WHITE PAPER

From complexity to simplicity: Why it’s time to rethink your DevOps processes5 ways to modernise and automate your DevOps toolchain

Technical white paper

2

Automate > Manual > Processes

Months to Minutes

AWS CloudTrail

Amazon EC2

AMI

Amazon RDS

Elastic Load Balancing

AWS Auto Scaling

Amazon EBS

AWS Auto Scaling

Digital transformation for your entire organisationBy now, you’ve probably heard about digital transformation and “the cloud.” A move to the cloud typically involves transforming

the way you deliver infrastructure to support application development and release velocity. The cloud can help you elastically

build, manage, monitor, launch, test, and optimise your application development and release processes—which, in turn,

should help you launch applications at scale with more speed and

predictability.

However, modern cloud infrastructure and native tooling is only part

of a digital transformation solution. Along with an investment in

native cloud technologies, you also need to shake up and modernise

processes and the technologies that allow you to deploy applications

at scale to support enterprise DevOps outcomes.

DevOps combines development and operations—including tooling, processes, and culture—into your application development

and release process. Modern DevOps incorporates cloud tools for digital transformation that can serve as a foundation for

updating and automating your processes. DevOps can help you simplify infrastructure management, continuously and quickly

deliver code, automate your release processes, and monitor your application and infrastructure performance.

In this paper, learn about solutions from Kumolus and NetApp Cloud Data Services on AWS to modernise and automate your

DevOps tools and processes.

1. Automate manual processes

Manual processes often take an extraordinary amount

of time and can introduce the chance of human error.

Automation helps reduce both, so you can build faster and

more efficiently.

The Kumolus Cloud Management Platform (CMP) is

a full-stack cloud management service that provides

“infrastructure as code” patterns for networks, servers,

data, security posture, cost controls, and access

management. Kumolus runs in conjunction with NetApp

Cloud Data Services including NetApp® Cloud Volumes

ONTAP® and NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Amazon

Web Services (AWS).

Consider the expression that a picture is worth a thousand

words. With Kumolus, a picture can be worth a thousand

lines of code. Perhaps you’re accustomed to the work

of planning, cost-estimating, and deploying traditional

apps in your own infrastructure. To do the same thing

with Kumolus, you use an intuitive and visual drag-and-

drop interface to create a wide variety of infrastructure

environment components such as a Linux machine, an

Amazon RDS database, Elastic Load Balancing, Availability

Zones, or an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Policies ensure that any environment created by Kumolus

are both compliant and ready to be provisioned. You can

pre-define your requirements, such as alignment to the

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),

Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA),

and other major compliance frameworks. Kumolus also

pre-defines security controls and access management in

the environments you create, such as the ability to use

a provisioned resource only on non-Internet connected

networks. Kumolus creates automatically compliant,

documented, secured, and cost-optimised application

environments, without having to train people in code.

DEV

OPS

CLOUD

3

Dynamically Visualise Infrastructure

Infrastructure as Code… a Reality

AWS CloudTrail

Amazon EC2

AMI

Amazon RDS

Elastic Load Balancing

AWS Auto Scaling

AWS Auto Scaling

Amazon EBS

Scale DevOps using repeatable templates

Years to Weeks

AWS CloudTrail

Amazon EC2

AMI

Amazon RDS

Elastic Load Balancing

AWS Auto Scaling

Amazon EBS

AWS Auto Scaling

AWS CloudTrail

Amazon EC2

AMI

Amazon RDS

Elastic Load Balancing

AWS Auto Scaling

Amazon EBS

AWS Auto Scaling

AWS CloudTrail

Amazon EC2

AMI

Amazon RDS

Elastic Load Balancing

AWS Auto Scaling

Amazon EBS

AWS Auto Scaling

AWS CloudTrail

Amazon EC2

AMI

Amazon RDS

Elastic Load Balancing

AWS Auto Scaling

Amazon EBS

AWS Auto Scaling

AWS CloudTrail

Amazon EC2

AMI

Amazon RDS

Elastic Load Balancing

AWS Auto Scaling

Amazon EBS

AWS Auto Scaling

Kumolus revision control capabilities automatically capture

every event. It’s simple to copy any change in an application

stack, such as a revision template, and copy it across test,

development, modelling, and production environments, or

create a template for including in your DevOps workflow.

Kumolus automates security with activity logs and

proactive risk identification. It flags questionable

configurations and resources and leverages best practice

checks and alerts. Kumolus tracks users and permissions,

and continuously scans the entire environment, identifying

all publicly accessible resources, open ports, and protocols.

Kumolus displays up-to-the-minute running costing

information as you build your environment. Kumolus also

enforces budget control, providing complete cost visibility

and cost governance of your cloud usage. This helps solve

significant cost issues before they occur.

Kumolus uses NetApp OnCommand Cloud Manager to

automate discovery and management of NetApp Cloud

Data Services including Cloud Volumes ONTAP.

2. Use repeatable processes—such as templates —for scale

Related to automation are repeatable processes, in which

you enable tools and infrastructure to set up structure and

repetition for frequent tasks. According to Forbes,1 “By

using cloud tools and services to automate the process of

building, managing and provisioning through code, service

teams speed the development process, eliminate human

error and establish repeatability.”

With Kumolus, you simply drag and drop network,

compute, storage, database, and analytics resources to

create an environment. For each resource, you point and

click to define parameters to associate with those resources,

such as server details, network interface details, private

IP addresses, and specific security groups. Each selection

automatically and absolutely consistently generates code.

Kumolus discovers environment activity and can turn it

into a template. A development environment can be copied

into a production environment in a few steps. Revision of

any environment can be re-exposed to a DevOps release

tool, such as Puppet, at any time. Templating and revision

control makes it easy to discover where something went awry.

NetApp Cloud Data Services including Cloud Volumes

ONTAP and Cloud Volumes Service bring a unique

capability to solving the biggest problem in the DevOps

process: large dataset control and immediate exposure

of application data to any part of the DevOps toolchain.

With Kumolus, a single API call and templates integrate

application data at any step of the DevOps toolchain—

whether it’s code, build, test, deploy, release, or operate—

accelerating true enterprise DevOps application release

velocity.

3. Make infrastructure as code a reality

Digital innovation is built on DevOps with a foundation

of infrastructure as code. Kumolus helps achieve this

by invisibly managing what were labor-intensive and

inconsistent operational and management processes.

Manual processes such as deployments, development and

test workflows, container management, and configuration

management are now automated. If an application

architect were to provision, design, and estimate costs for

the same environment, it would take hours to code.

Dynamic environments created by Kumolus can be

addressed anywhere in the DevOps workflow and can be

easily transferred between different network and security

domains. With Kumolus and NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

4

or Cloud Volumes Service, you can quickly make copies of

very large datasets, test changes to applications, and then

rapidly apply those updates to production environments.

Using AWS infrastructure and NetApp Cloud Data Services,

you can build, test, and deploy your code every time there

is a code change, based on the release process models

you define, as well as rapidly and reliably deliver features

and updates. Environments can be quickly created using

infrastructure as code. For example, you can quickly

create new Cloud Volumes ONTAP environments, then

use Terraform to create new AWS servers, and define

configurations using Chef. The result is an entire cloud-

based data center spun up with one command through

your CI/CD pipeline.

4. Consistently and continuously develop and test—and use containerisation

A hallmark of DevOps is continuous integration and

continuous delivery (CI/CD). The old way of development

included conceptualising, releasing to market, testing and

measuring success, charting necessary fixes, and starting

the whole process over again in the next development and

release batch. Customers had to wait months or even years

to see bug fixes and improvements.

With CI/CD, you get better code faster. You continuously

release smaller batches of changes, test, fix bugs, and

start over. By automating mundane processes, you avoid

doing much of the same operations over and over again;

simultaneously, smaller releases mean that you can

track and resolve bugs quickly if they make their way to

production.

Containerisation addresses the issue of how to get

software to run reliably when moved from one computing

environment to another. A container consists of an

entire runtime environment: an application, plus all the

dependencies, libraries, and configuration files needed to

run it, bundled into one package.

Using Kumolus, you can set up containers for each

development environment, then use a NetApp FlexClone

volume to bring the data into a database. This enables you

to bring new development environments online within

minutes and test them. The entire process is automated

and tied to your CI/CD pipeline. As soon as new builds come

in from back-end teams, you can create new environments.

This process can also help reduce costs because you can use

a single NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP system.

5. Shift your culture—and your tools

Finally, it’s important to understand that DevOps is more

than a toolset; it’s a culture shift—one that can impart time

and cost savings on your organisation.

“Successful adoption and implementation of DevOps is

80% culture, 10% process, and 10% technology,” according

to Quali’s Cloud and DevOps Survey, as explained in a

DZone article.2 The bottom line: modern DevOps goes

beyond tooling and process. It’s time to modernise your

entire operation.

Using Kumolus along with NetApp Cloud Data Services,

you can accelerate DevOps by visually building

complex, compliant, and self-documenting application

infrastructures in minutes—and immediately provision

them. Kumolus and NetApp help you realise the most

significant outcome when it comes to cultural change—real

and immediate tangible benefit.

Code Build Test Deploy

Consistently … Develop and Deploy

Release Operate

Using consistent … Infrastructure as Code

Many tools – Jira, GitHub, Ansible, Bamboo, Jenkins, Octopus, ++

Culture

Shift your culture — and your tools

With real and immediate tangible benefits

5

Kumolus Cloud Management Platform: Making it easier to do complex thingsKumolus does much of the hard work of optimising and managing cloud operations

behind the scenes—so you don’t have to. Kumolus focuses on full-application stack

revision control systems within the DevOps space. Within large complex application

environments, AWS provides the infrastructure—the services themselves—in which

NetApp Cloud Data Services, such as Cloud Volumes ONTAP, and the Kumolus Cloud

Management Platform are deployed. The Kumolus Cloud Management Platform

creates an enterprise digital velocity platform for DevOps teams to help ease the

process of developing, building, launching, and optimising complex applications at

scale on AWS with Cloud Volumes ONTAP, Cloud Volumes Service, and other NetApp

Cloud Data Services.

Kumolus streamlines the management of your cloud services in a visual way. It helps

you manage, monitor, and optimise large and complex applications using drag and

drop, full-stack AWS provisioning. Governance, cost optimisation, and automation

support a DevOps-driven approach to application development at scale.

Kumolus provides visiblity into continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/

CD) workflows, infrastructure as code, one-click provisioning, and version control to

manage application releases and iteration. Kumolus focuses on creating revisions and

templating across the DevOps toolchain and integrates with commonly used DevOps

tooling and workflow processes including Terraform, Chef, Puppet, and Jenkins.

Kumolus enables enterprises to scale, with security controls built in. Even across

complex application stacks with hundreds of servers, Kumolus can help you automate

your DevOps toolchain and create testing environments.

Integration with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP and NetApp Cloud Volumes Service

Kumolus, used in conjunction with Cloud Volumes ONTAP and Cloud Volumes Service,

helps you create a comprehensive and complex infrastructure environment, including

network and database components, storage features, and security patterns. Cloud

Volumes ONTAP copies the data set quickly. Kumolus then creates a unified artifact

made up of the data set plus the applications around it. This is significant because the

DevOps tool chain doesn’t know what to do with the data alone.

Kumolus takes advantage of underlying Cloud Volumes ONTAP or Cloud Volumes

Service capabilities and components for enterprise-scale snapshotting capability. For

example, if you need to make changes to an existing application, you can bring it in

to your existing environment and add extra capabilities. Using Cloud Volumes ONTAP,

you can rapidly take a snapshot of that data and attach it, and test it through your

entire DevOps toolchain.

Kumolus features:

› Drag and drop functionality. Visually

and dynamically move objects to create

and configure your environments and

load-balance in hours, not minutes.

Choose configurable parameters, don’t

code them.

› Dynamic cost calculations. As you

build out your templates you also build

out your monthly costs—so you can

track and control your budget as you

provision.

› Configuration tools. Examine databases

and volumes and automatically back up

even as new workloads get provisioned.

› Revision control. Manage all changes

to an environment automatically, see

revision history, and roll back changes

as needed.

› Reporting and dashboards. Manage

accounts; define backup configuration

requirements, which are then

automatically applied into provisioned

environments; and automatically back up

production workloads.

› Built-in governance and security.

Set up policies and requirements that

enforce specific services in specific

types of networks, such as for Payment

Card Industry Data Security Standard

(PCI-DSS) or HIPAA. Your DevOps teams

can work elsewhere while trusting that

these processes are built and functioning

invisibly in the background.

The Kumolus Cloud Management

Platform seamlessly works with your

DevOps, continuous integration,

tooling, and AWS ecosystem. Using

Kumolus, you can meet cloud security

and compliance requirements in

minutes, so that you can focus less

on IT complexity and more on what’s

really important: your product.

6

C#JS

HTML

C++

PHP

Nagios

Splunk

New Relic

Terraform

CloudHealth

Jenkins

Ansible Kumolus – From complexity to simplicity: Why it’s time to rethink

your DevOps processesChef

Bamboo

AWS

Puppet

AWS CloudFormation

khkhadjjasjkhkjsaskhdkhasdkhsakhdkhkjhhhkjh

khkhadjjasjkhkjsaskhdkhasdkhsakhdkhkjhhhkjh

khkhadjjasjkhkjsaskhdkhasdkhsakhdkhkjhhhkjh

Using SnapMirror, you can you can mirror or backup your database storage to other

instances of Cloud Volumes ONTAP, moving data quickly and efficiently into and

out of the cloud. With FlexClone, you can create temporary writable copies of data

without affecting the source. Each clone can be created instantaneously, allowing you

to rapidly build out hundreds of environments in minutes, versus traditional solutions

that sometimes take weeks or more.

More about NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP and Cloud Volumes Service:

› Cloud Volumes ONTAP is a software-only storage service for your dev/test, disaster

recovery, and production applications. Cloud Volumes ONTAP, available in AWS Marketplace,

combines data control with enterprise-class storage features—such as data deduplication

and compression—to minimise your storage footprint. Cloud Volumes ONTAP delivers secure

and proven NFS and SMB data management for Amazon EBS storage and tiered Amazon S3

storage. Cloud Volumes ONTAP can also tie your cloud storage to your data center using the

NetApp replication protocol, SnapMirror technology.

› Cloud Volumes Service is a fully managed cloud file service that provides cloud architects

with the advanced data capabilities that developers and users want, while simplifying

operations and controlling the cost of moving to and using data on the cloud. Cloud-native,

multiprotocol storage with extremely fast performance is provided, so companies can move

applications to the cloud and run them there months and even years sooner.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP and Cloud Volumes Service offer similar functionality. You can

use either Cloud Volumes ONTAP or Cloud Volumes Service, based on which option is

right for your business.

NetApp Cloud Data Services

and DevOps

Cloud Volumes ONTAP, Cloud Volumes

Service, and other NetApp Cloud Data

Services can help you spin up new

development and test environments,

replicate data, and provision DevOps

environments. Write code once and

take advantage of automation across

your DevOps pipeline. Using Cloud

Volumes ONTAP and Cloud Volumes

Service you can:

› Clone data sets. Instantly create new

environments with snapshots of data sets.

› Create a volume from previous data.

Create a snapshot based on certain point

in time of your data and run tests.

› Replicate data across geographies.

› Leverage containerisation: Set up

containers within your development

environment and use FlexClone to build

data in to your database.

› Leverage automation: Launch

OnCommand Cloud Manager for

configuration.

Kumolus: From complexity to simplicity

COMPLEXITY SIMPLICITY

7

About NetApp and AWSNetApp provides a full range of cloud data services that accelerate digital transformation. NetApp Cloud Data Services are a suite

of data-driven solutions to run critical applications on the cloud, create automated disaster recovery sites, back up SaaS data, and

move and control data across multiple clouds. In partnership with AWS, NetApp offers a flexible line of cloud storage solutions

that help meet your business objectives in a changing IT world.

About KumolusThe Kumolus Cloud Management Platform enables organisations to gain access to cloud services to deliver IT agility while

maintaining enterprise control. Founded by Michael Salleo and Josh McGrath in 2012, the Kumolus Agile Cloud Management

Platform was released in 2016. Kumolus is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with offices in Asia and a growing network of

global partners.

Kumolus is a NetApp Cloud First Technology Partner. The Kumolus Agile Cloud Management platform is available in AWS

Marketplace.

1Forbes, The Relationship Between the Cloud and DevOps (July 2017) 2 DZone, Survey Shows Cloud and DevOps Complexity and Culture Concerns (March 2018)

© 2018 NetApp, Inc., Amazon Web Services, Inc., and Kumolus. All rights reserved. NETAPP, the NETAPP logo, and the marks listed at http://www.netapp.com/TM are trademarks of NetApp, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

NetApp Cloud Data Services, including Cloud Volumes ONTAP and Cloud Volumes Service, help you spin up new development and test environments, replicate data, and provision DevOps environments.

Talk to an expert about Kumolus and NetApp Cloud Data Services