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Bring yourself up to speed with our introductory content.
The keys to an efficient help desk staffing model
Hiring skilled staff alone to fill help desk roles is not enough to improve workflows. Learn how to unlock a help desk's full potential with these tips. Continue Reading
bare-metal hypervisor
A bare-metal hypervisor, also known as a Type 1 hypervisor, is virtualization software that has been installed directly onto the computing hardware. Continue Reading
Prepare for successful container adoption with these tips
Enterprises all over the world are making containerized applications a central focus. Learn why your IT organization should be next, and how to prepare. Continue Reading
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8 certifications and courses for admins, DevOps and IT ops pros
With a few years of experience now on your resume, it's time to boost or validate those skills you've gained. Explore these courses and certifications for one that fits your goals. Continue Reading
hypervisor
A hypervisor is a function that abstracts -- isolates -- operating systems (OSes) and applications from the underlying computer hardware. Continue Reading
How to perform a Hyper-V to VMware migration
Before you migrate from Hyper-V to VMware, you should take a comprehensive inventory, set an agreed-upon schedule and communicate the potential effects to all relevant parties.Continue Reading
Full virtualization vs. paravirtualization: Key differences
Full virtualization and paravirtualization both enable hardware resource abstraction, but the two technologies differ when it comes to isolation levels.Continue Reading
How to find the best server virtualization management software
Choosing the right server virtualization management software is critical to meeting your organization's current and future needs.Continue Reading
5 prerequisites for applying AI to an ops environment
For organizations that want to apply AI to their ops environments, IT teams must precede the starting line with an understanding of what AI can do -- and what they want from it.Continue Reading
Docker security checklists mitigate container cyberthreats
To improve container security, admins can use a Docker security checklist and combat common vulnerabilities, such as gain privileges and corrupt Docker images.Continue Reading
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Use Amazon EMR with Apache Airflow to simplify processes
Explore Amazon EMR, looking at use cases such as MapReduce and integration with Hadoop. Then, see how it works with Apache Airflow and learn how to get started.Continue Reading
5 AIOps skills to add to your DevOps resume
Organizations use AIOps to address complexity, but these tools don't exist in a vacuum. See the top skills needed to successfully implement them.Continue Reading
What's the difference between Type 1 vs. Type 2 hypervisor?
Choosing between the two hypervisor types largely depends on whether IT administrators oversee an enterprise data center or client-facing, end-user systems.Continue Reading
4 monitoring and alerting best practices for IT ops
Monitoring is vital in modern IT environments, but the variety of metrics to track can swiftly overtake admins' capacity -- and sanity.Continue Reading
Get to know Oracle VM VirtualBox 6.1 and learn to install it
Oracle VM VirtualBox offers a host of appealing features, such as multigeneration branched snapshots and guest multiprocessing.Continue Reading
What is SRE in DevOps and how do they work together?
Site reliability engineering and DevOps share a close relationship -- but it's not always clear what, exactly, that relationship is. Walk through the basics of SRE, and its place in DevOps methodologies.Continue Reading
A day in the life: What does a site reliability engineer do?
Site reliability engineering is still a relatively new job role, and it's challenging to get a clear picture of the day to day. Learn what one SRE's role looks like with this profile.Continue Reading
4 Docker security best practices to minimize container risks
Without the right tools and processes in place, Docker security can feel like a moving target. Use these four practices -- related to container images, hosts and more -- to keep deployments safe.Continue Reading
Run Kubernetes at the edge with these K8s distributions
The idea of edge computing is not as far off as it once was. Evaluate several ways to bring Kubernetes to the edge, and when an organization should use each approach.Continue Reading
An overview of Apache Airflow for workflow management
This introductory look at Apache Airflow walks through some of the basics of the workflow management tool -- from installation steps to its various GUI options.Continue Reading
Check out this Docker Compose tutorial for beginners
IT admins tasked with running multi-container applications can use this Docker Compose tutorial -- which also features Redis -- to get started.Continue Reading
2 ways to craft a server consolidation project plan
Server consolidation enables admins to boost server utilization and decrease power consumption, which can also reduce costs and improve performance.Continue Reading
How and why to create an SRE error budget
No IT service is completely immune to disruption. A realistic error budget is a powerful way to set up a service for success.Continue Reading
11 certifications for entry-level IT operations roles
Looking to start a career in IT operations? Check out these courses and certifications for beginners to gather all the foundational skills you'll need.Continue Reading
infrastructure as code
Infrastructure as code, also referred to as IaC, is an IT practice that codifies and manages underlying IT infrastructure as software.Continue Reading
Building an infrastructure-as-code pipeline in the cloud
Understand the stages to manage infrastructure as code, from source control to activation deployment -- and how these functions can be accomplished through cloud services.Continue Reading
Infrastructure as code principles: How IaC works and how to use it
What are the most important things to know about infrastructure as code if you're going to implement it? Follow these guidelines to build a solid IaC foundation.Continue Reading
What is configuration management? A comprehensive guide
Configuration management (CM) is an information governance and systems engineering process to ensure consistency among physical and logical assets in an operational environment.Continue Reading
The evolution and history of software configuration management
IT and software configuration management challenge tech professionals. It's been that way for decades, and best practices continue to evolve.Continue Reading
These IT automation scripts take little effort and save a lot of work
Doing some IT tasks by hand is doing them wrong. Whether to provision components, research an issue or report on performance, IT automation scripts are powerful and easy to write.Continue Reading
A production deployment checklist for enterprise apps
The more complex an app gets, the more complex production deployment becomes. Split the process into these nine areas to streamline team communication and tasks.Continue Reading
How to use Slack and Fluentd to demonstrate social output
Phil Wilkins provides step-by-step instructions on how DevOps teams can enable Slack to capture log events from the open source data collection tool Fluentd.Continue Reading
Automate these DevOps tasks for maximum productivity
DevOps is hard work, but only upfront. The goal -- once teams build a pipeline and set up automation -- is to stand aside and watch the builds flow through.Continue Reading
Write a software deployment plan under these guidelines
A successful and comprehensive software deployment plan includes many moving pieces. But don't panic -- here are the key aspects to consider.Continue Reading
Use Docker and Alpine Linux to build lightweight containers
Alpine Linux won't always be the right OS choice for IT teams, but it's an option worth consideration when lightweight container images are the goal.Continue Reading
KubeCon 2020 preview: Session guide for fine-tuning Kubernetes
Hosted as a low-cost virtual event, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2020 offers a broad array of technical sessions that can help you scale and improve Kubernetes deployments.Continue Reading
KubeCon 2020 preview: Session guide for Kubernetes professionals
The virtual format of KubeCon 2020 means Kubernetes adopters can learn from their peers and take in expert presentations on Kubernetes and related technologies.Continue Reading
KubeCon 2020 preview: Session guide for Kubernetes beginners
Want expert advice to kick off a container and Kubernetes implementation at your company? Many of the sessions at KubeCon North America are made for you.Continue Reading
Manage Kubernetes pods and nodes with these native features
In Kubernetes, pod management requires familiarity with the platform's native features. From Services and Jobs to taints and tolerations, learn how they help direct deployments.Continue Reading
Infrastructure as code examples for DevOps, cloud deployments
Administrators can use infrastructure as code to consistently manage a distributed set of resources. Follow these four examples to get started, and explore common IaC tool choices.Continue Reading
How to start DevOps: A step-by-step guide
DevOps can be a grand departure from an IT organization's status quo. Follow these seven basic steps for a phased transition that staff will champion.Continue Reading
Build and deploy a microservice with Kubernetes
Ready to run microservices in production? Follow along to create a containerized microservice and deploy it on Kubernetes in this step-by-step tutorial.Continue Reading
Ways to use feature flags in DevOps
What's in a name? Whether you call them feature flags or toggles, this approach benefits enterprise IT all the same. Learn the basics and see how to apply them to DevOps.Continue Reading
Build a DevOps culture using these key principles
Is your organization ready to adopt DevOps practices? There's a lot to it, so don't try to accomplish everything all at once. Start with these key ideas.Continue Reading
5 DevSecOps best practices to prioritize
Successful DevSecOps isn't just about secure code -- it's securing the flows of data through code, methods and tools. Review these five security tips to button up your DevOps work.Continue Reading
Evolving DevOps roles demand Kubernetes, CI/CD skills
The rapid rate of change in IT coupled with the newness of many DevOps practices and technologies creates barriers for those who seek a career in DevOps. These skills can open the door.Continue Reading
How to approach IT logging in the cloud vs. on premises
IT organizations must monitor cloud infrastructure and apps with a process that's different than they're used to for on-premises environments. Learn how to do cloud logging here.Continue Reading
DevOps as a Service
DevOps as a Service is a delivery model for a set of tools that facilitates collaboration between an organization's software development team and the operations team.Continue Reading
16 DevOps books to level up your skills
Is your organization and IT staff ready to tackle DevOps, from culture to strategies and toolchains? Start with these 16 books from learning DevOps basics to fine-tuning specific DevOps skills and practices.Continue Reading
Top 15 DevOps blogs to read and follow
The DevOps community is big, but here are some of the top DevOps blogs to read that cover everything from tips for beginners, the latest news and how-tos.Continue Reading
Get started with Docker Bench for Security
Common vulnerabilities in OSes and configuration files can plague Docker hosts. Learn how to set up Docker Bench for Security and use the open source tool to fortify hosts against threats.Continue Reading
Just what can AI in IT operations accomplish?
How should the 'AI' in 'AIOps' work? The idea is for it to identify and solve problems in ways similar to how the human mind would -- except faster and without prompting.Continue Reading
Try out an Ansible dry run in under 5 minutes
Learn how the dry run tests Ansible configurations without making any accidental changes to the IT environment. This tutorial covers the steps in less time than it takes to make coffee.Continue Reading
Kubernetes performance testing tutorial: Load test a cluster
Follow along step by step to run Kubernetes performance tests with Metrics Server and Horizontal Pod Autoscaler. This tutorial works for cloud-, data center- or locally hosted clusters.Continue Reading
A beginner's guide to hosted and bare-metal virtualization
Choosing a virtualization approach isn't a matter of competition. Admins must consider their personal use cases to determine which hypervisor type suits their needs.Continue Reading
How to build a successful IT service desk
The IT service desk has a lot to manage. With a strong foundation and the right steps in place to handle issues, it can take on anything users throw at it.Continue Reading
Use Pulumi and Azure DevOps to deploy infrastructure as code
Follow this tutorial for an overview of Pulumi, an IaC tool, within the Azure DevOps toolchain, and how to use them together to define, build, test and deploy infrastructure.Continue Reading
Memory management techniques improve system performance
Prior to using memory management strategies, admins should familiarize themselves with approaches to ensure they implement techniques suited to their specific circumstances.Continue Reading
Incident communication best practices for happier users
Proper communication around an IT outage or incident can prevent chaos. Use these techniques -- at home and abroad -- to keep users well-informed.Continue Reading
How Kubernetes enhances DevOps practices
Kubernetes isn't necessary for DevOps, and you don't need a DevOps team to adopt Kubernetes container management. But, here are all the ways that these two are better together.Continue Reading
4 FAQs to help master KVM management
When it comes to managing KVM, admins should do their homework and research common questions to better understand the technology and ensure peak performance.Continue Reading
Follow these 8 steps to implement automation in IT workflows
IT can't automate everything under their purview, and certainly not all at once. But there are tried-and-true steps IT orgs can follow to automate safely.Continue Reading
How to use PowerShell in CI/CD pipelines
PowerShell has many uses in CI/CD pipelines. Before DevOps teams dive in, they need to grasp the automation tool's scope, from cloud management to infrastructure testing.Continue Reading
How to make the right HCI deployment decisions
Hyper-converged infrastructures pose different challenges depending on the deployment method. Software might not offer as much support, while choosing hardware risks vendor lock-in.Continue Reading
How persistent container storage works -- and why it matters
Persistent storage retains data when a device is shut off. And for containers -- inherently stateless and ephemeral -- this type of storage is critical for deployments.Continue Reading
Follow this Grafana Loki tutorial to query IT log data
IT pros evaluating log data should try tools like Grafana Loki. Follow this tutorial to see how it works firsthand, exploring LogCLI and LogQL.Continue Reading
Essential serverless concepts to master before deployment
Serverless computing can be incredibly beneficial -- but easily misunderstood. Before adoption, have a clear understanding of proper use cases and app design principles.Continue Reading
Modern IT KPIs emphasize cloud, DevOps and user experience
When it comes to KPIs, IT ops teams have typically prioritized process-centric metrics, but recent technical and cultural shifts have started to change that.Continue Reading
Walk through 5 essential DevOps pipeline stages
A DevOps pipeline won't look the same in every organization, but the five phases outlined in this video play a prominent role in most software development and delivery lifecycles.Continue Reading
4 steps to implement an IT configuration management process
Configuration management tools go a long way in effective IT system maintenance. However, admins still need to take certain steps of their own to ensure desired outcomes.Continue Reading
A Graylog tutorial to centrally manage IT logs
Graylog enables IT admins to manage and analyze log data from multiple sources. Use this tutorial to set up the tool and learn its primary features, such as pipelines and extractors.Continue Reading
How to use Clair to scan Docker images
Container vulnerabilities open the door to security issues and cascading failures across an IT environment. Use this Clair tutorial to scan for compromised Docker container images.Continue Reading
Prepare for the rise of the IT automation architect
As IT infrastructures become more complex, and development cycles more rapid, organizations increasingly lean on automation -- and those with the skills to oversee it.Continue Reading
How to set up Prometheus for Kubernetes monitoring
Prometheus enables IT teams to automate and quickly configure infrastructure monitoring with open source tools natively in Kubernetes. Follow this tutorial to get started.Continue Reading
From coding to automation, SRE skills reach far and wide
A site reliability engineer wears many hats. In addition to development and IT troubleshooting responsibilities, this role requires top-notch communication skills.Continue Reading
How to integrate DevOps into an IT monitoring strategy
When it comes to IT monitoring, a DevOps toolchain presents opportunities and challenges. Follow best practices to ensure your teams see and fix problems appropriately.Continue Reading
It's time to dismiss these 7 DevOps collaboration myths
DevOps is taking root in IT organizations across the globe -- but that doesn't mean it's well understood. Misconceptions persist, but they can be conquered.Continue Reading
Get started with threshold monitoring
IT monitoring doesn't have to be difficult to set up and use. Learn how to set thresholds and dashboards, know when and how to escalate responses, and keep IT systems humming along.Continue Reading
Learn Kubernetes step by step with this interactive book
SearchITOperations spoke with author Zach Arnold about what IT pros can expect from The Kubernetes Workshop, an interactive book that progressively builds readers' knowledge of container orchestration.Continue Reading
Implement compliance-as-code with this Chef InSpec tutorial
Rather than rely on manual compliance checks, IT admins can use Chef InSpec to automate the process. Watch this brief video to learn essential InSpec commands and run some practice scans.Continue Reading
How to respond to 3 common IT alerts
When those IT alerts pop up, the ops team needs to respond. Take steps to deal with the problems -- but also look out for possible sources of the trouble.Continue Reading
5 IT automation examples that ops teams should implement today
IT automation use cases are plentiful and highly variegated -- but organizations should emphasize these five examples in their roadmaps.Continue Reading
Container auditing best practices for large-scale deployments
Container auditing and reporting are essential security and compliance measures in a production environment. Apply these practices to uncover abnormalities, control user access and choose the right tool.Continue Reading
How -- and why -- to add SolarWinds modules
SolarWinds is known for its capabilities in network monitoring, but flexible modules give IT operations staff the ability to monitor systems far and wide.Continue Reading
A Kubernetes namespaces tutorial to manage cluster resources
Namespaces in Kubernetes serve several purposes -- from allowing teams to share a single cluster to enforcing resource quotas. Use this tutorial to get started with this important Kubernetes feature.Continue Reading
Create an AKS cluster with this Ansible and Kubernetes tutorial
IT admins familiar with Ansible can use the configuration management tool, alongside Azure Cloud Shell, to spin up a Kubernetes cluster in AKS.Continue Reading
Craft a DevOps transformation roadmap around these 5 milestones
As organizations embark on a DevOps journey, they can use these five milestones to ensure team members stay on track -- and collaborate efficiently along the way.Continue Reading
How many Kubernetes nodes should be in a cluster?
There's no one-size-fits-all answer in terms of how many nodes should make up a Kubernetes cluster. Instead, that number varies based on specific workload requirements.Continue Reading
Lean on these core Ansible features for IT automation success
These six articles break down Ansible playbooks, roles and other key concepts for IT pros who are new to the tool -- or could benefit from a refresher.Continue Reading
Top Docker best practices for container management
Many admins use Docker for container management, so they should explore best practices such as container backup procedures and exploring Dockerfile commands.Continue Reading
6 articles to modernize an IT log management strategy
Enterprises must adapt IT log management best practices and tools to handle an ever-growing volume of log files. Here are several modern approaches to tackle IT logging efficiently.Continue Reading
Expand your knowledge of Hyper-V virtual switch types
Admins can create three Hyper-V virtual switch types: external, internal and private. The need for internet access and a secure network can help admins decide which one to use.Continue Reading
4 components of a disaster recovery plan to prepare for a crisis
IT teams must take a proactive approach to crisis management and disaster recovery. Use these four guidelines around communication, monitoring and more to build a plan that works.Continue Reading
Tap into these dark data use cases for IT ops and the business
Untapped data sources cause enterprises to forgo a wealth of information that benefits both IT operations and the business. Here's why -- and how -- to shine a light on dark data.Continue Reading
Lay the groundwork for a SecOps team structure
A good partnership between IT operations and security teams requires trust, mutual commitment and continual work -- but results in significantly reduced security exposures and a healthier work culture for all.Continue Reading
Configure advanced VM settings in vSphere 6.7
Configuring advanced VM settings is no easy task. Some common questions admins ask include where to place VM swap files and how many sockets and cores they should use.Continue Reading
What to expect as AI for DevOps advances in the enterprise
While still an emerging practice, the use of artificial intelligence in DevOps shops will have major implications on monitoring, cost optimization and more.Continue Reading
Walk through 5 common PowerShell uses for IT ops teams
PowerShell use cases have expanded past Microsoft's original design -- but IT automation is still at the tool's core, whether it's to support an AIOps strategy or monitor server performance.Continue Reading
Kubectl commands and best practices for new Kubernetes users
Kubectl is a simple and powerful means to control containers in Kubernetes. But as with any CLI, it demands familiarity with available operations, resource types and associated syntax.Continue Reading
VM networking best practices to boost network performance
Admins who familiarize themselves with VM network switches and activity can better understand issues and employ best practices to mitigate lackluster network performance.Continue Reading