Corezoid - a Cloud Automation Service Middleware Consulting and Tech Support
Challenge
The client was initially looking for a third-party DevOps team that would handle additional testing of the product’s (Corezoid) cloud version in public cloud environments. Their main criteria of the partner choice included the high availability of specialists for prompt interaction with the internal tech team of the project.
In the course of our collaboration, we managed to establish continuous close cooperation where we handle well-formed tasks, implement separate sub-projects, provide consulting on the introduction of new tech and services, and support the process of software development and deployment in terms of a collaborative project.
Work agenda
Stack of tasks
- Testing of deployment processes and services performance across all public cloud environments (MS, Azure, GCP, AWS, and OpenStack);
- Updating and optimization of Helm charts;
- Configuration of a centralized monitoring system with the development of detailed dashboards holding major business metrics per client’s services (Prometheus and Grafana);
- Implementation of a solution for collecting and downloading crashdump that is compatible with cloud providers;
- Development of an application for problem-solving (Go)
- integration of a MinIO service (Fluentd, Nginx (PVC) – creation of the drive for files storing);
- Integration of the service high availability utilizing availability zones;
- Introduction of the GitOps approach in terms of a new financial project
- automation of cluster deployments processes (CD) via Flux PoC with Flagger for combining deployment methods (Canary, Blue-Green)
- development of the deployment flow onto server resources per client based on the specifics of security policies;
- unification of deployment for different types of infrastructures;
- implementation of additional services;
- configuration of detailed metrics for the project’s services and notifications-related deploys;
- Implementation of the GlusteFS + Storage class file system for working with a Kubernetes cluster and Heketi interface.
Client requirements
- High level of field expertise and practical experience;
- High availability of specialists at all times;
- Critical (analytical) approach to implementing new solutions;
- Extensive troubleshooting experience and prompt reaction to workflow incidents.
What We Did
In the course of the project, we put to practice some of the top DevOps practices powered by our collaborative experience in order to improve the product’s end-customer deliverability rates for our client. That involved thoroughly investigating potential new solutions for achieving the set goals in the most optimal, universal way and enable the internal product team to unify solutions, easily deliver updates, and get detailed metrics on the state of services.
How we did it:
- We kicked off the project with the project’s helmcharts performance testing on our own powers across all public cloud providers – all optimizations were passed on to the client via a pull-request approach;
- Then, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the updated version of the helmcharts and passed the underlying recommendations to the internal project team;
- We completed project work on building a centralized monitoring system. All services business metrics were approved with the dev team in the demo format, based on which the required dashboards were designed;
- We also suggested and jointly implemented Flux Kubernetes cluster deployment, introducing the GitOps approach along the way;
- Lastly, we worked through solutions that should guarantee product’s high availability and processing of critical client-side issues;
- Currently, we continue developing and delivering solutions for joint financial projects.
DevOps tech stack
- Docker; Cloud services (all public providers), k8s, Helm charts;
- Terraform;
- GitLab, Flux, Flagger;
- Prometheus+Grafana, EFK, RabbitMQ;
- GlusterFS, MinIO, Heketi;
- OpenLDAP, kiali, keycloack.
Results
The client was looking for a reliable partner to handle scheduled tasks that help boost the quality level of the existing service, implement advanced DevOps techniques, and stay available for urgent requests. We have managed to establish flexible communication with a large distributed tech team of the project. Our partner clearly forms objectives and we know how to achieve this or that goal in the most optimal way and in the shortest terms possible.
Do you have a running or to-be-implemented project that requires a specialized DevOps approach and some outside expert perspective on optimizing its aspects throughout? We can help you achieve similar results in terms of your unique project. Contact us to discuss further details.
Dmitry has 5 years of professional IT experience developing numerous consumer & enterprise applications. Dmitry has also implemented infrastructure and process improvement projects for businesses of various sizes. Due to his broad experience, Dmitry quickly understands business needs and improves processes by using established DevOps tools supported by Agile practices.