Distributed Application Architecture (Scale-Out Architecture) for IT

The distributed application architecture topic center offers advice and tips for IT operations professionals handling new application types and the methods by which distributed, scale-out applications are deployed. These include virtualization containers and microservices, event-driven computing, and cloud application management.

Top Stories

Conference Coverage 05 Oct 2022
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon 2022 news coverage

Trying to keep up with the latest news out of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon? Use this comprehensive guide to stay updated and informed on both the North American and European events. Continue Reading
Tip 07 Mar 2022
Micro apps vs. microservices: What developers should know

On the surface, the contrast between micro apps and microservices simply seems a matter of front-end vs. back-end concerns. But this isn't the only difference worth knowing. Continue Reading

Tip 25 Feb 2020

Top 10 VM backup tools for VMware and Hyper-V

Admins who rely on VMware and Hyper-V workloads might have trouble choosing the right backup tool for their VMs. Admins can use this article to better inform their purchasing decisions. Continue Reading
Feature 25 Feb 2020

Put these Terraform best practices into action

Terraform enables IT teams to complete a range of tasks, from deployment to multi-cloud management. Apply this collection of best practices to get started with, or optimize your use of, the IaC tool. Continue Reading
Tip 24 Feb 2020

IT tool selection criteria to guide emerging tech navigation

The IT industry is almost always in flux. For organizations to keep up, they must invest in the right tools, which takes asking the right questions. Continue Reading
News 21 Feb 2020

Massive DoD DevSecOps standards push may aid enterprise IT

The CNCF, defense contractors and IT vendors have joined forces with the Department of Defense to establish NIST security standards and best practices for DevSecOps. Continue Reading
Tip 21 Feb 2020

Cloud, Linux vendors cash in on KVM-based virtualization

Vendors such as Red Hat and Google provide products that rely on KVM technology, but picking the right vendor depends on admins' choice of OSes and cloud providers. Continue Reading
News 21 Feb 2020

GKE Application Manager does GitOps for Kubernetes config

GKE Application Manager, rolled out in beta this week, bakes in an open source Kubernetes configuration management tool to simplify application deployments to GKE. Continue Reading
Tutorial 21 Feb 2020

Use this Nagios monitoring tutorial for proactive IT monitoring

Learn how to install and run Nagios to monitor your organization's IT assets. Follow these steps so you're prepared to catch problems before they get out of hand. Continue Reading
Tip 19 Feb 2020

Weave DevOps continuous learning into a CI/CD toolchain

DevOps shops can bake training materials into CI/CD workflows to ensure IT and development staff constantly advance their skills -- but be sure to keep those materials up to date. Continue Reading
Tip 17 Feb 2020

Optimize platform costs, use with an IT asset management strategy

Without a thorough asset management plan that accounts for the complexities of today's IT environments, organizations risk cost inefficiencies and suboptimal support for the business. Continue Reading
News 14 Feb 2020

Chef IT automation invigorates legacy apps amid cloud surge

Chef Software's Habitat tool carved out a niche as it matured, among enterprise IT pros tasked with modernizing legacy data center apps. Continue Reading
Tip 14 Feb 2020

Nvidia helps conceptualize VMware GPU virtualization

Nvidia and VMware announced a plan to bring vGPUs to VMware Cloud on AWS, which will provide customers with more options for implementing GPU-accelerated workloads. Continue Reading
Tip 14 Feb 2020

Practical advice to integrate IT systems after a merger

A merger or acquisition can devour an IT administrator's time in many ways -- from running and supporting parallel sets of infrastructure to managing automation and security. Continue Reading
News 13 Feb 2020

Ad firm gets Kubernetes management boost from Agile Stacks

With a small staff of engineers responsible for all of IT, a digital advertising firm needed help to smooth out the learning curve as it migrated from Mesosphere to Kubernetes. Continue Reading
Tip 13 Feb 2020

Evolve IT help desk skills to meet modern user demands

"Have you tried turning it off and then back on again?" is no longer the first question a help desk technician should ask. Widespread use of tech by just about everyone has changed the role. Continue Reading
News 12 Feb 2020

Grafana Loki users reap log data savings, with tradeoffs

Grafana Loki won't replace advanced log analytics tools, but it may be a boon for shops that want to collect massive amounts of log data for troubleshooting applications. Continue Reading
Tip 11 Feb 2020

Right-sizing VMs improves performance, combats resource contention

Admins looking to reduce resource contention and improve system performance can right-size their VMs, but application owner pushback and software restrictions can pose issues. Continue Reading
Tip 10 Feb 2020

Learn how New Relic works, and when to use it for IT monitoring

New Relic is one of many tools that can help an IT team track application performance and health. Before adoption, understand primary use cases and SaaS installation requirements. Continue Reading
News 07 Feb 2020

Retail software firm takes broad view of Kubernetes security

Kubernetes platform security has supplanted container-level security for enterprises such as retail software vendor Aptos as they deploy microservices in production. Continue Reading
News 07 Feb 2020

Dynatrace deepens AIOps ties with Kubernetes monitoring

Dynatrace has expanded the number of metrics it can feed into its Davis AIOps engine from Kubernetes infrastructure, thereby enhancing autoremediation features for container workloads. Continue Reading
Tutorial 07 Feb 2020

Visual Studio Code vs. the native console for PowerShell debugging

Unsure whether to debug a PowerShell script in Visual Studio Code or the PowerShell console? Follow this tutorial to make the decision a little easier. Continue Reading
Tip 06 Feb 2020

Apply the K-means clustering algorithm for IT performance monitoring

Modern machine learning frameworks reduce the heavy lifting in IT performance monitoring. Follow this example, using Apache Mesos and the K-means clustering algorithm, to learn the basics. Continue Reading
Tip 06 Feb 2020

Emerging tools to help create virtualized test environments

Tools from Parasoft, HyperQube and CloudShell let admins virtualize their test environments, but admins should exercise caution as product direction and design continue to evolve. Continue Reading
News 06 Feb 2020

Enterprise service management blurs business, IT operations

IT-style automated workflows are expanding to non-IT departments, even as business initiatives fuse with software projects. IT ops will support both, often with the same toolset. Continue Reading
News 05 Feb 2020

VMware licensing change limits CPUs to 32 cores

VMware moved its per-CPU licensing plan closer to competitors' per-core licensing plans by requiring one license for CPUs with 32 cores. Continue Reading
Tip 04 Feb 2020

Use secrets management tools for centralized security control

Improper secrets management leaves IT orgs vulnerable to attacks. A secrets repository can help -- but it requires commitment, along with a willingness to change existing workflows and processes. Continue Reading
Tip 31 Jan 2020

Modernize ops practices to manage hybrid IT infrastructure

Hybrid IT management requires ops teams to rethink everything from networking to the way they oversee system configurations. Third-party tools, including those for IaC, can help. Continue Reading
Tutorial 30 Jan 2020

Best practices for Hyper-V template creation

Admins can streamline template creation through Hyper-V SCVMM with a few best practices, such as evaluating whether a VM is the right fit for template creation. Continue Reading
Tip 30 Jan 2020

Build a DevOps feedback loop with these CI/CD tools

From Azure DevOps to Jenkins, DevOps teams can choose from a number of CI/CD tools to enable and maintain a continuous loop of feedback. Continue Reading
News 29 Jan 2020

'Limited' number of VMware layoffs confirmed in 'rebalancing'

VMware says the layoffs will allow the company to better focus on helping corporate users figure out their multi-cloud strategies and affected workers may be reassigned. Continue Reading
Tip 29 Jan 2020

3 ways to react to an IT system failure avalanche

In complex IT infrastructures, a system or resource failure can spur follow-up issues. Compare three approaches to prevent these dreaded domino effects and reach the root of the problem. Continue Reading
Feature 28 Jan 2020

Edge virtualization manages the data deluge, but can be complex

Virtualizing at the edge introduces device management benefits to admins, but they must ensure edge computing is worth the time and effort. Continue Reading
News 28 Jan 2020

Cisco folds AppDynamics AIOps into its infrastructure tools

Cisco shops might welcome new integrations between AppDynamics AIOps tools and Cisco Intersight management software, but whether they will draw in other users is uncertain. Continue Reading
Tip 27 Jan 2020

Ensure Kubernetes high availability with master node planning

Kubernetes ensures high availability in its worker nodes, but for a mission-critical workload, IT teams should take these extra steps for redundancy in the master node components. Continue Reading
Tip 27 Jan 2020

Increase data center efficiency with the NSX-T load balancer

When creating a load balancer, the NSX-T Data Center software is a likely contender, but you must have the necessary NSX-T components, such as tier 0 and tier 1 routers, before beginning. Continue Reading
Feature 24 Jan 2020

IT incident management best practices to minimize disruptions

IT issues can come out of nowhere, but an incident response plan can guide teams through troubled times. Follow these best practices to optimize each part of the plan. Continue Reading
Feature 22 Jan 2020

ICYMI: Kubernetes ecosystem updates IT teams should know

Need to catch up on some recent developments within the Kubernetes vendor and tool ecosystem? This roundup of articles can help. Continue Reading
Tip 22 Jan 2020

Overcome these challenges to detect anomalies in IT monitoring

Faster and more accurate anomaly detection is a major benefit of machine learning in IT systems monitoring -- but it's not something that enterprises can achieve overnight. Continue Reading
Tip 22 Jan 2020

Explore native and third-party VM automation tools' features

VMware and Microsoft offer native tools that provide VM automation capabilities, but admins should also look at third-party vendors, such as Chef, Puppet and SolarWinds. Continue Reading
Tip 21 Jan 2020

Kubernetes taints and tolerations optimize pod-to-node mapping

In complex Kubernetes environments, admins must navigate pod-to-node mapping carefully. Try using taints and tolerations -- but be sure to closely oversee the process. Continue Reading
News 21 Jan 2020

PE firm merges XebiaLabs, CollabNet for new DevOps toolchain

XebiaLabs will join with CollabNet VersionOne to form a new DevOps platform vendor that will compete with Atlassian, GitHub, GitLab and CloudBees. Continue Reading
Tip 20 Jan 2020

Use multiple Dockerfiles for complex application configuration

Dockerfiles can help with application configurations, but there are some questions you must consider, such as how many Dockerfiles each application requires. Continue Reading
News 17 Jan 2020

AIOps exec bets on incident response market shakeup

Resolve Systems, under a newly appointed CEO, will soon roll out a new product based on its FixStream acquisition that combines AIOps and IT automation. Continue Reading
Tutorial 17 Jan 2020

Walk through common use cases for built-in Terraform functions

Follow along with this Terraform tutorial to learn and apply various types of built-in functions -- including Numeric, String, and Date and Time -- within the IaC tool. Continue Reading
News 16 Jan 2020

SaltStack infrastructure-as-code tools seek cloud-native niche

SaltStack, like other infrastructure-as-code tools, must reinvent itself as cloud-native IT automation approaches such as containers, serverless and Kubernetes Operators grow. Continue Reading
Tip 16 Jan 2020

PowerShell 7 features set to address some, not all, functionality gaps

While PowerShell 7 is set to unify the cross-platform and traditional Windows versions of the tool, it might not check all the boxes in terms of features IT admins want to see. Continue Reading
Tip 15 Jan 2020

Gain deeper IT insight with machine learning for log analysis

As the log analysis tool market evolves, machine learning plays an increasing role in helping IT teams discover significant anomalies and outliers in their data. Continue Reading
News 14 Jan 2020

Kubernetes security gets an assist with bug bounty program

The Kubernetes Security Product Group will outsource bug triage to HackerOne under a new bug bounty program that will offer rewards for bug reports up to $10,000. Continue Reading
News 13 Jan 2020

SecOps and IT ops merge revs IT monitoring platform rivalry

Enterprises want consolidated monitoring platforms for SecOps and IT ops data. Here's how Sumo Logic plans to compete in that market in 2020 with IP from its JASK acquisition. Continue Reading
Tip 08 Jan 2020

Evaluate if serverless cost benefits are worth the upfront price

Before an IT shop adopts serverless, it must fully grasp how the technology operates, and prepare for the upfront -- and potentially costly -- app refactoring efforts it requires. Continue Reading
News 07 Jan 2020

Alaska Airlines plans to switch IT onto autopilot with AIOps

Alaska Airlines' e-commerce division will chart a course for hands-off IT ops and a sharper focus on strategic SRE duties through AIOps tools. Continue Reading
Tip 07 Jan 2020

How and why to set up an automation CoE for DevOps

As DevOps automation efforts spread across IT and the business, use a center of excellence to establish standards, secure executive sponsorship and organize staff trainings. Continue Reading
Opinion 02 Jan 2020

AIOps meaning to expand throughout DevOps chain

AIOps means artificial intelligence to aid in IT operations. But it could mean much more than that, bringing in development, business, security and other application stakeholders. Continue Reading
Tip 31 Dec 2019

Red Hat Virtualization 4.3 updates to Cockpit are minor, but beneficial

Cockpit hasn't seen many changes with the latest RHV 4.3 update, but it still provides beneficial capabilities, such as the ability create a VM from a template or migrate a VM to a different host. Continue Reading
Tip 30 Dec 2019

Virtualization automation challenges underscore AI usefulness

Automation helps reduce the complexity of virtual systems, but admins might find that adoption challenges and temporary resolutions underscore its usefulness. Continue Reading
Feature 26 Dec 2019

Top 10 virtualization strategies of 2019

As virtualization technology continues to advance, admins must use different strategies to manage their complex data centers, such as vCenter maps, hybrid cloud and more. Continue Reading
Tip 26 Dec 2019

Four must-haves in Kubernetes security best practices

When it comes to Kubernetes security, IT teams must look beyond their containerized workloads, and consider code and cloud infrastructure as well. Continue Reading
Tip 24 Dec 2019

Kubernetes networking explained: Start with these building blocks

To understand Kubernetes networking, admins must first master the core components of the container orchestration platform. Then, they need to map deployments to the right virtual networking model. Continue Reading
Feature 23 Dec 2019

Containers, automation and AI shape 2020 IT trends

In 2019, Kubernetes took Docker's crown and DevOps matured. As IT operations teams ring in the New Year, they should keep an eye on these 2020 IT predictions. Continue Reading
Feature 20 Dec 2019

Review top container deployment and management tips from 2019

Check out our top advice for container technology throughout 2019 -- and use it to shape your 2020 plans. Continue Reading
Feature 20 Dec 2019

Optimize application deployments with this expert advice from 2019

As the year comes to a close, review SearchITOperations' most popular tips on app deployment and support, covering topics such as DevOps automation, SLAs and tool tutorials. Continue Reading
Tip 19 Dec 2019

Enable automated failover with a highly available CMDB

A resilient CMDB helps drive automated failover processes. Explore several approaches to prepare your configuration management database for DR scenarios. Continue Reading
Tutorial 18 Dec 2019

Use this Kubernetes and Helm tutorial to simplify app deployments

Helm charts are a helpful tool to deploy applications onto Kubernetes clusters. Follow this tutorial, which also features Windows and Chocolatey, to get started with the package manager. Continue Reading
News 18 Dec 2019

Ex-PayPal pros shun AI with SecOps IT automation firm

Machine learning and AI are all the rage in IT automation tools -- except for the one produced by a new startup founded by two former PayPal cybersecurity engineers. Continue Reading
News 18 Dec 2019

New Kubernetes security tools abound as container deployments grow

As Kubernetes use expands in production, enterprises have a number of IT security tools to choose from for centralized, policy-based control over container clusters. Continue Reading
Tip 18 Dec 2019

Private cloud security risks and how to prevent them

Admins that rely on private clouds should not be drawn into a false sense of security. Outdated VM images, rogue admins and possible data loss are real security risks for private clouds. Continue Reading
News 17 Dec 2019

Verizon, Walmart embrace DevOps dojo for IT training

Some IT training experts say 'Dojo is a no-go,' but companies such as Verizon and Walmart say the DevOps dojo approach has been well worth it for them. Continue Reading
Feature 17 Dec 2019

Compare Red Hat OpenShift vs. Cloud Foundry in a Kubernetes faceoff

Looking for a container ecosystem platform? OpenShift and Cloud Foundry have similar roots as PaaS platforms, but this comparison identifies a clear winner for most organizations. Continue Reading
Feature 16 Dec 2019

Ramp up carefully during AIOps implementation

Sound IT automation and data management practices -- along with a healthy dose of patience -- are prerequisites for a smooth AIOps implementation. Continue Reading
Tip 13 Dec 2019

Deploy and configure a basic setup of Linux's LXD hypervisor

Admins looking to use Linux's hypervisor dedicated to container technology can use several commands to deploy and configure a basic setup of the hypervisor. Continue Reading
Tip 13 Dec 2019

5 tips to help IT administrators use AIOps tools effectively

AIOps tools can simplify virtual system management, but you should consider a few things prior to adoption: business processes, employee skills, volume of data and AIOps complexity. Continue Reading
Feature 13 Dec 2019

Put infrastructure automation at the heart of modern IT ops

IT automation, DevOps at scale and hybrid infrastructure management are three critical -- and interconnected -- IT operations initiatives for 2020. Continue Reading
News 13 Dec 2019

Geek gifts 2019: Think Opex, not Capex with subscriptions

Why manage buying your own gifts for geeks, when there are so many subscription gift box services that will do that kind of undifferentiated heavy lifting for you? Continue Reading
Feature 12 Dec 2019

Virtualization challenges that negatively affect your systems

Virtualization provides lower costs and improved productivity, but these benefits can be offset by certain challenges, such as unresponsive VMs and VM network latency. Continue Reading
News 12 Dec 2019

Dynatrace monitoring faces market ambivalence in NoOps push

Dynatrace is gung-ho about NoOps with training services and an open source tool for CI/CD automation, but may face skepticism from a wary enterprise IT audience. Continue Reading
Opinion 11 Dec 2019

Emphasize app modernization in 2020 IT budget plans

IT budgeting can be stressful and complicated, but it doesn't have to be. Communicate with business leaders and users to identify -- and capitalize on -- the right opportunities. Continue Reading
Feature 10 Dec 2019

IT security best practices for DevOps, cloud and more

Technology is in constant motion, making it difficult for enterprise IT shops to maintain steadfast security. Explore ways to protect DevOps, microservices and cloud environments. Continue Reading
Tip 09 Dec 2019

Get to know the Kaspersky Light Agent app for virtual systems

Kaspersky's Security for Virtualization Light Agent application provides multilayered protection for virtual servers and VDIs as well as their VMs and OSes across multiple hosts. Continue Reading
Video 09 Dec 2019

A Jenkins video tutorial to set up a build job

Jenkins can help IT operations admins perform a number of IT automation tasks -- but first, they have to be familiar with the tool. Learn how to create a Jenkins project, or job, with this video. Continue Reading
News 06 Dec 2019

10 DevOps tools vendors to watch in 2020

A vast market for DevOps tools includes every major IT vendor and many up-and-comers. A panel of industry experts say these 10 are most likely to shift the market in 2020. Continue Reading
Tip 06 Dec 2019

How to deploy graphics devices using Hyper-V DDA

Admins can map a VM to a GPU with Hyper-V, but they must first complete a few steps, such as prepare the VM and dismount the PCIe device from the host partition. Continue Reading
Tip 06 Dec 2019

Rising use of Kubernetes in production brings new IT demands

Kubernetes as an enterprise IT service is still in its infancy, but the market has reached a turning point from developer-maintained to IT-provided Kubernetes deployments. Continue Reading
Tip 05 Dec 2019

Learn to integrate VMs and containers in your data center

The VMs vs. containers debate is popular among admins, but integrations of the two technologies have begun to emerge with the help of tools such as Kata Containers and Virtlet. Continue Reading
Tip 03 Dec 2019

How a rules engine can drive -- or derail -- an IT automation strategy

To benefit fully from a rules engine -- and minimize the risk of chaos -- IT organizations need to carefully define system metrics and be diligent about documentation. Continue Reading
Tip 03 Dec 2019

Dockerfile commands for containerizing applications

Admins can use Dockerfiles to containerize their applications and ease deployment. They can implement several commands to help them do so successfully. Continue Reading
Feature 27 Nov 2019

Decipher real-world AIOps use cases from the hype

There are many AIOps use cases that apply to enterprise IT, but make sure you are familiar with what exactly the technology can -- and can't -- do before adoption. Continue Reading
Tip 27 Nov 2019

How to achieve continuous feedback in DevOps pipelines

Continuous feedback is critical to optimize DevOps processes. While tools can enable feedback loops, DevOps teams still must reduce unnecessary noise and continually measure success. Continue Reading
Tip 26 Nov 2019

Say 'yes' to NoOps with the right technology and team structure

Before embracing a NoOps model, be sure IT team members have a clear understanding of how the methodology changes the technologies they'll work with, along with their day-to-day roles. Continue Reading
Video 26 Nov 2019

Kubernetes explained in 5 minutes

Kubernetes brings order to enterprise container deployments -- but it's a complex technology to learn. Use this video to grasp core Kubernetes concepts in under 10 minutes. Continue Reading
Tip 25 Nov 2019

Prevent help desk escalation with runbook documentation

IT operations teams are often stuck in a process loop to solve issues. Learn how tools, such as runbooks and libraries, break the cycle and help avoid problem escalation. Continue Reading
News 22 Nov 2019

Kubernetes release gets little fanfare as IT looks toward GitOps

Kubernetes is considered stable enough to be boring. The latest beta release was barely mentioned at KubeCon, where IT pros focused on advanced uses such as GitOps and other cloud-native projects. Continue Reading
News 21 Nov 2019

Linkerd vs. Istio battle heats up as service mesh gains steam

Service mesh has gone from a relatively unknown entity to a mainstream topic in 2019, but it's too early to declare a TKO in the Linkerd vs. Istio prizefight. Continue Reading
News 21 Nov 2019

Kubernetes Helm Tiller is dead, and IT pros rejoice

The latest version of the Kubernetes Helm package manager promises better security and stability in version 3, which removes the Tiller server component from Helm's architecture. Continue Reading
News 20 Nov 2019

Kubernetes security opens a new frontier: Multi-tenancy

Enterprises have grown used to managing Kubernetes in production for some of their workloads, but broadening those deployments can bring multi-tenant security challenges. Continue Reading
Tutorial 20 Nov 2019

Build a Graphite dashboard for data analysis, visualization

Data visualization is a powerful capability for IT admins and business managers alike. In this tutorial, learn how to create charts and dashboards in Graphite, an open source monitoring tool. Continue Reading
Tip 20 Nov 2019

Decide between SAN vs. hyper-converged for your virtual storage

Shared storage provides admins with virtual storage benefits such as storage migration, high availability and redundancy. But the right storage option depends on cost and performance. Continue Reading
Feature 19 Nov 2019

Design your systems with virtualization architecture in mind

Virtualized systems require several architectural components, such as virtual servers, hypervisors and OSes. Admins should get to know these components for a successful system design. Continue Reading
Opinion 18 Nov 2019

Why it's time to rethink the DevOps vs. ITIL debate

As organizations look to more closely align their business and IT goals, they should combine DevOps and ITIL practices, rather than commit exclusively to one methodology over the other. Continue Reading
News 15 Nov 2019

D2iQ latest to seek Kubernetes management niche

D2iQ's CTO says it will use its enterprise experience with Apache Mesos container orchestration and big data apps such as Kafka to compete in a crowded market for Kubernetes management. Continue Reading
News 13 Nov 2019

Docker Enterprise spun off to Mirantis, company restructures

In an unexpected move, Docker sells off its Docker Enterprise business -- including customer support -- to Mirantis and refocuses on Docker Hub and Docker Desktop. Continue Reading
Feature 13 Nov 2019

Compare 3 distinct types of Kubernetes platforms

There are three types of Kubernetes deployment options, each with its own benefits and challenges. Use this in-depth comparison to choose the best fit for your organization. Continue Reading