Making Easy = Right (DevOps @ Wotif)

DevOps @ Wotif Making Easy = Right

Alexandra Spillane • @ajbw Matt Callanan • @mcallana

Right

Easy

Outline

•  What is “The Right Thing”? •  How do we Make it Easy? •  Lessons Learned

Making Easy = Right 2

What is “The Right Thing”? DevOps @ Wotif: Making Easy = Right


“The Right Thing”


Collaborate!

Automate!

But… The Dev<->Ops Chasm


What Were we Doing Wrong?


Downward Spiral of Manual Activity


Entrenched Silos


High Release Overheads


Huge Batch Sizes


Calendar of Doom


Unpredictable Prioritisation


Superstitious Gatekeeping


just in case

Stagnating Applications


Release Anti-Patterns


Extensive, detailed release documentation

Reliance on manual testing to confirm app is correct

Explaining why deployment is going wrong on release day

Frequent corrections to release process during release

Environments that differ in their configuration

Releases that take more than a few minutes to perform

Releases that are unpredictable in their outcome

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Application Pipelines Ops

Days

Weeks!

Days

Staging Load Test Production

Days

Dev QA

Dev QA

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Cycle Time measured in

weeks/months

Plus… Migrating to MSA

•  Explosion of manual effort


A B

C D

E F

A

B1 C1 G C2 H I

B2 D1 J

D2 K L1 M L2 N

E F1 O P

F2 Q R S T

HeavyWeight to LightWeight

Glassfish •  Feature overhead •  Encouraged manual config •  Complex/Slow deployment

DropWizard •  Trimmed down to basics •  Standard config files •  Simple/Fast deployment


But… Combinatorial Explosion


Unpredictability Slows You Down


Moving from wrong to right


Wrong

Right

Flexibility vs Predictability

•  Freedom is Great for Innovation •  Consistency is Essential For Speed •  How do we promote a culture of freedom

and responsibility but still provide predictability?

Flexible Predictable


Standardisation


Standardised

Freedom

•  Standardise on how services are deployed and how they communicate.

•  Be flexible about their contents.

Defining Standards

•  Discussions –  One-on-one –  IM –  Emails –  Meetings

•  Incentivise input •  Confluence

–  Application Deployment Standards 1.0


Example Standards


Logging •  Log file locations, filenames

Log rotate Directories/Files •  Ownership,

permissions

Puppet

Supervisord config.yaml •  Filename, location

Metrics JVM settings

Network •  Ports •  Firewall rules

Cron Endpoints •  Healthchecks, status,

metrics

SSL •  Certs, keystores

RPM •  Versioning •  Packaging

init.d scripts •  Sub-commands

Versioning Migration Notes

Example Standards


Future Considerations


Standards Lifecycle


Common Ground


How do we Make it Easy? DevOps @ Wotif: Making Easy = Right


Automated Verification


Compliance Test Suite


Brought Ops into Dev


Fast Operational Feedback


Test-Driven Ops Compatibility


Backwards Compatible Tests


Reference Implementation

•  “helloworld-service” •  Deployed to production


Ops Testing with Fabric


• Does rpm have correct metadata linking to git repo? Check existence/absence of files rpm • Is correct version actually installed? yum • Check existence/absence of files. Check file permissions/ownership ls • Is correct version actually running? lsof • Check correct ports exposed netstat • Is correct log format in use? tail • Check cron config grep • Check contents of standalone jar file – e.g. metadata, library versions unzip • Check standard endpoints for e.g. content, status code, response time curl • Check JVM options jps • Check 1 and only 1 process running ps

Compliance Test Example


Rolling Upgrade

•  Safely automate cluster upgrades •  Orchestrated with Fabric


• Check Load Balancer

Exit Pool

• Orchestrate Puppet

Upgrade

• Compliance Test •  Smoke Test •  Feature Test

Test

• Check Load Balancer

Enter Pool

•  exitpool •  stop •  yum remove •  yum install • Wait for manual

testing! •  enterpool

Manual Release

SLIPway


•  Big review of old release processes

•  Simple Lightweight Independent Path Way

•  Simple rules for release process

•  Keep changes independent

•  Focus on reducing cycle time

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Days

Weeks!

Days


Days

Dev QA

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Prio

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Dev QA

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Hours Hours

Sim

ple

Rule

s

Simple Rules for SLIPWay

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Simple Rules for SLIPWay

45 Making Easy = Right

SLIPway Chat Room


SLIPway Example Release


Releases Per Month


4x Less Effort with 2x Releases


Release Cycle Time Comparison


7x lower Avg. Cycle Time

Lessons Learned DevOps @ Wotif: Making Easy = Right

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Lessons Learned


Get the Balance Right Chip Away At The Iceberg Migration Notes The Carrot, Not The Stick Strongly Type Your Discussions Use Semantic Versioning Warranty Period Small Batch Size for Standards Embrace Legacy

Get the Balance Right

No Standards Too Many Checkpoints


Chip Away at the Iceberg


Migration Notes

•  Annotate changes since previous standards – E.g. “(since v2.3)”

•  Each standard version has migration notes from previous version

•  Can upgrade between several versions by following migration notes nav bar


1.0 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3

The Carrot, Not The Stick

•  We tried the stick approach for years –  You’re doing it wrong! –  (But we won’t tell you how

to do it right)

•  Blame games, anger •  No business impetus to

improve things

•  Now we’re trying the carrot approach –  Offer a great new

alternative –  It’s optional! –  You know you want it…

•  Business invested in the process


Strongly Type Your Discussions

•  Choose catchy names – Helps make decisions – Helps climb out of muck

•  Use State Transition tables – State -> Action -> New State – Visualise problems – Decide what to support


E.g. Glassfish Service States


E.g. Lightweight Service States


Be Opinionated – Not Arrogant

•  Strong decisions are important •  But you’ll never get it 100% up front


I’m kind of a big

deal

Use Semantic Versioning

•  Especially for shared libraries


1 . 2 . 3 Major Minor Patch

semver.org

Warranty Period

•  Can’t get standards 100% right

•  But need to lock them down

•  Two-week warranty period

•  Trial in range of different applications


Small Batch Size for Standards

•  Minor updates every 1-2 months

•  Fast feedback •  Enable innovation •  Easier to update


Embrace Legacy

•  You’re creating legacy •  Make migration easy •  Incentivise catch-up


Building Blocks SLIPway •  Simple Rules, Independence

Rolling Upgrade •  Automated Deploy & Test

Compliance Tests •  Test-driven Ops Compatibility

Standards •  The Agreed “Right Thing”


The Right Thing

Making It Easy


Right

Easy

Thanks for listening! Any questions?

Alexandra Spillane • @ajbw Matt Callanan • @mcallana

P.S.– we’re hiring! à

Image Attribution •  Creative Commons:

–  Downward Spiral: http://flic.kr/p/67Giiz –  Chasm: https://flic.kr/p/abuWHt –  Wrong way: https://flic.kr/p/cRjc6q –  Silos: https://flic.kr/p/6WueVm –  Testing Ice-cream: http://watirmelon.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/softwaretestingicecreamconeantipattern.png –  Lifting boat: https://flic.kr/p/ddUf4S –  Batch Size: http://dev2ops.org/2012/03/devops-lessons-from-lean-small-batches-improve-flow/ –  Changed Priorities: https://flic.kr/p/debvm –  Stop: https://flic.kr/p/aUEW1D –  Stagnant: https://flic.kr/p/3MvvsH –  Thinking: https://flic.kr/p/6wdLat –  Rubber Bands: https://flic.kr/p/a2XZDB –  Climbing: https://flic.kr/p/4U2BB1 –  Indian Traffic: http://frrl.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/logo_indiatraffic.png –  Red Tape: https://flic.kr/p/b7T3JD –  Slipway: https://flic.kr/p/9oQVh8 –  Iceberg: https://flic.kr/p/hV1vwH –  River: https://flic.kr/p/7EMs4T

•  Additional Stock photos: –  iPhotoStock –  Shutterstock

•  Standardisation Theory –  Diagram inspired by: http://www.slideshare.net/spnewman/practical-microservices-yow-2013/56


Making Easy = Right (DevOps @ Wotif)

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Transcript of Making Easy = Right (DevOps @ Wotif)