process

Infrastructure

Service Level AgreementsBudgetsStaffing Guidance

Procurement ProcessOrder Fulfillment ProcessStaff Recruitment & Hiring

I need 3 servers to use for the development of a

proof of concept. It's going to be the next big

thing!

Commodity ServersSANsNetworking EquipmentPowerHVAC Systems

OVERVIEW

– THE VISIBLE RAT’S NEST

– THE OBFUSCATED RAT’S NEST

INFRASTRUCTURE SMELLS

– CONFIGURATION DRIFT

– SYSTEMS ENTROPY

– STAFFING ATROPHY

– GOLD IMAGE

– TEETERING STACKS

KEY TOOLS

– SYSTEM CONFIGURATION TOOLS

– OS INSTALLATION TOOLS

– VIRTUALIZATION TOOLS

SUMMARY

SMELL :: CONFIGURATION DRIFT

• Any change outside a baseline configuration is considered a configuration drift.

• Could be an accidental or incidental or intentional.

• Early identification will minimize impact and reduce the risks around business continuity.

PRESCRIPTION :: AUTOMATED CONFIGURATION

SMELL :: SYSTEMS ENTROPY

As a system is modified, its disorder, or entropy, always increases.

• Similar to theories in software development, a system that is used will be modified.

• When a system is modified, its complexity will increase, provided that one is not actively working to reduce complexity.

PRESCRIPTION :: SEPARATION OF CONCERNS

Infrastructure

Software

Platform

DataCenter

How do I get the most of my IT and personnel resources?

How do I store & retrieve my inventory data?How do I deploy my web services?

How can I collaborate across the enterprise?How can I view my corporate sales data?

How can I build my web hosting business?How can I manage my customer relationships?How can I run my company's IT department?

SMELL :: STAFFING ATROPHY

“Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes include lack of exercise and/or use”

PRESCRIPTION :: DRILL, BABY. DRILL.

SMELL :: GOLD IMAGE

Consistent, repeatable builds encourage fast deployment and consistently identical systems without the burden of managing images

A repeatable build improves product quality, reduces the mundane tasks and minimizes dependencies on key people.

build cycle

Softwarepackages

PRESCRIPTION :: USE CONTINUOUS PROVISIONING

SMELL :: TEETERING STACK

PRESCRIPTION :: CONTAINER PARTITIONING

Cluster multiple physical servers to gain failover capabilities

source: “Automated failover and recovery of virtualized guests in Advanced Platform”, Rob Kenna, Redhat Magazine

Share resources across physical servers

Virtualization can reduce cost while also improving flexibility…

OVERVIEW

– THE VISIBLE RAT’S NEST

– THE OBFUSCATED RAT’S NEST

INFRASTRUCTURE SMELLS

– CONFIGURATION DRIFT

– SYSTEMS ENTROPY

– STAFFING ATROPHY

– GOLD IMAGE

– SOFTWARE STACKS

KEY TOOLS

– SYSTEM CONFIGURATION TOOLS

– OS INSTALLATION TOOLS

– VIRTUALIZATION TOOLS

SUMMARY

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION TOOLS

And many more…

Puppet

http://www.puppetlabs.com

Chef

http://www.opscode.com/

Cfengine

http://www.cfengine.org/

OS INSTALLATION TOOLS

Cobbler

https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/

Spacewalk

http://spacewalk.redhat.com/

And many more…

VIRTUALIZATION TOOLS

And many more…

OVERVIEW

– THE VISIBLE RAT’S NEST

– THE OBFUSCATED RAT’S NEST

INFRASTRUCTURE SMELLS

– CONFIGURATION DRIFT

– SYSTEMS ENTROPY

– STAFFING ATROPHY

– GOLD IMAGE

– SOFTWARE STACKS

KEY TOOLS

– SYSTEM CONFIGURATION TOOLS

– OS INSTALLATION TOOLS

– VIRTUALIZATION TOOLS

SUMMARY

• SEPARATE CONCERNS.

• DRILL, BABY. DRILL.

• ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD.

• PARTITION CONTAINERS.

• AUTOMATE. AUTOMATE. AUTOMATE.

Isaac ChristoffersenColloquiumContributing Partner, Open Source Solutions email: isaac.christoffersen@colloquium.cotwitter: @colloquiumco

web: http://www.colloquium.cotwitter: @colloquiumcoidentica: @colloquiumco