Detecting if a virtualbox machine already exists in Vagrant Feb 13

Problem

You want to change a VM’s settings depending upon whether the VM is being built or simply being rebooted (for my specific situation, see below).

For example, during the initial provisioning run of the VM you might want to use the host DNS...

Sometimes it's best to learn the lowest common denominator tool Jan 31

It’s almost irresistible. A new tool to learn, the promise of a ‘better way’ to work. But, perhaps it’s worth learning older, more mature, skills too.

• More established tools tend to be, well, more established. You’re more likely to find these time...

Selectively stage part of a new file in git Jan 28

Problem

You have a completely new file to add (stage) into your repository but you want to add only a part of the new file to this commit.

Issue

If you simply use git add file.txt the whole file is added.

If you try git add -p file.txt you find...

Using pillar data in an external PillarStack Jan 28

Problem

You are using the PillarStack external pillar in salt and need to reference a value defined in the standard pillar data, but salt['pillar.get'] does not work at all (salt is not defined in the PillarStack context) and __salt__['pilar.get'...

Is it just me? May 28

I’ve read much material on ‘writing to attract an audience’ and apart from the despicable ‘clickbait’ sort of titles the second most annoying advice (at least to my mind) is ‘add an image’. Why? Well, evidently this attracts the readers eye as it skips...

Startup! May 26

Time to get serious.

I’ve been mulling over how I want to approach developing educational resources relating to Devops and I’ve finally arrived at an approach, so here is my initial position and outline.

I’ve surveyed the existing Devops training...

Devops, SRE, SDLC,... Work Salad Apr 25

The meaning of words change with time and context. This is no more apparent than in fast moving industries such as technology where it can seem like a term’s meaning changes with every conversation. Throughout my career I’ve found the fixation that...

Three Tools Every devops person Should Know Jun 4

A common question posed online is ‘I want to get into devops, which tools should I learn’. Putting aside the issue of ‘getting into devops’, the most common responses are for people to learn configuration management tools like Ansible, Chef, Puppet...

Forget Devops Jun 3

Image credit

“How do we implement devops?”

“How can we change to a devops culture?”

How often have you read or heard something like this?

I’ll bet you’ve heard this sort of thing more than once. Starting from ‘we need devops’ makes the wrong starting...