When to use Ansible vs Docker to set up a cluster

When it comes to setting up a cluster, there are a number of tools available, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Two popular options are Docker and Ansible that can be used to automate the setup and maintenance of a cluster, but they differ in their approach. We will see what they are and in which scenarios it is better to use each of them.

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7 steps to make releases backward compatible

We should design and build systems in a way that ensures any change can be easily reverted even if the people who have worked on it are not available at that time. Imagine for example that a change starts causing memory issues on a Saturday evening, surely you want to be confident that the support teams can revert to a previous version without downtime and without involving multiple teams. The below changes are easy to implement and will give you peace of mind.

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Best practices managing credentials

Credential management is one of the most critical parts of the Ops/DevOps world as a leaked password may give full access to a database or queue that stores confidential data from customers. This could not only impact the reputation of the business but also imply very high fines, e.g. due to a GDPR data breach. Below are some practices that may sound obvious but you would be surprised by the number of companies that get hacked due to not following them.

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