What DevOps or SecOps content could I create that would actually be helpful?

I'm the developer advocate for a devops/cybersecurity company

It's my job to create content like blogs, videos etc that the community wants, it can be anything that is helpful to the community. I'm curious to know what kind of content you guys feel is missing in the community at the moment?
Any topics I could create information on that you would find particularly interesting or helpful?

https://redd.it/fhjnl3
@r_devops

embedded devops engineers

For all the embedded devops engineers out there.

how often do you meet with devops engineers embedded in different teams. Our idea is to eliminate where possible duplicity in solutions, having a standup every day feels like a lot considering I already have my project teams's standup. Any tips anyone can give on how to keep in sync with the engineers on different teams with the view to creating shared libraries of infrastructure code?

Thanks!

https://redd.it/fhg25b
@r_devops

I'm being offered an SRE position @ Microsoft tomorrow. Comp expectations?

​

Greetings,

​

I am currently employed as a fully remote "Sr. SRE" with a company of \~120 employees. My salary is 145k, some bonus, and decent benefits (100% of my medical, 50% of family, 401k but no match, etc.). This has been a great setup for me and my family as we bought a house in a LCOL area close to my family.

​

I've done quite a few interviews lately to see if I could increase my earnings or get into something exciting. After two rounds of interviews with Microsoft, I've been told I am receiving offer details tomorrow.

​

The original job posting was for "SRE II" . The job involves supporting internal systems involved with running and expanding Azure datacenters.

​

If I accept the job, it will require relocation to sit at the Redmond campus. My wife and I lived in Seattle for many years until recently and know and love the area. It's just really expensive, and traffic sucks. Microsoft's benefits are going to be way better. But strangely I have no idea what salary, signon, relocation assistance, equity etc they are going to offer.

​

I am going to be 36 next week and have been working most of the time since I graduated high school. I've slowly worked my way from tech support to IT to sysadmin to devops/SRE over the course of that time. No college degree.

​

Any insights would be appreciated. The relocation is only going to make sense if the total comp is significantly more than where I'm at.

https://redd.it/fhjdr0
@r_devops

What do you use to store events?

I'm part of an organization that does a lot of IT operations, much automated, some manually.

We get a lot of automated events; the two biggest sources are our monitoring system, and failed cron jobs.

What do you guys use to store and manage such events?

Currently we have a ticket system (OTRS) that can be used by email, but it is approaching its capacity limits, and it's simply not designed for this task.

I'm looking for:

* A way to make events visible to anybody interested
* Some sort of deduplication: if a cron job sends an email every 5 minutes, there should be a way to deal with them all at once
* Some sort of triaging: a way to mark an event or stream of event as not important / dealt with / whatever, and only give me a few of events that haven't been triaged
* Escalation: some events must trigger alerting to the appropriate teams

I'm sure we're not unique in needing a way to deal with this, but my searches haven't turned up a ready solution for this.

https://redd.it/fheoy3
@r_devops

Deploy Gitlab, Docker and Kubernetes

Hello everyone,
I am currently Building a CI/CD system which should consist of Gitlab, Docker and Kubernetes.

I startet with a Gitlab instanc in a Docker Container and wanted to intigrate Kubernetes next my Question now is „should i run Gitlab in a Container? and where is the best place to install Kubernetes (in the same Container?)?

If you need more Information of have trouble understanding my gibberish don‘t hesitate to ask! Thanks :)

https://redd.it/fhhg17
@r_devops

Using Prometheus and Grafana with synthetic monitoring

Hi,

We published a blog post on how you can use Prometheus and Grafana to graph and alert on the data coming from our synthetic monitoring solution. It's quite in-depth and practical. The writer John Arundel dives into how to connect and cross relate metrics and create practical SLA-type dashboards.

​

I'm very curious about how other Prometheus users are mixing "passive" metrics collection with "active" pinging and synthetic solutions.

Full disclaimer: I'm the founder of Checkly

[https://blog.checklyhq.com/monitoring-website-performance-with-checkly-prometheus-grafana/](https://blog.checklyhq.com/monitoring-website-performance-with-checkly-prometheus-grafana/)

https://redd.it/fhf9c9
@r_devops

What's the best approach?

I'm a recruiter (boo) working in the cloud/DevOps space providing candidates for clients in Germany.

I know just how much you guys get contacted about new positions, and probably a whole lot of them aren't even relevant to you.

I'm wondering when you've had really positive experiences with recruiters, how did they contact you in the first place? What did they say/write to you that caught your attention?

I'm a firm believer there is no "one size fits all" option as everyone has different motivators and different interests I'm just interested to hear how I can improve the experience for my candidates.

https://redd.it/fhcqmi
@r_devops

Great resources for anyone new to the world of DevOps/DevSecOps

Last post like this got me A LOT of Karma so I'm trying again 😄

This is a good list of blogs, Twitter accounts & podcats which are great for any newbies looking to learn more about the industry. Way more of the ones mentioned here have podcasts, although for some reason this list doesn't include them. I also suggest IT Revolution's blog & Networkworld

[https://www.portshift.io/blog/kubernetes-cloud-resources-devops/](https://www.portshift.io/blog/kubernetes-cloud-resources-devops/)

https://redd.it/fhesor
@r_devops

which json log handler are you using?

I am following [this](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/python-logging-best-practices/#log-in-json-format) guide about python logging best practices and they recommended using a json handler for my loggers.

I am using a centralized logging solution (AWS CloudWatch) and this a solid piece of advice, however the json logger [library](https://github.com/madzak/python-json-logger) they recommended haven't been committed to since sep-19 and hasn't been released on PyPi since mar-19.

which one are you using and would recommend? or should I just copy some parts of the library and have it part of my source code ?

https://redd.it/fhd70m
@r_devops

AWS routing

Hi,

Suppose I have frontside(angular) in s3 and it is accessed by my domain [www.mydomain.com](https://www.domain.com).

For the backend I use Lambda.

Suppose I want to access the API using a path - [www.mydomain.com/api](https://www.domain.com/api) and not via a subdomain - [api.mydomain.com](https://api.domain.com).

Is the only way to handle routing on the same domain is by using CloudFront (Behaviors) or is there another way?

https://redd.it/fhd2ay
@r_devops

Comparing clouds: Billing for stopped machines

#Intro


Public clouds have grown considerably in size, complexity and sheer number of features. This makes it hard to answer even simple questions, especially when you are trying to compare clouds.

 

One of the questions we hear very often is some variation of the following:

 

**Does my cloud bill me for stopped machines, aka instances, linodes, droplets etc?**

 

The reasoning behind this question is quite simple. If I stop a machine, it means I’m not using it so I assume my cloud will not bill me for it. After all, public clouds are all about elasticity. If this is the case, then I could save a lot of money by stopping machines when they are not needed.

 

Unfortunately, things are not very straightforward.

 

#Comparison
Let’s go over a summary of what is happening with each cloud, in alphabetical order.

 

| Service | Bills for stopped machines? |
|------------------------|----------------------------:|
| Alibaba ECS | Yes (by default) |
| Amazon EC2 | No |
| Digital Ocean | Yes |
| Google Compute Engine | No |
| IBM Cloud | No |
| Linode | Yes |
| Microsoft Azure | Maybe |
| Vultr | Yes |

 

This is a very high level picture. For more details keep on reading or go [here](https://blog.mist.io/post/611039713030193152/billing-for-stopped-machines) for a more condensed view.

 

**Alibaba ECS**


ECS instances are billed per second. You could avoid billing for stopped instances connected to a VPC and which don’t have local disks. User action is required for that. If you turn this feature on and stop an instance, you will be billed for any of the following that apply:


* attached block storage
* associated elastic IPs
* bandwidth
* images


For more details, check the official documentation for PAYG pricing [here](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/doc-detail/40653.htm) and specifically for stopped instances [here](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/doc-detail/63353.htm?spm=a2c63.p38356.b99.17.418a7470ZwN0bN).

 

**Amazon EC2**


Linux instances are billed per second with 60 seconds minimum. All others are billed per hour. When you stop an instance, you will be billed for any of the following that apply:


* attached block storage
* associated elastic IPs


For more details, check the official documentation [here](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/) and “Billing and purchase options” in this [FAQ](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/faqs/).

 

**Digital Ocean**


Droplets are billed per hour even if they are stopped. Check the relevant answers in their pricing [FAQ](https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/#FAQs).

 

**Google Compute Engine**


Instances are billed per second with 60 seconds minimum. Some premium images follow a different model. When you stop an instance, you will be billed for any of the following that apply:


* persistent storage attached
* local SSDs
* associated static IPs


For more details, check the official documentation [here](https://cloud.google.com/compute/all-pricing).

 

**IBM Cloud**


Public Virtual Servers and billed per hour. IBM offers “Suspended Billing”. Servers after Nov 1st 2018 include suspended billing. Most servers created before this date don’t offer it. If suspended billing is available and you stop a server, then you will be charged for any of the following that apply:


* storage
* secondary public IP address


For more details, check the official documentation [here](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vsi?topic=virtual-servers-requirements).

 

**Linode**


Linodes are billed per hour even if they are stopped. Check the relevant answers in their pricing [FAQ](https://www.linode.com/pricing/#row--faqs).

 

**Microsoft Azure**


Virtual Machines are billed per

second and for the full number of minutes the machine was running. The documentation specifically mentions that if a machine was running for 6min and 45sec you will be charged for 6min.


If the machine status is “Stopped Deallocated”, you are not billed. If it is “Stopped” or “Stopped Allocated”, you are billed for allocated virtual cores but not for software licenses. Full details on virtual machine states are available [here](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/states-lifecycle).


In order to get to "Stopped Deallocated" state, you have to stop the machine from within Azure's management portal or over the API using a specific deallocation parameter. If you stop the machine from within the OS it will go into “Stop Allocated” state.


If you manage to get to "Stopped Deallocated" state, please keep in mind that you are still billed for any of the following that apply:


* attached Premium (SSD based) disks
* Attached Standard (HDD based) disks
* In ARM deployment model, you are billed for static public IP address unless it is part of the first five in the region. Read more regarding IPs under the FAQ section at the bottom of this [page](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/ip-addresses/).

For even more details, check the FAQ at the bottom of this [page](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/linux/). The URL ends with /linux but you will also find the same FAQ under /windows…

 

**Vultr**


Vultr cloud instances are billed per hour even if they are stopped. Check the relevant answers in their pricing [FAQ](https://www.vultr.com/resources/faq/).

 

#Other parameters


The comparison includes only services that offer cloud machines. There are also a number of services that offer dedicated hosts and/or bare metals. We didn’t include such services above because they are inherently different and, as expected, they charge you regardless of machine state.

 

Also, please keep in mind that the comparison refers to pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pricing. Alibaba, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft offer reserved and spot pricing as well. In the case of reserved pricing, you will be billed even if you don’t use your reserved capacity. In spot, stopping a machine will usually release it and return it to the pool. Billing stops at that point, but you can no longer use the machine. This happens in Amazon, Google and Azure. In Alibaba and IBM, stopping a spot will not release it, but you will continue to incur charges until they either claim it back or you release it yourself.

 

If things were not complicated enough, you also need to take special usage discounts into account. Such discounts are:


* Alibaba subscriptions
* Amazon saving plans
* Google committed-use and sustained-use discount

 

In the case of [Alibaba subscriptions](https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/doc-detail/56220.htm?spm=a2c63.p38356.b99.15.25cc166bYXiesi), things are rather simple. When you buy a subscription you pay a discounted price upfront for the entire billing cycle. Changing the status of the machine won't save you anything.

 

With [Amazon saving plans](https://aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/), things are simple too. You commit to certain usage over 1yr or 3yr term and get a discount. If you use it, you’re good. If you don’t use it, you still pay for it.

 

[Google’s committed-use discounts](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/signing-up-committed-use-discounts) are very similar to Amazon saving plans.

 

[Google’s sustained-use discounts](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/sustained-use-discounts) are more complicated. First of all, Google follows an approach which they call [resource-based pricing](https://cloud.google.com/compute/resource-based-pricing). In this model, the base price of a machine is tied to the underlying resources it is using (vCPUs and memory). If during your billing cycle you continue to run the same total amount of resources, then you gradually earn a discount that’s increasing over time. This is the

sustained-use discount. The discount is irrelevant to the actual machines you run, it ties only into the total amount of resources used. This discount doesn’t increase linearly over time. To understand it better we strongly recommend reading the documentation pages linked above.

 

#Conclusion


Having said all of the above, let’s restate the initial question:

 

**Will I save money if I stop my cloud machines when they are not in use?**

 

The answer depends on a number of factors. To get to the bottom of this you need to:


1. Check if your service will charge you for stopped machines and how.
2. Check your reservations and long term commitments.
3. Don’t take spot into account.
4. If you are using Google Compute Engine, do the math for the sustained-use discount.

 

All these might sound disheartening, but you could potentially save a lot of money. Just to get a sense of ROI, one of our customers was recently able to reduce a 5-digit monthly bill for dev infrastructure by 50%. They did it by automatically tagging machines upon provisioning and then setting a schedule to stop them during off business hours.

 

Bottomline, the effort is well justified. Do your research and good luck!

 

We'd love to hear your feedback on other comparisons that will be useful.

https://redd.it/fhczhu
@r_devops

Cache Artifacts

I have an Nginx caching server that successfully caches anything we put on the origin. There is also a separate Artifactory repository that I'd like to start caching from (use the Artifactory instance as a separate origin). I'm looking for a way to get the Nginx caching server to cache any artifact, not just an rpm repo. Has anyone done this before or have any advice?

I have a *location {}* block and can successfully use the Nginx caching server to GET items but doesn't cache -- Is this because the artifact needs to be changed somehow to to allow caching?

https://redd.it/fi2onc
@r_devops

Terraform workflow/templates management, propagating changes advise

Hi there - I am working in a small DevOps team and trying to improve our Terraform workflow. We have a few environments, and I am trying to have the developers in the company use Terraform templates we are maintaining. How do you deal with that? Do you have ways to propagate changes to templates?

Also: tests. Do you guys run tests all the time? Do you have a way to automate that once the template is in use by team members?

Wondering about best practices, tooling and what can go wrong once we become a bit bigger

https://redd.it/fi1hkc
@r_devops

[Beginner] Simple devops process with Docker / Compose & one server ? I'm lost :-)

Hi there

Being freelancer, I develop applications (small projects) for my clients. Until now, I used to have a dev environment (eg my workstation :-)) and a preprod environment (a dedicated server) where the client can "test" the application on a permanent basis. My deployment process to the preprod consisted in pushing/tagging the code to my git repo, and then pulling it from the preprod environment, for each release of a new feature. So far, so good.

Recently I took the time to learn Docker and Docker Compose. I started to develop with Docker containers installed on my workstation. I like it, because i feel that my computer is not polluted anymore with many versions of various development stacks. I used a lot volumes, rather than bind mounts because I feel this is simpler to organize, and more "encapsulated".

But now I wonder what is the best way to manage the preprod and prod stuff. I had a look on Swarm, I don't know if it is my best bet as I don't need the cluster stuff in itself, I just need to update the preprod application from my dev environment (eg my workstation), very quickly and very often, but still following the good practices.

What would be the minimum devops stack and process to do that?

Many thanks for any advise

https://redd.it/fhyxjh
@r_devops

Google's COVID-19 Screening Website Sources?

I heard Google is working on a website for COVID-19 screening. Anyone familiar with the progress? Is it open-source? Any chance community can participate to make it live sooner?

https://redd.it/fi9imu
@r_devops

Best VPS provider to host a highly available websocket cluster (15TB monthly bandwidth)

As per the title, I'm looking for the best provider for this use-case.

\- AWS EC2 isn't an option as the bandwidth will cost $1500 per month.

\- AWS lightsail comes bundled with the bandwidth but the instances aren't designed for heavy usage + it's unclear if the lightsail loadbalancer can handle secure websocket connections + VPC communication to other AWS services like redis/elasticache is limited

\- Digital Ocean has cheap bandwidth ($100 for 10TB) and is reliable. But it's been confirmed their load balancer doesn't support websocket connections.

\- Hetzner has cheap bandwidth too but again no loadbalancer.

Could I use the cloudflare load balancer in conjunction with Digital Ocean?

Should I just put a single beefy HAproxy or nginx instance in front of my websocket cluster and pray for the best on digital ocean?

Any help appreciated!

https://redd.it/fhykse
@r_devops

April Fool's Pranks

Hey guys,

April Fool's Day is coming soon and as the DevOps guy in my department, I'm trying to find some good pranks to pull off, but I can't think of anything other than changing the profile pictures on our private git to some embarrassing picture of them.

If you have any ideas for harmless pranks that won't get me in trouble I would love to hear them!

https://redd.it/fhxxbg
@r_devops

Biggraphite

How much load(metrics/sec) biggraphite can handle.

Any suggestion how to test biggraphite with stresser?

https://redd.it/fhvsl3
@r_devops