I see a lot of trends between Containers in 2018 and the server virtualization movement started in 2001 with VMWare.  So I started taking a trip down memory lane.  My history started in 2003/2004 when I was leveraging Virtualization for datacenter and server consolation. At IBM we were pushing it to consolidate unused server capacity especially in test and development environments with IT leadership.  The delivery primary focused on VMWare GSX and local storage initially.  I recall the release of vMotion and additional Storage Virtualization tools, lead to a deserve to move from local storage to SAN-based storage.   That allowed us to discuss the reduction of downtime and potential for production deployments.  I also remember there was much buzz when EMC in 2004 acquired VMWare and it made sense given the push into Storage Virtualization.

Back then it was the promise of reduced cost, smaller data center footprint, improved development environments, and better resource utilization.   Sounds like the promises of Cloud and Containers today.

Serverless is becoming the 2018 technology hype.   I remember when containers were gaining traction in 2012, and Docker in 2013.  At technology conventions, all the cool developers were using containers.   It solved a lot of challenges, but it was not a silver bullet. (But that’s a blog article for another day.)

Today after an interview I was asking myself,  have Containers lived up to the hype?   They are great for CI/CD, getting rid of system administrator bottlenecks, helping with rapid deployment, and some would argue fundamental to DevOps.  So I started researching the hype.   People over at  Cloud Foundry published a container report in  2017 and 2016.

Per the 2016 report, “our survey, a majority of companies (53%) had either deployed (22%) or were in the process of evaluating (31%) containers.”

Per the 2017 report, “increase of 14 points among users and evaluators for a total of 67 percent using  (25%) or evaluating (42%).”

As a former technology VP/director/manager, I was always evaluating technology which had some potential to save costs, improve processes, speed development and improve production deployments.   But a 25% adaption rate and a 3% uptick over last year, is not moving the technology needle.

However, I am starting to see the same trend, Serverless is the new exciting technology which is going to solve the development challenges, save costs, improve the development process and you are cool if you’re using it.       But is it really Serverless or just a simpler way to use a container?

AWS Lambda is basically a container.  (Another blog article will dig into the underpinnings of Lambda.)   Where does the container run? ** A Server. **

Just means I don’t have to understand the underlying container, server etc.etc.etc.     So is it truly serverless?   Or is it just the 2018 technology hype to get all us development geeks excited, we don’t need to learn Docker or Kubernetes, or ask our Sysadmin friends provision us another server.

Let me know your thoughts.

Got my CCNA certificate today via email.   Far from the day of getting a beautiful package in the mail.       The best is how Cisco lets you recertify after a long hiatus.

I think Certification logos are interesting, I would not include them in emails, but some do.   Also,  I would probably not include certifications in an email signature anymore.

Here are the ones I’ve collected in the last few weeks.     I think moving forward, I’ll update the site header to include logos.

This morning I sat and passed Cisco 200-301 Designing for Cisco Internetwork Solutions.    The exam is not easy, it required an 860 to pass the exam.   17 years ago when I took it only required a 755.    I got 844 17 years ago.    This time I got an 884.    It’s a tough exam as it requires deep and broad networking knowledge across all domains routing, switching, unified communications, WLANs and how to use them in network designs.

That exam officially gives me a CCDA.   That officially makes 7 certifications (5 AWS and 2 Cisco) in 5 weeks.

Next up is the Cisco Exam for 300-101 ROUTE.

Had a strong technical interview today. The interviewer asked questions about the topics in this outline.

• Virtualization and Hypervisors

• Security

• Docker and Kubernetes

  • Storage for Docker

• OpenStack/CloudStack - which I lack experience

• Chef

  • Security of data - see Databags

• CloudFormation - immutable infrastructure

• DNS

  • Bind

  • Route53

  • Anycast

    • Resolvers routes to different servers

  • Cloud

    • Azure

    • Moving Monolithic application to AWS

      • Which raises a bunch of questions on the Application

        • Virtual or Physical Hardware

        • Backend / Technology

        • Requirements

        • Where is this application on the Roadmap in 3 - 5 years

        • How much of the application being used

      • Cost Optimization

      • Security

    • Explain the underpinnings of IaaS, PaaS, SaaS.

These were all great questions for a technical interview. The interviewer was easy to converse and it was much more of a great discussion than an interview. The breadth and depth of the interview questions were impressive. I was very impressed with the answers to my questions by the interviewer. I left the interview hoping that the interviewer would become a colleague.