Last Thursday we organized our very first meet-up to boost the Kubernetes community in the eastern part of our country. This meet-up was all about sharing knowledge and making connections. Whether you are a seasoned Kubernetes Engineer, considering getting started with Kubernetes, or simply find the technology fascinating, you were welcome to join us. It was clear that the evening was a hit, as nearly 60 people were in attendance!
The location and atmosphere
Downtown Almelo set the perfect scene for our meet-up. For this event, we had reserved a beautiful, atmospheric space. The evening started with an informal reception where everyone could enjoy a delicious hot snack and a drink. It was the ideal setting to get in the right mood for an evening full of inspiration and idea exchange.
Inspiring presentations
Our CTO, Sven Mollinga, kicked off the technical part of the evening with a fascinating presentation about setting up OpenTelemetry tracing on a Kubernetes environment using OpenSearch.
After a brief introduction to Observability, we delved deeper into OpenTelemetry. We discussed the current challenges in the Observability landscape and how OpenTelemetry can help address these. Of the three Observability Pillars, we focused on Tracing. Here, you have the option to instrument tracing either manually or automatically.
Following the presentation, it was time for a live demo. In this demo, we showcased a fully functioning tracing setup in a Kubernetes environment: from collecting information from applications to storing and processing it in OpenSearch. All in all, it was a great example of how this can be set up.
After the first presentation, it was time for a break. Over more tasty snacks and drinks, interesting conversations sparked throughout the room.
The second presentation
The second presentation was given by guest speaker Arnold van Wijnbergen. His talk was about creating a SIEM with OpenSearch. Inspired by the Opster Opensearch-k8s-Operator – OpenSearch Security Analytics – OpenSearch Data Prepper and Fluent-Bit, he created a demo setup for implementing OpenSearch on a Google Cloud GKE cluster.
Securing platforms like Kubernetes can be challenging. Luckily, there are tools that provide insight into potential security threats. Welcome to the world of Security Information Event Monitoring (SIEM) and discover how to make OpenSearch your go-to solution for Security Analytics. You’ll become familiar with the technology and concepts behind this powerful platform.
The presentation included a practical demonstration to give an idea of the functionality provided. Below is the demo setup.
Networking and collaboration
After the presentations, there was plenty of opportunity to mingle and network. It was truly great to see people from diverse backgrounds and experiences connecting and sharing a common passion: technology. Upon departure, everyone was given a unique Shock Media – Kubernetes t-shirt.
In conclusion
Our first Kubernetes meet-up was a huge success! We plan to organize more technical meet-ups in the future. Would you like to join us next time? Then become a member of our meet-up page at https://www.meetup.com/shock-media-meetups/. We hope to see you at our next meet-up!
Both presentations have been made public so you can read through them at your own pace:
The first presentation (by Sven Mollinga) can be found here.
The second presentation (by Arnold van Wijnbergen) can be found here.
