CloudPro #7: Amazon’s AI Tools, Kubernetes Pods, ChatGPT Custom Instructions, and How Platform Teams Get Stuff Done
Hi,
“Cloud is the digital wonderland of Internet of Things, powered by Artificial Intelligence and Big Data”
-Enamul Haque, author of Digital Transformation through Cloud Computing
Nothing perhaps could have summarized the beauty of cloud deployments better than Enamul’s statement, which expresses how the cloud weaves IoT, AI, and big data, three of the most significant concepts of our time, into a unified fabric. Google Cloud’s recently announced Application Integration feature does just that and more.
Hello and welcome to this week’s CloudPro issue! Sit back and relax as we talk you on an exciting journey through the latest developments in cloud like Alphabet's Q2 Earnings surpassing expectations, boosted by Google Cloud growth, Amazon unveiling AI Tools to rival Google and Microsoft in cloud business, and OpenAI’s Frontier Model Forum which can safeguard AI's Future. ICYMI, today’s also the last day of Packt’s Free Access, so check it out here.
We’ll talk about how Microsoft’s key theft turned out to be more serious than previously thought and the company’s subsequent plans to release free cloud security tools. We’ll take a look at a global cloud center server threat and how 75% businesses feel the push to adopt generative AI one way or the other.
If you’re seeking inspiration or wish to brush up on your cloud skills, we’ve got your back! Explore our curated Cloud resources on how to use Google Cloud’s new SAP Cost Estimator, navigating the maze of cloud development troubleshooting, and understanding Kubernetes Pods.
My promise with this newsletter is to act as your personal assistant and help you navigate and keep up-to-date with what's happening in the world of Cloud, DevOps, and Platform Engineering. What did you think of today's newsletter? Please consider taking the short survey below to share your thoughts and you will get a free PDF of the “Python Workshop” eBook upon completion.
Thanks for reading.
Kartikey Pandey, Vidhu Jain
Editor-in-Chiefs
Tell Us What You Think, Get a Packt eBook!
5 Days of Free Access - Last Day!
Visit our platform, browse, and get unlimited access to all 7,500+ titles!
⚡ TechWave: News and Analysis
ChatGPT Introduces Custom Instructions: OpenAI has introduced custom instructions for ChatGPT, allowing users to set preferences for the AI's responses. This feature, initially available to Plus plan users, will be expanded to all users in the coming weeks. Custom instructions enable users to specify their requirements for ChatGPT's responses, eliminating the need to repeat preferences in every conversation. Developers can now ask ChatGPT to write efficient code in a specific language.
Amazon Unveils AI Tools to Rival Google and Microsoft in Cloud Business: Amazon has announced new AI tools, including a healthcare system that generates clinical notes, to enhance its competitiveness against Microsoft and Google in the cloud business. Amazon's Bedrock service enables businesses to develop applications using various AI models. Amazon is also integrating chatbots and providing more personalized responses based on in-house data.
Microsoft Leads in Cloud-Based AI Services, Claims CEO: Satya Nadella has stated that Microsoft is the leading company in selling cloud-based AI services. This rapidly growing category has been boosted by the viral success of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot, which is hosted on Azure. Microsoft's Azure and other cloud services have seen a 26% year-over-year increase, outpacing all other major product areas except for the Dynamics 365 cloud-based enterprise software.
Google Cloud and AI Capabilities Power 70% of Generative AI Startups: Alphabet's Q2 2023 earnings call reveal the growing adoption of next-gen technology among emerging companies building new services powered by Google Bard and other models. Over 70% of generative AI startups are leveraging Google's cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities. Google is also integrating generative AI across its own products, enhancing services like Search and productivity tools in Workspace.
OpenAI’s Frontier Model Forum to Safeguard AI's Future: OpenAI is launching a new industry body to ensure the safe and responsible development of advanced AI systems, identify best practices, advance AI safety research, and facilitate secure information sharing. Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic have expressed their support for this initiative.
Microsoft Offers Free Cloud Security Tools Post-Hacks: In response to recent major cyber-espionage campaigns, Microsoft will offer its cloud security tools, including those that helped the State Department detect an intrusion, for free. The company is also extending the retention period for security logs from 90 to 180 days.
75% Businesses Feel the Push to Adopt Generative AI: The study suggests that generative AI can help organizations make sense of vast amounts of customer-related data. Over the next year, nearly two-thirds of leaders expect their companies to increase financial investment in tech tools and training for their customer experience teams.
📚 Secret Knowledge: Learning Resources
Structured Authentication Config in Kubernetes v1.28: Learn how to use Structured Authentication Config in Kubernetes v1.28, a feature that allows the use of any JWT-compliant tokens, dynamic configuration changes, and simultaneous use of multiple authentication providers. Know how to define rules to check token validity and extract user attributes from tokens.
Understanding Kubernetes Pods: The article explains the concept of a Pod in Kubernetes, the smallest deployable unit. A Pod can contain one or more containers, with each Pod having a unique IP address shared by its containers. The article also differentiates between a Pod and a Node.
Navigating AWS with the Resource Explorer: The AWS Resource Explorer is a managed service that allows users to explore resources across global regions. It retrieves resources like EC2, Kinesis streams, and DynamoDB tables, and allows users to search for resources using metadata like names, tags, and IDs.
Crafting Superior Container Images: Explore the importance of building better container images for microservice architectures. Know the benefits of containerization, such as portability and fault isolation, and the need for optimized, secure, and reliable container images.
How to Use Google Cloud’s New SAP Cost Estimator: The new tool provides cost estimates for running SAP on Google Cloud. The estimator offers costs for SAP deployments in predefined sizes, based on typical Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Bill of Materials for SAP applications.
How SMBs Can Overcome Sustainable Manufacturing Challenges in the Cloud: Explore a three-step process for implementing sustainable practices: capture, analyze, and improvise. AWS provides tailored solutions for each of these steps, including AWS IoT for capturing data, Carbon Data Lake for analyzing data, and Amazon Lookout for Equipment and Amazon Lookout for Vision for implementing improvements.
GitHub Copilot vs. ChatGPT: A Comparative Analysis for Developers: GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT offer unique advantages for software developers. Copilot, designed specifically for coding, integrates directly with IDEs and adapts to individual coding styles, producing high-quality code. However, it supports only certain IDEs and lacks the ability to answer open-ended coding questions. On the other hand can answer open-ended questions and provide detailed explanations of code. However, it may not produce functioning code as reliably as Copilot. The ideal approach could be to use both tools: ChatGPT for project initiation and Copilot for intense coding work.
🔍 HackerHub: Tools & Launches
llama2.c: Now train a Llama 2 model in PyTorch, save the weights to a binary file, and then load that into a C file for inference. Minimalistic with no dependencies, includes a C inference engine.
iac-devtools-cli-for-cdk: CLI tool simplifying the use of AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) development by automating project setup, deployment, and teardown.
alb-sso-mwaa: Integrate AWS Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow (MWAA) with AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) and AWS Single Sign-On (SSO).
fog: Ruby cloud services library that provides a unified and consistent interface to various cloud providers, including AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. Write portable cloud applications with a high-level API.
PushSharp: Server-side library for .NET that to send push notifications to iOS, Android, and Windows devices. It provides a unified API to handle different push notification services, making it easier to integrate push notifications into applications.
libcloud: Python library for interacting with many of the popular cloud service providers using a unified API to manage storage, load balancers, and compute instances across different cloud providers.
✨ Tutorials and Guides
How to Use Azure Application Gateway for Containers: Learn how to use Azure’s new Layer-7 Load Balancer, Azure Application Gateway for Containers, designed specifically for Azure Kubernetes Service. This new technology enables advanced traffic management scenarios using Gateway API, end-to-end mTLS, Traffic Splits, Header-based routing, and fast failovers.
Streamlining Kubernetes Secrets Management with Crossplane and External Secrets: Learn how to deploy all resources (excluding the AWS Secret Manager secret) through Argo CD with a Helm Chart, keeping deployments DRY and easily extendable. This method reduces developer input and DevOps involvement.
Kubernetes Ugly Commands: Listing Images and Tags for Every Running Container: The article presents a Kubernetes command that lists the images and tags for every container in running pods. This command can be used to quickly check running images, for auditing, or as part of a CI process to validate that the desired image and tags are indeed running.
Navigating the Maze of Cloud Development Troubleshooting: The author shares their experience of troubleshooting an issue while working on a project using the Website SDK resource of Winglang. Read the post to understand the complexities of cloud development and the need for better error context in AWS.
How to Build a Custom Docker Base Image for SpringBoot Applications: The article discusses the creation of a custom Docker base image for SpringBoot applications to solve issues related to configuration and patch management in microservices deployments.
How Platform Teams Get Stuff Done: This blog discusses the different collaboration patterns platform teams can use with their customer teams. The author emphasizes the importance of a platform team's adaptability to the maturity of each team and the phase of their platform adoption. The article also highlights the need for platform teams to evolve from a high-touch, collaborative mode to a more scalable, self-service approach as the platform matures and adoption grows.
Profiling in Python: How to Find Performance Bottlenecks: Sometimes, the return on investment in performance optimizations just isn’t worth the effort. If you only run your code once or twice, or if it takes longer to improve the code than execute it, then what’s the point? In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to profile your Python programs using numerous tools available in the standard library, third-party libraries, as well as a powerful tool foreign to Python. Along the way, you’ll learn what profiling is and cover a few related concepts.
📢 If your company is interested in reaching an audience of developers, software engineers, and tech decision makers, you may want to advertise with us.
If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email!
Kind Regards,
Kartikey