Today, the Datanauts revisit the world of Kubernetes and container scheduling, but we also loop in Serverless or “Functions as a Service” (FaaS) along with building an incredibly famous project that has literally no code.

Our guest is Kelsey Hightower, a Google employee as well as a Kubernetes advocate and expert. We talk with Kelsey about the latest evolution of Kubernetes, whether the notion of Kubernetes lock-in is a concern, and how it’s being used in production.

We also delve into serverless computing or Functions as a Service (FaaS) and discuss the technology’s development and adoption. We also explore Kelsey’s latest project, No Code.

Last but not least, we look at how containers and orchestration affects the interaction between Devs and Ops, and how to embrace the new world of application design.

Show Links:

Kelsey Hightower on GitHub

Kelsey Hightower on Twitter

Kubernetes Up And Running – Amazon

Kubernetes The Hard Way – GitHub

Datanauts 058: Kubernetes – A Deep-Dive Introduction

Datanauts 042: Understanding Serverless Architecture

Datanauts 047: A Serverless Architecture Follow-Up

Cloud Native Computing Foundation Announces Kubernetes as First Graduated Project – CNCF

Serverless Ops: What do we do when the server goes away? – Serverless Ops

Security Center Playbooks and Azure Functions Integration with Firewalls – Microsoft Azure

Today on the Datanauts we crack open our cabinet of curiosities to explore a variety of subjects, ideas, and blogs gleaned from the Internet.

Topics include Site Reliability Engineering, AWS vs. Azure for your cloud career, the pros and cons of abstraction, and the ups and downs of industry certifications.

Check out the show links for more details on everything we discuss.

Show Links:

You need SRE skills to thrive in a serverless world — Kelsey Hightower – A Cloud Guru

AWS Vs. Azure: Which One’s Right for Your Cloud Career? – SimpliLearn

OpenFaaS.com

The CNCF takes steps toward serverless computing – Cloud Native Computing Foundation

Serverless Working Group – GitHub

PowerShell Summit

How Self-Sufficient Do You Want to Be? – IP Space

The Law of Leaky Abstractions – Joel on Software

The Network Collective

Rehashing Certifications – Rule 11 Reader

Computer Networking Problems And Solutions – Rush White and Ethan Banks

Building Next-Generation Data Center – IP Space

RedHat to acquire CoreOS – RedHat

On-call doesn’t have to suck – Medium

Open source project trends for 2018 – GitHub Blog

The State of the Octoverse 2017 – GitHub

Today the Datanauts have beamed aboard a smart and insightful guide to help us navigate the swirling maelstroms of cloud, containers, and storage.

That guide is Stephen Foskett, founder of Tech Field Day and Gestalt IT, and long-time consultant and writer covering storage, networking, mobility and pretty much everything else in tech.

We explore the current state of storage and what’s new and interesting in the industry, including NVME; Stephen’s love of ZFS; and why we’ll always have spinning disk.

We also look at Rook, an open-source storage project that’s been adopted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation; Kubernetes and storage; and how far down you can go with abstractions.

The Datanauts and Stephen also discuss careers, professional development, and how the tech industry is evolving and changing.

Show Links:

Stephen Foskett on Twitter

GestaltIT

Tech Field Day

On Premise IT Podcast – Gestalt IT

Datanauts 118: The Whitebox & Enterprise Networks – Packet Pushers

ZFS Is the Best Filesystem (For Now…)  – Stephen Foskett

Add a Mirror to an Existing ZFS Drive – Stephen Foskett

Rook.io – Cloud Native Computing Foundation

And yet another: Rook voted in as a CNCF project – Diversity.net

7 Ways Kubernetes Avoids an OpenStack-Like Hype Cycle – The New Stack

You need SRE skills to thrive in a serverless world — Kelsey Hightower – A Cloud Guru

An Explanation of the Meltdown/Spectre Bugs for a Non-Technical Audience – CloudFlare

Cyber security is no game. The data from millions of companies and institutions as well as billions of dollars are at stake. Yet some proponents want to gamify security education and training.

Is gamification an effective tool to educate and train security practitioners, or just a gimmick to dumb down a complex subject (and maybe sell some courses or training)?

Today on the Datanauts we discuss the tension between gaming and learning and examine whether this tool can be effective.

We also explore security training more broadly, including the role of certifications, exams, and hands-on testing, and how gamification might enhance or improve traditional training or provide a new pathway into security careers.

Last but not least, we dive into the operational impact of security gamification.

Our guest is Evan Dornbush, co-founder and CEO of Point3 Security.

Show Links:

Learning Cyber Operations Through Gaming: An overview of current and up and coming gamified learning environments – CSIAC Journal (PDF)

Gamification is Bullshit – Ian Bogost

New Collar Jobs – IBM

ESCALATE is coming. Here’s why it matters. – Point3 Security

Today on a sponsored episode of Datanauts, we dive into VMware Cloud on AWS. This service lets you run a VMware environment (including ESXi, vSAN, and NSX) in Amazon’s AWS on bare metal servers. It’s sold and supported by VMware.

Our guest to help us sort through the nuts and bolts of this service is Matt Dreyer, Director of Product Management, VMware Cloud on AWS.

We explore common use cases, including cloud migration, on-demand capacity, and disaster recovery. We examine how this service might impact your operations, tooling, and skillsets (hint: it’s exactly the same as VMware on premises, but if you want to dig into AWS Networking and other specialties you can).

We also look at how VMware Cloud ties into AWS services, discuss available topologies, and review a slate of new announcements about the service.

Check out the links below for details on pricing, capabilities, and more.

Show Links:

VMware Cloud Provider Program – VMware

VMware Cloud on AWS/Pricing – VMware

VMware Cloud on AWS – Amazon

AWS re:Invent 2017: VMware Cloud on AWS: A World of Unique Integrations – YouTube

AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty – Amazon

Firewalls are the linchpin of a traditional network security infrastructure. They guard the perimeter of the network and stand sentry at key locations within the campus and the data center.

But can you operate a secure infrastructure without firewalls? On today’s Datanauts show, we’ve brought on a pair of guests to make that case.

Our guests are Nick Buraglio, Lead face melter at Energy Sciences Network (that’s the title he put in the show notes); and Jon Zeolla, CTO at Seiso.

We start by defining firewalls and their core functions, and then examine arguments for not having them. We then examine other options for inspecting perimeter traffic and drill into options including Bro, Suricata, vulnerability assessment, and host-based tools.

We also look at the operation and compliance impacts of getting rid of firewalls. Last but not least, we talk about the importance of log and data analysis and ways to extract meaningful information and put it to use.

By the end of the show, you might just be running into the data center and unplugging your firewall cables.

Show Links:

Jon Zeolla on LinkedIn

ForwardingPlane.net – Nick Buraglio’s blog

Bro Network Security Monitor – bro.org

Best practices for Securing the Science DMZ by Nick Buraglio – YouTube

January Presentation Security Data Analysis for the masses – Jon Zeolla, YouTube

On the Datanauts podcast today, we have a chat with VMware, this episode’s sponsor, about AppDefense.

According to VMware, AppDefense is “a new security solution for protecting applications running in virtualized and cloud environments. Rather than chasing after threats, AppDefense understands how applications are supposed to work and monitors for changes to that intended state that indicate a threat. When a threat is detected, AppDefense automatically responds.”

Our guest is Tom Corn, Senior VP, Security Products at VMware. We set the stage by examining the state of security, and then dive into how AppDefense works, including how it leverages the hypervisor.

We also review how security policies are described in AppDefense, where and how those policies are enforced, and what actions AppDefense can take.

In addition, we discuss the operational impacts of running AppDefense, including its use of system resources and how new applications are profiled.

Show Links:

VMware AppDefense

Understanding VMware AppDefense: A Tom Corn Perspective – YouTube

Tom Corn on LinkedIn

Today on the Datanauts podcast, we talk with Vivian Zhang, a Machine Learning (ML) expert.

If you’ve been hearing about ML from IT marketing folks and it all sounds like magic unicorn dust, this is your show. We’re cutting through the cruft to get to what’s real.

Vivian Zhang is CTO and Chief Data Scientist at the NYC Data Science Academy. We establish a baseline of what machine learning is, how it fits into the broader category of artificial intelligence, and how ML might move the needle in IT infrastructure.

We look at business problems that ML can be applied to, and explore real-world examples including anomaly detection.

Show Links:

NYC Data Science Academy

NYC Data Science Academy on Twitter

Amazon SageMaker

Today the Datanauts explore the mysterious worlds of consulting and VARs, and the focus areas for customers who engage with these groups.

Our guests are Jason Nash, Field CTO at Rubrik; and Josh Coen, a cloud architect at Sirius Computer Solutions.

We’ll discuss what Nash and Coen hear from customers about data center transformation, including hybrid and multi-cloud, and whether enterprise data centers are beginning to shrink.

We also talk about the value of certifications for VARs and consultants and which certs carry weight with customers and partners (for education and for deal reg). And finally, we look at the technologies and topics  driving conversations around consulting and technical investments.

Show Links:

@TheJasonNash – Twitter

VCDX – VMware Premier Partner Level Requirement? – VCDX133.com

Modern infrastructure design and operations demand that IT professionals have some familiarity with technologies or disciplines outside their individual specialties.

This demand has sparked the notion of the “full stack engineer”: that is, someone with deep knowledge in one or two areas who is also competent at every layer of the infrastructure, including the network, storage, applications, and security.

But can you actually go “full stack” or is this more of an aspiration? We tackle this question and grapple with the full-stack concept and what it means for enterprise IT on today’s Datanauts show.

Our guest is Tom Vachon, Principal Cloud Architect at an institution of higher learning and self-described “cloud graybeard.”

We construct a working definition of the full stack engineer, look at how the notion of “full stack” applies to the cloud, and discuss the operational implications of building a full stack environment in an IT organization.

Tom blogs at StayClassyInternet. You can also follow him on Twitter.

For more on full stack engineering, check out Scott Lowe’s Full Stack Journey podcast.

Show Links

A Decade Of Innovation – James Hamilton

StayClassyInternet – Tom Vachon