Scripting, Scheduling and IT Orchestration

SRE model requires technical, organizational optimization skills

Practitioners categorize SRE job descriptions two ways -- by distributed systems architecture design that evolves rapidly, and also by the ability to optimize human workflows. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Strive for real-world technical debt management in DevOps orgs

Technical debt is a bit like the kitchen junk drawer: It's cobbled-together, useful stuff that just needed to go somewhere. But the longer you wait to sort it out, the worse it gets. Continue Reading

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• Adam Bertram

Puppet Enterprise updates give IT ops pros a leg up on DevOps

Puppet Enterprise 2019, Puppet Bolt 1.0 and Puppet Insights broaden enterprise IT ops pros' options for DevOps support and infrastructure automation tools. Continue Reading

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• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Tap the Chocolatey package manager to usher in Windows DevOps

Create a Chocolatey package with this tutorial on DevOps for Windows. Simplify package management and installation, and swap the GUI for a CLI client. Continue Reading

By

• Dan Franciscus

Compare Go vs. Python for infrastructure programming

Both code languages get the infrastructure-as-code job done, but each from a different angle. This comparison tutorial puts their similarities and differences center stage. Continue Reading

By

• Walker Rowe

Jenkins on Kubernetes is promising, but integration needs work

Jenkins and Kubernetes are a natural fit for automated application development and delivery, and the open source community has plans to improve how Jenkins runs on containers. Continue Reading

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• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

CloudBees Core sets its sights beyond enterprise Jenkins

CloudBees and its competitors vie to offer the visibility and data-driven performance measurement into CI/CD processes that enterprises need to strive for better DevOps governance. Continue Reading

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• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Rev up IT with continuous delivery and DevOps

IT operations is on the software team with continuous delivery, continuous deployment and DevOps. Done right, the collaboration in tools and culture produces better software faster than previous methodologies. Continue Reading

Continuous delivery pipeline tools build IT efficiency

The range of CD tools available is as varied as the organizations that need them. Choose between three primary tool set constructions to suit your organization's structure. Continue Reading

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• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

Identify mutable and immutable infrastructures in action

Change is constant in app code, server configuration and VM security policies alike. IT orgs enforce consistency while embracing change with immutable infrastructure. So what does it look like? Continue Reading

By

• Emily Mell, Former Site Editor

Atlassian HipChat shutdown surprises enterprise IT pros

IT pros had been skeptical about Atlassian's Stride, but HipChat's disappearance leaves them with lingering questions about licensing and support. Continue Reading

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• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Perform this Octopus Deploy tutorial in under 60 minutes

Octopus Deploy extends a variety of agents called Tentacles that manage a wide swath of tasks. In just one hour, create an Octopus Deploy instance in a simple home lab. Continue Reading

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• Adam Bertram

Modern service management, DevOps streamline app administration

DevOps and service management are synonymous in modern IT, insofar as their guidelines match. Regardless of the term, ensure organizational practices are built for today's reqs. Continue Reading

By

• Kurt Marko, MarkoInsights

IT pursues zero-touch automation for application support

The best and most efficient approach to IT automation features as little human intervention and interaction as possible. Continue Reading

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• Tom Nolle, Andover Intel

Taking stock of Windows Server management tools

Microsoft provides a mix of server management tools that administrators can choose from to control the machines that run the business. This comparison can help steer your decision. Continue Reading

By

• Kristen Gloss

IT infrastructure management software learns analytics tricks

Not every enterprise IT shop is ready to take the AIOps plunge, but IT ops automation is increasingly data-driven -- even at mainstream companies. Continue Reading

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• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

How is the future of PowerShell shaping up?

Microsoft no longer develops PowerShell behind closed doors. While there are perks to the tool's move to open source, users must cope with the consequences of the shift. Continue Reading

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• Richard Siddaway, Independent consultant

These Go code examples showcase its main features

Google's golang uses many of the same functions as older code languages, such as key-value pairs and compiling, but is better fitted to modern systems development requirements. Continue Reading

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• Walker Rowe

How to build a Packer image for Azure

Packer is an open source tool that automates the Windows Server image building process to give administrators a consistent approach to create new VMs. Continue Reading

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• Adam Bertram

What is the best DevOps tool for my career?

I have no prior knowledge on DevOps. I'm doing an online course and understand Unix. I get the concepts, so what tool should I concentrate on learning to advance my DevOps career? Continue Reading

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• Meredith Courtemanche, Director of Editorial Training

Mind the feature gaps in the PowerShell open source project

Administrators who switch to the cross-platform version of PowerShell might find it challenging to use, but there are several ways to cope with a transition from Windows PowerShell. Continue Reading

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• Richard Siddaway, Independent consultant

How can learning scripting languages help junior testers?

As a junior tester, I think learning scripting languages could make me more valuable to my team and enhance my career. But how do I pick the scripting language to learn? Continue Reading

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• Gerie Owen, Roobrik

Chef Automate 2.0 renews appeal to DevOps shops

Chef Automate 2.0 lays the groundwork for tighter integration between the IT automation software and third-party tools, as Chef stakes its claim in the DevOps gold rush. Continue Reading

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• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Self-service automation gives WLA maximum power

Users don't want to wait for an admin to run a report. Admins don't want to drop their work to do it. Set parameters on self-service options and let workers help themselves. Continue Reading

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• Emily Mell, Former Site Editor

How to protect PowerShell credentials in task automation

When administrators use unencrypted credentials in PowerShell scripts, they expose sensitive information. Find out the ways to secure credential use with automated tasks. Continue Reading

By

• Tim Warner

Is IT workload management easier on software-defined infrastructure?

Our IT organization uses deployment automation, monitoring tools and virtualized resources. What do we need to do to manage IT workloads? Continue Reading

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• Brian Kirsch, Milwaukee Area Technical College

Resolve issues between Python and Linux with virtualenv

While Linux OSes favor Python 2, Python 3 is the widely preferred version. Install virtualenv to isolate Python 2 and 3 and prevent IT issues. Continue Reading

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• Walker Rowe

PowerShell 6 expands reach but lags behind Windows version

Cross-platform PowerShell arrived without all the functionality that's available in Windows PowerShell -- but it brings the ability to manage Linux and macOS systems. Continue Reading

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• Richard Siddaway, Independent consultant

Automated continuous deployment tools produce successful code

Continuous deployment skips the operations oversight step in software production. So, automated tools must ensure code success in administrators' stead -- before mistakes go live. Continue Reading

By

• Adam Bertram

These PowerShell script examples help tidy up code

Even the most grizzled scripting veterans might learn some new PowerShell tips and tricks to tighten their automation code or produce clearer error messages. Continue Reading

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• Adam Bertram

IBM roadmap of cloud, AI-enabled IT drives Think conference

IT operations must absorb automation, AI, machine learning and cloud trends, which result in a more data-driven, predictive and responsive department -- if everything goes right. Continue Reading

Impact Awards honor the best cloud and data center tools

Each year, the Modern Infrastructure Impact Awards program salutes the data center tools and cloud management technologies that stand out from the crowd. The winners are the products that prove particularly useful and draw raves from users. These technologies act as catalysts for innovation in the cloud environments and data centers that modern businesses rely on to keep moving forward.

More than ever, the right technologies can make the difference between a business strategy that succeeds and one that disappoints. It's one thing for cloud services or data center tools to make it easier for IT professionals to carry out their day-to-day duties, but it takes something special for a product or service to help drive real organizational success. We're pleased to honor that excellence with this special edition of Modern Infrastructure.

Also, be sure to check this issue for articles and columns that delve into the complications that accompany the benefits of using multiple cloud providers, the applicability of serverless computing and the scenarios that might give pause to even the biggest IoT proponents.

 Continue Reading

Data center and cloud computing products that make an impact

The Modern Infrastructure Impact Awards recognize the best IT infrastructure and cloud computing products in seven categories, from cloud to DevOps to converged infrastructure. Continue Reading

By

• Modern Infrastructure staff

Five system administrator skills Windows admins should hone

IT workers need to learn how to ride the wave of innovation and master these five technologies related to Windows Server that can ease their workload and help the business. Continue Reading

By

• Brian Kirsch, Milwaukee Area Technical College

Learn Ruby language skills with these online resources

Systems administrators spend more time programming than ever before. To excel in your current role or find a new, DevOps-heavy one, invest the time to learn a new language. Continue Reading

By

• Sander van Vugt

Enterprises identify 10 essential DevOps tools

Products branded with DevOps are everywhere, and the list of options grows every day, but the best DevOps tools are already well-known among enterprise IT pros. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Automation and orchestration elevate scripts from helpful to essential

Did you automate a server update, only to realize another script for configuration compliance has to run first? Orchestration tidies up the messy piles of automation that grow out of IT scripting. Continue Reading

By

• Adam Bertram

Create a self-signed certificate to control PowerShell scripts

Signing code ensures that every change is official and approved. This helps to prevent errors and security breaches. Write a PowerShell self-signed certificate for code testing. Continue Reading

By

• Stuart Burns

Kubernetes hybrid cloud emerges from Google-Cisco partnership

A Kubernetes partnership from Cisco and Google widens IT pros' container orchestration options in hybrid cloud deployments, but its advantages depend on future software integrations. Continue Reading

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• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

CoreOS acquisition burnishes Red Hat containers profile

Most IT shops don't deploy containers in production, but more might be enticed by the addition of CoreOS tools to Red Hat's OpenShift. Continue Reading

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• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

ServiceNow Kingston troubleshoots IT tasks with AI, machine learning

ServiceNow delivers AI and machine learning capabilities to its core platform to eliminate time-consuming manual help desk tasks. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Scannell, Freelancer

Learn YAML through a personal example

Some code languages take countless hours of formal training and practice. YAML strikes out in the opposite direction. To comprehend its hierarchical format, follow this coding example. Continue Reading

By

• Adam Bertram

Catch the IT automation technology wave

IT automation is taking over in operations as tasks get bigger and more complex, handling distributed systems. Stay current with these five big trends. Continue Reading

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• Emily Mell, Former Site Editor

A good IT orchestration system saves time for users and admins

Rather than fight with business workers about runaway IT resource consumption and complex demands on tight deadlines, let an orchestration platform control the process. Continue Reading

By

• Stuart Burns

Centralize Ubuntu server management on Landscape

Canonical Landscape brings centralized server management to Ubuntu on physical and virtual machines, as well as cloud systems. See how it works, and explore features such as tagging. Continue Reading

By

• Stuart Burns

PowerShell scripts enable automated cloud deployments

This step-by-step tutorial walks through the process to automate an Azure deployment; start with launching the virtual server, and finish with the deletion process. Continue Reading

By

• Stuart Burns

A deployment pipeline keeps infrastructure ducks in their rows

IT infrastructure is difficult to get right. Whether to stand up a test/dev server or deploy a new app to production, infrastructure developers turn to a deployment pipeline to build IT. Continue Reading

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• Adam Bertram

Come to grips with immutable infrastructure in production

Immutable infrastructure is a developer approach to application hosting that's made its way into the IT ops lexicon. It's time to understand the changes it brings to application support. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

IT automation software: Top five common mistakes

IT automation software projects can involve a great deal of risk, but avoid these common mistakes and it will increase the chances for automation success. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Brunelli

Automate Active Directory jobs with PowerShell scripts

Much of what admins do in Active Directory is not exactly cutting-edge, and they don't want to waste time on mundane tasks. A dash of PowerShell can speed things along. Continue Reading

By

• Adam Bertram

Learn shell scripts: A sys admin's guide to automation

Shell scripts and sys admins should be best friends. A day rarely goes by without using some form of shell script or another. Learn how those scripts work and start writing them. Continue Reading

By

• Dana French

Advanced shell scripting for IT ops professionals: Free chapter

Shell scripts can improve speed and automation for sys admins beyond what's possible with graphical user interfaces. Dana French's books cover advanced shell scripting for experienced users. Continue Reading

By

• Meredith Courtemanche, Director of Editorial Training

Tap PowerShell DSC resources to automate web server construction

Administrators will create numerous IIS web servers during their IT careers. With Desired State Configuration, admins can automate this task with cleaner results. Continue Reading

By

• Adam Bertram

Shipyard floats a Docker GUI for easier container management

Deploying new Docker images is the easy part; managing and reporting on those instances is tricky. IT teams can use the Shipyard GUI to stop, start, orchestrate and manage Docker. Continue Reading

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• Stuart Burns

Orchestration software: The functions and vendors to watch

Enterprises must keep their IT processes on track to stay ahead in the DevOps era. Solid orchestration software will pull automation tasks together and accelerate workflows. Continue Reading

Top cloud and data center technologies win Impact Awards

Plenty of data center technologies enter the market, aiming to solve this problem or that problem. (Or every problem, if the hype is to be believed.) But which products really hit the mark? Which ones stand out, coming along at just the right moment to address just the right need? Those are the kinds of products that garner attention in the annual Modern Infrastructure Impact Awards, and now is the time to name names. This issue unveils the 2017 Impact Award winners for the top cloud computing and data center technologies and services as selected by editors, independent experts and Modern Infrastructure readers. These participants assessed the tools they found worthy of recognition in categories ranging from best converged and hyper-converged product to best cloud migration and optimization offering to top systems management tool. To be eligible, a product needed to be either new to the market or substantially upgraded within the past year. And when the best of them distinguish themselves, that's when they warrant attention from the Modern Infrastructure awards. This issue of Modern Infrastructure also looks at artificial intelligence -- past the lofty speculation and into its possible real-world implications -- as well as the transformation going on in the server backup market. Continue Reading

2017 Impact Awards honor the best IT products and services

The votes are in. From AWS partners to system management, Modern Infrastructure readers recognize the best IT products in the 2017 Impact Awards. Continue Reading

By

• Modern Infrastructure Staff

Automated deployment tools mitigate the risk of human error in DevOps

There are dozens of application and infrastructure automation tools for IT shops. Choosing the right one requires project and feature evaluation. Continue Reading

By

• Kurt Marko, MarkoInsights

Simplify your platform with IT systems management tools

So much effort goes into simply keeping an IT infrastructure up and running. Imagine what more could be accomplished once you automate some of those tasks with IT systems management tools. Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

A SaltStack tutorial to start mastering data center minions

With a basic understanding of SaltStack minions, modules, grains and other concepts, IT administrators have the power to scale up configurations. Continue Reading

By

• Sander van Vugt

CFEngine configuration management tool up close and in-depth

CFEngine is a widely known and used configuration management tool. Learn about its primary features and functions and if and how your organization could benefit from it. Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

Inside Docker configuration management functions

Docker may not be a standard configuration management tool, but it possesses a set of capabilities that have made it a growing player in the CM market. Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

The Cobbler configuration management tool's ins and outs

Cobbler is a configuration management tool best suited for Linux-based IT environments. Learn more about this tool and if it can benefit your enterprise. Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

SaltStack configuration management tools and their many functions

SaltStack is a relatively new tool in the configuration management market with powerful capabilities and an active user community. Read more about this emerging product here. Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

What Chef configuration management can do for your IT systems

Chef configuration management tools possess a huge community of users. Learn more about product versions, capabilities, user resources and what Chef can offer an enterprise. Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

Select the best configuration management tools for your company

What characterizes the best configuration management tools for your company? Read about the different tools available and which ones would address your company needs the best. Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

Script management technology adds safety to scripting's power

Script management is a necessity to maintain an IT deployment. The canny organization will choose the right tools that give power to the sys admin, while protecting against accidents. Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

Decision criteria for choosing configuration management software

Selecting the right configuration management software is vital for your company to function well in this modern age. Learn what you need to know in order to select the best tool. Continue Reading

By

• Clive Longbottom

Pick up infrastructure as code tools and techniques

Walk through an infrastructure as code template, using AWS CloudFormation as an example, to better understand defining and connecting resources. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Pfeiffer, CloudSkills.io

Hadoop workflow automation lets IT pros go with the flow

Hadoop workflow managers are not just resource schedulers. They handle intricate tasks and service handoffs that are essential for managing big data services. Continue Reading

By

• Kurt Marko, MarkoInsights

Modern open source systems management

The open source sector abounds with configuration management, monitoring and analytics, CI/CD tools and more to arm IT teams against failure in complex apps and infrastructure. Continue Reading

By

• Austin Allen, TechTarget
• Meredith Courtemanche, Director of Editorial Training
• Michelle Boisvert, Executive Editor

DevOps automation boosts Rosetta Stone's app delivery

The language learning company uses multiple tools to make its DevOps environment run smoothly, but Docker has been the key to streamlining application releases. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Create a cloud development environment for on-premises apps

With built-in tools from many of the mature public cloud services and a well-planned deployment strategy, IT teams can -- and should -- move test/dev to public cloud. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Pfeiffer, CloudSkills.io

An initiation into infrastructure automation tools and methods

IT infrastructure automation isn't always easy, but the right tools with the right implementation strategy will pay off with faster provisioning and fewer errors. Continue Reading

How do I set up a file sharing server for three clients?

If I want to share files between three client machines and a Windows server, what are my options? Continue Reading

By

• Adam Fowler

Traditional IT silos face a hostile software-defined environment

Think you got rid of data center silos when you adopted virtualization? Not so fast. Software-defined data center tools promise more silo-busting. Continue Reading

By

• Brad Casey

How to build an enterprise private cloud that looks better than AWS

Clouds that enterprises build rarely stack up to AWS and its ilk in a public cloud. Follow these steps if you want a viable private cloud for users. Continue Reading

By

• John Treadway, Cloud Technology Partners

A look inside the DevOps movement

DevOps is a culture, not a job or procedure for an IT team. That said, there are DevOps tools and organizational strategies to help you get there. Continue Reading

How to write your IT automation wish list

IT automation is great, unless complicated, underperforming products that hog resources, time and money overwhelm IT staff. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

Frequently asked questions about server automation tools

Server automation tools save time and reduce errors. But what should tools offer, and are point systems or suites the way to go? Find out in this FAQ. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

Declarative vs. imperative: The DevOps automation debate

Users say Puppet Enterprise 3.0 is a boon, but some industry experts say Puppet's declarative configuration management approach is subject to debate. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Remote server monitoring with Nagios

After the network monitoring tool Nagios is fully configured, learn the next step in setting it up for remote server monitoring. Continue Reading

By

• Sander van Vugt

Improve application performance with multithreaded applications

Multi-core CPUs fuel a server's operating system performance and virtualization technologies. Can multithreaded applications and multi-core CPUs fuel application performance as well? Continue Reading

By

• Frank Ohlhorst

Architecting application failover in your data center

Attempting application failover by re-coding your apps may not be the right choice for every data center, as several factors, including virtualization and coding languages, affect which method you should use. This tip offers advice for finding the application failover option that best suits your IT infrastructure. Continue Reading

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• By Frank J. Ohlhorst, Contributor