Blog 2024 10 - lago-morph/chiller GitHub Wiki

2024-10-30

  • Got Helm install working pulling images created during CI process from ghcr.io. It is difficult to get tag information for a given branch through either the GitHub REST API or the gh command line. Really works best with a checked-out version of the repository. No problem in an Action, but has a few pitfalls when done interactively while doing development (if you are on the wrong branch it will do unexpected things).
  • Wrote up design of continuous delivery. Will need to wait to prototype until after I have a cloud cluster set up with IaC (don't want to use GKE since free trial is now over and I still have free credits on AWS)
  • Started looking at IaC for AWS

2024-10-29

Got back from our UK vacation. Demo not perfect, but able to walk through pretty well. PPT demo script here.

I'll gradually knock off to-dos from documentation, but my main objectives are as follows:

  • Enhance Helm installation procedure to use latest containers in specified branch (either main or a release branch). This will be done by querying GitHub repository for the appropriate tags and constructing the image from there. Want a single command (Makefile target?) that takes as an argument a branch.
  • IaC Terraform config targeting AWS

TODOs for getting Chiller demo-able (I will edit these over the next few days):

  • document objectives - status 4 stages - implemented, prototype (with detailed instructions to replicate), conceptual design, not started
  • show how each objective achieved with link to code and/or documentation
    • application.md
    • api_definition.md
    • development_platform.md
    • developer_testing.md
    • cicd_overview.md
    • ci.md
    • cdel.md
    • cdep.md
    • iac.md
    • install.md
    • obs_metrics.md
    • load.md
  • make current situation demoable (merge branches, get already-developed ci cd configured, set up release branch to show CI/CD)
  • move helm stuff to chiller-iac
  • create chiller-doc for documentation
  • at least one non-trivial terraform config targeting AWS (current stuff is for GCP)
  • Create equivalent architecture descriptions - how to mix and match (these are pictures, not Terraform code)
    • database - Postgres eks, ecs, aurora postgres
    • backend, eks + k8s service, ecs + alb, ec2 + api gateway
    • frontend eks service + lb, ecs or ec2 + alb
  • create demo script in PPT, make so can go over the structure, then dive into areas of interest to audience (full demo probably too long for one sitting)

Guidelines

  • Focus on cleanup and documentation
  • Single AWS IaC example only new development
  • For things not finished, document current status so I don't need to rely on notes from Wiki
  • Run through demo with Marta at least 2 times

2024-10-18

  • Continued working on documentation in chiller-doc. Checked off more items from todo list.

2024-10-16

  • Back after being sick for a while, working on certifications and applying for jobs
  • Passed test for AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate. Currently working on Terraform and Istio
  • Working on "cleaning up" Chiller to make it easier for anyone but me to understand what is going on. The information is all there in the wiki, but it is unclear what is current, what is old, and what the current status is
    • Created a new repository, chiller-doc
    • The README.md file for that repository now has a description of the project, and links to individual documentation pages
  • The work I did on continuous delivery GitHub Actions in August is still in a release branch (release-0.1.1), rather than in main. This makes it very hard for someone to find that GitHub Actions code and look at it. I plan to get everything merged into main