Background
Canonical(external link) are world leaders in open source. While they are most known for Ubuntu Linux, they are pioneers in Linux security, cloud services with OpenStack, containerisation (LXD), and Kubernetes, among many others. Canonical has a powerful suite of tools to automate the building, maintenance, and security of applications and infrastructure.
Opportunity
Canonical has had an automation tool called Juju(external link) for some time. Juju enables teams to easily:
-
model,
-
provision,
-
upgrade,
-
and maintain complex applications at scale and across multiple cloud providers.
With the increasing shift towards containerisation and orchestration with Kubernetes(external link), Juju has been extended to make managing Kubernetes simpler.
Part of Canonical's effort towards this has been creating a new Python(external link) framework called the Python Operator Framework. The framework enables engineers to define their applications and infrastructure in Juju Charms ("infrastructure recipes") using Python. Also, there is significant work underway to reshape the Juju ecosystem (the Charm store, or Charm Hub, partnerships with existing and new cloud providers, documentation, tutorials, and the like).
Canonical needed an external, unbiased evaluation of their new tooling to improve their existing offering.
Solution
Canonical engaged Catalyst to evaluate the new Python Operator Framework for writing Juju charms for deploying and running workloads on Kubernetes. Access to Kubernetes expertise is limited as it is relatively new, so the Catalyst team added to Canonical’s breadth of Kubernetes knowledge. In practice, the evaluation extended beyond the operator framework and covered Juju itself charm authoring, documentation, organisational fit, and the surrounding ecosystem.
The Cloud Native team at Catalyst focused primarily on the design and development of systems on Kubernetes and the tooling required to do so. The team has a long track record in the containerisation, automation, and orchestration space. Plus, with a background in software architecture, cloud engineering, systems administration, and technology consulting, the team was an ideal fit for the engagement.
Catalyst and Canonical formed a team of engineers from New Zealand, Australia, and Dubai. Alpha and beta software was released in confidence to Catalyst to explore and evaluate, with a tight feedback loop based on weekly video conferences and online discussions. In addition to using the new tooling to spin up infrastructure on the (external link)Catalyst Cloud, we produced an in-depth technical report for Canonical, covering:
-
Juju and Kubernetes,
-
the operator framework organisational fit,
-
and the ecosystem in general.
Catalyst has shared our report with Canonical's technical and product teams to help shape Juju's future.
