Haunted DevOps: Bringing Light to Cloud-Native Infrastructure Mysteries

In a recent DevOps meetup, hosted at Ergon Informatik in Zurich, attendees were treated to three insightful presentations exploring how cloud-native security and serverless architectures can transform modern IT infrastructures. The event showcased practical use cases, innovative strategies, and the latest updates on Airlock Microgateway. Below, we will share the key takeaways from each presentation. 

The first presentation kicked off with Simon Stäheli and Christian Brauchli detailing Open Systems' journey in transforming their web application security using the Airlock Microgateway. Historically, their security relied on a monolithic Web Application Firewall (WAF) that was deployed on virtual machines, which made the process labor-intensive and inflexible. The need to modernize was clear as they transitioned to a cloud-native architecture. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Empowering Developers with Self-Service: By integrating the Airlock Microgateway with their Kubernetes environment, they were able to hand over more control to developers. This shift enabled a self-service model that reduced deployment times from days to just minutes. 
   
• Seamless Platform Integration: The adoption of microgateways allowed Open Systems to enhance scalability and streamline security configurations directly within their cloud-native platform using Istio and GitOps workflows. 
   
• Simplified Security Management: By moving from a manual, ticket-based process to automated, GitOps-driven deployments, they significantly reduced overhead and friction between teams. This led to faster, more agile application development. 

For organizations using legacy WAFs, this presentation highlights the benefits of adopting microgateways to achieve faster deployments, better scalability, and greater security control. Leveraging microgateways can streamline processes, especially in environments that rely heavily on Kubernetes.

In the second presentation, Urs Zurbuchen, Senior Security Consultant at Airlock, shared exciting updates on the Airlock Microgateway, focusing on new features available in version 4.4. This session was packed with technical insights into how the microgateway is evolving to meet the needs of modern DevOps teams and enterprises embracing Kubernetes. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Expanded Deployment Flexibility: The new release introduces deployment options using Kubernetes Gateway API, allowing users to choose between sidecar and gateway modes. This provides greater flexibility in how organizations deploy and manage their security infrastructure. 
   
• Integrated Authentication: With built-in OpenID Connect (OIDC) support, the microgateway now simplifies authentication, eliminating the need for additional proxies. This feature is particularly valuable for organizations looking to centralize authentication without adding complexity. 
   
• Improved Observability and Control: The latest version introduces enhanced monitoring capabilities, allowing teams to gain deeper insights into application traffic and security, ensuring a more transparent and controlled environment. 

Airlock offers a fully functional community edition of its microgateway, allowing teams to explore its capabilities on a limited scale. This is a great opportunity for businesses to test its features before committing to a commercial license. Learn more here.

Lena Fuhrimann, Founder & Cloud Solution Architect at bespinian, wrapped up the meetup with an engaging talk on serverless computing, tackling the common misconceptions about serverless costs. Using real-world examples, she demonstrated how companies can optimize serverless architectures to avoid unexpected expenses while reaping the benefits of scalability and flexibility. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Know Your Usage Patterns: While serverless architectures can be highly cost-effective for applications with fluctuating workloads, they may not be the best fit for consistently high-demand applications. Understanding your usage patterns is crucial. 
   
• Optimizing for Cost Efficiency: Leveraging tools like AWS Lambda Power Tuning can help optimize function performance, reducing both execution time and costs. Lena also emphasized using ARM architectures and compute savings plans to cut down expenses. 
   
• Cost Control Strategies: Setting up billing alerts and limiting concurrency are practical ways to prevent runaway costs. These strategies are essential for keeping serverless environments under budget, especially in production. 

For organizations experimenting with serverless, Lena's presentation underscored the importance of proactive cost management. By implementing best practices like cost monitoring and optimizing function configurations, companies can leverage serverless computing effectively without falling into the cost trap.