DevOps Thread

Apigee + Atlas Guide In the ever-expanding digital landscape, APIs reign supreme. They act as the bridges that connect applications and services, enabling seamless data exchange and functionality. But managing these APIs effectively requires a robust platform like Apigee + Atlas. And within this platform lies a universe of terms like proxies, products, and developer apps – crucial elements for orchestrating successful API integrations. So, buckle up, fellow API enthusiasts, as we embark on a voyage through these key concepts: Proxies Imagine them as the gatekeepers of your API kingdom. Proxies sit at the front door, intercepting incoming API requests and routing them to the appropriate backend services. They handle tasks like authentication, security checks, and protocol conversions, ensuring smooth communication between the API consumer and the provider. Think of them as the swiss army knives of API management, wielding tools like:

Understanding Load Balancers and API Gateways Navigating the Web's Traffic: Load Balancers vs API Gateways In the ever-evolving landscape of web architecture, two crucial components play a pivotal role in optimizing performance and ensuring seamless user experiences: load balancers and API gateways. While they may sound similar, these tools serve distinct purposes, each contributing uniquely to the overall efficiency of web applications. Let's delve into the intricacies of load balancers and API gateways to unravel their differences and understand their essential roles. Load Balancers: Balancing the Load for Smooth Sailing At the heart of any successful web application is the ability to manage traffic efficiently. This is where load balancers step in. Think of them as the traffic directors of the digital highway, distributing incoming requests among multiple servers. The primary goal of a load balancer is to ensure that no s

Mutual TLS (mTLS), also known as two-way TLS or reciprocal TLS, is an authentication mechanism that requires both the client and the server to present valid TLS certificates to establish a secure connection. This enhances the security of REST API endpoints by ensuring that only authorized clients can access the APIs. mTLS offers several advantages over traditional TLS, including: Stronger authentication: mTLS verifies the identity of both the client and the server, preventing unauthorized access and impersonation attacks. Enhanced data protection: mTLS encrypts all traffic between the client and the server, protecting sensitive data from interception. Improved compliance: mTLS aligns with security standards and compliance requirements, particularly in regulated industries. However, mTLS also has some drawbacks: Increased complexity: Implementing and managing mTLS can be more complex than traditional TLS, requiring additional certif

Azure Front Door: An Introduction Azure Front Door is a modern cloud content delivery network (CDN) service that delivers high performance, scalability, and secure user experiences for your content and applications. It is a fully managed service that takes the burden of managing and operating a CDN off your hands. Azure Front Door can be used to deliver a wide variety of content, including static content, dynamic content, and streaming media. Key Features of Azure Front Door High performance: Azure Front Door uses a global network of edge servers to deliver content to users with low latency and high throughput. Scalability: Azure Front Door can automatically scale to meet the demands of your traffic. Security: Azure Front Door offers a number of security features, including DDoS protection, web applic

Securing Containerized Applications: Best Practices Securing Containerized Applications: Best Practices Containers have become a cornerstone in modern application development, providing portability and scalability. However, ensuring the security of containerized applications is crucial to protect sensitive data and maintain the integrity of your systems. In this blog post, we'll explore best practices for securing containerized applications. 1. Use Official Images and Regularly Update Start with a solid foundation by using official container images from trusted sources. These images are typically maintained by the software vendors, ensuring that they receive security updates promptly. Regularly update your base images and dependencies to patch known vulnerabilities. FROM official-base-image:latest RUN apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y

After performing an upgrade to Kubernetes version 1.24.x on Azure Kubernetes Service the Nginx-ingress controller stopped working. The issue was fixed after setting the Azure load balancer's health probe to /healthz by following the below thread. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1008699/aks-124-ingress-not-exposed.html The change can be done either by going to the probe configuration of the load balancer or by updating the Nginx ingress controller annotations Command used to make the change (using helm) helm upgrade --install ingress-nginx-dev ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \     --namespace ingress-dev \     --set controller.ingressClassResource.name=ingress-dev \     --set controller.replicaCount=1 \     --set controller.nodeSelector.environment=dev \     --set controller.nodeSelector. "kubernetes\.io/os" =linux \     --set defaultBackend.nodeSelector. "kubernetes\.io/os" =linux \     --set controller.admissionWebhooks.patch.nodeSelector. &quo

Security for applications is extremely important. While there are various considerations for securing the application, in this post, we will be concentrating on the code vulnerability scanning.     In a traditional approach, security audits were carried out in the final stages of development, with dedicated security audit teams and manual checks. It takes a long time to complete the security scans and audits and when vulnerabilities are identified at these final stages even longer to fix it.   The best way to do security audits in the DevOps world is to shift left and make the audits part of the build process, so the team is instantly aware of the application's security posture and the vulnerabilities are mitigated much earlier in the development cycle.   The first step in the journey to better code quality is to use source code analyzers such as  FxCopAnalyzers  that analyze the code for code style, quality, and maintainability, etc and provide metrics