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15/8/2017 1 Comment

What is DevOps and why should I use it?

There are so many definitions around what DevOps is or isn't.  One word that sums it all up:  AUTOMATION

DevOps in it's simplest form it's a cultural change that allows developers and operations staff to work together collaboratively to achieve various outcomes, over the traditional IT delivery model.  The key ones include:
  1. Dramatically improves the quality of code.
  2. Code is released more frequently, moving a yearly or monthly cadence to weekly or daily.
  3. Testing and the promotion of code to production is highly automated.
  4. High-perfomers are 96 times faster than their peers to resolve defects, outages or incidents.
We can then extend this concept to a much wider set of stakeholders, to show how this value permeates throughout the organisation.  So when we think of developers, we should also consider architects, project managers and engineers, as they all work in the same 'design & build' phase.  And when we consider operations, we should extend this to service managers, security operations and service desk analysts.

The diagram below is taken from teh 2017 State of DevOps report, and shows some of the positive factors when a DevOps culture is harnessed:​​
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​​​So now we can see that DevOps may have some value, how do we transform our culture?  

Well, for one it takes time, and two, there are a number of key principles that I'd suggest focusing on, to drive this cultural change:
  • Allow your staff to fail, but fail fast.  This means empowering them to innovative, whilst providing them safeguards if things don't work out.
  • Consider training in Agile methodologies, such as SCRUM or Extreme Programming.
  • Empower your staff to automate everything, through training, mentorship , encouragement and invest in new tools for them.
  • Consider using cloud technologies in the early stages of a new project, this will reduce your CAPEX exposure and help build on the other points above.
All of the above concepts feed into each other, but I'm going to show you how I started my DevOps journey.  

The key is to start with a small project, and measure the success.  Not over 10 weeks, but say 2-4 weeks.  How is this possible?
  1. Setup your project as a 2-4 week sprint, using a tool such as Atlassian Jira.   Consider what needs to be in the sprint, using the sprint backlog and decompose each task is to very small chunks.  Ideally in hourly chunks of 1,2,4 or 8 hours.  If the tasks are bigger, set them up in 1 or 2 days.  If tasks exceed 2 days, consider breaking them down into smaller piece.
  2. Use the Burndown charts to show how the project in progressing.  Within 5 working days, you'll be able to predict the final end date for the project.  If you're running behind schedule you can make the decision to reduce scope and meet the timelines, or simply run over schedule and let your stakeholders know.  See the diagram below for an illustration of a Burndown Chart
  3. At the end of the project, review lessons learnt through the sprint review and sprint retrospectives workshops and move any outstanding items into the product backlog.
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​The next steps are to then work with your colleagues to start applying these Agile practices in day-to-day use.  By introducing the techniques into a small project, you're allowing staff to fail-fast and quickly learn how to suceed.  You're also exposing them to Agile practices, with informal on-the-job training.  You should also be seriously considering a cloud solution to reduce OPEX risk.
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So where from here?

It comes down to getting your supporters excited about these new methods and helping them understand the benefits to everyone.  This could include:
  1. Investing in your talent pool through formal or informal training.
  2. Starting other new projects using the same Agile practices, under a programme of work, complete with an architectural vision and a product backlog.
  3. Formal or informal mentoring networks, preferably using a combination of outside-in and inside-in techniques, i.e. don't just confine personal growth strategies to people within your company, consider the outside-in.

Still not convinced?  

Have a look at these top three great resouces I can recommend looking at:
  1. The State of Devops Report 2017, which provides a great wealth of information of the benefits of DevOps. itsmf.cz/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017-state-of-devops-report.pdf
  2. This great series of training videos to get you started with SCRUM.  scrumtrainingseries.com/
  3. And a very famous book called The Phoenix Project, which illustrates how powerful the DevOps culture is, told through the eyes of Bill, the overwhelmed VP of IT Operations.
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Paul Colmer is a lead digital architect and cloud instructor for ALC training and consulting:  ​www.alctraining.com.au/courses/cloud-computing/
1 Comment

15/8/2017 1 Comment

Why is Active Directory Federation so critical to businesses?

As a Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), one of the most common cloud services that I encounter across both the consumer and business worlds is the Microsoft Office 365 suite of services.  It is classed as a Software-as-a-Service and it provides a graphically driven user-interface that enables businesses to send emails, collaborate, create and share intellectual property both within their organisation and with their key external partners.  Here is a quick overview of the services.

Now, if you've happily signed up to a simple home plan, you'll likely only have access to the Office Pro Plus Apps, which we have all known and loved for years.  Apps such as Excel, PowerPoint, Word etc…  But if you're running a business with say 100+ users, you'll probably already using the Office 365 Enterprise E1 subscription, which includes the Pro Plus Apps, plus the suite of cloud services.  These cloud services will likely include Email, Contacts, SharePoint and many others, including Azure Active Directory.

​The diagram below shows a screenshot of a lesser known service called Delve:
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This is a great illustration of how Microsoft is innovating by allowing users to intuitively view and find data that they have access to, that may have been shared by colleagues.  The Active Directory federation keeps all the data in a single synchronised entity , which allows services such as Delve to work efficiently and present a single source of truth to the end-user. 

This means if you're using an existing on-premise Active Directory service, with your servers housed in a data centre, or possibly in your small office, and are now using Office 365 services, you now have two Active Directories to worry about.  This means your users are already logging into your company Active Directory to gain access to their files in your office, and then having to login again to gain access to the Office 365 resources.

This is where directory federation, in this case Active Directory federation, adds huge value to end-users.  By federating the two Active Directories together, you create a single logical security entity that provides huge user-experience benefits:

  • Users only need to sign-in once and they can access resources that reside on the company on-premise servers as well as the Office 365 services and resources in the cloud.
  • All the contact information that is stored in your on-premise directory is replicated to the cloud and kept in sync, so there is still only a single source of truth for information.
  • Because you have integrated not only Office 365 services, but also Microsoft Azure services, you now open up the entire Azure platform for end-user business development enablement.
This diagram below shows some of the complexity of the federation process, which is hidden from the end-user:
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For example if you now wish to add Multi-Factor authentication (MFA) as a second security step when users are logging in, it is straight forward to integrate the Azure MFA with your Azure Active Directory, resulting in a 2nd step in the process that requires users to click accept on the Azure MFA app on their phones.  The Azure MFA is easy to download and install and simply requires the user to establish their identity, the first time they use it.

​Paul Colmer is a lead digital architect and cloud instructor for ALC training and consulting:  ​www.alctraining.com.au/courses/cloud-computing/
1 Comment

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    Author​​

    Paul Colmer is an AWS Senior Technical Trainer.  Paul has an infectious passion for inspring others to learn and to applying disruptive thinking in an engaging and positive way.

    Paul has experience in building digital architecture strategies.  This includes the development and execution of training material and workshops, architecting and leading digital transformation initiatives, providing expertise on social media marketing, as well as advanced presenting using comedy, drama and music.

    Certifications include: Amazon Web Services(3 x Associates + 1 ML Specialty), Scaled Agile Framework (SPC), Cloud Security (CCSP), DevOps Culture (DevOps Foundation & DevSecOps Engineering), Big Data (EBDP), Data Science (EBDA), Microsoft Azure (AZ-900), Office 365 and a few others...... 

    He is currently one of the Rise.Global Top 50 Global Cloud influencers on social media.

    ​www.rise.global/the-cloud-social-influencers-power-100/p/1804096/r/2556192

    And one of the OnalyticsTop 100 Big Data influencers on social media:

    onalytica.com/blog/posts/big-data-top-influencers-and-brands/

    He is also a keen writer and an award-winning open-mic comedian.

    Contact Paul Colmer via LinkedIn.
    ​
    Or simply watch his videos on YouTube.

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