0. A Path to Achieving True Cloud Portability
Tyler Fitch
Customer Success Engineer at Chef
@tfitch

1. Define: Portability
A1: Your infrastructure is repeatable (and hopefully automated)
If you need someone to create and/or configure a server
it will be difficult to be portable
A2: You’re just a DNS change* away from new servers
* More specifically, you are your DNS’s TTL away from new,
replacement or expansion servers *

2. Your hosting solution faces a couple of serious problems
Gloom and Doom
Your hosting solution faces a couple of serious problems
Disaster Recovery
Your Data Center
Photo: Iwan Baan *

3. Your hosting solution faces a couple of serious problems
Gloom and Doom
Your hosting solution faces a couple of serious problems
$$$
IT COSTS TOO MUCH *

4. Configuration Management
Joy and Delight
Configuration Management *

5. Configuration Management
Infrastructure as code
run_list['webserver']
webserver/recipe/default.rb
include_recipe 'nginx'
But this is not why we are here! *

6. Joy and Delight
Machine Management *

7. Scalr A Cloud Management Platform.
Using a Web UI to manage your machines in your cloud(s) *

8. Chef Metal machine 'db' do recipe 'postgresql' end machine 'web1' do
Machines as code
machine 'db' do
recipe 'postgresql'
end machine 'web1' do
recipe 'nginx'
end *

9. Chef Metal
Machines as *code*
with_machine_batch 'my_batch' 1.upto(50) do |i| machine "web#{i}" do recipe 'nginx' end end *

10. How to Provision Machines with Chef Metal
An engineer can run it locally
Perfect for Proof of Concepts with quick iterations
But requires a person to execute the commands
Great from 9-5! Not great for the proverbial 3am issue. *

11. How to Provision Machines with Chef Metal
Automation is better!
Let machines do the work within rules you define.
Nagios is monitoring your servers
When a metric (CPU load, # connections, etc) reaches your threshold
Nagios sends alert
Jenkins responds to alert by spinning up new/more machines *

12. Where to Provision Machines
A1: The place that costs you the least amount of money
A2: Your local machine.
Happy engineers make applications rapidly *

13. Where to Provision Machines
Supported providers:
OpenStack
LXC - Docker
EC2
DigitalOcean
SoftLayer
VSphere
VirtualBox
VMWare Fusion
Bare metal (SSH, no PXE yet)
More providers are just an API away *

14. Advantages we have gained
Ops Life:
Your servers are now cattle.
Photo: earthtimes.org
They come, they go.
They have important jobs, but they do not have names. *

15. Advantages we have gained
Business Life:
Wheel and deal for savings with your hosting providers
Photo: dumblittleman.com
Use the savings to take your engineers to Vegas
Photo: myallinclusivedeals.com *

16. Knowledge is Power AKA: Always Be Learning DISASTER RECOVERY
CHEF METAL *

17. Thank you
@tfitch *