Hidora is not only a cloud hosting platform, but also a team of DevOps professionals who are ready to help you optimise your application deployment processes. Check out our new case study with Thibault Fouache, a software engineer at Swiss Private Bank, and learn about the IT challenges Swiss banks face and how Hidora can help them solve them.
About
We spoke to Thibault Fouache who works in a team of 4 professionals: software engineer, business intelligence expert, developer and analyst.
Problem: How do you effectively manage, maintain and develop a new in-house application and how do you automate and industrialise the IT delivery processes in this new IT environment?
Solution: Implement DevOps tools to streamline the application deployment process to release software to production with a click.
What we did:
- Installation and configuration of RANCHER on Kubernetes with SSL certificate for security and private network complication (bank restriction).
- Installation and configuration of Gitlab (CI/CD), Nexus (registry and build), SonarQube (code review).
- Installation and configuration of monitoring tools (Centreon, Rudder, Graylog).
Can you tell me about your project?
I am a computer engineer. When I joined this small bank in Geneva, it had an outdated infrastructure. I liked DevOps and decided to find a new way to build and distribute applications within the bank. So I asked Hidora to help me with CI/CD, infrastructure and pipelines. The Hidora team also helped me to install Rudder, Centreon and Graylog for monitoring.
Why did you choose Kubernetes and Rancher? What are the main reasons for this choice?
At first we were offered to use a proprietary orchestrator, but it was a bit expensive for our small bank. We only had a few applications, so it might have been a bit excessive to have that. That’s why I chose Kubernetes and Rancher. Kubernetes is a new de-facto standard in container orchestration and Rancher provides a nice user interface in front of that, because Kubernetes is quite tricky and for the other team members it’s handy to have a nice user interface to deploy applications.
What was the challenge with Kubernetes? Did you try to install it manually?
We installed it through Rancher, so it was fairly easy. The main challenge we faced was related to SSL certificates that were not issued by a certificate authority. It was quite difficult, but we managed to do it with the help of Hidora.
What services did the Hidora team provide to you?
Installation help, expertise on Kubernetes and GitLab pipelines, but also training on Git for the team, as we were very new to the concept. It was important for me to understand all the processes by myself, we were working together with the experts from Hidora. It was mostly a teaching aid for me and the team.
How long did it take to implement your vision?
It’s quite difficult to say because I was working on this project 2 or 3 days a week. We had consultants from Hidora from May to September. It was quite fast because I attended a Kubernetes meetup in Geneva, where the case study of another bank was discussed. Thanks to them, it took a year and a half with a team of 10 people to do the same thing, not at the same scale because they are bigger. So Hidora helped us to manage this process quite quickly. If we were involved in this project 5 days a week, it would take about two and a half months.
What was the objective of the consulting project, linked to Kubernetes?
I needed help to install it because it was quite new to me in a secure environment. Let’s say I’ve installed Rancher before, but in a startup and it was easier because I didn’t have any security rules. In a bank it’s totally different because you have to put a lot of stuff in there, so it was very helpful to outsource those tasks to Hidora. Without Hidora’s help, I think this process would take much longer.
What were the milestones?
The first step was the installation of Rancher, which was quite quick. We managed this task for 2.5 days. Then the Hidora team migrated my GitLab. The next step was to set up the Nexus repository. And after that, we installed SonarQube for code review. Most of the time we implemented a private Docker with the repository and in the end it was a pipeline to deploy automatically. You just click the button, release the software and put it into production. It’s very convenient.
What was the result of Hidora’s work?
The project was successfully completed, we had some problems with the SSL certificates, but now everything is fine. The whole IT department of the bank is very happy with the work of Hidora. We are fully satisfied with the services provided by Hidora. Our team has benefited from a very valuable consultancy and IT support service.
What is the benefit of using DevOps in a private bank?
Before, it was sometimes tedious to put things into production, and it was difficult to look at a given application without the “owner” being present. So implementing the DevOps philosophy has helped people to be more professional and feel more secure because you are more confident with DevOps tools. My colleagues are very happy about that.
