Automate and simplify multi cloud complexity with f5 and hashi corp

Editor's Notes

• #3: When I was in the trenches, being in IT was about knowing technology. How to connect devices, deploy applications, and making sure the printer worked. It wasn’t about understanding processes and people. Today IT is about transforming business so it can succeed in a digital economy. IT is no longer just support for or services to the business. IT is a critical part of the business. That can be stressful, especially when outside forces accelerate that transformation. IT’s stressful for everyone who has had to transition to online everything, and emotions are high, especially when things go wrong.
• #4: The good news is we can get through this by taking it one step at a time. We can step back and focus on what matters –people. Every aspect of technology today is focused on experience. That’s not just for customers, it’s for developers and operators of technology too. Every single person involved interacts with applications on a daily basis to work, relax, to pay their bills, to gather groceries. They only have 24 hours in a day. Their time is valuable. They shouldn’t spend it waiting for an app to respond or an approval to push code or an instance to launch. Time is too valuable to waste. Now, all three of these people are ultimately connected by the code that is developed, delivered, and ultimately consumed whether it lives in this cloud or that cloud or on-premises. If we want to value the time of any of these people, we have to address the challenges impacting the other two. Today we’re going to focus on multi-cloud, because our research tell us that 51% of organizations are operating in two to six different public cloud properties and 97% of them report facing challenges related to that reality. And also because that’s what the title of this session says we have to focus on.
• #6: When we scaled out the business in the past, we did it DC to DC. We duplicated everything – down to the brand of server, router, and switches. Today, we don’t do that. We use the cloud – multiple clouds to be precise – to scale out. But when we do that, we don’t have the control we did with a secondary or tertiary data center. So we don’t duplicate as much. We put together a mini-data center using a variety of hardware, software, and tools.
• #7: It’s that heterogeneity that causes some of our stress. We’re overwhelmed by the number of different systems we need to interact with on a daily basis to do our jobs. The last thing you want – or need – right now is another console, another dashboard, another API, and another tool to complicate your already complicated workflows. This isn’t Pokemon after all. You don’t have to collect them all. But applications need support.
• #8: Applications were not designed or developed with operational functions such as scale, security, and availability in mind these functions – application services - are inserted into the path between the application and its end user during deployment. They provide critical operational and business functions required to ensure a fast, secure user experience. The application services that deliver and secure applications are a heterogeneous mix of commercial, cloud-based, and open source solutions. Each adds complexity with distinct operational consoles, APIs, and policies. The majority (69%) of organizations use 10 or more different application services to scale, secure, and speed up applications. Each environment (cloud) adds complexity when we mix and match application services from multiple sources because each brings its own console, dashboard, and operational model. But from this complexity appears an opportunity to simplify.
• #9: We need to be mindful that application services span the entire IT organization – and into development. Nearly half of IT operates in siloed teams that often rely on manual handoffs and multiple approvals. We need to process experts and diplomats in order to simplify the process.
• #10: Here’s a more concrete example. We can simplify this by reducing the number of handoffs across the workstream. We can increase speed by programmatically managing each transition to enable continuous deployment.
• #11: Reduce complexity by reducing the number of tools and languages used to deploy all the pieces and parts of an application in any environment. Shared tools means shared skills, knowledge, and reduced friction that enables faster time to market and faster time to resolution. Repeatability means the same processes are used again and again, which leads to fewer defects and problems and efficiencies. There’s a reason people gravitate toward older versions of anything – because it’s tried and proven, and the predictability means people can focus on improvements and innovation instead of incident resolution.
• #12: By automating deployment and operations, IT simplifies the complexity of multi-cloud realities and enables everyone across the organization – from developers to operators to customers that ultimately interact via applications.
• #13: Today we’re going to focus on challenges arising from the reality of multi-cloud models, specifically some of the tools to codify repeatable processes that reduce the burden on operations and enable self-service for developers that ultimately produces exceptional customer experiences through applications.
• #15: When I started at F5 we realized that load balancing wasn’t enough. So over the years through acquisitions and organic development, we’ve expanded our capabilities and skill sets across it functions and cloud properties. No matter what your application is or where it’s going to be deployed, you can have a consistent set of services across all your apps, wherever they live. That means fewer dashboards, fewer consoles, and a consistent way to deploy security policies across all applications.
• #16: Automating a single task – like updating a firewall – is pretty easy. But automating entire processes across an entire application is actually pretty hard. We’ve worked hard to make it simpler and that’s why we partner with companies like Hashicorp who also work hard to simplify that complexity. Because we believe automation isn’t worth it unless it’s simple.
• #17: Our integration with Hashicorp starts with a BIG-IP provider for Terraform that enables zero-day provisioning in any cloud property.
• #18: But provisioning is just the first step, and day two operations are an important part of automation. We call this zero-touch app delivery because the integration here is between Consul and BIG-IP. We use Consul service discovery to keep BIG-IP pools updated to ensure the applications and services can automatically scale and are always available. Increase NetOps Productivity 80% of customers say lack of automation is a top pain point. Reduce Risk of Outages Eliminate error prone manual steps through automation. Enable Multi-Cloud Networking Enable organizations to expand application footprints across multiple clouds.
• #19: And let’s not forget that NGINX is a part of F5 and NGINX+ also integrates with Consul Connect to simplify dynamic environments. Consul service discovery capabilities configure and keep current the application resources needed to maintain exceptional customer experiences with availability and performance when NGINX+ is acting as an ingress controller.
• #20: Finally, not every application is modern, cloud-native, or containerized. I’ve written code that’s still running. My mother has written code that’s still running. Trust me, containers weren’t a thing when those apps were developed. Those apps are often core to the business and need to be accessed by new apps. Bridging the existing and the emerging is one of the tasks BIG-IP is well suited to. It can act as a terminating gateway for Consul Service Mesh and ensure security using mTLS. Better yet, it can bridge on-premises (where a lot of those traditional applications reside) and the cloud, where many of modern applications are now deployed. This is an example of simplifying architecture, to take advantage of existing investments while simultaneously enjoying the benefits of modern technology. Because we aren’t just technologists, today, we’re also business analysts understand the hard and soft costs of adopting yet another platform.
• #21: We also believe automation isn’t worth it if it’s not repeatable. Repeatability is another way to reduce complexity by making sure that we’re not duplicating scripts for every application. That’s a maintenance nightmare that isn’t going to make our lives any less stressful. Using tools like
• #22: Our partnership with HashiCorp is wholly focused on reducing the complexity of deploying and operating applications and infrastructure in a multi-cloud world, remotely. We think HashiCorp’s Cloud Operating Model provides a great guide to simplifying operations and enjoying the benefits of automation from day 0 forward. Can we get rid of all the dashboards, consoles, and APIs? No. But we can reduce and simplify deployment and operations and keep your inbox a little lighter and your days at your desk a little shorter.
• #23: It’s a stressful time to be in IT. Digital transformation has been accelerated by forces beyond our control, and we’re being asked to step up beyond technology to become process, people, and business experts. The good news is that you’ve got this. With the right tools and technology, you can simplify multi-cloud complexity and be the IT that delivers exceptional experiences to developers, operators, and ultimately, your customers.