In this 8th Light University presentation, principal crafters Bill Wanjohi and Sergii Volodko explore the challenges of migrating a production system to a new solution designed with Terraform, and how a runbook helped them manage a successful migration.
Throughout the talk, Bill and Sergii present a layered understanding of infrastructure — spanning the declarative automation tools like Terraform, down to the lower-level Ansible scripts and shell commands — and explain some areas where the dominant automation frameworks provide incomplete solutions. In particular, automation tools struggle in cases where a multi-step procedure is needed to transition stateful production systems to the declared ideal. Faced with this challenge, they show how a runbook helps thread together the various approaches into a holistic, predictable, and repeatable solution.
About 8th Light University
8th Light University (8LU) is a virtual event series curated by 8th Light, a global software consultancy that partners with clients in creating software solutions. Topics focus on improving the craft of software product, design, and development. Software professionals of all skill levels are welcome! Watch past event videos on YouTube, join us at our next 8LU event, or sign up for our newsletter to to find out about upcoming events.