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Automation is an essential aspect of modern operations, offering numerous benefits such as increased efficiency, reduced errors, and improved productivity. However, implementing automation without proper planning and strategy can lead to disappointing results and wasted resources. To ensure success, organizations need to follow a systematic approach.

At Keyva and Evolving Solutions, we work with an array of clients who range from being highly mature in their automation processes and tools to organizations that are just starting and need guidance to attain operational efficiencies. Across this spectrum, many organizations lack an overarching framework for automation.

To simplify the process, we have outlined the nine essential steps for implementing automation.

1. Identify Goals. Begin by identifying your organization's goals and the specific areas where automation can have the most significant impact. Prioritize tasks / processes that are time-consuming, repetitive, and prone to errors.
2. Analyze. Once you have identified the task / processes for automation, conduct a detailed analysis of each one. Understand the workflow, inputs, outputs, dependencies, and potential bottlenecks. This will help you determine the feasibility and potential benefits of automation.
3. Select Automation Tools. Research the available automation tools and technologies, including open-source solutions, that fit your organization's needs. Consider factors such as ease of use, scalability, compatibility with existing systems, and vendor support.
4. Comprehensive Implementation Plan. Create an implementation plan that outlines the timeline, milestones, and resources required for successful automation deployment. Consider potential risks and challenges and develop contingency plans. Assign responsibilities and ensure everyone is aligned with the objectives.
5. Start Small. Get quick wins with simple projects that generate ROI. Each time you complete an initiative, evaluate, and learn from what you have done, and then move onto the next and then scale gradually.
6. Collaboration. Automation should not be confined to a particular team or limited to a specific use case. To achieve widespread impact across the organization, initiatives should be approached as a collaborative effort that spans different domains and involves members from various teams. Any developed content should be shared across teams, and automation should be written in a manner that is easily comprehensible and modifiable by others.
7. Training. Automation often introduces new tools and processes. You need to equip your team with the right education and training to ensure they have the knowledge and skills they need to ensure ongoing success of automation initiatives. In addition, it is important to provide ongoing support, documentation, and access to resources to address key questions.
8. Monitor and Evaluate. Regularly analyze data and evaluate the performance of automated processes. Continuously iterate and refine your automation strategy based on the insights gain from measurement indicators such as efficiency gains, error reduction, cost savings, and stakeholder satisfaction.
9. Repeat. Automation is not a one-time event but an ongoing journey. Regularly review and update your automation strategy to adapt to changing business needs and technological advancements.

Implementing automation in your organization can revolutionize your IT operations and drive significant benefits. By following the steps outlined above, you can ensure that your automation efforts are successful and aligned with your organization's objectives.

Let’s talk. If you would like to discuss how Keyva and Evolving Solutions can help you implement automation strategies can drive better business outcomes in your organization, contact us.

[post_title] => Mastering Automation: Nine Steps to Implementing Automation Effectively [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => mastering-automation [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-06-28 18:53:56 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-06-28 18:53:56 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://keyvatech.com/?p=3869 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3786 [post_author] => 7 [post_date] => 2023-06-27 08:30:00 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-06-27 08:30:00 [post_content] =>

https://youtu.be/FdhZYf3FnRA

[post_title] => CTO Talks: How DevOps has Transformed [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => cto-talks-how-devops-has-transformed-in-the-past-decade [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-05-15 19:32:12 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-05-15 19:32:12 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://keyvatech.com/?p=3786 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3784 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2023-05-31 08:30:00 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-05-31 08:30:00 [post_content] =>

https://youtu.be/CBXvt5I2vHI

[post_title] => Celebrating Keyva's 5 Year Anniversary [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => celebrating-keyvas-5-year-anniversary [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-05-15 19:44:33 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-05-15 19:44:33 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://keyvatech.com/?p=3784 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3782 [post_author] => 7 [post_date] => 2023-05-15 08:30:00 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-05-15 08:30:00 [post_content] =>

https://youtu.be/tc9qbVEeF2E

Keyva Chief Technology Officer Anuj Tuli discusses how DevSecOps allows security to be innately tied to the development and operational work being done by IT teams.

[post_title] => CTO Talks: DevSecOps - Security in a Digital Era is a Top Concern [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => cto-talks-devsecops-security-in-a-digital-era-is-a-top-concern [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-05-15 19:41:48 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-05-15 19:41:48 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://keyvatech.com/?p=3782 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [4] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3830 [post_author] => 16 [post_date] => 2023-04-21 17:03:12 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-04-21 17:03:12 [post_content] =>

This article reviews the process to set up a Kubernetes cluster using docker container runtime with 1 master node and 1 worker node on VMware based RHEL 8 instances.

All the commands listed will be ran against both the master and worker node.

Let’s start by enabling the RedHat repos.

#Setup RHEL subscription
subscription-manager register
subscription-manager refresh
 
#Install commonly used repos
subscription-manager repos --enable  rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms
subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms

Update the Yum repositories.

yum update -y
install yum-utils

Since this is a lab environment, we will be disabling firewalls. If it is a production environment, you can open specific ports for communication of your applications, and for Kubernetes components instead of disabling the firewall completely. (For a list of the required ports see: https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/networking/ports-and-protocols/)

#Disable firewall
systemctl disable firewalld 
systemctl stop firewalld

Swap disabled. You MUST disable swap in order for the Kubelet to work properly.

swapoff –a

#Comment out the swap line
etc/fstab 
#/dev/mapper/rhel-swap   swap                    swap    defaults        0 0   

Install Docker and Dockerd Container runtime.

#Installing Docker
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo=https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
dnf repolist -v
sudo yum install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin -y
systemctl enable docker
systemctl start docker

 ###Install docker Docker Container Runtime
git clone https://github.com/Mirantis/cri-dockerd.git
# Run these commands as root
###Install GO###
wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/getgo/installer_linux
chmod +x ./installer_linux
./installer_linux
source ~/.bash_profile
cd cri-dockerd
mkdir bin
go build -o bin/cri-dockerd
mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
install -o root -g root -m 0755 bin/cri-dockerd /usr/local/bin/cri-dockerd
cp -a packaging/systemd/* /etc/systemd/system
sed -i -e 's,/usr/bin/cri-dockerd,/usr/local/bin/cri-dockerd,' /etc/systemd/system/cri-docker.service
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable cri-docker.service
systemctl enable --now cri-docker.socket

Installing Kubeadm, Kubelet and Kubectl.

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo
[kubernetes]
name=Kubernetes
baseurl=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/repos/kubernetes-el7-\$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/rpm-package-key.gpg
exclude=kubelet kubeadm kubectl
EOF
 
# Set SELinux in permissive mode (effectively disabling it)
sudo setenforce 0
sudo sed -i 's/^SELINUX=enforcing$/SELINUX=permissive/' /etc/selinux/config
 
sudo yum install -y kubelet kubeadm kubectl --disableexcludes=kubernetes
 
sudo systemctl enable --now kubelet  

Forwarding IPv4 and letting iptables see bridged traffic.

overlay
br_netfilter
EOF
 
sudo modprobe overlay
sudo modprobe br_netfilter
 
# sysctl params required by setup, params persist across reboots
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/k8s.conf
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables  = 1
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-ip6tables = 1
net.ipv4.ip_forward                 = 1
EOF
 
# Apply sysctl params without reboot
sudo sysctl --system 

ON MASTER NODE ONLY

Deploy the cluster via Kubeadm then deploy the Flannel networking component.

#Deploy the Kubernetes cluster specifying the cluster network cidr and the container runtime
kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr=10.244.0.0/16 --cri-socket /run/cri-dockerd.sock

#After deploying the cluster you will receive a join command which you will save to run on the worker node. 

kubeadm join masternode.bpic.local:6443 --token cll0gw.50jagb64e80uw0da \ 
    --discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:4d699e7f06ce0e7e80b78eadc47453e465358021aee52d956dceed1dfbc0ee34
###On Master Nodes only w/ non root user
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
sudo cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config
export KUBECONFIG=~/.kube/config

Deploy Flannel as the non-root user
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/flannel-io/flannel/releases/latest/download/kube-flannel.yml

ON WORKER NODE ONLY

Run the join command to add the node to the cluster.

#Join the node to the cluster
kubeadm join masternode.bpic.local:6443 --token cll0gw.50jagb64e80uw0da \ 
    --discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:4d699e7f06ce0e7e80b78eadc47453e465358021aee52d956dceed1dfbc0ee34

After joining the worker node to the cluster run the following on the master node to confirm cluster status.

kubectl get nodes -o wide

#The result should look similar to the following

NAME     STATUS   ROLES         AGE   VERSION  INTERNAL-IP     OS-IMAGE                      CONTAINER-RUNTIME
master   Ready    control-plane 2d5h  v1.25.0  192.168.16.73   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.7  docker://23.0.4
worker1  Ready    <none>        2d1h  v1.25.0  192.168.16.153  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.7  docker://23.0.4

About the Author

[table id =6 /]

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Automation is an essential aspect of modern operations, offering numerous benefits such as increased efficiency, reduced errors, and improved productivity. However, implementing automation without proper planning and strategy can lead to disappointing results and wasted resources. To ensure success, organizations need to follow a systematic approach.

At Keyva and Evolving Solutions, we work with an array of clients who range from being highly mature in their automation processes and tools to organizations that are just starting and need guidance to attain operational efficiencies. Across this spectrum, many organizations lack an overarching framework for automation.

To simplify the process, we have outlined the nine essential steps for implementing automation.

1. Identify Goals. Begin by identifying your organization's goals and the specific areas where automation can have the most significant impact. Prioritize tasks / processes that are time-consuming, repetitive, and prone to errors.
2. Analyze. Once you have identified the task / processes for automation, conduct a detailed analysis of each one. Understand the workflow, inputs, outputs, dependencies, and potential bottlenecks. This will help you determine the feasibility and potential benefits of automation.
3. Select Automation Tools. Research the available automation tools and technologies, including open-source solutions, that fit your organization's needs. Consider factors such as ease of use, scalability, compatibility with existing systems, and vendor support.
4. Comprehensive Implementation Plan. Create an implementation plan that outlines the timeline, milestones, and resources required for successful automation deployment. Consider potential risks and challenges and develop contingency plans. Assign responsibilities and ensure everyone is aligned with the objectives.
5. Start Small. Get quick wins with simple projects that generate ROI. Each time you complete an initiative, evaluate, and learn from what you have done, and then move onto the next and then scale gradually.
6. Collaboration. Automation should not be confined to a particular team or limited to a specific use case. To achieve widespread impact across the organization, initiatives should be approached as a collaborative effort that spans different domains and involves members from various teams. Any developed content should be shared across teams, and automation should be written in a manner that is easily comprehensible and modifiable by others.
7. Training. Automation often introduces new tools and processes. You need to equip your team with the right education and training to ensure they have the knowledge and skills they need to ensure ongoing success of automation initiatives. In addition, it is important to provide ongoing support, documentation, and access to resources to address key questions.
8. Monitor and Evaluate. Regularly analyze data and evaluate the performance of automated processes. Continuously iterate and refine your automation strategy based on the insights gain from measurement indicators such as efficiency gains, error reduction, cost savings, and stakeholder satisfaction.
9. Repeat. Automation is not a one-time event but an ongoing journey. Regularly review and update your automation strategy to adapt to changing business needs and technological advancements.

Implementing automation in your organization can revolutionize your IT operations and drive significant benefits. By following the steps outlined above, you can ensure that your automation efforts are successful and aligned with your organization's objectives.

Let’s talk. If you would like to discuss how Keyva and Evolving Solutions can help you implement automation strategies can drive better business outcomes in your organization, contact us.

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