Using Rundeck and Chef to Build DevOps Toolchains at #ChefConf 2012 (VIDEO)

I presented at #ChefConf 2012 in Burlingame last Thursday on using Rundeck and Chef to Build DevOps toolchains.

The heart of the presentation was a demonstration of continuous build and deployment showing Adam Jacob's chef-rundeck plugin working as a Rundeck resource model source (node provider) and jobs using knife and the Chef server API to manage databag-based application configuration.

At the process level, the presentation connects the dots between service delivery platform design and the loosely-coupled toolchains.

Despite the hotel-wide power outage in the middle of the presentation, the video crew recovered nicely! Below you will find the video and the slides.

DTO #ChefConf2012

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High Velocity Release Management with Alex Honor and Betsy Hearnsberger (VIDEO)

This one is for the managers out there who straddle the Dev and Ops divide.

Alex Honor and Betsy Hearnsberger have seen the importance of release management dramatically change over the past decade. Through their collective experiences working inside organizations like E*TRADE, Ask.com, NASA Ames, and Zynga (as well as Alex's subsequent consulting work at DTO Solutions) they've each amassed a wealth of experience and insight into dealing with high velocity release engineering in large scale and complex organizations.

Since their professional paths have crossed multiple times, I figured I'd get Alex and Betsy together in front of a whiteboard for a chat. In these videos they talk about the common challenges they see, advice for managers addressing these issues, solution approaches that work, and criteria for tool selection.

Please note that these videos were originally shot on July 29, 2011. Due to a technical problem is was thought that these videos were lost. Lucky for us, they have been fully recovered. I'll have to get them both on camera again soon to discuss how their thinking has evolved since then. 

Part 1: Common problems

Part 2: Management's approach to the problems

Part 3: Solution patterns and tool selection