That's right, I used to be terrified of scaling cloud infrastructure.
A few years ago, I was working at an organization where our competitive edge relied on our ability to scale our product across multiple clouds and regions. Things were going great initially, with customers pouring in. But soon, the pressure mounted, and my team began to crumble under the weight of the scale we had to manage. We ended up paying a heavy price for our inability to handle that growth.
That experience, along with many others, led me to found BlueBricks. Besides being a cloud infrastructure enthusiast, I'm also a husband, a father (of 1.9 kids – my wife is pregnant!), and a dog owner. But most importantly, I’m here to help you overcome scalophobia, the fear of scaling your cloud infrastructure.
You might be surprised to learn that scalophobia is more common than you think. It can paralyze organizations, causing them to miss out on growth opportunities and delay software delivery. But there’s hope! There’s a cure: the DATE framework.
Let me explain. Tools are like junk food – they might give you a quick energy boost but lack long-term benefits. Frameworks, on the other hand, are like superfoods – they provide lasting benefits through a healthy approach. The DATE framework is that superfood for your cloud infrastructure.
Here's what DATE stands for:
DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself)
This principle has been around for over 20 years, and it's still as relevant as ever. Embrace reusable components to keep your infrastructure lean and efficient.
Atomic Components
Think of building with Lego bricks. Each brick is a self-contained unit, and you can combine them in countless ways. Atomic components in your infrastructure work the same way, making management and maintenance a breeze.
Traceability
Imagine having a map of your entire cloud infrastructure, with clear relationships between every resource. That's what traceability provides. It's like having x-ray vision into your infrastructure, so you can make informed decisions without fear.
Encapsulation
My personal favourite! This is all about reducing the blast radius of changes. By isolating your atomic components, you ensure that changes are contained and don't have unintended consequences across your infrastructure.
Watch Pini's Video on Youtube.
Ready to conquer your scalophobia?
Here are four actions you can take today:
- Keep it DRY: Go through your infrastructure as code and make sure each component is divergent, reusable, and portable. If not, get to work!
- Embrace Atomic Components: Design your infrastructure with atomic properties that can be managed scalably. Think about global data stores that can be accessed by different resources.
- Ensure Traceability: Start using resource tags in your cloud resources today. This simple practice will pay huge dividends when it comes to understanding and managing your infrastructure.
- Prioritise Encapsulation: Break down your infrastructure state into single-intent models. This way, changes in one area won’t affect the entire system.
With the DATE framework, you can move from fear to confidence in scaling your cloud infrastructure. So, go ahead and scale without fear!
