Mobycast

In this episode, we cover the following topics:

• Developing a system for automatically updating containers when secrets are updated is a two-part solution. First, we need to be notified when secrets are updated. Then, we need to trigger an action to update the ECS service.
• CloudWatch Events can be used to receive notifications when secrets are updated. We explain CloudWatch Events and its primary components: events, rules and targets.
• Event patterns are used to filter for the specific events that the rule cares about. We discuss how to write event patterns and the rules of matching events.
• The event data structure will be different for each type of emitter. We detail a handy tip for determining the event structure of an emitter.
• We discuss EventBridge and how it relates to CloudWatch Events.
• We explain how to create CloudWatch Event rules for capturing update events emitted by both Systems Manager Parameter Store and AWS Secrets Manager.
• AWS Lambda can be leveraged as a trigger of CloudWatch Events. We explain how to develop a Lambda function that invokes the ECS API to recycle all containers.
• We finish up by showing how this works for a common use case: using the automatic credential rotation feature of AWS Secrets Manager with a containerized app running on ECS that connects to a RDS database.

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End Song

Night Sea Journey by Derek Russo

More Info

For a full transcription of this episode, please visit the episode webpage.

We'd love to hear from you! You can reach us at:

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• Voicemail: 844-818-0993
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In this episode, we cover the following topics:

• In this new series, we are discussing database consistency models explained in three acts. This episode is "Act III: Eventual consistency saves the web (circa early 2000s)".
• We explain eventual consistency and the motivation behind the philosophy.
• The BASE acronym stands for three key properties of a distributed system that utilizes eventual consistency. We define and explain these BASE attributes:
• Basically available
• Soft state
• Eventual consistency
• We share the story of Werner Vogel's keynote at re:Invent 2018, where he outlined the reasons why DynamoDB was created. In particular, DynamoDB allows for an eventual consistency data model.
• Interestingly, the DynamoDB story closely parallels what happened when Chris was at Microsoft. It just happened at least 6 years earlier.
• We then wrap up everything we have learned about ACID, CAP, and BASE by providing some guidelines on when to choose ACID vs. BASE systems.

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End Song

Whisper In A Dream (Feathericci Remix) by Uskmatu

More Info

For a full transcription of this episode, please visit the episode webpage.

We'd love to hear from you! You can reach us at:

• Web: https://mobycast.fm
• Voicemail: 844-818-0993
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/mobycast
• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/mobycast

In this episode, we cover the following topics:

• In this new series, we are discussing database consistency models explained in three acts. This episode is "Act II: The arrival of the Internet creates new challenges (circa 1998)".
• Problems with building large scale-out systems led to the "discovery" of the CAP theorem (by Eric Brewer of Inktomi). We explain what the CAP theorem postulates and break it down in understandable terms.
• The three properties of the CAP theorem are consistency, availability and partition tolerance. What exactly is meant by "partition tolerance"?
• A key implication of the CAP theorem is that must choose your priorities. As a system scales, it cannot be both available and consistent.
• We discuss Physalia, a technology developed by AWS for making Elastic Block Service (EBS) more resilient. The design of Physalia was inspired by the principles of the CAP theorem.
• We then take a personal story detour that is (mostly) related to the CAP theorem. It turns out, Eric Brewer and Chris share a common experience during the first Internet bubble.

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End Song

Disruption by Miquel Salla

More Info

For a full transcription of this episode, please visit the episode webpage.

We'd love to hear from you! You can reach us at:

• Web: https://mobycast.fm
• Voicemail: 844-818-0993
• Email: [email protected]
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• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/mobycast

In this episode, we cover the following topics:

• In this new series, we are discussing database consistency models explained in three acts. This episode is "Act I: Transaction processing (circa 1973)".
• We start with the motivation behind talking about database soup - why are ACID, CAP, and BASE important to understand?
• We define transaction processing and its origins. What exactly is a "transaction"?
• Transactions are governed by ACID semantics. We define and explain the four characteristics of the ACID acronym::
• Atomicity
• Consistency
• Isolation
• Durability
• The computer scientist, Jim Gray, came up with the idea of ACID semantics in the late 1970's. We discuss some of the history behind this, along with a bizarre and tragic ending to his story.
• We also share a personal story about another important player in transaction processing, Phil Bernstein.

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End Song

Talcum by Lost Lake

More Info

For a full transcription of this episode, please visit the episode webpage.

We'd love to hear from you! You can reach us at:

• Web: https://mobycast.fm
• Voicemail: 844-818-0993
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Oh by the way, buy girl scout cookies from my daughter here! GIRL SCOUT COOKIEEEEES!

In this episode, we cover the following topics:

• Technology is changing at an increasing rate, with a constant stream of new things to learn. We discuss how innovation has changed the rules of the game.
• "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller
• Chris recounts a personal story that emphasizes the importance of continual learning and growth.
• During preparation for a previous Mobycast mini-series, he relies on a trusted solution pattern for accessing private subnets.
• But during final fact checking, he discovers entirely new options that may be better/easier solutions.
• We break down some important lessons learned from this experience.
• Why do we think the following Stephen King quote is sage advice for all of us?
• "Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings."
• We then turn our attention to discussing what is your most important skill.
• What is it?
• How can you cultivate it?
• Why does this matter?

Detailed Show Notes

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End Song

Disco Pigs (Rave Mix) by Roy England

More Info

For a full transcription of this episode, please visit the episode webpage.

We'd love to hear from you! You can reach us at:

• Web: https://mobycast.fm
• Voicemail: 844-818-0993
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/mobycast
• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/mobycast

In this episode, we cover the following topics:

• We continue our discussion of microVMs with a look at Kata Containers.
• Kata Containers formed by the merger of two projects: Intel Clear Containers and Hyper runV.
• How does Kata Containers integrate with existing container tooling?
• How mature are Kata Containers - are they ready for production?
• We then take a look at unikernels, which take a dramatically different approach to solving the problem of providing high security with blazing performance.
• The benefits of unikernels along with a comparison on how they differ from containers.
• We discuss some of the most popular unikernel implementations, including OSv and MirageOS.
• Does the future point to a deathmatch between containers and unikernels, or will there be a need for both approaches to cloud-native apps?

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END SONG
Palm of Your Hand by Blynkwth

MORE INFO
For a full transcription of this episode, please visit the episode webpage.

We'd love to hear from you! You can reach us at:

• Web: https://mobycast.fm
• Voicemail: 844-818-0993
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/mobycast
• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/mobycast

In this episode, we cover the following topics:

• We revisit a misunderstanding from last week's show to find out exactly what the Firecracker team means when they list "Single VM per Firecracker process" as a security benefit.
• We discuss what's next on the Firecracker product roadmap, with particular emphasis on support for snapshot/restore.
• We learn how AWS uses Firecracker in production today with AWS Lambda.
• AWS is currently working on updating Fargate to use Firecracker. We look at why they are doing this and the design details of updating Fargate to use Firecracker.
• We finish by looking at how you can use Firecracker for your own containers, by incorporating Firecracker-aware tooling into your container infrastructure. Specifically, we look at firecracker-containerd and Weave Ignite.

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END SONG
Thing Is by Public Address

MORE INFO
For a full transcription of this episode, please visit the episode webpage.

We'd love to hear from you! You can reach us at:

• Web: https://mobycast.fm
• Voicemail: 844-818-0993
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/mobycast
• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/mobycast

In this episode, we cover the following topics:

• We review virtual machines (full virtualization) and their benefits and tradeoffs.
• We then revisit containers (OS-level virtualization) and briefly recap how they use OS kernel features to enable virtualization.
• Containers provide great performance and resource efficiency, but at the cost of losing strong isolation. Can we have the performance and efficiency benefits of containers but with the strong isolation of VMs? There are some promising technologies that aim to combine the best of both VM and container worlds: microVMs, unikernels and container sandboxes.
• What are microVMs?
• What are unikernels?
• What are container sandboxes?
• AWS Firecracker is one of the most talked about microVMs. We discuss what it is, and the key benefits of using Firecracker.

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END SONG
Smooth Modulator by aMIGAaMIGO

MORE INFO
For a full transcription of this episode, please visit the episode webpage.

We'd love to hear from you! You can reach us at:

• Web: https://mobycast.fm
• Voicemail: 844-818-0993
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/mobycast
• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/mobycast

In this episode, we cover the following topics:

• AWS offers not one, but two, managed services for secrets management. Systems Manager Parameter Store and AWS Secrets Manager have similar functionality, making it sometimes confusing to know which to use. We compare and contrast the two services to help guide your choice.
• The three types of sensitive data injection supported by Elastic Container Service (ECS).
• Understanding when sensitive data is injected into the container and how to handle updates to secrets (such as credential rotation).
• The required configuration changes and IAM permissions you need to enable ECS integration with Parameter Store and Secrets Manager.
• A walkthrough of the specific steps you need to take to update your ECS application to support secrets integration.

Detailed Show Notes
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End Song
Straddling by Derek Russo

More Info
For a full transcription of this episode, please visit the episode webpage.

We'd love to hear from you! You can reach us at:

• Web: https://mobycast.fm
• Voicemail: 844-818-0993
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/mobycast
• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/mobycast