We are excited to host the November/2023 edition of the Cloud Native Computing Linz meetup!

We'd like to thank MIC for hosting the Meetup!

--------- The Speakers ---------

Michael Skledar

Platform Engineer at MIC (since 2011 at MIC);

Ausbildung: HTL Leonding, dann Wirtschaftsinformatik und Informatik-Studium an der JKU

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Anca Ghenade

Anca has been immersing herself in the realm of Java since her university days, focusing primarily on developing enterprise applications over the past seven years. Recently, she has embraced the exciting and challenging field of cloud development, captivated by its immense potential. Now she enjoys sharing her learning experiences through engaging demos that bring tangible value to others. She also appreciates the meaningful conversations and feedback related to user experience and use cases, as they enable her to contribute towards the product development efforts of her team at LocalStack.

--------- The Talks ---------

Michael Skledar - Automating Legacy System Management with GitOps: A Journey from On-Premises to Kubernetes

In the ever-evolving landscape of software maintenance, managing legacy applications alongside modern counterparts presents unique challenges. Our organization, with decades of experience in the field, grapples with legacy systems that have faithfully served us for over 30 years. These systems, while robust, require careful handling and adaptation to the new digital era.

Enter **GitOps**, an automated approach that harmonizes Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) practices with Git-based source code control management. In our case, GitOps has revolutionized our processes, particularly in dealing with legacy components. Gone are the days of semi-automated workflows and manual interventions. With GitOps, we've streamlined our operations, ensuring that system configurations are always in sync with the desired state defined in Git repositories.

Our journey doesn't end there. We've embarked on a transition from traditional on-premises infrastructure to the dynamic world of **Kubernetes**. By leveraging Kubernetes, we achieve scalability, resilience, and flexibility. Our legacy systems now coexist with containerized workloads, orchestrated seamlessly through GitOps principles.

Join us as we share our transformation—from legacy maintenance to GitOps automation, and now, to Kubernetes-powered agility. We'll explore how Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles underpin this evolution, empowering us to dynamically provision systems on-demand. Whether you're a seasoned developer or an enterprise architect, understanding GitOps and Kubernetes can unlock new possibilities for efficient, reliable system management.

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Anca Ghenade - Taming and Testing the Cloud Environment from localhost to CI

In this talk, we explore the complexities of managing and testing cloud services, highlighting the challenges from local development to CI pipelines. We address the high costs and intricacies of using actual AWS resources and the limited visibility and replication issues faced in CI environments. We'll discuss the critical role of robust testing practices, from comprehensive localhost testing to their integration into CI systems. We'll also emphasize the benefits of such practices, including early bug detection, reduced deployment failures, and enhanced code quality, alongside strategies for creating effective test environments that mirror production.

So, wouldn’t it be great if we had a tool that could assist us with these issues during development, testing, and CI? And this is where LocalStack comes in, as a pivotal solution to these challenges. LocalStack, a local cloud emulator, is key to overcoming the discussed challenges, offering faster feedback loops, deeper service understanding, and rapid prototyping capabilities. By emulating cloud services locally, it significantly cuts costs and accelerates development while even facilitating advanced practices like security checks and chaos engineering in a safe, local setting.

In the end we’ll see the transformative impact of integrating a local cloud emulator into both developing on localhost and CI environments. This integration not only streamlines the development process but also enhances the overall security and robustness of applications. By employing tools like LocalStack, developers can achieve a more thorough understanding of cloud services, enabling them to build more resilient, efficient, and cost-effective cloud-native applications. 

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--------- Location ---------

MIC

Am Winterhafen 4

2nd Floor

4020

Linz

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If you would like to keep the discussion live after the event, join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/MgM5BGV