I'm not the only one with this question, but haven't found a lot of information in my research so far, so help me out.
We are a small IT crowd in an organization. We're looking to build a small, private service that would emulate a heroku/gae workflow. The basics of this: deploy an app as a git repository, and have it scale in a 'cloud' environment. Basically, a platform as a service (Paas).
Pretend we are amateur PM's, programmers, and sysadmins tasked with this. What would you recommend? We know generally what is needed: some sort of routing, database, caching, authentication, etc. What other tools do we need?
We would prefer tools along a ruby/python/haskell/erlang dimension, on a linux/bsd stack, with postgres databases(couchdb or cassandra in the future). We are not touching anything in the ms/.net area, nothing on the JVM (We've looked at Steamcannon, but no; Scala and Clojure tools are not entirely out of the question). We have a basic grasp of bootstrapping a cloud (e.g. Eucalyptus) to build on. We have an understanding of the basics in server admin, and the physical infrastructure limitations aren't a factor right now.
We're not looking into why gaerokuyardspace is the best choice, a list of such services, why we should ditch our plans for one of these services, or an argument against this plan. For this situation the decision has been made that the cost to build privately is more attractive than the cost of deploying elsewhere. We already know why and how for these services. We're looking to emulate and build upon these for private needs.
A short list of tools to be expanded:
Beehive
Steamcannon
Gitosis/Gitolite
?
Basically, I'd like to generate a list of tools for building heroku/gae like service on a small, private, definitely experimental/toy level.
I don't know that it will meet all of your stated needs today, but you should take a look at Cloud Foundry from VMware. You can check the FAQ for the commercial project or look in to the Open Source version that you can host and manage yourself.
Some combination of Cloud Foundry (above) gitolite, and fabric
will probably do well for you. Any such solution will take some time to get right.
(Disclaimer: I'm a lead developer on the AppScale project)
AppScale is pretty much right up your alley, especially if you're looking to run Google App Engine apps in your own private cloud. It's open source, so grab it and extend it if there are other types of apps you want to support (and definitely commit it back to us if you do).
Related
I would be starting ft in one company, where i was been told that the application is developed using 'Sas' and 'salesforce'. What is the difference between two?
And which are recommended online resource which I can use to learn more about it.
SAS is software for statistical analysis. If your company/job description doesn't look like working with large sets of data & complex reporting that's probably not it.
They probably mean SaaS (Software as a Service) model, also known as "the cloud", cloud computing etc. You write the program (or use / modify existing one) but you don't buy servers, worry about network connection, electricity costs, load balancing (spikes in traffic will not cause your website to go down). Many apps operate in this model. Microsoft's Azure cloud (or even online wersions of MS Office). There's Siebel Oracle on Demand CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP I think also has SaaS offering...
It's a big topic, I'm simplifying a lot here. And then there are Platform as a Service things too (PaaS) where they give you "just" the hosting etc but no base application to build on top of. You write everything you need from scratch and upload it. Think Heroku or Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Salesforce is "just" one more SaaS application. You start with base application & database, similar to all other clients in the world. You can install plugins to it (some free, some paid), configure it yourself, write custom code if your functionality is too complex... You can do a lot with just clicks & drag & drop but if you need to code stuff then JavaScript (for client-side) and Apex (for server-side) will be your friend. Apex is bit similar to Java.
Where to start... Trailhead is good source of self-paced trainings. You can sign up for a free Salesforce Developer Edition (has almost all features as the paid one but limited storage space), try to pass some courses... Or in SF help&training there should be tons of videos (actually in that link whole left menu "getting started with salesforce" might be good).
I have created a django app that contains c++ for some of the views as well as a java library. How would I deploy this app? What kind of hosting service allows for multiple languages? I have looked at EC2, GAE, and several platforms (like heroku) but I can't seem to find a definitive solution.
I have never deployed anything to the web so a simple explanation would be much appreciated.
PaaS stuff is probably not your best bet. If you want the scalability and associated buzzwords(muh 99.9999999999% availability because my servers are hosted in a parallel dimension without electrical storms, power outages, hurricanes, earthquakes, or nuclear holocausts) that comes with hosting your application on a huge web company's platform, check out IaaS(Infrastructure as a service) systems like Google's Compute Engine or AWS. With these you just get a virtual server (or servers), running your Linux distro of choice, and you can install and run whatever you please on them without being constrained to a specific platform like App Engine or Heroku(where you have to basically write your app to specifically run on that platform). If you plan on consuming a ton of bandwidth/resources from the get-go, you will almost certainly get a better deal using a dedicated server(s) from a small company.
Interested in what specifically you are executing C++ for in a Django view. Image/video processing?
Well. Deployment is not really something where a simple explanation helps much.
First I would check what the requirements to the operating system are (compilers, dependencies,…). That will maybe reduce the options quickly.
I guess that with a setup containing C++ & Java artifacts, the usual PaaS (GaE, Heroku,…) offerings will not be sufficient because they define the stack. And a mixture of Python/C++/Java is rather uncommon I'd say.
Choosing an IaaS offering (EC2, …) may be an option. There you can run your whole self-defined stack and have the possibility of easier scaling.
Hosting the application on your own server(s) is also always possible. Check your data protection regulations to find out if it's not even a requirement.
There are a lot of ways to get the Django application to run. The Django documentation has some information about deployment. If you have certain special requirements, uwsgi may be a good application server.
You may also want a web server in front of the application. Possibilities range from using uwsgi's built-in http server or using e.g. Nginx with uwsgi.
All in all every component of the whole "deployment" has hundereds of bells and whistels and it's not easy to give advice without knowing specific requirements and properties of the system itself. You'll also probably need a database you have to deploy.
But before deploying it to the web, it's also important to have a solid build process to assemble all the parts. And not only on the development machine. With three languages involved this should be the first step solve. If it easily and automagically deploys in a development environment, moving it to a server is easier.
We have a (AJAX heavy) web application hosted in cloud across servers and we need to monitor the availability of this service. Requires logging in to the application with a username-password, perform some searches as that user etc.
Since we plan to use Nagios for some other monitoring tasks, we decided to use Nagios for web application monitoring too.
I came across three such solutions:
Webinject: I don't feel like using this. Project not under active development. It was last released in Jan 2006. I can't see any support/help available. Also I suspect how will it behave with Ajax.
Cucumber-Nagios:
I tried using this. It involves many Ruby components and found that you have to have in-depth knowledge of Ruby platform to make all these components work together. I am not a Ruby guy and having tough time making all these components work together. Also even this project is not under active development and I don't see support/help options available. I posted a bug 4 days back and don't see any response yet.
Selenium plugin for Nagios: Haven't tried it yet. Will try now.
Any more solutions available?
Also, since I don't see any good actively developed solutions for monitoring web applications using Nagios, I suspect if it's really a good approach to use Nagios for this? If not, what alternatives do I have? In short what is the best approach to monitor web applications availability?
Edit 1: We can't afford the Nagios XI paid version and will prefer open source solutions.
If not, what alternatives do I have?
Although Nagios was one of options that we've considered, we've chosen OpenNMS for monitoring purposes. Rationale for our decision is that OpenNMS is highly reliable and configurable free open-source tool and additionally, most of our applications are Java-based; OpenNMS offers integration with JMX. However, bear in mind that if you're demanding very complex tests for your Web site maybe it's better to look elsewhere. OpenNMS can be set to check for HTTP status codes etc., but if you're looking for complex scenarios take a look at:
Apache JMeter (we're using it mainly during the testing phase)
Selenium (can be well used even in production phase)
I need to create a flowchart to show Developer computers, Development server, Development DB,
QA Server, QA DB, Staging Server, Staging DB, Production Server and Production DB as part of creating a process so that developers follow the same during the development to staging to production development cycle.
Could you please direct me to the right URL or resource.
Thanks in advance
If you're looking for inspiration, figure A in this post looks similar to what you're trying to do, albeit simplified slightly: http://blog.sysbliss.com/uncategorized/release-management-with-atlassian-bamboo-and-jira.html
I have used Microsoft Visio in the past for my flowcharts and it meets the basic needs.
Most of the standard components - servers etc are all there and you can usually find and download free stencils from the net for more specific needs
A process flow like you are talking about should be easily manageable using the standard stecils itself.
There seem to be a lot of online sites that provide this kind of service free lately.
You can check out this link. I have not used any of these before so cannot vouch for them though i did try out flowchart.com and it seemed pretty ok
You are looking for a tool to make network diagrams.
These are some candidates I found looking for Network Diagram at Google:
SmartDraw, A friend recommended it to me some time ago
Gliffy looks promising
To make a flowchart from source code is so complicated, but I found an code to flowchart converter software, it can create flowchart from source code automatically, I got this software from http://flowchart-creator.com. It is free to download and free to try.
trying to pick version control, continuous integration, and host for Flex + Ruby or Django smallish project. Question:
version control: I've used SVN and CVS in the past. I hear great things about git. Not sure what to pick.
continuous integration: I've heard good things about hudson and cruiseControl. Not sure what to pick
hosting: is my own server the only way to go? Are the decent cloud options that are not too expensive? or should I look for some free hosting service?
thank you for your help!
f
Use Git.
Git is a great tool that allows a very flexible workflow. It has lots of benefits over subversion/cvs, the biggest of which is the ability to branch and merge seamlessly. This can't be overstated. The merge-hell that ensues when attempting to use svn's branching and merging is a thing of the past. For a better case on why to use git, check out http://whygitisbetterthanx.com/
Use Hudson.
Hudson is the easily the best CI tool in the game. The reason Hudson is the best is that its easy to configure (for one or multiple nodes), it has a ton of plugins, and handles the 90% use case extremely well. You are in the 90% use case. People like Mozilla aren't. Check out C. Titus Brown's talk at Pycon for more info. http://pycon.blip.tv/file/3259794/ (If you decide that Hudson isn't what you should use, check out buildbot)
Use Webfaction (or Rackspace Cloud).
Webfaction is a great starter ground. If your needs are low, check them out. Beyond that, I'd suggest taking a hard look at Rackspace Cloud (RSC). RSC makes scaling out much easier and their pricing model is very palatable for things that aren't bandwidth intensive (ie: most things that don't require tons of uploads/downloads). It starts at $10/mo. Their management console is good (save the DNS administration interface, but even that is more than bearable). If your needs expand beyond RSC (doubtful), you would do well to check out Amazon's EC2. Companies like RightScale can help when it comes to scaling out.