0 comments on “AWS Automation Part 4: Using Terraform for AWS Automation”

AWS Automation Part 4: Using Terraform for AWS Automation

This is part 4 of a blog post series, in which we explore how to automate Amazon Web Services (AWS) using the Terraform open source software by HashiCorp. Similar to Cloudify, Terraform is a versatile way to codify any type of infrastructure and…

0 comments on “LXD vs Docker — or: getting started with LXD Containers”

LXD vs Docker — or: getting started with LXD Containers

Container technology has existed long before the Docker hype around container technology has started after 2013. Now, with Docker containers having reached mainstream usage, you can easily get confused about available container types like Docker, LXC, LXD and CoreOS rocket. In this…

0 comments on “Getting started with OpenShift Container Platform”

Getting started with OpenShift Container Platform

In this blog post we will review the architecture of OpenShift before we will gain some hands-on experience with OpenShift Origin, which is the free version of the OpenShift Container Platform a.k.a. OpenShift Enterprise. Vagrant software will help us to automate the installation…

0 comments on “Getting Started with OpenStack – DevStack Example – OpenStack Example”

Getting Started with OpenStack – DevStack Example – OpenStack Example

In this DevStack example, I will show how to install a DevStack-based demo OpenStack solution on an existing Ubuntu 14.04 server. DevStack is an open source project with the goal to offer a development, test or demo environment for working with…

0 comments on “Ansible Tower – a Hello World Example”

Ansible Tower – a Hello World Example

This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series The Ansible & Salt Series

This is part IV of a little "Hello World" example for Ansible, an IT automation (DevOps) tool. This time, we will get acquainted with Ansible Tower, a web front end for Ansible. The post has following content: Quickest way of "installing" an Ansible Tower…

0 comments on “AWS Automation based on Vagrant — Part 3: Creating a Docker Host on AWS in 10 Minutes using Vagrant”

AWS Automation based on Vagrant — Part 3: Creating a Docker Host on AWS in 10 Minutes using Vagrant

Learn how Vagrant can be used to perform more sophisticated provisioning tasks than creation and termination of virtual machines. From our local Vagrant console, we will install Docker host Software and we will verify the results by downloading and testing the Python Docker image.

0 comments on “AWS Automation based on Vagrant — Part 1: Getting started with AWS”

AWS Automation based on Vagrant — Part 1: Getting started with AWS

In this blog post series we will explore, how to automate Amazon Web Services (AWS) by using Vagrant. The series is divided into three parts. Readers that are interested in the automation part only can skip part 1 (the AWS…

0 comments on “AWS Automation based on Vagrant — Part 2: Installation and Usage of the Vagrant AWS Plugin”

AWS Automation based on Vagrant — Part 2: Installation and Usage of the Vagrant AWS Plugin

Learn how to get started with Amazon Web Services EC2 and how to automate simple task like creation and termination of virtual machine instances using Vagrant. This is a first step towards more sophisticated automation tasks like SW installation and shell script execution.

0 comments on “Automating Network Provisioning with Cisco APIC — Exploring the REST API”

Automating Network Provisioning with Cisco APIC — Exploring the REST API

How to automate the configuration of network devices? Cisco APIC-EM (= Application Policy Infrastructure Controller) is a controller that can help us with that task. In this blog post, we will explore its modern REST API for accomplishing basic tasks like creating, reading, updating and deleting (CRUD)…

0 comments on “Choosing the right IaaS Provider for a custom Appliance or: how hard is it to install from ISO in the cloud?”

Choosing the right IaaS Provider for a custom Appliance or: how hard is it to install from ISO in the cloud?

Which Cloud Infrastructure provider allows to install custom appliances via ISO? The short answer is: none of the IaaS market leaders Amazon Web Serviese (AWS), Microsoft Azure offer the requested functionality, but they offer the workaround to locally install the…

0 comments on “Rails Active Admin: from config File to Admin Portal”

Rails Active Admin: from config File to Admin Portal

This blog post is a continuation of part 1 that had focused on the the installation process of Active Admin. In the current post, we show how Active Admin can be used to migrate from a configuration file based approach by an admin portal based…

0 comments on “Rails Active Admin Installation Experiences / HowTo”

Rails Active Admin Installation Experiences / HowTo

In this post, I have recorded my experiences with ActiveAdmin, a Rails Engine that has following goals (copied from their readme file): Enable developers to quickly create good-looking administration interfaces. Build a DSL for developers and an interface for businesses. Ensure…

0 comments on “Upgrading Rails to 4.2.x and Ruby to 2.2.x — an end to end Example”

Upgrading Rails to 4.2.x and Ruby to 2.2.x — an end to end Example

In this post, I have recorded my experiences when upgrading my hobby Web Application, a ProvisioningEngine front end from Rails 4.1.x to Rails 4.2.x and ruby from 2.1.x to 2.2.x. The upgrade went relatively smoothly, apart from an additional gem…

0 comments on “CCIE Written HowTo — where to get the Questions from (also for MCSE and others)”

CCIE Written HowTo — where to get the Questions from (also for MCSE and others)

Every two years, I need to re-certify for the Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert certification (CCIE). This time I intend to post my findings on this blog. I intend to describe where to get Example Questions from and how to read them (works for…

0 comments on “Ansible Templating – A Hello World”

Ansible Templating – A Hello World

This entry is part [part not set] of 1 in the series Ansible

This post is a continuation of my previous  post, where we have gone through a little "Hello World" example using Ansible, an IT automation tool. Last time we had performed SSH remote shell commands. This time, we will go though a little…

0 comments on “Ansible Hello World – Ansible vs. Salt vs. Chef vs. Puppet”

Ansible Hello World – Ansible vs. Salt vs. Chef vs. Puppet

This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series The Ansible & Salt Series

This is part 1 of a little Ansible Hello World example, an IT automation tool. The post has the following content: Comparison of the popularity of Ansible, Salt, Chef, and Puppet Installation of Ansible based on Docker Simple Example Playbooks (i.e.…