Pulling the Strings

After several decades of use, should we consider open source software (OSS) a business model? In short: No! In this conversation, open source evangelist Javier Perez welcomes technology evangelist and CNCF ambassador Dotan Horovits to provide context for the biggest changes happening in OSS, discuss what a sustainable future looks like for open source, and explain what to do when companies choose...

When Sean Atkinson says that “We’re on a trajectory to have the most vulnerabilities ever identified in a single year, starting this year,” take note: As Chief Information Security Officer for the Center for Internet Security, he knows what he’s talking about. He’s referring to the ever-increasing tide of weaknesses and flaws that undermine the security of software used every single day by teams a...

It’s all good news, we promise! The Forge has always been the go-to spot for Puppet users to find, download, and update content and modules. On this episode, we're revealing a few of the exciting changes that are going to make the Forge even easier and more valuable for all Puppet users, like personalization, filters, and features to track module versions and updates against your Puppet file. As o...

The 2024 State of DevOps Report: The Evolution of Platform Engineering is live! In this episode, we’re taking you behind the scenes with the authors of the report and one of the people who helped run the survey. Download the 2024 report for free here! On this episode, join us as host Ben Ford, report authors Margaret Lee and David Sandilands, and project manager Stephanie Fairchild pull back the c...

Platform engineering is all about giving devs the tools they need to work independently. Work-from-home policies give people flexibility in where and how they work. It should be a match made in heaven, right? Well... it’s more complicated than that. Research, feedback, and evangelizing are critical to building an internal developer platform (IDP). But WFH can make that communication tough. And tha...

Politics is everywhere in your organization. No, not THAT kind of politics – the kind that happens when you need something and can’t get it, or when you get good at something and people start noticing. Actually, politics happens just about whenever decisions get made. Joshua Zimmerman says that kind of politics is rooted in people, and with the right mindset, you can use politics to make things be...

Great things – tools, spaces, companies, brands – are supported by great communities. The Vox Pupuli are perhaps the most prominent, active group in the Puppet community. Here’s what they're up to lately, what it’s like being one of them, and what Puppet (the community) means to Puppet (the company). The Vox Pupuli are 200+ strong; they maintain dozens of modules on the Forge; even executive leade...

Open source has always moved fast. Today, it moves faster than ever, driven by both community demand and corporate interest. On this episode, Perforce’s Javier Perez and OSI’s Stefano Maffulli discuss the impact of recent license changes and the historical push-and-pull between consumers and providers in the world of open source. Highlights: Reflecting on 25 years of OSI and its widening scope The...

In the past few years, developer experience has become one of the biggest concerns at the C-level. Gartner found it’s the top value factor for adopting IDPs, performance engineering, CI/CD, and more core aspects of platform engineering. In 2021, McKinsey said it should be “the cornerstone of talent strategy” – and still, it’s a sticking point for a lot of software orgs. Turnover, burnout, skill ga...

The opportunity to write a Puppet 8 book landed in David Sandilands’s lap when he had just started at Puppet and with a child on the way. About a year and a half later in mid-2023, “Puppet 8 for DevOps Engineers” launched via Packt. This is the story of everything that happened in the middle. Speakers: Ben Ford, Community Lead at Puppet by Perforce David Sandilands, Senior Solutions Architect at P...

So your organization failed a compliance audit and got slapped with fines and penalties. Bummer! You pay the fine, spend a few days fixing your configurations, run a scan, and get ready to do it again come the next audit. But that approach doesn’t work anymore: The risks are too high, and fixing months of configuration drift at the drop of a hat (let alone hunting down all the paperwork for audito...

Modules are the basic building blocks of Puppet. They're made to solve common challenges, extend functionality, and optimize your use of Puppet. They're also reusable and shareable – you can find thousands on the Puppet Forge – and best of all, anyone can make them. But what does that really mean? On this episode of Pulling the Strings, Ben Ford sits down with Yeshua Hall to talk about Yeshua’s ex...

Supposedly, Albert Einstein once said, “If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, then you don't understand it yourself.” That might be a bit harsh, but it holds true for teaching just about anything: You’ve got to meet learners where they are. That’s why Puppet recently launched new on-demand training courses and more. There’s a new, engaging way to learn how to do things with Puppet without goi...

“It doesn't matter how small the contribution is – I think everyone benefits from the different environment, the different culture, of open source communities.” From ‘free software’ to the Mars Rover, the scope of open source is expansive, growing, and offering new challenges to organizations and practitioners alike. Now, Perforce Director of Product Management Javier Perez is excited to share the...

In this episode, join special guests Nigel Kersten, KasparvonGrünberg, Fatih Degirmenci, and Ronan Keenan as they discuss the recent surge in popularity of platform engineering and how these teams are fast becoming vital to enterprise success.  In this panel discussion they explore:  The history and advent of platform engineering What platform engineering looks like today Where to get started in p...

Creating and maintaining community is hard, especially when you don't bump into each other in the hallways on the regular. And community is vital, especially when it advocates for you and helps create a safe space to bring your whole self to work. Todd and Melissa share their experiences with Puppet's Pride ERG and how they're using it to work towards systemic change. Learn More: Join our communit...

Managing the configuration of an entire ecosystem is not an easy thing to do, and bootstrapping the system that manages that configuration is even more challenging. Edwin from Puppet’s Solutions Architects team shows us a tool they've built that aims to simplify that task. Learn more: Join our community at https://slack.puppet.com and chat with Edwin . Try out the module from its Forge page and fi...

CentOS has become the de facto standard operating system for many organizations since it’s basically the same thing as RHEL, rebranded and without commercial support. CentOS was originally a community project, but over time Red Hat has become more influential in its direction and has shifted it to a "Stream" model, effectively moving CentOS 8 from being a downstream release (built after RHEL) to a...

Cortez worked his way up through the ranks as a cloud security and compliance engineer, managing hundreds of production applications. Now he's taking those grueling lessons and teaching the team at Relay how to automate away tedium and toil. Join us as Cortez shares stories from the field and some of the motivation behind Relay's cloud compliance enforcement capabilities. Learn more:  Join our com...

The recent log4j fiasco reminded us that not only is it important to stay updated and current with security news, but it's also critical to have safe ways to deploy configuration updates or orchestrate reporting/remediation scripts across your infrastructure as quickly as possible. Jeremy and Nick join us today to share best practices and automation suggestions. Learn more: Join our community at h...

Puppet has been open source since day one and our success has largely been built on community contributions. One could even say that it's part of our DNA. Now the question is where do we take it from here? Puppet CTO Abby Kearns and Chief Architect Chip Childers have a long and storied history with open source. Join us to hear their thoughts on how Puppet will map out the open source roadmap ahead...

The DSC configuration engine is the standard way to manage Windows systems, and it’s incredibly powerful. Now it's easier to use too, because all the PowerShell Gallery DSC resources are only a `puppet module install` away. Mike and Bill are here to tell you the whole story, from building the integration and the publication pipeline to deploying DSC Resources for customers and debugging them in th...

User research shows that a huge number of our customers were using ServiceNow alongside Puppet Enterprise. It only made sense to teach the tools how to integrate with each other so that users didn't have to switch between them. Molly and Milad join us from Puppet's Integrations team to tell us how they put user experience front and center when building the new extensions. Learn more:  Join our com...

Learning new tools is hard enough on its own. But then you often have to install software, set up a working environment, download a dev kit, or more. Our Education team recently released the new Puppet Practice Labs , which let you learn the Puppet ecosystem at your own pace and remove all these impediments from your progress. The labs run right in your browser and require no extra downloads. And...

Pride is a celebration of our true selves -- of loving yourself for who you are, and of accepting and loving others for who they are. It can be a challenge to feel safe being out and proud without role models providing guidance and showing the way. Listen to Melissa Casburn share her personal and professional journey. Learn More:  To go more in depth, read Melissa’s post on Medium