Introducing Weekly Office Hours - GitOps, K8s, Cloud Native
Want to know common mistakes managing clusters on EKS? Curious how commercial GitOps licenses could be worth the price? Would you like to see which runtime policies can keep you from getting fired? Join our weekly Office Hours!
For the past couple of weeks we have been working on a new concept of weekly informal chats on GitOps, Kubernetes and cloud native. Joe Dahlquist, VP of Product Marketing, is inviting a rotating cast of colleagues, friends and partners in the community to discuss Flux CD, open source and other trending software development topics. We all know that staying at the forefront of innovation is crucial - so come learn with us!
Flux CD and Backstage: A Natural Fit
Week 1 started off with "Backstage integration for Flux" and an insightful discussion and demo featuring our inaugural guest, Steve Fraser, Solution Architect at Weaveworks.
Flux CD, an open-source GitOps operator, has been on an incredible journey, recently adding the Flux plugin for Backstage to its portfolio of extensions. Backstage, the developer-centric portal, is making waves for Cloud Native integration. But why Backstage? Because it provides a unique view of application management. Backstage's developer-centric approach simplifies managing resources, reduces context switching, and streamlines your workflow.
Key Features
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Deep-Linking Capabilities: Quick access to essential information from Backstage to Flux CD.
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Resource Details: Get granular information about your resources, clusters, and deployment status.
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Lifecycles and Dependencies: Visualize the entire application lifecycle and trace every step.
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Policy Management: Manage policies and compliance with Weave GitOps Policy Agent.
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OCI Repository Integration: Store manifests in Docker images and enhance security and compliance.
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CoSign for Security: Sign and verify images for robust security and compliance.
The Flux plugin for Backstage simplifies the DevOps landscape, offering a cohesive and efficient solution for developers and DevOps engineers.
Getting Started
If you're using Backstage and Flux CD, adding the Flux plugin is easy. Find it on backstage.io, complete with detailed documentation – all free and open-source.
Watch the "Backstage integration for Flux" Office Hours episode recap:
Nov 1: GitOps Extension for VSCode
Learn how you can gain instant visibility into reconcilers or push a change directly from VScode confidently.
Sign upThe user interface for Flux
Week 2 followed up with a very practical approach to "Observability for Flux CD" with Darryl Weaver, Solution Architect at Weaveworks.
The fastest way to start creating observability for Flux CD is with Weave GitOps Assured, which comprises several open-source components, such as Flux CD, Flagger, Weave Policy Agent, and more, running on Kubernetes clusters. These components enable progressive delivery and policy controls. It empowers you to efficiently manage Kubernetes applications, enforce policies, and gain in-depth insights through its user interface.
The Demo
Weave GitOps provides a powerful user interface, offering detailed insights into your applications.
You can inspect applications, view the latest updates, and check the last sync status.
Dive into individual apps to examine details, the Git repository source, and resources deployed.
Get insights into deployment history and view a graphical representation of deployed objects.
Additional noteworthy components
Weave Policy Agent enforces policies, like replica counts, to ensure best practices.
The UI supports various repositories and sources, such as Git, Helm, OCI, and S3.
Image automation simplifies Docker image updates and deployments.
A bit more on the why
Get enterprise-grade support, CVE updates, and access to a library of integrations.
It also includes Flamingo, an extension of Argo CD UI, which offers a mixed deployment experience for platform and application teams.
If you are interested in learning more about Weave GitOps Assured, visit our product page or contact us for a demo.
Watch the "Observability for Flux CD" Office Hours episode recap:
Upcoming Office Hours
Join us weekly each Wednesday for a live Office Hours session.
On November 1 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 7pm CET, the topic will be "GitOps Extension for VSCode" and the hosts for this session include Joe Dahlquist, VP Product Marketing, and Juozas Gaigalas, DX Engineer at Weaveworks.
Learn how Application Developers benefit from the GitOps extension for VSCode with:
- Instant visibility into the reconcilers (Workloads, Sources).
- Capability to push a change from the editor and move on quickly with confidence, with reduced context switching.
- Simple and quick workflows to onboard app dev teams to Flux CD.
Nov 1: GitOps Extension for VSCode
Learn how you can gain instant visibility into reconcilers or push a change directly from VScode confidently.
