Software-Defined Storage or Data Services

Software-defined storage (SDS) is about data services. Many think it is about automating storage. Yes, I can see that, but it is about what storage can deliver. So, what is the basis for SDS? There are four critical components. These components are analytics, augmentation, aggregation, and security. These four elements wrap storage to become data …

Secure Agile Cloud Development: Metrics

Secure Agile Cloud Development takes Agile and DevOps to the next level. It is about code quality, based not just on what the developers test, but also on the application of continuous testing and on dynamic and static code analysis. Most importantly, it is about a repeatable and trackable process by which we can make …

Goodbye 2015, and Here We Go, 2016

Goodbye 2015 and here we go 2016. Since this is my first post of the New Year, I wanted to start the year with a post on one of my current favorite topics for discussion and that topic to start the year right is automation. For this post, let’s concentrate on the second day operations type of automation. Second day operations is really quite a different beast from the build and decommission automation in that second day operations incorporate several different approaches to the automation. It is these approaches that I discuss a little further.

Failure of Imagination

After the Apollo 1 disaster, astronaut Frank Borman told Congress that the tragedy had not been caused by any one company or organization, but by the entirety of all those involved with the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. The problem had been a failure of imagination. They knew that at some point there would be a fire in a space …

Analytics as Code

We all need performance and capacity management tools to fine tune our virtual and cloud environments, but we need them to do more than just tell us there may be problems. Instead, we need them to find root causes for problems, whether those problems are related to code, infrastructure, or security. The new brand of …