I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of the unprecedented growth of developer services and tools that are now available for cloud application development. Five years ago, I don’t think any of us would have imagined how quickly cloud application development has taken hold.
This modern way of development software is often referred to as cloud native. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) defines it as using an open source software stack to be containerized, where each part of the app is packaged in its own container. These containers are dynamically orchestrated, so each part is actively scheduled and managed to optimize resource utilization. Also, microservices-oriented development tools increase the overall agility and maintainability of applications.
The benefits make tech media headlines every week, and it seems like a no-brainer, but some companies struggle with how to get started. One of the best options, if you’re unsure how to get started, is to be guided by those with experience in the cloud-native arena.
Oracle is aware of these challenges and has developed a program to assist customers in this transition. The Developer Lighthouse Program (DLP) helps customer move off ground zero and jumpstart their transition to cloud native application development. The DLP provides technical advice and support for the organization’s development team. The program focuses on the developer team by providing them assistance with the move to cloud native. One of the main components to the DLP is a cloud developer day, which provides expert assistance in the following areas for an application of your choice.
Developer cloud day
The developer cloud day is six hours of customized training. Customers can complete the training in one day or adjust it to meet their availability. Optimally, the delivery is no more than three days of two-hour instruction.
The topics offered are customized, cloud native topics that the customer chooses. These courses include basic materials such as Introduction to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Introduction to Kubernetes, or Introduction of containers and Docker. They can also have more advanced topics. The courses are delivered by technical Oracle engineers, who have a breadth and depth knowledge of cloud native technologies. Each course offered consists of hands-on labs and demonstrations. Customers can choose from the following list and more:
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Introduction to containers
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Introduction to Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE)
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Infrastructure as code–Terraform on OCI
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APIs and OCI API Gateway
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Observability in your distributed applications
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Continuous integration-continuous delivery (CICD) pipeline on OCI
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Building a zero-trust network on OKE
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Monitoring OKE with Prometheus and Grafana
Phases and outcomes of the DLP
How do you get started? The program is broken into the following phases
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Discovery workshop
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Developer cloud day
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Up to three months of support from an Oracle expert resource
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Deployment
The discovery workshop is for the leadership team to lay out a vision for the digital transformation projects on the OCI developer services. The discovery workshop provides an opportunity for you to discuss your goals, scope a target application development project, and obtain a high-level estimate of the time frame to deliver on those goals.
During the briefing, you can learn the identification of use cases that are implemented during the subsequent DLP phases.
The developer cloud day follows, with the outcome of a targeted use case for cloud development with support from OCI and cloud native experts.
The third benefit to engaging with the DLP is getting a key contact assigned by the Cloud Native Developer Services Engineering organization at OCI. This technical engineer has several years of experience and heavily involved in the cloud native space and joins the project team for three months to offer product support, training, advice, and handle escalations. Since not one person knows everything, OCI experts in other areas of cloud native can be brought in for extra assistance.
What’s the catch?
OCI only asks for these commitments:
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Provide product requirements feedback to Product Engineering during the process and through an ongoing participation in our Cloud Native Advisory Board (CNAB).
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At the delivery of your application in production, share your experiences with other developers.
Summary
Engaging with OCI and using the DLP is an excellent opportunity to jumpstart your cloud native development. Don’t be afraid of setting your own path to a digital transformation. With Oracle Cloud Infrastructure engineers working alongside you and your team, we can get your application off the ground and your entry into cloud native technologies on a fast track.
If your organization is interested in finding out more about the DLP program, click the Request Additional Information tab (requires Oracle VPN) or post a new comment below and an individual from Oracle will get back to you.