Managing Virtual Containers
Experts share tips and case studies in the virtual containers topic center, covering container management and deployment strategies, as well as how to troubleshoot issues with a container-based infrastructure and plan resource capacity on cloud or virtualized servers. You will also find news on container technology developments and adoption rates.
Top Stories
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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
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News
15 Feb 2022
F5 distributed cloud security services strike a trendy chord
As talk of multi-cloud management gives way to distributed cloud, which also ties in edge computing, F5 bundles application security services to expand its appeal to enterprises. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 May 2019
8 common Docker commands beginners should know
IT professionals who are new to Docker can use this cheat sheet of common commands to quickly ramp up with container deployment and management basics. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 May 2019
Inherit and manage a virtualization environment with these strategies
Stepping into a management role when it comes to a newly inherited virtualization environment can be a challenge, but with the right approach, you can ease the transition. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 May 2019
How resource contention affects VM storage performance
VM performance issues often occur when resource contention is present. Admins can check the number of IOPS requests and storage array connections to address any bottlenecks. Continue Reading
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Feature
28 May 2019
Accenture turns to ITSM integration tool for data compilation
IT orgs that subscribe to help desk management services must access huge quantities of information for analysis. Read how one company overcame this challenge. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 May 2019
Artificial intelligence for IT operations pays off -- with time
IT professionals say AIOps holds great potential to optimize day-to-day operations tasks. First, though, teams must lay a foundation of data, consistency and trust. Continue Reading
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Tip
24 May 2019
Combine reactive, proactive monitoring for optimal IT visibility
IT monitoring tools can be either proactive or reactive in nature. But, despite their differences in function, cost and required resources, these two types of tools both have a place in modern IT environments. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 May 2019
What is the Citrix vSwitch Controller and what does it do?
The vSwitch Controller provides admins with extensive visibility into the network environment, making it easier to optimize that environment and improve application performance. Continue Reading
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News
22 May 2019
DevSecOps evolution changes the game for IT ops
A DevSecOps shift and a move to public cloud have precipitated a sea change in what's expected of IT ops pros at a mobile video on-demand company. Continue Reading
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Video
22 May 2019
Mitigate IT risks with this vulnerability assessment tutorial
IT professionals can set up a home lab to learn the ins and outs of software vulnerability assessments. Follow this step-by-step video tutorial to install and configure VMs, and perform a security scan. Continue Reading
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News
21 May 2019
Enterprises anticipate IT ops benefits from GitOps
Infrastructure as code, configuration as code, security as code -- enterprise SREs set their sights on everything as code in pursuit of GitOps efficiency. Continue Reading
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News
21 May 2019
GKE, Azure roll out Windows Kubernetes support
Cloud service providers rolled out Windows Kubernetes support this week, which may take some of the burden of Linux container management requirements out of the hands of Microsoft-only shops. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 May 2019
DevOps for networking hits chokepoints, tangled communications
NetOps complements DevOps in enterprises that need to scale application delivery efforts up and out. Networking tools -- and teams -- need to advance to find their place in CI/CD pipelines. Continue Reading
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News
17 May 2019
Former Chef Software CTO talks IT automation, open source
Chef Software's founder, Adam Jacob, built widely used IT automation software for the enterprise. Now that he's no longer CTO, he's taking a break and pondering what comes next. Continue Reading
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News
17 May 2019
Mainframe DevOps gets fresh integration option in LzLabs
Most mainframe DevOps tools make open source app delivery pipelines speak mainframe's language, but LzLabs brings mainframe apps to a Linux-based platform without recompilation. Continue Reading
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Feature
17 May 2019
Managed container services face-off: Enterprise PKS vs. OpenShift
VMware Enterprise PKS and Red Hat OpenShift are two leading container platforms with many differences. Assess the technologies in terms of hybrid cloud support, tool ecosystems and more. Continue Reading
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Tip
15 May 2019
Build a patch management process to stay cool in an IT crisis
Time is of the essence during a major IT crisis, but rushing to fix a problem can do more harm than good. Ensure version control, documentation and testing for effective patch deployment. Continue Reading
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News
14 May 2019
Application dependency mapping expands in New Relic One
DevOps monitoring vendors rev their engines as enterprises take on more sophisticated IT monitoring practices to reach the next major phase of app modernization. Continue Reading
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News
14 May 2019
RHV 4.3 updates take backseat to container-native virtualization
Most new apps start in containers nowadays. However, certain legacy applications still don't work with containers. RHV 4.3 hopes to help bridge the gap. Continue Reading
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Tip
13 May 2019
When to choose Hyper-V containers over VMs
There are different use cases for Hyper-V containers and VMs, but the most important thing to take into consideration when choosing between them is your application needs. Continue Reading
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Tip
13 May 2019
Change your application support process to juggle cloud and legacy IT
Legacy IT and cloud app architectures demand different application maintenance and support activities, but with some abstraction and automation, they coexist. Continue Reading
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Feature
13 May 2019
Explore the benefits, challenges of AI in ITSM
Are your ITSM processes ready to reap AI's rewards? Discover how AI can benefit your ITSM implementation, as well as the requirements for that transition to be a success. Continue Reading
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News
10 May 2019
OpenShift shops chart a course for advanced IT automation
IT teams tackled containerization, developer self-service platforms and infrastructure provisioning automation in 2018. So, what's next? Continue Reading
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News
09 May 2019
Ansible roadmap offers open source automation with assurances
Ansible users can expect some key updates around the tool's certified content program, along with more options to assess the performance of their automated infrastructure. Continue Reading
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Tip
09 May 2019
Compare Mesos vs. Kubernetes for container federation
While Mesos dominates for large-scale deployments, Kubernetes is at the center of a flourishing ecosystem of tools. So, which one meets your container federation needs? Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2019
OpenShift architecture bakes in CoreOS Operator automation
OpenShift 4.1 promises easier container management for IT ops pros, but getting there from OpenShift 3 could be tricky for enterprises with large deployments. Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2019
Snow Software SAM expands Microsoft, Oracle and Adobe support
Snow Software's SAM platform has expanded to include new compliance and manageability capabilities for Microsoft Windows, Oracle and Adobe Creative Cloud. Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2019
OpenShift-Azure ties deepen as IT sets sights on multi-cloud
Enterprises will consider an OpenShift managed service on Azure as part of a multi-cloud strategy, but Kubernetes won't necessarily make workloads cloud-agnostic. Continue Reading
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Feature
08 May 2019
The DevOps paradigm shift: Avoid obsolescence in IT
DevOps is an appealing paradigm shift in IT, part and parcel with app componentization and containers. But despite the hype, IT pros still face a few hurdles to actual implementation. Continue Reading
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Tip
07 May 2019
Study tips to ace the CNCF's CKA exam
IT certifications are an IT admin's superpower, lending official credibility to technology expertise. Know what to expect -- and practice -- to become Kubernetes certified. Continue Reading
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Tip
06 May 2019
Learn the ins and outs of Hyper-V containers
Hyper-V containers, which are secure and lightweight in nature, can be managed using the Docker command line or PowerShell and are best suited for stateless applications. Continue Reading
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Tip
03 May 2019
Adapt IT operations skills for QA roles
IT admins who want to transition into a QA role can lean on their existing skill sets around data analysis, documentation and more, but the move still presents a learning curve. Continue Reading
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Tip
02 May 2019
Combine containers and serverless to optimize app environments
Rather than pick a side in the debate around containers vs. serverless computing, DevOps shops would benefit from putting both of these complementary technologies to use. Continue Reading
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News
02 May 2019
Docker Enterprise pricing shake-up leaves unanswered questions
IT pros begin to evaluate the long-term budget implications of a significant change to the Docker Enterprise pricing scheme. Continue Reading
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Tip
02 May 2019
The virtualization and container skills gap widens
Businesses face organizational and management challenges as their support staff transitions from virtualization to a new development and management environment. Continue Reading
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Tip
01 May 2019
How to save and reuse a Windows container image
With five simple steps, you can create a Windows container, save it as an image and reuse it to create new containers with the same configuration and settings. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Apr 2019
How to deploy a Docker container to the cloud
Docker is highly portable and widely available across all major cloud platforms, including AWS and Microsoft Azure, but it's important to properly plan your container deployment. Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Apr 2019
ICYMI: Advice for aspiring site reliability engineers
IT ops pros looking to land an SRE job can use these four articles to absorb the key responsibilities and challenges that site reliability engineering entails. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Apr 2019
Strategies for managing multi-hypervisor environments
Efficient multi-hypervisor management often comes down to where you place your workloads in terms of compatibility and security and how accessible your management tools are. Continue Reading
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News
25 Apr 2019
Experian credits incident management tool for IT efficiency
When Experian deployed xMatters, the IT landscape was very different. But the incident management tool's adaptability kept it useful through shifts in tech trends. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Apr 2019
Choose between 5 hosted hypervisors based on features, use cases
Hypervisors such as VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, VMware Horizon 7, Oracle VM VirtualBox and Parallels Desktop provide value to small data centers in different ways. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Apr 2019
Compare the top 5 bare-metal hypervisors
Hypervisors such as VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Hypervisor, RHV and Oracle VM Server for x86 provide value to enterprise-level data centers in different ways. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Apr 2019
How to properly prep a container infrastructure
To deploy containers in production, an organization must put in place the appropriate infrastructure. Here are the specific steps to take to begin that process. Continue Reading
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News
23 Apr 2019
Rancher's Kubernetes updates boost security, UI performance
Enterprise IT pros expect changes to Rancher's Kubernetes management tools to bolster security configuration and UI performance. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 Apr 2019
Adjust IT operations roles and responsibilities for cloud
More organizations migrate to the cloud with each passing day. Learn how embracing soft skills can smooth the transition of dedicated ops staff to cloud industry roles. Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Apr 2019
Kubernetes underpins Docker container technology dominance
Given the ever-evolving nature of enterprise technology, some IT predictions just never come to be. Let's see how one particular forecast for Docker containers held up. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Apr 2019
Virtualization cost-savings methods for IT administrators
The biggest costs in any virtualization environment tend to be licenses, hardware acquisition, support and maintenance, so that's where you should look for ways to reduce expenses. Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Apr 2019
4 types of virtualization IT admins should know
Server virtualization is a fact of life for most IT admins, but there are other types of virtualization -- network, storage, desktop and application -- that IT pros should know. Continue Reading
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Quiz
19 Apr 2019
Test your Kubernetes terminology expertise with this quiz
Can you ace this quiz on Kubernetes architecture and component terminology? Assess your knowledge of these terms and whether you need to hit the books -- or online documentation. Continue Reading
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News
18 Apr 2019
CloudBees' acquisition of Electric Cloud broadens focus
CloudBees folds in Electric Cloud and pledges to broaden its focus beyond Jenkins, while customers wait and see how that might impact long-term roadmap plans. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
18 Apr 2019
Manage Elasticsearch documents with indices and shards
Before they can put the search capabilities of Elasticsearch to use for their organization, admins need to properly organize and manage documents via indices, shards, replicas and mapping. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
18 Apr 2019
Use Elasticsearch shard allocation to distribute workload demand
Learn how to use Elasticsearch shards to distribute data storage and retrieval across physical resources, as workload demands grow. Continue Reading
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Tip
16 Apr 2019
Manage Windows containers and Hyper-V containers with these tools
You can use a number of tools for Windows and Hyper-V container management, including Docker and PowerShell, depending on your experience and skill set. Continue Reading
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Infographic
16 Apr 2019
Enterprise DevOps growth evident in CI/CD, container data
CI/CD tool sets combine with containerization development to create fertile ground for IT organizations to grow into DevOps practices. Continue Reading
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Tip
15 Apr 2019
Evaluate key service mesh benefits and architecture limitations
Service mesh technologies can provide request routing, authentication and even health checks. IT organizations that handle container and microservices deployments should plan to maximize the benefits of service mesh, and address implementation concerns, before going all-in. Continue Reading
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News
12 Apr 2019
Opsgenie integrations expand under Atlassian
Opsgenie's induction into the Atlassian fold reflects a trend of incident management tools' absorption into broader DevOps platforms, but not every user prefers a one-stop shop. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
11 Apr 2019
Automate Windows configurations with Boxstarter and Chocolatey
Follow this Boxstarter tutorial to install the open source tool, and use it alongside PowerShell, Chocolatey and GitHub gists for streamlined and repeatable Windows configurations. Continue Reading
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News
10 Apr 2019
Cloud Foundry PaaS undergoes seismic shifts as IT evolves
Cloud Foundry undergoes drastic changes as infrastructure automation technology develops, to the point where some industry experts see more erosion than evolution. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Apr 2019
AWS Firecracker microVMs provide isolation and agility
Firecracker aims to bridge the gap between VMs and containers with microVMs, which are secure, lightweight instance types for stateless workloads. Continue Reading
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Tip
09 Apr 2019
Build up a DevSecOps pipeline for fast and safe code delivery
It's all well and good to automate the software build process, but without proper security practices in place, the DevOps pipeline can lead developers to deploy compromised code. Continue Reading
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News
08 Apr 2019
Users forge ahead with Cloud Foundry-Kubernetes integration
Complementary roles for Cloud Foundry and Kubernetes are clear to IT pros, and the community plans to knit the two more closely together with the Eirini project. Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Apr 2019
AI in ITSM reshapes operations practices and tasks
AI capabilities are merging within ITSM practices to augment IT's performance and enhance the user experience. Read on to learn more about AI uses for ITSM, and how to approach them. Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Apr 2019
Implement these 5 ALM best practices from dev to deployment
Enterprise applications are anything but simple. To wrangle the software, resources and code of these critical apps, be smart with IT tooling, management and other aspects of support. Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Apr 2019
Xen vs. KVM in 2019 is a no brainer
Xen might have lost the hypervisor war against KVM, but that doesn't mean it's dead. Niche use cases such as the automotive industry are keeping the open source project alive. Continue Reading
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Tip
03 Apr 2019
How DevOps teams use a CMS for documentation, collaboration
DevOps teams should choose a CMS that enables continuous, integrated content management, and select tools for internal document sharing that build an easily searched and categorized knowledge base. Continue Reading
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Answer
03 Apr 2019
Evaluate these hyper-converged infrastructure features
There are six things you should consider when reviewing HCI platform features and functionality: optimizations, storage, hypervisors, management, expandability and integrations. Continue Reading
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News
02 Apr 2019
Chef licensing changes prompt debate among IT pros
IT pros who use Chef automation software have mixed reactions to the company's plan to revamp its software licensing strategy. Continue Reading
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Guide
01 Apr 2019
Bookmark this expansive guide to DevOps for Windows
Native Windows DevOps tools and Azure DevOps services enable Microsoft shops to keep pace with Linux setups. Continue Reading
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News
01 Apr 2019
Google SREs test the limits of infrastructure automation
Google SRE veterans spoke publicly about infrastructure automation work, its future and its limitations. Continue Reading
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Answer
29 Mar 2019
How hyper-converged infrastructure benefits virtual workloads
Realize the many advantages that HCI offers, such as streamlined virtual resource management and enhanced security and compliance practices. Continue Reading
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Answer
29 Mar 2019
Hyper-converged infrastructure explained
HCI breaks down traditional IT silos by bundling compute, storage, networking and virtualization, which helps to streamline resource provisioning and management. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Mar 2019
Prepare for Industry 4.0 challenges on storage, networks
With Industry 4.0 poised to grow across industries, enterprise IT organizations must ask what it will take to support this revolution. Learn how to manage the data-led transformation. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Mar 2019
Don't count out IBM virtualization on the Z platform
A mainframe can house hundreds of thousands of VMs and a wide range of workloads. Also, IBM Z provides virtualization management via Dynamic Partition Manager and Wave for z/VM. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Mar 2019
Prepare for ITIL framework updates in version 4
The much-anticipated release of ITIL v4 not only changes the framework's certification structure, but emphasizes many modern software development and IT service delivery practices. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Mar 2019
Evaluate the COBIT framework 2019 update
ITSM frameworks must adapt as IT changes swiftly or risk stagnation. COBIT ended its six-year silence with its 2019 update. Get an overview of the new information and how to use COBIT. Continue Reading
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News
27 Mar 2019
Monitoring distributed systems means first, do no harm
SRE veterans who work with large, complex, latency-sensitive infrastructures say some monitoring tools can hurt the systems they're meant to help. Continue Reading
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News
26 Mar 2019
Site reliability engineer shift creates IT ops dilemma
Aspiring SREs find it hard to move away from tactical tasks to focus on strategic projects. Veteran SREs say the path to less toil begins with prioritization and automation. Continue Reading
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News
25 Mar 2019
Kubernetes for Windows hits GA, with limitations
Kubernetes support for Windows nodes was declared stable in Kubernetes 1.14, but extensive fine print remains. Continue Reading
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News
25 Mar 2019
SRE software refines DevOps incident response for enterprise
SRE workflows often emerge organically within enterprise IT teams, but software tools add measurability and automation for incident response and review in one DevOps shop. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Mar 2019
Build Terraform modules to make IT components into code
Modules enable reusability of infrastructure-as-code deployments with Terraform. Follow this example, which also features AWS for the hosting environment, to learn module structure. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Mar 2019
Start using Terraform variables for IT resource deployment flexibility
Infrastructure-as-code adopters should try Terraform input and output variables as a more flexible way to define and save values for deployment configurations. Continue Reading
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News
22 Mar 2019
Kubernetes management for 'Minecraft' has enterprise IT traits
What do 'Minecraft' servers and enterprise databases have in common? In the realm of Kubernetes management, more than you might think. Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Mar 2019
Improve help desk management for smooth IT operations
A streamlined help desk benefits both IT ops teams and end users. Learn how to improve your organization's help desk with these expert tips on templates, automation and AI. Continue Reading
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Tip
22 Mar 2019
5 Windows network drivers supported by containers
NAT is the default network for container applications, but there are four other available drivers. Each container network driver poses some limitations and must be used carefully. Continue Reading
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Tip
21 Mar 2019
Multi-hypervisor environments provide cost savings, flexibility
Adopting multiple hypervisors might make more sense than going with a single vendor, depending on cost, the types of workloads you run, and your performance and reliability needs. Continue Reading
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Quiz
21 Mar 2019
Can you accurately measure SLA expectations and results?
Realistic SLA expectations rely on accurately defined criteria, properly set. Test your knowledge of SLA measurements and learn to tailor contracts that avoid costly consequences with this quiz. Continue Reading
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News
21 Mar 2019
IT security monitoring at golf club lets IT ops play through
ClubCorp took stock of its IT security strategy last year, which led to freedom from grunt work and renewed focus for the IT ops team. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Mar 2019
Bare-metal vs. VM container deployment considerations
Consider your performance requirements, portability needs and what level of isolation and security you want when deploying containers in your environment. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Mar 2019
4 branch office server management best practices
Setting up a ROBO server involves specific hardware and software configuration considerations, such as ensuring redundancy and connectivity for remote management. Continue Reading
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Tip
18 Mar 2019
Evaluate on-premises vs. SaaS tools for IT systems management
While there are a lot of factors for enterprises to consider when choosing an IT management tool, the on-premises vs. SaaS decision can be a particularly tricky one. Continue Reading
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News
15 Mar 2019
DevSecOps shift begins, but remains a work in progress
DevOps security has shifted left, but IT pros disagree on just how far into application design and away from infrastructure security practices will go. Continue Reading
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News
15 Mar 2019
DevOps security tools 'shift left' into CI/CD pipelines
DevOps security remains a work in progress, but many enterprise IT shops already plug collaboration points for IT security and operations pros directly into the app development pipeline. Continue Reading
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Tip
15 Mar 2019
Learn how to use Salt orchestration with an example
Admins can use orchestration features in Salt to centrally control a group of minions and machines. Follow this example, which features Orchestrate Runner, to get started. Continue Reading
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Tip
14 Mar 2019
Use PowerShell Docker to manage Windows container components
Take advantage of the PowerShell for Docker module to easily create and manage Windows containers in your environment with this step-by-step installation guide. Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Mar 2019
Market evolves to address container security issues
Container use is gaining traction in virtual environments, but containers present unique security challenges that vendors and organizations must overcome. Continue Reading
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News
13 Mar 2019
F5-Nginx deal reflects mainstream trend toward microservices
F5 snaps up Nginx for cloud-native app support, and analysts predict a microservices gold rush as modern application architectures catch on in enterprise IT shops. Continue Reading
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Feature
13 Mar 2019
Container management tools must overcome limitations
As container adoption surges, the management tools organizations need to support these deployments at scale are still in their infancy. Continue Reading
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Tip
13 Mar 2019
Assess the micro VM market with AWS Firecracker
Consider the benefits of AWS Firecracker as it compares to other micro VMs and system containers, but be wary of its limitations before installing this virtualization technology. Continue Reading
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Tip
11 Mar 2019
Get familiar with these SLA maintenance tips
The basics of SLA management come at the intersection of business goals and the reality of possibility. IT teams must learn how to strike a balance between specific and conditional promises. Continue Reading
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News
08 Mar 2019
Release automation tools link legacy, modern app management
Release automation tools will evolve in 2019 to embrace advanced application development and infrastructure automation techniques. Continue Reading
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Tip
08 Mar 2019
GitOps provides an answer for complicated IT deployments
Version control isn't a new concept in IT, but ops pros are applying it to distributed environments for declarative configuration management. Continue Reading