Are you a switcher? That is, are you someone who has transitioned from one IT discipline to an entirely new IT discipline? Perhaps you were a storage gal for a long time, and now you’ve successfully transitioned into a networking career. Maybe you used to be a Windows admin, and now Linux is your thing. Or perhaps you were a networking guy, and now you’re coding like a madman. If this sounds like you, please read on!
If this describes you—or describes something you’re in the middle of doing—I’d love to talk to you. Please hit me on Twitter (I’m @scott_lowe), or drop me an e-mail (use [email protected], substituting the correct values). I promise it won’t take much of your time, and we can do this via whatever medium makes the most sense: e-mail, telephone, Skype, instant messaging, IRC…you let me know. I’m particularly interested in talking to folks to have made a really dramatic transition, not just moving from being a server administrator to being a virtualization administrator (let’s face it, those two roles are fairly similar).
Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Today at the OpenStack Summit in Tokyo, Rackspace announced Carina, a new containers-as-a-service offering that is currently in beta. I took a few minutes to sign up for Carina today and work with it for a little while, and here is a quick introduction.
First, if you’re at all unfamiliar with Docker and/or Docker Swarm, have a look at some of these articles off my site. They’ll help provide some baseline knowledge:
A Quick Introduction to Docker
Running a Small Docker Swarm Cluster
I point out these articles because Carina essentially implements hosted Docker Swarm clusters. You can use the Carina CLI tool (as I will in this article) to create one or more clusters, each of which will expose a Docker API endpoint (just like your own homegrown Docker Swarm cluster) against which you can run the Docker client.
Let’s take a quick look. These instructions assume that you’ve already created an account and downloaded the CLI tool from GitHub. I’m assuming you’re running Linux or OS X; the commands for Windows would be quite different than what I’ll show below.
First, you’ll need to set some environmental variables. I prefer to do this in a file that Continue reading
Mark Collier, COO of the OpenStack Foundation, takes the stage to kick things off. He starts with a story about meeting new people, learning new things, and sharing OpenStack stories, and encourages attendees to participate in all of these things while they are here at the Summit.
Mark then transitions into a discussion of Liberty (the latest release), and revisits Jonathan Bryce’s discussion of the new organizational model (“the Big Tent”). He specifically calls out Astara and Kuryr as new projects in the Big Tent model. Out of curiosity, he looked at development activity for all the various projects to see which project was the “most active”. It turns out that Neutron was the most active project across all of the various OpenStack projects. According to the user survey last year, 68% were running Neutron. In the most recent user survey, that number climbed to 89%—meaning the vast majority of OpenStack clouds in production are now running Neutron.
So why is networking (and Neutron) so hot right now? Mark believes that this is due to the increasing maturity of software-defined networking and network virtualization. Mark shows data from Crehan Research that states SDN is growing twice as fast as server Continue reading
This is a liveblog of the Day 1 keynote at the OpenStack Summit here in Tokyo, Japan. As is quite often the case at conferences like this, the wireless network is strained to its limits, so I may not be able to publish this liveblog until well after the keynote ends (possibly even later in the day).
After a brief introduction by one of the leaders of the OpenStack Japan User Group (I couldn’t catch his name), Jonathan Bryce takes the stage. Jonathan takes a few minutes to welcome the attendees, thank the conference sponsors, and go over some logistics (different hotels, meals, getting help, etc.). Jonathan announces the first individual certification for OpenStack—the Certified OpenStack Administrator. The certification test will be available starting in 2016. Not many details are given; I assume that more details will be released in the coming days and weeks.
Jonathan also takes a moment to talk about Liberty, the 12th release of OpenStack. Based on the features added, he feels that manageability, scalability, and extensibility were the key themes for Liberty. This leads Jonathan into a discussion of users and developers, sometimes (not beneficially) separated by sales and product management. Jonathan feels that Continue reading
Welcome to Technology Short Take #55! Here’s hoping I’ve managed to find something of value and interest to you in this latest collection of links and articles from around the web on networking, storage, virtualization, security, and other data center-related technologies. Enjoy!
In this post I’ll share a few commands I found for adding a network interface to an OpenStack instance after launching the instance. You could, of course, simply launch the instance with multiple network interfaces from the very beginning, but these commands are handy in case you messed up or in case the requirements for the instance changed after it was launched. Please note there’s nothing revolutionary or ground-breaking in the commands listed here; I’m simply trying to help share information in the event others will find it useful.
I tested these commands using OpenStack “Juno” with VMware NSX providing the networking functionality for Neutron, but (as you can tell if you check the articles in the “References” section) this functionality has been around for a while. These commands should work with any supported Neutron plug-in.
First, create the Neutron network port:
neutron port-create <Neutron network name>
If you want to attach a security group to the port (probably a good idea), then modify the command to look like this:
neutron port-create --security-group <Security group name>
<Neutron network name>
Note that you can add multiple --security-group parameters to the command in order to specify multiple security groups on the Continue reading
This is something I’ve had the pleasure of organizing at VMworld over the last couple of years, and I’d like to start doing it at the OpenStack Summits as well. So, next week in Tokyo, I’d like to offer Christians attending the Summit the opportunity to gather together for a brief time of prayer before the day’s activities get started.
If you’re interested in attending, here are the details.
What: A brief time of prayer
Where: The pool outside the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa (the pool outside the red building on this map of the Summit campus)
When: Tuesday, October 27 through Thursday, October 29, at 8:00 am each day (this should give you time to grab some breakfast before the keynotes and sessions start at 9:00 am)
Who: All courteous attendees are welcome, but please note that this will be a distinctly Christian-focused and Christ-centric activity. This is not to exclude anyone, but rather to focus on like-minded individuals. (I encourage believers of other faiths/religions to organize equivalent activities.)
Why: To spend a few minutes in prayer over the day, the Summit, and the other attendees gathered there
You don’t need to RSVP to let me know Continue reading
Regular readers of this site know that my wife, Crystal, organizes spouse activities (aka “Spousetivities”, like the combination of “spouse” and “activities”) at conferences. This year she’s adding activities in Tokyo, Japan, in conjunction with the Fall OpenStack Summit!
Here’s a quick look at what is planned:
More details on these activities is available on the Spousetivities site.
The activities are funded in part by VMware NSX and Blue Box (their sponsorship helps reduce the cost of activities for participants). If you have a loved one (spouse, domestic partner, family member, friend, whatever!) traveling with you to Tokyo, head on over to the registration page to get them signed up for some great activities while you’re at the Summit.
In this post, I’ll show you how to use Docker Machine in conjunction with VMware Photon OS Technical Preview 2 (aka “TP2”). Given that Photon was designed to host containers, this is—for the most part—pretty straightforward. There are a couple of glitches that I need to point out, though, that might hang up new users.
First off, kudos to Fabio Rapposelli for taking some time at VMworld to help me work through the details. I really appreciate his time!
If you want to use Docker Machine with Photon, there are four major requirements today (stress the word “today,” as all these products are rapidly evolving and these requirements may soon disappear or change):
You’ll need to use Fabio’s special build of Docker Machine that includes support for AppCatalyst and Photon OS. I anticipate that support for AppCatalyst and Photon OS (the latter of which is what’s really needed in this case) will get rolled into Docker Machine (main branch) soon, but for now a different build is needed. (If you don’t use Fabio’s build, Docker Machine will report an “unrecognized OS” or similar).
You’ll have to use Docker Machine’s generic driver. Even Fabio’s branch of Docker Machine doesn’t yet (to Continue reading
In my earlier post on using Docker Machine with OpenStack, I talked about combining technologies in a “provider/consumer” model. In this post, I’m going to talk about creating this provider/consumer model using a different combination of technologies: OpenStack as the infrastructure provider and Vagrant for consuming that infrastructure.
If you’re unfamiliar with Vagrant, I recommend you first read this introduction to Vagrant (after that you can dig into all the other Vagrant-tagged posts). As I explain in that first post, Vagrant leverages the idea of providers (which enable Vagrant to work with various back-end virtualization platforms/solutions) as well as boxes (which are essentially VM templates). In this particular case, we’re leveraging an OpenStack provider for Vagrant that allows Vagrant to use OpenStack as the back-end virtualization solution. However, since OpenStack already has the equivalent of VM templates (in the form of images), there’s no need to use a Vagrant box. This makes using Vagrant with OpenStack slightly different than your typical Vagrant use case.
Let’s start with reviewing some prerequisites—these are the things you’ll need to do/have done before you can use Vagrant with OpenStack (besides the obvious things like having Vagrant installed).
This post walks through the process of adding storage capacity to a Linux server using LVM. There’s nothing new, revolutionary, or cutting-edge about this post—honestly, it’s really more for my own reference than anything else. Adding logical volumes is something that I do so infrequently that it’s hard to remember all the commands, so I’m recording them here for when I need them next time.
First, list the physical disks in the system (all commands should be prefaced with sudo or run as a user with the appropriate permissions):
fdisk -l
This will help you identify which (new) disk needs to be added. In my examples, I’ll use /dev/sdb.
Start partitioning the new disk (replace /dev/sdb with the appropriate values for your system):
fdisk /dev/sdb
I’m assuming that this isn’t a boot drive and that whatever logical volumes you create will take up the entire disk. Once you get into fdisk, follow these steps:
n to create a new partition.p to make this a primary partition.1 to make this the first partition on the disk. Continue readingIn this post, I’m going to show you how to use Docker Machine with OpenStack. This is something I’ve been interested in testing for a while, and now that I finally have my test lab back up and running, I was able to spend some time on this. I’ll spend some time later in the post covering my reasons for wanting to look at this, but I’ll start with the technical content of how it works.
I tested this setup with the following components:
There are (at least) two approaches to using Docker Machine and OpenStack together:
generic driver to consume already-provisioned OpenStack instances. This is, in large part, very similar to what I covered here, but I’ll cover it in this post just for the sake of completeness.openstack driver to automatically provision and configure new instances on an OpenStack cloud. This is the Continue readingWelcome to Technology Short Take #54! In this episode, I’ve gathered an odd collection of links and articles about key data center technologies. Without further ado, let’s get to the content.
Spousetivities returns to VMworld EMEA this year with a new set of activities. If you haven’t registered yet, here’s a quick look at the pretty impressive set of tours and activities that are planned.
For more detailed descriptions of the activities, I encourage you to visit the Spousetivities site. When you’re ready to get signed up, head on over to the registration page. These are some pretty great activities!
In this post, I’m going to show you how to use the Git command-line to check out GitHub pull requests locally. I take absolutely no credit for this trick! I picked this up from this GitHub Gist, and merely wanted to share it here so that others would benefit.
The GitHub gist shows you how to modify the Git configuration for a particular repository so that when you run git fetch it will fetch all the pull requests for that repository as well. This is handy, but what I personally found most helpful was a comment that showed the command to fetch a specific pull request. The command looks like this:
git fetch origin pull/1234/head:pr-1234
Let me break that command down a bit:
origin in this case refers to the Git remote for this repository on GitHub. If you are using the fork-and-pull method of collaborating via Git and GitHub, then you will have multiple Git remotes—and the remote you want probably isn’t origin. For example, if you want to fetch a pull request from the original (not forked) repository, you’d want to use the name that corresponds to the Git remote for the original repository (I Continue readingThe day 2 keynote kicks off with another Cloud Academy presentation… After the video wraps up, Sanjay Poonen takes the stage. Poonen briefly recaps yesterday’s messaging, and then moves into the focus of today’s keynote—focusing on the “any application and any device” part of the “Ready for Any” messaging.
According to Poonen, the core of the solution for “any application on any device” is VMware’s Workspace Suite. Workspace Suite creates the magic of “enterprise computing with consumer simplicity.” How? It starts by building upon the core of virtualized infrastructure, made possibe by VMware’s compute, storage, and network virtualization solutions. Combined with a strong management layer and hybrid cloud solutions, this becomes the software-defined data center (SDDC). Somehow, though, this stuff needs to be connected to the end users—via desktop, mobile, content collaboration, and tying it all together with identity management. Poonen points to innovation in all of these areas.
Obviously, mobile is a category that is growing very rapidly, and Poonen talks about VMware’s movement in this space via the AirWatch acquisition. And the use of mobile devices is also key to VMware’s identity efforts as well. Poonen shows a video with a few customer testimonials, and then introduces Continue reading
This is a liveblog for the Day 1 general session at VMworld 2015 in San Francisco. For many people, VMworld started yesterday with the Welcome Receptio in the Solutions Exchange, but today marks the official kick-off to the event. I’ll have to end this liveblog shortly before the general session ends in order to make it to some customer meetings.
The keynote kicks off with a short video about the VMware Cloud Academy, where both “legacy” and “cloud-native” apps can enjoy the Unified Hybrid Cloud. Following that video, Carl Eschenbach takes the stage (along with some “apps”). Eschenbach sets the stage for the session by talking about the momentum and volume of success that VMware has enjoyed (and continues to enjoy). He also calls out VMware’s philanthropic efforts, via the VMware Foundation and the #vGiveBack program.
Eschenbach nexts dives a bit deeper on the theme of the show, “Ready for Any.” This means VMware technologies and products supporting any application, any cloud, any infrastructure, any time, any place…you get the idea. This theme encompasses SDDC (software-defined data center) initiatives, mobility initiatives, and EUC (end-user computing) initiatives. Eschenbach talks in a a bit more detail about how Unified Hybrid Cloud Continue reading
Welcome to Technology Short Take #53. In this post, I’ve gathered links to posts about networking, virtualization, Docker, containers, Linux, configuration management, and all kinds of other cool stuff. Here’s hoping you find something useful!
pyeapi on the switches directly, so the Ansible configuration remains clean (instead of having to use a local connection for the switches but SSH for everything else). Of course, I’m sure there are trade-offs each way.It’s that time of year again—time for VMworld! And along with VMworld comes another highly-anticipated event: Spousetivities! That’s right, Spousetivities is back again this year for another set of outstanding activities organized for spouses traveling with conference attendees. If your spouse is traveling with you to San Francisco for VMworld, this is a great opportunity for him (or her) to meet up with other spouses and attend some exclusive activities.
So what’s on tap for Spousetivities this year? Here’s a quick look at some of what’s planned:
Last year, a group of believers gathered for a brief time of prayer while at VMworld 2014. This year, I’d like to again offer believers attending VMworld 2015 the same opportunity to gather together for a time of prayer before starting the day. If you’re interested in attending, here are the details.
What: A brief time of prayer
Where: Yerba Buena Gardens, behind Moscone North (by the waterfall)
When: Monday 8/31 through Wednesday 9/2 at 7:45am (this should give everyone enough time to grab breakfast before the keynotes start at 9am)
Who: All courteous attendees are welcome, but please note that this will be a distinctly Christian-focused and Christ-centric activity. (I encourage believers of other faiths/religions to organize equivalent activities.)
Why: To spend a few minutes in prayer over the day, the conference, and the attendees
Like last year, there’s no need to RSVP or let me know that you’ll be there, although you’re welcome to do so if you’d like. There’s also no need to bring anything except an open heart and a willingness to display your faith in front of others. This is a very casual gathering of believers—we’ll gather together, share some prayer requests and needs, Continue reading