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HTTP, HTTPS and Certificates Explained
A quick primer on HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), HTTPS (Secure HTTP) and how Domain Certificates (Certs) are used by Web Servers HTTP is used by Web Servers to serve pages to your browser. By default, HTTP is not encrypted and is therefore not secure. HTTPS uses the Certificate associated with the Website Domain to create Read more
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Identity Providers (IdP) and Federated Identities Explained
These are commonly used terms in the technology space. Understanding their definition and how they work is important to appreciate how systems are accessed. My previous article, Authentication and Authorization, covered how you accessed a given system. If you aren’t familiar with these terms, it may be a good refresher! Identity Providers (IdP) An everyday Read more
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Authentication and Authorization Explained
A simple explanation of these very commonly used terms “Authentication” (or “AuthN”) and “Authorization” (or “AuthZ”) Authentication, or AuthN, is the process of identifying a person (or system). This is typically done by a password, company ID or a driver’s license. Authorization, or AuthZ, is either granting (or denying) access to a system based on Read more
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Costs and Benefits of DevOps (and DevSecOps)
The term DevOps is ubiquitous and is considered a hallmark of a good development program. In this article, I’ll share my personal experiences and observations of why DevOps is important and the cases where it may not be worthwhile. What is DevOps? How does it differ from DevSecOps? In its most basic form, DevOps is Read more
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Controlling Cloud Costs: the Darkside of Infinite Scale
As I have noted in my other posts, it is hard to overstate the benefits of Cloud Computing. However, the ability to scale at the click of a button has downsides: it is too easy to over-provision and waste resources. In this post, I want to explore the “Why” and the ways to identify savings. Read more
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Building Disaster Recovery in the Cloud
As an Enterprise matures, there is an inescapable question: How do I recover from a partial (or major) Cloud Provider outage? How do we keep our customers online? In this blog, I will outline some of the basic principles of Disaster Recovery (DR). Unfortunately, there are two hard truths: every DR Plan is tailored to Read more
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