One of the best things about being a consultant in the DevOps space is the all-you-can-eat buffet of tools, tech stacks, and implementations out in the wild.

Over the past two decades, I've been involved in several customized implementations. Some may make you scratch your head and ask “why didn't you go with the most common/easy solution?". Short answer is we all have to make some concessions to fit within a customer's requirements and budget. That is to say, we don't always get to do things the way we want or implement them in the manner that we think is right.

I'm leaving some of the chicanery I've endured as guides, along with some feedback on software or SaaS products I've used along the way to make your life easier or at least give you some kind of idea on what to expect before going down the rabbit hole. Ideally, I'll have time to revisit and improve on some of them or show how they can be improved upon but don't hold me to it.

As with all things in tech, there's always a better way of doing things, but it's up to you as the DevOps professional to find the balance between cost, efficacy, and long term support.

Good Hunting!