LateRooms.com, a leading UK hotel reservations website, required a strategic approach to DevOps that could effectively cater to its hybrid cloud infrastructure on AWS and on-premises systems. During my tenure from April 2017 to September 2018 as a System Engineer and then as a Lead Platform Engineer, I led a team of 5 engineers to redefine the way DevOps activities were carried out. We aimed to adapt existing tools, streamline processes, and bring the best practices in DevOps to the engineering teams.
Challenges
- Managing a hybrid cloud Infrastructure compliant with PCI-DSS
- Leading platform engineering activity and mentoring junior engineers
- Overcoming inconsistencies in DevOps practices across various teams
- Planning and fulfilling complex technical requirements and changes
Solutions
Infrastructure as Code
By employing automation tools like Ansible and Terraform, we transitioned from manual provisioning to infrastructure as code. This allowed for faster, more reliable setups, and less human error.
Containerization
We leveraged Docker, Kubernetes, and Rancher to build and deploy orchestrated application containers. This move towards containerization led to more scalable and easier-to-manage applications.
CI/CD Pipelines
We set up continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, making it quicker and simpler to go from development to deployment.
Monitoring and Log Management
We used Icinga for real-time monitoring along with Elastic Stack for log management and analysis. This suite of tools helped us keep a keen eye on system health and security.
Team Leadership and Mentoring
As a Lead Platform Engineer, I was responsible for overseeing all platform engineering activities. This included providing technical mentoring to Platform Engineers, helping them understand and implement best DevOps practices.
Streamlining Processes
I worked closely with engineering teams to help them adapt to new DevOps tools and automated processes, making sure every team followed a consistent approach to DevOps.
Results
- Achieved PCI-DSS compliance for our hybrid cloud infrastructure
- Improved deployment times by 40% due to CI/CD implementation
- Reduced manual errors by 30% with Infrastructure as Code
- Enhanced team skills and overall efficiency through mentoring and best practices
Conclusion
The transformations at LateRooms.com underlined the impact that effective DevOps practices can have. From improving operational efficiency to bolstering team skills, our initiatives laid the foundation for scalable, efficient, and agile operations.
