Edge: Don't Touch That!

Edge is NOT just lots of mini-clouds! Let’s really talk about management because we cannot afford to fix operations later. In this talk, we’ll do just that.

Edge infrastructure management has many unique challenges including restricted access, number of sites, limited connectivity and amount of available overhead for management infrastructure. Each of these presents significant hurdles for running distributed sites and many operators face all of them.

We’re going to examine these and other Edge IT management challenges with an eye towards pragmatic solutions and industry parallels. We’ll spend extra time looking at how cloud deployment approaches like immutable infrastructure, blue/green deployments and continuous integration can be applied at the edge.

Rob Hirschfeld & Mark Thiele brings their unique Edge perspective AND the opinions of their guests from “the latest shiny” and "IDCA: to infinity and beyond" podcasts.

Transcript

1. @zehicle
   @mthiele10
   Don’t touch that!
   Why Edge IT is not Cloud IT
   Open Infrastructure Summit, Spring 2019
   

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2. @zehicle
   @mthiele10
   “Edge” is about integration & AUtomation
   Like cloud, but also different...
   

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3. @zehicle
   @mthiele10
   it is physically distributed, logically
   restricted & networking limited.
   

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4. @zehicle
   @mthiele10
   Mark Thiele
   @mthiele10
   Director Engineering
   Edge Computing Ericsson &
   Chair of IDCA Technical Committee
   Host of To Infinity Paradigm & Beyond podcast
   Focused on the development of a successful edge marketplace
   

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5. @zehicle
   @mthiele10
   @zehicle
   CEO of RackN
   Co-Founder Digital Rebar
   Co-Host of L8istSh9y podcast
   Focused on zero-touch automation of distributed bare metal
   infrastructure.
   Rob Hirschfeld
   

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6. @zehicle
   @mthiele10
   10
   Edge = 1,000s of sites
   Current DC Ops tools are built for 10s of sites
   

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7. @zehicle
   @mthiele10
   Edge = 1,000s of sites
   100
   

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8. @zehicle
   @mthiele10
   1,000
   Edge = 1,000s of sites
   

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9. @zehicle
   @mthiele10
   Edge is not CLOUD! We canNOT
   just “SCALE DOWN” PLATFORMS
   NOR “scale Up” Management
   

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10. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    Edge is not CLOUD! We canNOT
    just “SCALE DOWN” PLATFORMS
    NOR “scale Up” Management
    SCALE IN
    And SCALE OUT
    MUST
    

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11. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    So many Questions… so few answers
    ● Platform required? Kubernetes, other or no standard?
    ● Shared and secure data storage?
    ● Do we have to wait for a platform?
    ● What are we waiting for to be build?
    ● Too many (10,000) Opportunities?!
    ● Who is the edge? Operator networks? Retail? Home?
    ● What are the killer apps?
    ● Which comes first: the app or the platform?
    ● And...how much time do we have before AWS takes over?
    

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12. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    Finding solutions is urgent.
    NO single “right” answer.
    

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13. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    So many Questions… so few answers
    ● Platform required? Kubernetes, other or no standard?
    ● Shared and secure data storage?
    ● Do we have to wait for a platform?
    ● What are we waiting for to be build?
    ● Too many (10,000) Opportunities?!
    ● Who is the edge? Operator networks? Retail? Home?
    ● What are the killer apps?
    ● Which comes first: the app or the platform?
    ● And...how much time do we have before AWS takes over?
    ZERO: AWS IS NOT WAITING AROUND FOR A DESIGN COMMITTEE
    

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14. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    50% of the EDGE infrastructure
    Is already in place
    

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15. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    The “Edge” already exists
    But it’s a patchwork
    ● Multiple operators
    ● Heterogeneous environments
    ● No standard platforms (especially data storage)
    ● NOT designed for multi-tenant
    ● NOT designed for self-service
    Today’s solutions are bad choices
    1. Run everything yourself from multiple co-lo
    2. Limit to “edges” managed by a single provider
    

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16. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    We already have enough clouds
    Edge is NOT a new cloud
    

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17. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    Yes!
    ● API Driven & Self-Service
    ● Highly Automated
    ● Platform focused
    No!
    ● Distributed
    ● Multi-vendor
    ● Location sensitive
    ISN’T Edge just like Cloud?
    

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18. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    Hello, Kubernetes!
    Take me to your Metal
    

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19. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    But developers need platforms
    Everything is a SaaS or PaaS now
    Edge also needs to be a platform
    CI/CD takes on a whole new challenge
    Platforms need more environmental awareness
    Edge applications will by virtue require new thinking
    AND they should also be comfortable to cloud developers.
    

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20. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    OPERATIONAL PATTERNS
    ARE MORE IMPORTANT
    THAN APIS
    

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21. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    Solve the hardest problems first
    We’re not building something new!
    Under-represented challenges:
    ● Cross-operator integration (sometimes called “hybrid”)
    ● Zero-touch from the bare metal
    ● Managing data locality and transit
    ● Oh, and security
    Ultimately, these are the non-cloud use-cases
    

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22. @zehicle
    @mthiele10
    Questions?
    

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