Azure

Speaking at MMS 2022 in Person!

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MMSMOA is back in person for 2022. I am excited to be heading back to present a session and be on some panels!

Here is the MMS website: https://mmsmoa.com

My session will be with my friend and co-author of my latest book John Joyner.

Here are the session details:

Azure Arc: Extending Hyperscale Cloud Management to Your Datacenter

Description:

Learn about Microsoft’s Azure Arc service, a new multi-cloud management platform that belongs in every cloud or DevOps estate. The premise of Azure Arc is compelling: why not extend familiar management tools proven in Azure to on-premise and other cloud networks? A practical scenario-based tour will get you up to speed quickly, with instruction and demos that are heavy with hands-on experience. If your organization has resources across the hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and edge environments, then this session is for you. You will learn how to configure and use Azure Arc to uniformly manage workloads across all of these environments.

What you will learn:

  • Introduces the basics of hybrid, multi-cloud, and edge computing and how Azure Arc fits into that IT strategy
  • Insights into Azure native management tooling for managing on-premises servers and extending to other clouds
  • Detail an end-to-end hybrid server monitoring scenario leveraging Azure Monitor and/or Microsoft Sentinel that is seamlessly delivered by Azure Arc
  • Define a blueprint to achieve regulatory compliance with industry standards using Azure Arc, delivering Azure Policy from Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Session link to register here: mms2022atmoa.sched.com/event/yDOu/azure-arc-extending-hyperscale-cloud-management-to-your-datacenter

I will also be a part of these panels:

Cloud Adoption Roundtable

Are you thinking about starting the cloud journey, or are you an experienced cloud engineer already?  Come join this interactive session where we will talk all things cloud!  We will have a round-table discussion about what resources are available, where to find them, and which ones are better than others.  Talk with experienced cloud architects about the mistakes they’ve seen and how to avoid them.  Come listen to stories, enjoy a few drinks, and have a great time talking about the cloud movement.

What you will learn:

  • How to begin your cloud adoption journey
  • What resources are available to start your migration process, and how to find them
  • Common mistakes/pitfalls
  • Q&A with cloud adoption survivors

https://mms2022atmoa.sched.com/event/102rB/cloud-adoption-roundtable

Cloud AMA – Come ask the Cloud MVPs Anything

This session will be an open format Q&A. Come ask your burning questions in front of a live audience and get real-time feedback from cloud MVP’s and SME’s. No question too hard, no topic off-limits. Wanted to know why something was built the way it was? Want to know how to accomplish something you’ve been working on for months? Have a general question about Azure in general? Come, listen, ask.

https://mms2022atmoa.sched.com/event/zp1h/cloud-ama-come-ask-the-cloud-mvps-anything

Hope to see you at MMS 2022!

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Tech Talk with Kazeem – Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes for Beginners

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I was a guest on Tech Talk with Kazeem again! The topic of discussion was Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes for Beginners.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is TechTalk-w-Kazeem-2022-ArcK8s-2.pngThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is TechTalk-w-Kazeem-2022-ArcK8s-1.png
@KazeemCanTeach & @buchatech@buchatech Azure Arc K8s book with O’Reilly

In the discussion with me and Microsoft MVP Kazeem Adegboyega, we talked about Azure Stack, AKS, Azure Arc: K8s, and GitOps! We talked about each technology and when to use them for what purpose and more.

You can check it out here:

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Dok Talks #121 – Running Stateful Apps in Kubernetes Made Simple

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I am giving a talk for the Data on Kubernetes Community (DoKC) Community next week. They are a user group like community that focuses on how to build and operate data-centric applications on Kubernetes. Be sure to check them out! The DoK website is: https://dok.community.

My talk is titled: “Running Stateful Apps in Kubernetes Made Simple“

ABSTRACT OF THE TALK

Eventually, the time will come to run a stateful app in Kubernetes. This can be a scary thing adding more moving parts to a Kubernetes cluster and deploying as well as managing your app on Kubernetes when it requires state.

In this talk, Steve Buchanan will take you through a journey of understanding how storage works in Kubernetes, how to Persistent state with pods, what storage options are available with Azure Kubernetes Service, best practices, and a demo of deploying a stateful app to AKS.

In the demo, I will show how to deploy stateful Worpress & Jenkins workloads on Azure Kubernetes Service using the GitOps model with Argo CD.

KEY TAKE-AWAYS FROM THE TALK

Overview of Storage in Kubernetes covering Storage Classes, Persistent Volumes, & Persistent Volume Claims. Overview of Azure Storage, Best Practices to running stateful apps in Kubernetes.

Register here:

https://www.meetup.com/Data-on-Kubernetes-community/events/284283907/

——-Update——-

If you missed the session you can stream it here:

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Cloudbusting Podcast Guest EP130 – Diving into Jucy Lucy, & Root Canal’s with a little Kubernetes, Azure Arc, & GitOps on the side

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This was a fun podcast with Jez Ward, and Dave Chapman of Cloudreach. They run a podcast called Cloudbusting. On the podcast they focus on transformation, leadership, ways of working and emerging technology they explore the significant impact that cloud is having on people and businesses.

On this podcast episode, we set out to answer very important questions such as what are Jucy Lucy’s?, what are root Canals like today? oh, and yeah we also spend some time talking about what Containers, Kubernetes, & GitOps are and how they fit in the cloud.

Check out the podcast episode here:

https://www.cloudreach.com/en/podcasts/diving-into-kubernetes-azure-arc-gitops-episode-130

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Guest on the Disrupting the Cloud Podcast

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Recently I was a guest on the Disrupting the Cloud Podcast. This podcast is hosted by some of my fellow Microsoft colleagues LaBrina Loving and Brandon Martinez!

On the podcast episode, we discussed a number of topics starting with transitioning from working with hardware and software in the field to consulting, GitOps and its role in the DevOps ecosystem, authoring books/Pluralsight courses, SharePoint, System Center, Azure Arc, Kubernetes, and more!

More info about the podcast is here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/disruptthecloud
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/disruptingthecloud

The hosts Twitter accounts:

LaBrina on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chixcancode
Brandon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandonmartinez

You can listen to the podcast episode here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1216931/9991415

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Next Chapter – Joining Microsoft

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I am excited to announce the next chapter in my career. It has been a long time coming, I am joining Microsoft (going to the mothership). I will be joining an elite team focused on Azure product improvement in one of the engineering orgs as a Principal Program Manager. I will be focused on improving Azure’s end-to-end open-source & Kubernetes experiences as well as working with multiple clouds. Several things excite me about this role such as; the talented folks on the team, being a part of improving the Azure, continuing to expand my open-source skills, continuing to expand my multi-cloud skills, and working with various product groups as well as leadership.

I am really looking forward to this change in my career as I will be moving from the consulting discipline to the product/cloud provider discipline. I view this as a soft reboot to my career, the next chapter in my book, and the 3rd lap in the race of my career. The possibilities where this will lead are endless and will open many new doors.

With this move, I will no longer be a Microsoft MVP. Microsoft employees cannot be Microsoft MVPs. After 10 years as a Microsoft MVP, I will surely miss being a part of the MVP family. However, I will continue to contribute to the technical community through blogging, speaking at conferences, user groups, creating content such as e-books, sharing my insights on podcasts, and creating more Pluralsight courses! Sharing my knowledge is a part of who I am. Buchatech will live on! I look forward to working with folks from the other side of the table and continuing to interact/collaborate with folks in the community!

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Azure Arc Book Published

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I am excited to kick off the new year announcing that my 8th book has been published! This book is “Azure Arc-Enabled Kubernetes and Servers“.

I had the honor to co-author this book with a long-time friend and fellow Microsoft MVP John Joyner. This is John’s latest book since his last 8 years ago!

The forward was written by Thomas Maurer a former MVP and now Microsoft Azure Evangelist. This book was reviewed by fellow Microsoft MVP Adnan Hendricks and a chapter contributed by a buddy of mine Fred Limmer.

This book covers an exciting technology from Microsoft exploring Azure Arc-Enabled Kubernetes and Servers. This book is for DevOps professionals, system administrators, security professionals, cloud admins, and IT professionals that are responsible for servers or Kubernetes clusters both on-premises and in the cloud.

Author copies!

This book covers:

  • Introduces the basics of hybrid, multi-cloud, and edge computing and how Azure Arc fits into that IT strategy
  • Teaches the fundamentals of Azure Resource Manager, setting the reader up with the knowledge needed on the technology that underpins Azure Arc
  • Offers insights into Azure native management tooling for managing on-premises servers and extending to other clouds
  • Details an end-to-end hybrid server monitoring scenario leveraging Azure Monitor and/or Azure Sentinel that is seamlessly delivered by Azure Arc
  • Defines a blueprint to achieve regulatory compliance with industry standards using Azure Arc, delivering Azure Policy from Azure Defender for Servers
  • Explores how Git and GitHub integrate with Azure Arc; delves into how GitOps is used with Azure Arc
  • Empowers your DevOps teams to perform tasks that typically fall under IT operations
  • Dives into how to best use Azure CLI with Azure Arc

You can order the book and watch for its official release here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1484277678

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End of Year (2021) Review

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This year was another abnormal year with ups and downs for many. Salute to everyone that kept pushing through any and all hardships you experienced. For me, my focus continued to be family and seizing all presented opportunities while blocking out as much unnecessary noise as possible.

Highlights:

I consider 2021 a spectacular year with several milestones and firsts for me. This year kicked off with me being featured in the Star Tribune (the 5th largest newspaper in the United States) in Superbowl Sunday’s paper! Other major highlights included being renewed as a Microsoft MVP for the 10th year, being promoted to an Azure Platform Offering Lead at work, developing 6 new courses for Pluralsight, publishing my 7th and 8th book one of them being my 1st book with O’Reilly, appearing on 5 podcasts/webinars, & speaking at 7 conferences/user groups of them being DevOpsDays MPLS! I also continued my virtual world tour speaking at events in Africa and even Jamaica!

Here is the full list of activities from 2021:

–February 2021: Featured as a technology leader in Minnesota’s largest newspaper Star Tribune. Was a full page story. Bonus this was the super bowl Sunday newspaper.  https://m.startribune.com/twin-cities-technologist-steve-buchanan-sees-a-more-inclusive-expanding-future-for-young-minorities/600019839

Article on Star Tribune

–February 2021: Published GitOps course on Pluralsight showcasing knowledge in AKS, Azure Arc, Kubernetes and GitOps.

GitOps: The Big Picture

–February 2021: Presented at Omaha Azure User group on Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes & GitOps. 

Speaking at Omaha Azure User Group

–February 2021: Presented on Containers in Azure for Lago’s (Nigeria) LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY (LASU) TECHX CONFERENCE. 

Speaking on “Containers in Azure” at Lagos State University (LASU) TechX conference

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Registering an Azure Kubernetes Service Cluster with Argo CD

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Argo CD is a GitOps operator and the goal of it is to be able to deploy apps to Kubernetes. In the majority of cases, we want to use Argo CD to deploy apps to many clusters.

Argo CD itself is deployed as a set of pods on a Kubernetes cluster. By default with an Argo CD deployment, the cluster it is running on is set as “in-cluster” (https://kubernetes.default.svc). When apps are configured for deployment a Kubernetes Cluster under Destination is required. They can be deployed to either the “in-cluster” K8s cluster or an external K8s cluster.

In order to deploy apps to an external Kubernetes cluster, you will need to register an external K8s cluster with Argo CD.

If you want to see the clusters you have registered with your Argo CD one way is through the web UI. Once you log in navigate to Settings and then Clusters to see them.

You can also see the clusters you have in the Argo CD CLI. To use the Argo CD CLI you need to log into the Argo CD API Server as shown in the following screenshot.

To see what clusters are registered from the CLI you can run

argocd cluster list

You will notice that you will only see the In-Cluster K8s cluster until you add an external one. Also, note that you are not able to register a new K8 cluster in the Argo CD web UI. You can only register a new K8s cluster from the Argo CD CLI. Within the Argo CD web UI you can delete the default in-cluster K8s cluster. This is not recommended.

If you click on the In-Cluster K8s cluster you can modify some settings of the in-cluster K8s cluster in the Argo CD web UI such as the name of it and its namespace. Not useful when you want to have more control over the settings around the K8s cluster you will be deploying apps to.

In my example, my Azure subscription has two AKS clusters. You can see this in the following screenshot. The arriving-gelding-k8s cluster is my In-Cluster object in Argo CD. The selected-worm-k8s is not my In-Cluster so I want to add this one to my Argo CD.

To add the new external cluster run use the following steps.

Step 1: Add your target K8s cluster to ArgoCD via the context in your kubectl config.

-For AKS you can simply log into your Azure subscription from VS Code on your computer and then run

 az aks get-credentials –resource-group RGNAME –name AKSCLUSTERNAME

This will add the context for your AKS cluster to your kubeconfig file.

-For the process on your setup refer to the following link as it may differ:  https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/access-application-cluster/configure-access-multiple-clusters

Step 2: List the K8 cluster contexts in your current kubeconfig file to ensure your target cluster has been added. Do this by locally running:

kubectl config get-contexts -o name

Step 3: Install a Service Account (argocd-manager), into the kube-system namespace of your kubeconfig file context:

argocd cluster add CONTEXTNAME

It will look like this:

After completing the previous steps you can run argocd cluster list again or go into the portal. You will see your new cluster added.

That wraps up this blog post. Now you should be able to deploy to more than just your In-Cluster Kubernetes cluster. Check back soon for more posts on Argo CD, GitOps, Kubernetes, and Azure topics.

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Deploy App to Azure Kubernetes Service via Argo CD

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In my last post on Argo CD with AKS, I mentioned the next post would explore deploying an app via Argo CD. Well, in this post we are going to do just that. I am going to walk through deploying an app from Argo CD to AKS. Note this same process would work for any Kubernetes cluster. This is not going to be a long post as the process is straightforward.

First of all, you can deploy an app from the Argo CD web UI or CLI. Ready your application in a Git-based repository. It does not matter what source control system you use for your repository as long as it is Git-based. You can use Azure DevOps, Gitlab, Bit Bucket etc. In my case I use GitHub. To deploy an app you need to point to a Git repository of either K8s manifest, Helm, or Kustomize. In this blog post I am going to keep it simple and use the Hello K8s app from Paul Bouwer. Ok, now let’s jump in.

Here are the steps for Deploying an App to Argo CD within the Web UI:

  1. In the Argo CD web UI ensure you are on the Applications page
  2. Click the + NEW APP button
  3. Give the app the name hellok8s, use the project default (I used a dev project in my example), select Automatic for the sync policy, check AUTO-CREATE NAMESPACE
  4. On Source for the Repo URL use https://github.com/paulbouwer/hello-kubernetes.git & select deploy/helm/hello-kubernetes for the path
  5. For the DESTINATION select https://kubernetes.default.svc for the Cluster URL and use hellok8s for the namespace
  6. Leave all the defaults under HELM
  7. Click the CREATE button at the top of the UI

Once the app is deployed it will look like this:

You can view the resources in AKS now. In the following screenshot you can see the deployment, pods, and service of a load balancer type.

You can also speed things up by deploying your app via the Argo CD CLI. This will accomplish the same goal as you would deploying the app via the Argo CD Web UI.

Deploying an App to Argo CD from the Argo CD CLI:

argocd app create hellok8s –repo https://github.com/paulbouwer/hello-kubernetes.git –path deploy/helm/hello-kubernetes –dest-server https://kubernetes.default.svc –dest-namespace default

That wraps things up for this post. Check back soon for more posts on Argo CD, GitOps, Kubernetes, and Azure topics.

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