HashiCorp Vault - is it worth it?

Hello party people!

I’m a DevOps/Platform Engineer currently reviewing our secret management approach, specifically evaluating HashiCorp Vault to see if it’s worth implementing on our platform.

Some background:
We run multiple AKS clusters (PROD and DEV) with \~200 deployments in each. Our current CD strategy is a push-based model where every deployment includes all necessary configs, values, and images. The clusters are shared across 10 autonomous teams, each with scoped RBAC and governance per namespace.

The challenge:
We use multiple CI/CD tools and have secrets/configurations scattered across different locations. This makes management and consistency tricky.

The question:
Would it make sense to centralize environment variables and secrets in HashiCorp Vault, rather than embedding them in our CD pipelines? I imagine this could be even more beneficial if we move away from push deployments towards a pull-based approach (e.g., ArgoCD).

That said, we’re short-staffed, and my team has other high-priority work on our plate. What’s your gut feeling—worth pursuing now, or should it wait?

https://redd.it/1mqtq7p
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Compliance breakdown of popular SMTP providers for email infrastructure
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1md04dj

https://redd.it/1mqs8sr
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Is anyone here attending the LambdaTest’s Testμ Conference 2025 in August? I really need some advice.

So I missed this event last year. I really want to attend it this time, but it’s my first time and I’m feeling overwhelmed about which speakers I should listen to. There are 80+ speakers, and it’s humanly impossible for me to attend all of them in 3 days. Virtual conferences are already overwhelming.

If someone has attended it last year or planning to attend this year, can you help me figure out how can I get the schedule of the speakers and general advice on whether it was worth attending the conference last year? How can I prepare myself to get value from the conference?

PS: If you are attending, we can connect over DM. Any advice from someone who has attended virtual conferences and found value is welcome to help me here. I’m a newbie. Please don’t be harsh. Also, if you want to know what this is about, let me know and I’ll put it in the comments.

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Cool documentaries in IT space

I’ve seen documentaries about NodeJS, Kubernetes and one called “The Nerds”. What else is out there?

https://redd.it/1mqzn4r
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Looking for advice on provisioning virtual desktops.

I'm looking to provision virtual Desktops (the operating system does not matter, Windows, LInux) across multiple VPS instances.


Say 4 (or as many fit) on a single VPS and have 3 VPSs for a total of 12 desktops.

Then to access them via Apache Guacamole (for example), as a VNC server and client from a browser.

What tools would you recommend?

So far I've been thinking about Virtualbox.

https://redd.it/1mr2gio
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Moved from a DevOps/Cloud Governance role/team to a backend role for a large product team. Good opportunity or set back?

So back in January 2025 I got moved from my large organization DevOps/Cloud Governance team where I was a senior and technical lead to a product team due to a need for more resources.

I have 7 years of DevOps/SRE/Cloud experience through several companies I've worked with. I am now the person with the least experience on the new team since I have never used the tech stack or backend development on this scale before (150k+ users across the nation vs hundreds or low thousands for internal applications). I am now my old team's customer, haha.

The transition was a little rough but I have been getting good praise from my team and technical leads/manager/skip levels. I have been able to contribute to major features and make large monitoring and infrastructure resiliency improvements but I am still very much new in this area... I am basically a junior in technical skills but a senior in design and problem solving on this team.

I was planning on looking for new opportunities just to be in a new industry but I am worried about not being viewed favourably for DevOps or Cloud roles since I haven't been doing that as much the past year and won't be looking good for Senior Engineering roles since I essentially have 1 year of experience in it. I tried throwing out some feelers and I was able to get responses before April 2025 but none now, I'm not sure if it's cause of the market or my experience the past year

Was curious on if anyone had advice?

https://redd.it/1mr1col
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When to start making your own project? (Hopefully a junior DevOps Engineer)

I'm very young (no job experience at all) and have AWS SAA, RHCSA and RHCE certifications, I think I have a solid understanding of them.

I wanted to make a project for the resume/portfolio and came to the part of GitHub Actions.
After spending a few hours reading docs, trying to understanding how to use the Docker templates there, I didn't understand quite well a thing and asked ChatGPT how it should be done.

It wrote 450 lines of code, against my measly 60.

Got quite frustrated at the time that I was seemingly wasting studying, if it can be done without studying.
Felt like still going to the local library when I can just Google it instead.

Am I jumping over my own head when I try to do a CI/CD pipeline with my current knowledge?
I wanted to start with CKA, but what is the worth of my current certs if ChatGPT knows how to do it without thinking for 2 seconds?
How I should compete with that for a position in the market?

I know LLM's also make mistakes when things get complicated, but all my current knowledge is so basic...

https://redd.it/1mr71gv
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git rebase and chaos

Added some hard gated commit checks in pipeline which requires editing commit message in repo and it's been absolute cinema since (even after providing a step by step guideline)

the dev who talked louder in weekly syncup => just lost it because it's too much to handle
the principal engineer => performed rebase which added more wrong commits
the newbie joining => setup a KT meeting on Saturday for rebase


https://redd.it/1mr6obm
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Should I quit my new job

Hi there, as the title says, I am contemplating quitting my new job because my expectations is different from reality. I was very open during my interview that I do not have devops experience (i have only work with Azure DevOps with guidancefrom automationteam), I only have experience working with managing azure resources in my previous job but now that I have the job I am being told I'll work with all this technologies that I've never work with such as Github action, terraform, kubernetes and other.

I started 3 weeks ago and I am already thinking of quitting, I do not have any direct senior in DevOps path within our department, I only have one from another department and he's basically handling stuffs to me to work on which I have no idea how to get done.

I appreciate all advise

https://redd.it/1mr9xf7
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How to deploy safer

I'm building out something for the first time myself, and from my previous experience (and even more-so now building it myself), I haven't found a great solution better than "deploy to staging and see what happens".

There are terraform tests, and some basic linters, but I want a higher guarantee that I'm not overwhelming a service or killing my DB because of some bad config I set. Anyone heard of anything which can do that?

https://redd.it/1mrba7i
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New devs - Zero imposter syndrome

What has happened to the dev community? The "new gen devs" are complete divas with zero interest in learning. What they know or learn by themselves is "enough" and seniors are wrong. The front end should be as advanced as possible with a node_modules directory larger than the entire internet back in 1995. If it gets too advanced, they just "vibe it". When I landed my first job, I had major issues with the imposter syndrome.

I had junior front end devs talking about backend stuff I were not familiar with (WordPress agency, I had not yet understood everything with their hooks). I took assistance from the developer. But today? I get runned over by junior front end developers. I can literally tell him exactly how his project will crash and all I get is "thats not how it works"

This is not a rant, I wanna know how and why all of this went sideways. Anyone else experiencing this? I never thought I would actually wanna slap a co-worker. I mean, I cant be the only one?

https://redd.it/1mrdkbe
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Automating upgrades for helm andEKS resources

We're currently using terraform to manage our EKS cluster but having to meet a new requirement where we upgrade within 5 days of a release for all resources in our kubernetes environments. We deploy things like LGTM, CNPG, OTEL operator, kyverno, and other similar helm managed products. Is anyone automating their upgrades for at least bug fix versions for products like this? If so what are you using to do it

https://redd.it/1mresbh
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Git Rebase - Explained Like You’re New to Git`

If `git merge` feels messy and your history looks like spaghetti, `git rebase` might be what you need.

In this post, I explain rebase in **plain English** with:

* A simple everyday analogy
* Step-by-step example
* When to use it (and when NOT to)

Perfect if you’ve been told “just rebase before your PR” but never really understood what’s happening.


Read it here -> [https://medium.com/stackademic/git-rebase-explained-like-youre-new-to-git-263c19fa86ec?sk=2f9110eff1239c5053f2f8ae3c5fe21e](https://medium.com/stackademic/git-rebase-explained-like-youre-new-to-git-263c19fa86ec?sk=2f9110eff1239c5053f2f8ae3c5fe21e)

https://redd.it/1mroew6
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Are Deep Work and Operations work incompatible?

One thing I’ve had trouble with in DevOps is context switching between last minute and high priority tasks. When you spend most of your day jumping from issue to issue, it leaves little space for the kind of focused work that reduces toil (like automation or system design).

I recently wrote about applying Cal Newport’s Deep Work ideas to DevOps. Things like timeboxing, reducing distractions from IM/email, or even experimenting with “mini think weeks” while you are not on call.

Curious, how do you make time for deeper, proactive work in such an interruption-heavy field?

(Link to full post if people want a read: https://medium.com/@timlittle88/beyond-the-pager-using-deep-work-to-reduce-devops-toil-0e8488d0628f)

https://redd.it/1mrq615
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Workload Identity Federation Explained with a School Trip Analogy (2-min video)

Static keys are still everywhere — hardcoded in configs, repos, and scripts — and they’re a huge security liability.

I put together a 2-minute video explaining Workload Identity Federation (WIF) using a simple school trip analogy (students, teachers, buses, and wristbands).

🔑 Covers:

Why static keys are risky
How WIF works step by step
Benefits of short-lived tokens
When (and when not) to use it

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/UZa5LWndb8k
Read more at: https://medium.com/@mmk4mmk.mrani/how-my-kids-school-trip-helped-me-understand-workload-identity-federation-f680a2f4672b

Curious — are you using WIF in your workloads yet? If not, what’s holding you back?

https://redd.it/1mrvas0
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Would you use a completely local LLM-powered terminal assistant for your DevOps workflows?

Hey r/devops!

I'm working on a terminal tool idea and wanted to get your thoughts before diving deep into development.

The Problem

We've all been there at 2AM:

* "What's the exact jq syntax to parse this nested JSON from the API response?"
* "I need that awk command to extract the 5xx errors from nginx logs... again"
* "Which kubectl flag shows pod resource limits vs requests?"
* "How do I get Docker to show just the container IDs that match this pattern?"
* "That one-liner to find all processes listening on ports... was it netstat or ss?"

Even senior devs know the tools exist but forget the exact syntax. Junior devs are constantly context-switching between docs and terminal.

The Solution I'm Building

A terminal RAG system that:

* Takes natural language input → searches vector DB of commands → executes the right one
* Vector DB of common DevOps commands - semantic search matches your query to pre-stored command patterns
* 100% local processing - no production data sent anywhere (CISO-approved!)
* Zero external API calls - works in air-gapped environments, no Claude Code or GitHub Copilot needed

# Example workflows (from simple to "oh god please work"):

**Simple stuff:**

$ ask "make a new folder called backup"
# Finds: mkdir backup


$ ask "show me running processes"
# Finds: ps aux


**Getting spicy:**

$ ask "find files bigger than 100MB modified in the last week"
# Finds: find . -type f -size +100M -mtime -7 -exec ls -lh {} \;


$ ask "show me pods using more than 500MB memory"
# Finds: kubectl top pods --sort-by=memory | awk '$3 > 500 {print $0}'


**The "please just work I'm dying" level:**

$ ask "which container is eating memory and crashing nodes"
# Finds: docker stats --format "table {{.Container}}\t{{.MemUsage}}\t{{.MemPerc}}" --no-stream | sort -k3 -nr
# Shows: nginx-prod 1.8GB / 2GB (90%) ← Found your problem


$ ask "parse nginx logs for 5xx errors in the last hour with client IPs"
# Finds: awk -v hour=$(date -d '1 hour ago' '+%d/%b/%Y:%H') '$4 ~ hour && $9 ~ /^5/ {print $1, $9, $7}' /var/log/nginx/access.log


Why This vs. Claude Code/GitHub Copilot?

* Actually local - works in secure/air-gapped environments where external AI tools are blocked
* DevOps-focused - curated for infrastructure commands, not general coding
* No subscription costs - no per-seat licensing for your team
* Instant response - pre-computed embeddings, no API round trips
* Your data stays put - server names, configs, internal commands never leave your network

The Tech (RAG-based)

Current MVP Plan:

* Vector database of common DevOps commands and patterns
* Semantic search to match natural language → command mappings
* Local execution with safety checks

Future: Custom local LLM trained on DevOps patterns (separate enterprise offering)

Questions for you:

1. Junior/Mid-level devs: What's the command syntax you always have to look up?
2. Senior devs: Even if you know the commands, would you use this for speed during incidents?
3. Enterprise folks: Would your security team approve a local-only tool vs. Claude Code/Copilot?
4. Everyone: How often do you find yourself thinking "I know there's a command for this but..." during time-sensitive situations?

I'm especially curious - would experienced devs use this for speed/convenience, or is this more valuable for junior devs learning the ropes?

Any feedback, roasting, or "shut up and take my money" reactions welcome!

TL;DR: Building a local RAG system that converts "which container is crashing my nodes" into the exact docker/kubectl commands you need, without sending any data to external APIs. No more 3AM Stack Overflow hunting during incidents.

https://redd.it/1mrxdyl
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Scaling reads and writes in an application

I wrote a 2-part series breaking down something we often take for granted in system design - scaling reads vs writes.

Part 1 covers practical ways to scale reads: caching, indexing, replicas, CDNs, and other tricks we’re usually expected to know (especially in interviews).
Part 2 goes into the messy stuff — batching, queues, sharding, and why writes are often the real bottleneck.

Both parts are hands-on and dev-friendly, with examples and real-world context. Hope it helps someone facing the same pain points.

👉 Part 1: https://medium.com/stackademic/from-interview-questions-to-real-world-fixes-techniques-to-scale-reads-2f3b534400b0?sk=7698e78e3a0953ee980e2e340b0ba86a
👉 Part 2: https://medium.com/stackademic/scaling-writes-in-system-design-the-stuff-that-can-break-your-application-67f7990579b9?sk=e74ea8b5a281bf34b8965015849c812d

Would love to hear how you’ve handled high write loads or tricky read paths in your own projects.

https://redd.it/1mrz6dv
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Linux

Hey! I've started learning the DevOps workflow and tools. As the foundational tool, I am learning Linux. I wanted to know where can i practice those commands other than my local system (wsl) so that i get proper hands-on practice? Like some assignments?

https://redd.it/1ms1ec1
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Looking for a design partner to run a Finops pilot to cut your AWS cost by 30 percent

I have built a POC for cutting cloud cost (in AWS) by 30 percent. How do find a design partner to run this POC in a real environment to demonstrate it works? Anyone open to try this for your AWS account? or even happy to share what i have built and get your thoughts.

https://redd.it/1ms4hn1
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Need a DevOps mentor.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently on my DevOps journey and looking for a mentor who can help guide me as I grow in this field. I’ve been working on building skills in areas like CI/CD, cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and Infrastructure as Code, but I often feel like I’m missing the “big picture” of how all the pieces fit together in real-world environments.

I’d love to connect with someone experienced in DevOps/SRE who can:

Share insights on best practices

Help me structure my learning roadmap

Give career advice (what skills/tools to prioritize)

Maybe even do mock interviews or review my projects/resume


I’m not looking for free consulting—more like a mentor/mentee relationship where I can learn from your experience, and I’ll put in the effort on my side.

If you’ve been in the industry for a while and wouldn’t mind helping someone new navigate this path, I’d be super grateful. Even a few occasional chats/check-ins would mean a lot.

Thanks in advance!

https://redd.it/1ms5cql
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