blog on app-of-apps (#241)

Author: goern

content/posts/no-app-of-apps-anymore/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+---
+title: 'is app-of-apps the right pattern for you?'
+date: 2023-05-17 
+author: 'Christoph [GNU:] Görn' 
+description: 'The app-of-apps pattern, while a useful concept, does have its pitfalls. The most significant is the complexity it introduces into application management.'
+tags:
+  - OperateFirst
+  - Operations
+  - GitOps
+  - ArgoCD
+  - Kustomize
+  - App-of-Apps
+---
+
+The app-of-apps pattern, while a useful concept, does have its pitfalls. The most significant is the complexity it
+introduces into application management. When you use the app-of-apps pattern, you're essentially managing applications
+within applications. This can become difficult to navigate, especially when applications begin to scale.
+
+## The Problem with the App-of-Apps Pattern
+
+With a growing number of applications, it becomes challenging to keep track of all the interdependencies. Furthermore,
+when multiple teams are responsible for different applications, the complexity increases exponentially. This can lead
+to configuration drift and potential security risks, as the entire system's stability becomes dependent on each
+individual application.
+
+## Putting the Environment at the Center
+
+In contrast, if we put the environment - the Kubernetes cluster - at the center of our thoughts, we can streamline our
+application management process. This doesn't mean we forget about applications, but rather, we view them as an integral
+part of the environment.
+
+We can think of our environment as a living ecosystem, with applications as various organisms living within it. Rather
+than managing these organisms separately, we manage the ecosystem as a whole, ensuring that it remains healthy and
+balanced. This involves considering the system's stability, security, and ability to scale, as well as the
+interdependencies between various applications.
+
+When we treat the environment as the central focus, we can apply a more holistic management approach. Using tools like
+Kustomize and ArgoCD, we can manage the Kubernetes cluster and its applications as a unified entity. This reduces
+complexity and makes it easier to maintain stability and security.
+
+## The Power of GitOps
+
+By using GitOps, we keep all our application's declarative configurations in a version-controlled system - Git. This
+enables automatic detection and remediation of configuration drift, thereby enhancing security and reliability.
+
+Kustomize allows us to manage Kubernetes configurations through customization, and ArgoCD provides continuous delivery
+capabilities to deploy these configurations to the Kubernetes cluster. When used together, these tools can provide a
+powerful, declarative, and version-controlled approach to managing our Kubernetes environment.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+While the app-of-apps pattern has its merits, it can introduce unnecessary complexity into Kubernetes application
+management. By shifting our focus to the environment - the Kubernetes cluster - and treating it as a unified entity
+with its applications, we can simplify management and enhance stability and security.
+
+The combination of GitOps, Kustomize, and ArgoCD offers a powerful toolkit for managing our environment. They enable a
+declarative, version-controlled approach to configuration management that is both flexible and reliable. This makes it
+easier to maintain our environment and ensures our applications always run in a stable and secure ecosystem.

src/pages/community-cloud.js

@@ -89,12 +89,15 @@ const CommunityCloudPage = () => {
           Community Cloud
         </Title>
         <Text>
-           A Community Cloud is a shared environment for Open
-          Source projects and SRE practitioners. An initial Community Cloud, which was established on bare metal hardware
-          provided by the Mass Open Cloud (MOC), is documented here. It was decommissioned in the spring of 2023 due to lack of
-          personnel to operate it. Open Source workloads have since moved to various community clusters to continue their work.
-          At the present time, there is no bare metal cloud where Open Source operations can be vetted. Commitment of resources to
-          manage such a cloud will be needed for resumption.
+          A Community Cloud is a shared environment for Open Source projects and
+          SRE practitioners. An initial Community Cloud, which was established
+          on bare metal hardware provided by the Mass Open Cloud (MOC), is
+          documented here. It was decommissioned in the spring of 2023 due to
+          lack of personnel to operate it. Open Source workloads have since
+          moved to various community clusters to continue their work. At the
+          present time, there is no bare metal cloud where Open Source
+          operations can be vetted. Commitment of resources to manage such a
+          cloud will be needed for resumption.
         </Text>
         <Text>
           It&apos;s operated under a community SLA and as open and transparent