Speaking at DevOpsDays Minneapolis 2021

I have been attended DevOpsDays Minneapolis for 4 years. Its always a great event with rockstar speakers and great content. I also always meet some great folks in the DevOps space.

This year I will be speaking at DevOpsDays Minneapolis! This is a huge honor for me as I have a lot of respect for the event organizers and its always world-class event! I will be speaking about Kubernetes and GitOps. My session can be found here: https://devopsdays.org/events/2021-minneapolis/speakers/steve-buchanan

The event is July 20th-21st. It will be a hybrid event (in-person & virtual). I will be speaking in person on the 20th.

Here is my session info:

GitOps and Kubernetes: a Winning Combo

GitOps is an emerging pattern for cloud-native applications. This operating model simplifies Kubernetes ops while simultaneously improving the developer experience. GitOps enables continuous delivery of configuration updates and application deployments to Kubernetes.

Through the lens of GitHub, Argo CD, and Azure Kubernetes Service, we’ll explore use cases and benefits, principles and practices, architecture and tooling, and what GitOps changes in our day-to-day.

Check out the full program for the event here: https://devopsdays.org/events/2021-minneapolis/program

For those that won’t be attending in person you can Live stream it on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_L5NW8kmClZyYz-HFgKsKA

———-Update 7/21/21———-

Today I delivered my session on GitOps and Kubernetes: a Winning Combo. This was my first in-person event since the pandemic in the US started. I went on stage right after Ian Coldwater gave the keynote. Ian had an amazing keynote talking about community, how the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd impacted Minneapolis last year along with how the community came together. I presented to a crowd of a few hundred as well as another couple hundred online.

The online reach of this event was amazing. I even received a message that my session was watched by some folks in Japan!

In my session, we went on a journey through how companies should focus on being software businesses moving to digital, how the pandemic accelerated companies and consumers going digital as well as companies using Kubernetes and GitOps as a way to help power digital transformation.

The conference organizers did a great job pulling off another excellent event while ensuring everyone followed safety guidelines.

Here is the stream recording of my session:

NOTE: If you are interested in learning more about GitOps check out my Pluralsight course titled “GitOps: The Big Picture” here: https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/gitops-the-big-picture

Read more

Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes: Getting Started – Pluralsight Course

Today Pluralsight published 1 of 2 Azure Arc courses I am building. This marks my 10th course on Pluralsight! This first course is Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes: Getting Started. Azure Arc is a key service in the Azure story extending Azure to the on-premises data center and or multiple clouds outside of Azure.

This course is just under 2 hours and packed full of information & demos to help you get started with the topic. I go into a deeper understanding of the multi-cloud market, Kubernetes in the enterprise, and Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes. Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes architecture. Setting up and using Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes. And using GitOps with Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes.

NEW 
RELEASES 
(-18 _ 
Google Cloud 
Understanding Google Cloud 
Security and Operations 
Google Cloud 
lh 17m 
Beginner 
Jun 2021 
Azure Arc Enabled 
Kubernetes: Getting Started 
Steve Buchanan 
Intermediate 
lh 57m 
Jun 2021 
Using the Xamarin.Forms 
Shell 
Christopher Miller 
Intermediate 
Jun 2021 
(30) 
lh 33m 
Demystifying the AWS 
Certified Developer: Associ... 
Ryan Lewis 
Intermediate 
Jun 2021 
57m 
(32)

I am excited about releasing this course for several reasons: #1 Azure Arc is a newer technology from Microsoft and I am happy to share my knowledge about it, #2 This one is a combination of Azure Arc, Kubernetes, & GitOps all technologies I have been working with regularly, #3 Azure is growing, Kubernetes is growing, and multi-cloud is growing all in the enterprise and this course covers all three of these.

Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes: Getting Started 
by 
w i u how end A«

Here is the description of the course:

Managing Kubernetes clusters across on-premises and multiple clouds can be disjointed and overly complicated. In this course, Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes: Getting Started, you’ll learn to how to manage external Kubernetes clusters with Azure Arc. First, you’ll explore what Azure Arc k8s is and how to use it. Next, you’ll discover the features of Azure Arc K8s and how to use them. Finally, you’ll learn how to how to use Azure Arc K8s and GitOps to deploy applications. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge of Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes needed to manage Kubernetes clusters across on-premises and multiple clouds.

Here are the areas and topics of the course:

Understanding Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes                

Intro and Topics                

Understanding Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes                

Understanding Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes Use Cases                

Understanding Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes Architecture                

Summary

 

Working with Kubernetes Clusters Using Azure Arc                

Intro and Topics                

Connecting Kubernetes Clusters to Azure Arc                

Demo: Connecting a Kubernetes Cluster to Azure Arc                

Monitoring projected Kubernetes Clusters with Azure Monitor and Azure Arc                

Demo: Setup Azure Monitor of Projected Kubernetes Cluster in Azure Arc                

Defining Authorization on Azure Arc Projected Kubernetes with Azure RBAC                

Protecting Azure Arc Projected Kubernetes Clusters with the Azure Defender                

Administering Projected Kubernetes Clusters with Azure Policy and Azure Arc                

Summary

 

Deploying Applications to Projected Kubernetes Clusters Using Azure Arc and GitOps                

Intro and Topics                

Understanding How GitOps Works with Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes                

Deploying Applications and Configurations to Projected Kubernetes Clusters with Azure Arc and GitOps                

Demo: Deployment of an Application to a Projected Kubernetes Cluster via GitOps and Azure Arc K8s                

Deploying Helm Charts to Projected Kubernetes Clusters with Azure Arc and GitOps                

Deploying IoT Workloads with Azure Arc and GitOps                

Understanding the Future of Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes                

Summary               

Here is a preview of the Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes course:

Here is a link to the full Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes course on Pluralsight: https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/azure-arc-enabled-kubernetes-getting-started

This course is also a part of the all new Azure Arc path titled “Managing Environments with Azure Arc” on Pluralsight. There are other courses in the path already such as Azure Arc: The Big Picture, Azure Arc-enabled Data Services: The Big Picture, and Azure Arc and Azure Lighthouse: First Look and many more Azure Arc courses on the way.

Managing Environments with Azure Arc 
This learning path introduces you to Microsoft's latest Azure offering: 
Anne Arc. With able to and 
deployed within of Azwe through the same 
control plane. As pu watch the courses in this path, first gain a 
of Arc and its befMe rm•mg 
to leaming product's specific including 
Azure Arc-enabled servers, Azure Arc-enabled data services, Azure Arc- 
«labled SOL 
leaming. Azure Arc and Amre At end of 
this learning path, you'll have a good foundation of knowledge to get 
started with Anne 
Related Topics 
Azure. SOL Server. Kubernetes. Machine Learning. Azure 
Light o 
Prerequisites 
Learners interested in path have experience With Azure administration and be familiar With the 
fund—Ital coruepts of data SOL 
What You Will Learn 
F u nd—-vtal Äpts 
AA' re with 
AA' re Arc's vah_æ and off«ings 
HOW Azure Arc enabled Se•rvetS work 
How Azure Arc enabled SOL Server works 
HOW Azure Arc enabled machine learning works 
How Azure Arc and Azure 
Authors 
Add ed to channel 
New questions are jn_theworks. 
with the courses below. 
Ben a Data MVP. with SOL siQ SOL 
Sewer mainly in the al/Datawarehousing held, Besides his muralsi9ht courses, Ben is_ 
Steve Buchanan is a Director, & Midwest Containers Services Lead on a Cloud 
Trarßfotmati•M/DevOps team with a large He is a 9-time '&rOSOft 
Niraj is a AWS/Azure Specialist with over a decade of work experience "Ito 
Data Modeling with Databases like Cassarudra, M0090Da, SparkSG•L ElasticSearch and SOL

Here is a link to check out the new Azure Arc path: https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skills/managing-environments-with-azure-arc

I hope you find value in this new Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes: Getting Started course. Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release new courses including my second Azure Arc related course! 

Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow mehttps://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/steve-buchanan

Read more

Guest on New Relic Observy McObservface Podcast – GitOps, Kubernetes, Linux on Azure, AI, Blockchain, and more

I was recently a guest on New Relic‘s Developer Relations team podcast “Observy McObservface” with Jonan Scheffler.

Jonan Scheffler and I talk about Microsoft’s Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Linux on Azure, how Microsoft’s been successful at working in enterprise and open source, where I believe GitOps & Kubernetes is eventually going to go, and my excitement in regards to AI and blockchain as well as how they’re going to impact the world. You can listen to the podcast and read the article links below.

Listen to the Podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1225223/8618776-open-is-not-optional-shifting-sands-and-faxing-on-blockchains-with-steve-buchanan

Read the Article:
https://www.therelicans.com/mandymoore/open-is-not-optional-shifting-sands-and-faxing-on-blockchains-with-steve-buchanan-495p

Read more

Speaking at Open Source North on Azure Arc K8s and GitOps

I am excited to be speaking at Open Source North Conference for the first time this year. It will be on May 20th, 2021.

I will be speaking on Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes and GitOps. My session is titled: “Push Code, Not Containers with Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes and GitOps“. The description is:

Use Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes to manage Kubernetes clusters across Google Cloud Platform and Azure without running a single Kubectl command! In this session, Steve Buchanan will take you into the world of GitOps. He will show you how to deploy applications and configuration to GKE clusters and AKS clusters from a GitHub repository. Explore how we can use this new operating model for Kubernetes and cloud-native apps to declaratively describe and ensure the state of our applications and Kubernetes environments.

You can see my speaker profile and session here: https://opensourcenorth.com/speakers

Register for the conference here: https://hopin.com/events/open-source-north

—-Update—-

The session went great! Here is a recording of the session in case you missed the event:

https://vimeo.com/user131685752/review/554446642/196569f760?sort=lastUserActionEventDate&direction=desc
https://vimeo.com/user131685752/review/554446642/196569f760?sort=lastUserActionEventDate&direction=desc

Read more

New ebook – Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes for Multicloud on O’Reilly

After 6 books with many authors from Packt, APress, & Sams/Pearson I finally had the chance to author a book with O’Reilly. This is an ebook so it can be found and read on the O’Reilly online platform.

It is a great platform that I use personally for my own learning. On their platform, you can find ebooks, books across many publishers (most of my books are on there), video training, and even live training.

This book brings together 4 exciting technologies/topics including Azure, Kubernetes, GitOps, and multi-cloud. The book is shorter than my typical books since it is an ebook. It is only 35 pages and is designed for fast & easy consumption to get an overview of the technology and get an early start.

In this book, we take a journey into one of Microsoft’s newest cloud services Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes (Arc K8s). We explore what Azure Arc K8s is, how it extends the Azure control plane to Kubernetes clusters to manage, secure, and govern them, as well as how GitOps sits are the core of application deployment to Kubernetes clusters and a driver of consistent configuration management for Kubernetes clusters.

Azure Arc is a Microsoft product that promises to extend the Azure control plane for Kubernetes across multiple clouds and on-premises, but how does it do this? In this ebook we will dissect Azure Arc K8s and how it becomes a secret weapon for managing Kubernetes clusters across on-premises, multiple clouds, and regardless of your own rolled Kubernetes clusters or managed services based Kubernetes clusters such as GKE, EKS, etc. I also want to give a shout-out to Michael Levan for reviewing this ebook!

Key Areas from the ebook include:

-Understand the new management challenges that multicloud brings
-Learn how Azure Arc drives consistent governance, security, and management across multicloud
-Gain valuable insights into Microsoft’s Azure ARM control plane for Kubernetes
-Learn how Azure Arc manages Kubernetes clusters across on-premises and multiple cloud deployments
-Explore the GitOps technology pattern and operating model for cloud native applications and Kubernetes
-Use Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes and GitOps to deploy configurations and applications to Kubernetes clusters

Check out the new ebook here: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/azure-arc-enabled/9781098102647

Also keep an eye on my O’Reilly author page here https://www.oreilly.com/pub/au/8326 for any future projects I have with them.

Read more

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

I will be speaking at the LASU TechX conference on Friday. I will be talking about the “Available Container Technologies in Azure”. I will go into what containers are, how they compare to VM’s, types of containers, things to consider before containerizing applications, what container service in Azure to use in what case, and more.

About The Event:

LASU TechX conference is an event that is aimed at attracting students and all tech enthusiasts within and outside the university (Lagos State University). This event is co-organized by Kazeem Adegboyega.

Speakers include:

Microsoft MVP – Samuel Erskine
Microsoft MVP – Isidora Kitanic
Chris Hoard
Microsoft MVP – Adnan Hendricks
Microsoft Employee – Holly Lehman
Microsoft MVP – Steve Buchanan
Ayodeji Folarin

Here is a flyer for the event:

For more details on the event and to register go here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lasu-techx-conference-2021-tickets-135555055821

Read more

Speaking at Microsoft Ignite 2020

I am excited to announce that I am one of the experts in several Ask the Expert sessions during Microsoft Ignite 2020 this week.

I will be a part of a variety of sessions with topics ranging from Linux and PowerShell on Azure, Kubernetes on Azure, Azure Migration, and Transforming Windows Server workloads in Azure.

My Speaker profile:

https://myignite.microsoft.com/speaker/ce1ea0e0-3f42-4986-90ab-aee809e3735d

The sessions are:

Here is the link to the Ignite home page myignite.microsoft.com. I hope to see you on the digital Ignite event and in one of the Ask the Expert Sessions!

Update 9/30/2020

Being a part of several Ask the Expert sessions was really fun! My most memorable session was the Ask the Expert: Linux and PowerShell on Azure session.

This session was packed full of superstars from Microsoft product groups and fellow MVPs including; Jeffery Snover, Jason Helmick, Janaka Rangama, and Alexander Nikolić. Here is a screenshot from the session:

After the session, I tweeted about the session and shared some wisdom about PowerShell, and both Jeffery Snover and Jason Helmick retweet my tweet!

2020 is not all bad. It’s pretty cool when the inventor of PowerShell and the PowerShell Program Manager retweet you!

Read more

30 Minutes of Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS)

Today I went on “Tech Talk Wednesday” a podcast and radio show with Kazeem Adegboyega The topic was “30 Minutes of Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS)“. It streamed online via Microsoft Teams and aired in Lagos, Nigeria on Lagos State University (LASU) radio (95.7).

I had a great time talking with Kazeem! Even Sam Erskine made a guest appearance. If you missed the live show you can watch it on YouTube:

Or go directly to the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7GCHQudCWg

Read more

Tech Talk Wednesday Guest – Topic: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

I am honored to be a guest next Wednesday, August 26th on the “Tech Talk Wednesday” podcast and radio show with Kazeem Adegboyega (@KazeemCanTeach)! We will be chatting about Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

This show will be streamed online via Microsoft Teams and will air in Lagos, Nigeria on Lagos State University (LASU) radio (95.7)!

One of my goals is to help spread knowledge about tech in Africa and showcase African technologists in the US. This is the first step in that journey.

Be sure to tune in. Go here to register: http://kazeem.com.ng/index.php/tech-talk

Don’t worry if you can’t make the live stream. It will be recorded and posted later on Kazeem’s website.

Read more

Guest on “Lisa at the Edge” Podcast EP13

I recently had the honor of being a guest on the “Lisa at the Edge” Podcast. Lisa is a Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Strategist and an influencer in the hybrid cloud community based out of Scotland. She runs a blog and this year she started a popular podcast.

On Lisa’s podcast, she covers Careers in Tech and Microsoft Hybrid Cloud and a range of other topics with experts across the tech community.

This is an episode you don’t want to miss. This was one of the most entertaining podcasts I have been on. It took some interesting turns in regards to topics and very engaging. In the podcast episode Lisa and I talk about:

  • Evolving your career as technology evolves
  • Transformation of IT dept to Strategic Business Partner
  • DevOps
  • Containers 101
  • Azure Kubernetes Service
  • Diversity in tech

You can listen to the episode here:


or here
https://anchor.fm/lisaattheedge/episodes/EP13—Career-Development–Containers-101-and-Diversity-in-Tech-with-Steve-Buchanan-efnjrp

You can stay up to date with what Lisa is doing in the tech community here:

Lisa at the Edge Podcast – – https://anchor.fm/lisaattheedge
Lisa at the Edge Blog – https://lisaattheedge.com/blog/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/lisaattheedge

Read more