Priya R Shastri Nov 05, 2021

Review of Effortless cloud native application development using Skaffold by Ashish Choudhary.Priya ShastriThis book is for cloud native application developers working with Kubernetes and using cloud native DevOps solution to simplify their inner CI/CD pipeline.The application development inner loop is an iterative process in which a developer uses the code, build and test loop to produce effective code. Skaffold is an open source tool use to automate the build run deploy cycle. This book is an excellent resource for developers using skaffold.In chapter 1 the code, build, test loop, the author describes the use of IDEs like Eclipse and the plugin “JRebel that helps the java developers with the buildign and deploying of code. In chapter 2 the author discusses the introduction of Skaffold and why it is important for developers who want to write code in Kubernetes. It provides an automated build and test environment. Skaffold is the CLI tool that creates automated build, test tool to set up the environment for Kubernetes. It is an open source tool developed by Google and released in 2019. Skaffold features and architectures are discussed in chapter 4. Skaffold supports the builds for dockerfile, jib, Bazel, cloud native buildpacks. In chapter 6 we learn about working with Skaffold image builders and deployers. In chapter 7 we learn about building and deploying a springboot application using cloud plugin and Skaffold. In chapter 8 the author talks about deploying kubernetes on GKE (Google kubernetes Engine) using Skaffold. In chapter 9 a production ready CI/CD pipeline is explained using Skaffold. Finally in chapter 10 you have best practices for Skaffold and pitfalls. It talks about telepresence, oketo, Garden and docker compose as alternatives to Skaffold.I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who is deploying kubernetes on GKE or creating CI/CD pipelines on Jenkins/Github.Skaffold is a useful tool.

Amazon Verified review

Shantanu Malik Oct 30, 2021

Skaffold improves developer experience with Kubernetes. It's a great tool and this book provides in-depth overview of Skaffold with tons of coding examples. Highly recommended.

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Wielenga Geertjan Oct 15, 2021

In "Effortless Cloud-Native App Development Using Skaffold", Ashish Choudhary provides a thorough overview of Skaffold, with the book's subtitle clearly defining its agenda: "Simplify the development and deployment of Cloud-native SpringBoot applications on Kubernetes with Skaffold".Section 1, "The Kubernetes Nightmare – Skaffold to the Rescue", promises to describe "the pain and suffering of developing an application with Kubernetes", with Skaffold as the solution to help in automating the building, pushing, and deployment of applications running on Kubernetes.-- In chapter 1, "Code, Build, Test, and Repeat – The Application Development Inner Loop", the author explains what the "application development inner loop" is, as well as the inner versus outer development loops, together with an exploration of the traditional application development inner loop in contrast to the container-native application development inner loop. All this is discussed in the context of JRebel and SpringBoot, with their related tools and technologies.-- With the previous chapter having focused on traditional development workflows, chapter 2, "Developing Cloud-Native Applications with Kubernetes – A Developer's Nightmare", expounds upon the "hardships that a developer has to go through while developing Cloud-native applications with Kubernetes". The key stumbling blocks turn out to be focused on developers wanting simplified workflows via Kubernetes while not being nor wanting to be Kubernetes experts. "Developers just want to code rather than worry about how and where their applications will be deployed," is a statement that is hard to argue with.-- What you get in chapter 3, "Skaffold — Easy-Peasy Cloud-Native Kubernetes Application Development", is a clear introduction to Skaffold. "Skaffold is a CLI tool that automates the build, push, and deploy steps for Cloud-native applications running on local or remote Kubernetes clusters of your choice. Skaffold is not a replacement for Docker or Kubernetes. It works in conjunction with them and handles the build, push, and deploy boilerplate part for you." Complete instructions for setting up your environment, introducing you to the Skaffold command line, with code samples throughout the book, are provided.Section 2: "Getting Started with Skaffold" goes through everything connected to the basic Skaffold usage, from a run down of its features, an overview of its architecture, bootstrapping projects with Skaffold, including building and deploying container images with Skaffold.-- With chapter 4, "Understanding Skaffold's Features and Architectures", you learn about Skaffold's specificities, such as "super-fast local development, effortless remote development, built-in tag management, lightweight capabilities, and file sync capability". Really useful in this chapter are several diagrams and images aimed at "demystifying" Skaffold's architecture. By the end of the chapter, you have a really solid understanding of what Skaffold can do for you.-- Chapter 5, "Installing Skaffold and Demystifying Its Pipeline Stages" gets you into the nitty gritty of installing specificities on different operating systems, as well as the command line, as well as the various stages of its pipeline, such as "init", "build", and "deploy", wrapping up with an introduction to its debugging facilities.-- In chapter 6, "Working with Skaffold Container Image Builders and Deployers", you are introduced to reactive programming, while buidling a SpringBoot CRUD application and being shown Skaffold's supported container image builders, from Docker to kaniko to Jib to Buildpacks. You also learn about the different ways to deploy images to a Kubernetes cluster using tools such as kubectl, Helm, and Kustomize.Section 3: "Building and Deploying Cloud-Native SpringBoot Applications with Skaffold" has as its focus the building and deployment of SpringBoot applications using Skaffold to local (minikube and more) and remote clusters (GKE).-- In chapter 7, "Building and Deploying a SpringBoot Application with the Cloud Code Plugin", you are introduced to Google's Cloud Code plugin, which is available with IDEs such as IntelliJ. The author shows you step by step how to create a SpringBoot application while using the plugin to deploy it to a local Kubernetes cluster.-- Chapter 8, "Deploying a SpringBoot Application to the Google Kubernetes Engine Using Skaffold" shows you how to deploy the same SpringBoot application from the previous chapter to the remote Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), which is a managed Kubernetes service provided by the Google Cloud Platform.-- Next, in chapter 9, "Creating a Production-Ready CI/CD Pipeline with Skaffold", you are shown how to create a production-ready continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) pipeline for the same SpringBoot application as before, using Skaffold and GitHub Actions.-- Chapter 10, "Exploring Skaffold Alternatives, Best Practices, and Pitfalls" starts by looking at other tools that provide similar functionalities as Skaffold: Telepresence, Tilt.dev, OpenShift Do, Oketo, Garden, and docker-compose. Next, you learn several tips and tricks to follow while developing Cloud-native Kubernetes applications with Skaffold, including how to do faster builds and how to solve typical problems, as well as a range of pitfalls and Skaffold's future roadmap.Over the years, tooling around Kubernetes has improved significantly in line with the increased adoption of Kubernetes in the industry. Developers need tools that increase productivity while being able to quickly develop applications for the Cloud.Skaffold dramatically enhances that process and there is no better time than the present for a book such as this, which can surely be seen to be some kind of Skaffold Bible. The author provides a complete and thorough overview of the central issues faced by users of Kubernetes, presents Skaffold as a solution, highlights its features and pitfalls, while placing it within the context of the broader ecosystem of comparable solutions.

Amazon Verified review

Shai Almog Nov 16, 2021

First a disclaimer: I got the book for free with the purpose of reading/reviewing it. I wasn't paid and I don't know the author. I don't use affiliate links and don't profit in any way from this review.I think the value of a technology book is comprised of two factors:- Clarity of writing- Value of the technologyThe first part is the easy one. The clarity and writing style is excellent. The style is easy to read quickly without focusing on too many niche terms. It's pretty easy to get boggled down by acronyms when reading this type of book and thankfully Choudhary doesn't fall into that trap. He did his job well.So the value of the book is on the shoulders of the technology. Is Skaffold valuable?That's obviously a personal case. I’m not a devops and unfortunately I’m pretty bad at that. That’s why when I heard about Skaffold it instantly piqued my interest. Write Kubernetes cloud native apps without well… Writing Kubernetes native apps… That's a pretty attractive proposition to me.After reading the book I like a lot of what Skaffold is trying to accomplish but I'm also a bit held back by my problems with GKE (which isn't essential to skaffold) and the limited support for polyglot development. Overall I think it's worth knowing, especially if you plan to stick to Spring Boot, Java and Kotlin.

Amazon Verified review

Jeff S. Dec 06, 2021

So often in organizations they are migrating application stacks into the cloud and doing a 'lift and shift'. This is the worst possible way to utilize the cloud. Indeed, this book goes into depth on how to develop applications with a cloud-first approach that should be a requirement of any organization engaged in a cloud service!The book was in-depth, included plenty of examples and was very clearly written. It covered Open-Source Software solutions and was very approachable to me. I am not a developer, but I think I'm going to head that way eventually in my career. And this is a solid footing of what tools are available to the developer for building applications in the cloud.

Amazon Verified review

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Effortless Cloud-Native App Development Using Skaffold: Simplify the development and deployment of cloud-native Spring Boot applications on Kubernetes with Skaffold

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