- Home
- /
- Blog
- /
- Page 2
One Click MongoDB Sharded Cluster
We just rolled a new stack for Stabile for those who use MongoDB and are tired of paying big bucks for using a managed DB service in the cloud and can’t be bothered to spend a weekend installing it. Install the stack as any of our other stacks, and you have a multi-node MongoDB sharded cluster up and running in about a minute with a nice managment UI. Add more shard nodes by simply adding servers to the stack.
Check it out here.
Introducing Origo DNS Services
Stabile installations that are linked with the Stabile Registry like, of course, Stabile Cloud, have always had basic DNS functionality built in, available through the API. Whenever you create a new network connection an A record is created in the default domain using the format “xx.xx.xx.xx.yyyyyyyy.default.domain”, where the x’s represent the connections public IPv4 address, and the y’s are the first 8 letters of yours engine’s uuid. For Stabile Cloud and new Stabile installations, the default domain is “uncloud.co”. This can be configured in /etc/stabile/config.cfg. Changing the default value requires that your domain zone is created on the Stabile name servers. Until now this was a manual process, where clients would ask us to create the zone.
Automating DNS and TLS Certificates with Kubernetes
Almost every app needs a web service backend, and every web service needs a domain name. To serve content from a domain name you need a TLS certificate.
While you still need to register and pay for a domain through a registrar like Godaddy or Domain.com, TLS certificates have been provided free of charge to anyone by Let’s Encrypt since 2016.
Origo Cloud Adds New Avalability Zone
Effective immediately Stabile Cloud is now available in a new availability zone engine2-dk-east, served from what we consider the ideal data center in the Copenhagen Area. We are extremely excited to have entered into an agreement with I2 about providing infrastructure and comptentencies for Stabile Cloud. The new environment is available at https://stabile.io/cloud or may be reached directly at https://engine2.stabile.io.
The data center we have chosen for our new availability zone is the data center that runs the Danish Internet Exchange point also known as the DIX. This location and in particular the company running it, I2, and the very competent personel that manage the infrastructure at the location, ensure a very high level of availability and uptime, as well as second-to-none network bandwith and network latency for clients in Denmark. Simply put – if the DIX is down, so is the Danish Internet. The historically very high stability of the DIX gives us confidence, that Stabile Cloud with this added location can deliver even better connectivity, availability and stability to our clients.
Managing an Origo OS Kubernetes Cluster with Rancher
Rancher is a very popular solution for easy management of Kubernetes clusters. Rancher provides a nice UI with consolidated management tools for multiple Kubernetes clusters spread across spread across public and private clouds. Rancher also provides a curated assortment of Helm charts, that can easily be installed to the Kubernetes clusters you have imported into Rancher.
We have written a simple guide to getting Rancher up and running in Stabile, installing a Kubernetes cluster and importing the cluster into Rancher. The guide should only take a few minutes to complete – try it out, and be sure to try out some of the Helm charts provided by Rancher.
Install Longhorn to a Origo OS Kubernetes Cluster
Longhorn is a popular choice for providing vendor-agnositic, replicated block storage in Kubernetes clusters. Longhorn provides a fault-tolerant alternative to the storage-options available in e.g. AWS and GKE. Longhorn is Open Source and provides a nice UI.
We have written a simple guide to getting Longhorn up and running in a Stabile Kubernetes cluster. The guide should only take a few minutes to complete, so try it out!
Running a MinIO Object Storage Service in Stabile
MinIO
has emerged as the solution of choice for providing fast, scalable, portable and S3-compatible object storage – i.e. S3-storage without vendor lock-in.
Reliable object storage is relevant if you need to store large amounts of photos, videos, log files, backups or other relatively unstructured data, and particularly useful if you also want http(s) access to this data out of the box.
We provide two easy ways to install and use MinIO in any Stabile cloud:
- A stand-alone MinIO stack so you can get a MinIO service up and running in a matter of a few minutes in any Stabile cloud. The stack installs the stand-alone binary version of MinIO and provides access to the MinIO web console through an Apache proxy.
- A guide to getting MinIO up and running in a Stabile Kubernetes environment. Installing MinIO as a Kubernetes service is a bit more complex, and particularly relevant if you already use Kubernetes and need a very scalable object storage solution.
New Stack available: Ghost
We just published a new Stack for Stabile targeting independent publishers – the excellent Ghost blogging platform.
Ghost is a beautiful alternative to e.g. WordPress with a distinctly modern feel, ease of use and speed.
Check out the short time-lapse video above and then go try it out.
On Cloud Repatriation
If you’ve stumbled across this post using a search engine, you might be wondering what this cloud repatriation is all about. Well, to us it’s about trying to build a locally hosted alternative to placing all of our data in the datacenters of a few very large corporations. Why are we spending our time doing this? you might also wonder. Well, there are obvious economical aspects, but I, for one, have always just liked the thought of running my own basic information infrastructure, controlling my own data, etc. It probably boils down basic desires of self-sustainability and to know exactly what is happening with my data. And I’m certainly not the only one feeling this way. Others are sceptical of leaving all their data, and the control of what is done with it, in the hands of corporations that in reality answer to no one. Or they also just like to tinker and run stuff themselves.
The Curious Case of Enterprise Infrastructure
Summary
After devolving into a reservoir of inefficient software and expensive hardware, the enterprise IT industry was unable to mount a defence to the onslaught of AWS. As a consequence developers and new enterprises are now going directly to the cloud. The former industry leader, VMware, has folded and repositioned itself as a gateway to AWS and steward of legacy workloads. The hosting industry is to a large extent following this example. While this is unfortunate for the enterprise industry, we claim that this also presents a market opportunity.
