Setting up fresh infra for my new freelancing work - is my strategy solid?

I’m setting up my new software development freelancing "company", and I’m currently in the planning phase. Would love some input from people who’ve done this before.

# Current Setup

I have two domains + two VPS/root servers:

|Domain|Server|Nickname|Usage|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
||
|**myCompany.com**|4c AMD EPYC 9645, 8 GB DDR5 ECC, 256 GB NVMe SSD, 1 IPv4)|BaseFort01|Admin / Control / Company Website|
|**myCompany.cloud**|8c AMD EPYC 9645, 16 GB DDR5 ECC, 512 GB NVMe SSD, 1 IPv4)|BaseCamp01|Client SaaS platform|

I plan to add more BaseForts later (maybe 1 more, mainly for HA).
For BaseCamps, I’ll map subdomains for each client app. Some clients might have multiple apps, so scaling strategy is a question for me. Current subdomain strategy looks like this - app1.client1.mycompany.cloud, app2.client1.mycompany.cloud, app1.client2.mycompany.cloud etc..

# Planned Approach

1. BaseFort servers → Admin/control plane, company website, HA setup later.

2. BaseCamps → Client SaaS apps. Example:

>

# Questions

1. Does this sound like a reasonable starting strategy?
2. How would professionals approach this?
3. What all do I need to consider to use Dokploy?

Would really appreciate any pointers or criticism on my setup before I go too deep into it.

https://redd.it/1no9o7b
@r_devops

How do you manage ADO pull requests directly in VS Code?

Our team works with Azure DevOps Repos, and the constant context switching between the browser and VS Code for PR reviews is killing productivity. It feels clunky to review code in one UI while actually coding in another.

What would really help is being able to:
- Create new PRs right after pushing a branch
- List and checkout branches for review
- Block commits to restricted branches
- Approve/Reject/Request changes directly in-editor
- Add comments, reply, resolve threads
- Even make inline code suggestions with full IntelliSense and linter support

Basically, reviewing in VS Code itself instead of juggling tabs.

So my question is that Has anyone found a good way to handle PRs for Azure DevOps repos inside VS Code? Is there an extension, a noscript, or even a hacky workflow that makes this easier? Or is everyone just living with the browser workflow?

https://redd.it/1nobne3
@r_devops

Best self-managed Kubernetes distro on AWS

Hello fellas, I started working some months ago in a company that is full AWS, but that has seen many generations of Engineer pass and go, everyone started something and did not finish it. Now I took the quest to organise infra in a better way and consolidating the different generations of Terraform and ArgoCD laying around.

We are currently using EKS and we are facing a cost management issue, I am trying to tackle it optimizing the resources allocated to the different deployments and cronjobs, leveraging node groups and the usual stuff.

But I would really love to move away from EKS, it is expensive and, IMHO, really complicated to manage. I can see the point of using it when you have few mid level Engineers, but as I wish to raise the level of the team, that is not going to be an issue.

I already worked with different K8S distro on AWS: rancher, rke2, k3s, but I need something that "just works", with not much hassle. One of the "strong points" (if we can say so) that the company has in favour of EKS is that it is easy to upgrade (that's not true, it is easy to upgrade the control plane and the managed nodes, but then you have to remember to upgrade all the addons and the helm charts you deployed, and they, basically, didn't know about it /me facepalm).

I created, some time ago, a whole flow to use RKE2: packer to create the AMIs, terraform+ansible to run the upgrades, but it was still a bit fragile and an upgrade would require some days for each cluster.

Now I am looking at talos, although I did not manage to make it work as I wish on my home lab, in the past I took a look to kubespray and kubeadm.

In your opinion, what is the best option to bring up a K8S cluster on AWS, using ASGs for on demand instances and karpenter for spot, that is easy to upgrade?

https://redd.it/1nobwn0
@r_devops

Why should I invest time learning programming if I do not want to be a software engineer(but a devops engineer/modern sysadmin)?


I want to re-study(I already have a degree where I badly studied them) these subjects to an extent:

- data structures

- algorithms

- compiler design

- operating system

- database management system

But I am not getting a good reason to study these subjects as an aspiring DevOps engineer from Nepal. The time investment required to study all these in depth would be 3-6 months of full time study. I am currently unemployed. So the important question is, "Is my time better spent learning kubernetes and other Ops stuffs?"

https://redd.it/1noesbv
@r_devops

Connecitng Metrics ↔ Traces with Exemplars in OpenTelemetry

A hands-on guide to exemplars, how they connect metric points to the exact trace that caused them, why they matter for faster debugging and cost efficiency, and how to enable them end‑to‑end with OpenTelemetry (apps → collector → backend).

https://oneuptime.com/blog/post/2025-09-22-connecting-metrics-to-traces-with-exemplars/view




https://redd.it/1nofgc8
@r_devops

Cloud costs vs. security hardening

We have been tightening our security posture in the cloud. more monitoring, more logging, stricter configs. The problem is every step adds cost. More logs = higher bills and more controls = slower pipelines.

Management wants both secure by design and lean spend. Reality is, the two goals clash constantly. Im confused how other teams are managing this trade off. Are you cutting scope somewhere else?

https://redd.it/1nogxzx
@r_devops

Feeling stuck 2 months into new role — Cloud vs Full Stack vs Staying Put?

Hi everyone,

I’m a bit lost and hoping for advice from people who’ve been through similar situations.

Background:

-Graduated last year.

-Worked 1 year as a Frontend Developer, then resigned.(Bad management)

-Currently 2 months into a Software Developer trainee role. Most of my work is implementing and deploying customized billing solutions acting as a bridge between products, billing systems, payment gateways, and API integrations.


Where I’m struggling:

-I dont have a problem with my current work, but I find myself thinking sometimes if this kind of job would help me leverage my career and have a better salary in the next one or two years.

-I’m interested in Cloud but I’m worried salaries for entry-level cloud roles might be lower, and I really need to save money right now.

-I’ve also thought about Full Stack Development, but job posts usually require CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and other tools I haven’t touched yet — which feels overwhelming for me rn.


What I’ve done so far:

-AWS Cloud Practitioner certified.(Wanna take this to the next lvl and add AWS SAA, but unsure if this is gonna be smart or not)

-Built a few personal websites.

-Revamping my portfolio.


What I’m unsure about:

Should I stick to my current role for now and see how it goes?

Should I start building cloud skills even if it means a possible salary reset later?

Or should I pivot toward full stack and gradually learn DevOps-related tools as I go?

I just don’t want to waste time going down the wrong path or end up struggling financially.

Any advice from you guys would mean a lot.

https://redd.it/1nogf8y
@r_devops

🚀 Introducing: GitHub Workflow Dashboard



Hey everyone! 👋

I'm excited to share my latest project, the GitHub Workflow Dashboard, designed to help you monitor, filter, and visualize your GitHub Actions runs with a clean web interface.

What is it?

A simple, configurable dashboard that connects with your GitHub account using a Personal Access Token.
Instantly see the status of your workflow runs across selected repositories.
Filter, search, and sort workflows by repo, status, and run history.
No complex setup—just drop in your token, select repos, and you’re up and running!

Key Features:

Live run status: View your most recent Actions runs and get instant feedback on failures or successes.
Repo filtering: Focus on the repositories and workflows that matter most to you.
Lightweight & open source: Runs locally; no 3rd-party servers or analytics.
Responsive UI: Perfect for desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.

Why did I build this?
As someone who manages multiple projects and Actions pipelines, I needed a way to quickly check the “health” of all my repos without poking through each repo’s Actions tab. If you find GitHub's default UI a bit tedious for this, this project might help!

How to try it:

1. Visit the repo: github-workflow-dashboard
2. Grab your GitHub Personal Access Token (with repo access)
3. Run the app (see the README for install instructions)
4. Configure your dashboard and start tracking your workflows!

Feedback & Contributions
I’d love feedback, issue reports, and PRs from the community. Let me know if there are features or integrations you’d like to see!

https://redd.it/1noee2p
@r_devops

SSL fingerprinting in action

Hi community!

I wrote an article about SSL fingerprinting, specifically the JA3/JA4 hash. I want to provide the full context for the DevOps and security fellows, which is why this explanation is a bit lengthy and includes a lot of details.

https://arxignis.substack.com/p/943582c1-9927-466d-b5ee-e61001b4ede0

If you have any feedback or experience on how you use this technology, please share it here!

https://redd.it/1nok2n8
@r_devops

Best ops approach for AI reliability (routing fallbacks etc), cost, and compliance?

Internally deployed AI apps and model reliability (outages, fallbacks), unpredictable usage bills, and compliance questions all seem like headaches. Are folks here mostly tracking and reacting ad hoc, or are you implementing frameworks that can automatically enforce cost and governance rules?

https://redd.it/1nop7mj
@r_devops

Creating an API test suite

My team has an ASP.NET Core Web API. We are only two developers. The API is mature, and has hundreds of endpoints. We had to update our framework from .5 to .8, and now we have to test the API to make sure that migration doesn't break anything. We don't have any tests at the moment, so I am creating a test suite using Postman. Creating test noscripts for every endpoint is taking forever, and I've only just started. I've resorted to just creating a smoke test of sorts that is just checking valid inputs and successful status code, until I have more time. Any advice on what to test for a very lean team. Thanks

https://redd.it/1nopfpa
@r_devops

Here's my little gift to the devops community: sshPilot

I've been working on sshPilot, a free, opensource SSH connection manager/client for the past few weeks, and stable versions for Linux and macOS are now available.

This is meant for people who manage multiple servers and need a way to keep track of remote machines in one unified interface.

It uses your existing ~/.ssh/config as its configuration file so it's ready to use out of the box (unless you use sandboxed mode which won't touch .ssh/config)

sshPilot comes with a lot of features aimed at making life easier for a sysadmin/devops engineer including easy key generation and deployment, built-in SFTP file manager and terminal tabs.

Project page:
https://github.com/mfat/sshpilot

Downloads:
https://github.com/mfat/sshpilot/releases/latest

Flathub:
https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.mfat.sshpilot



https://redd.it/1notict
@r_devops

I got pulled off a Cybersecurity Management position and put on a DevSecOps position. Outside of managing Azure and using Terraform I am completely lost here because my entire 10 year career was stacked in Windows and Industrial Control Systems not AWS and Linux...need guidance

Certification stacks? Udemy Courses? They're willing to let me train and Terraform and managing IAM has been my saving grace so far. I don't even want to explain how this transition happened but it's a way to keep me employed after how a merger imploded in my companies face.

https://redd.it/1nouefh
@r_devops

Why aren't devs using proper branch names?!

A branch name isn’t just a placeholder, it’s a mini communication channel.

When someone sees feature/login-retry-limit vs. newbranch123, they instantly know what’s happening without clicking around.

We started treating branch names as little status updates for the team, and it made reviews and cross-team handoffs much smoother. Bonus points if you add your Ticket numbers to your branch names, like GK7485-release-notes. It’s one of those overlooked Git details that doubles as documentation.

Curious if other teams lean into this or just stick to “whatever works.”



https://redd.it/1novyn3
@r_devops

How's Debian for enterprise workflows in the cloud?

I’ve been curious about how people approach Debian in enterprise or team setups, especially when running it on cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP.

For those who’ve tried Debian in cloud environments:

Do you find a desktop interface actually useful for productivity or do you prefer going full CLI?

Any must-have tools you pre-install for dev or IT workflows?

How does Debian compare to Ubuntu, AlmaLinux or others in terms of stability and updates for enterprise workloads?

Do you run it as a daily driver in the cloud or more for testing and prototyping?

Would love to hear about real experiences, what worked, what didn’t, and any tips or gotchas for others considering Debian in enterprise cloud ops.

https://redd.it/1nowuvi
@r_devops

Looking for some advice on a deployment as a Jr

Hey folks,

I’m a software dev by trade, not a DevOps engineer, but I’ve landed in the deep end. My company is tiny staff-wise (it’s just me and one other guy), but we run a huge infrastructure — we’re basically our own ISP.

I’ve been tasked with rolling out a network monitoring system (NMS) for everything, and it needs to be highly available. After a lot of research, here’s the plan I came up with:

• Infra: vSphere / VMware, spread across 3 datacenters (no cloud).

• Cluster: Kubernetes with Talos, 5 control planes (2-2-1 across the DCs for quorum).

• CNI: Cilium.
• CSI: Mayastor.
• Monitoring: Zabbix via Helm chart.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours digging into this (Kubernetes, HA design, storage, CNIs, etc.), and I’ve definitely learned a ton. But I’m still not sure if I’m on the right track:

• Will this actually work the way I think it will?
• Is this anywhere close to “best practice”?
• Or… did I just massively overengineer this when there might be a simpler HA setup?

Constraints:

• No cloud — fully self-hosted.
• Storage available: NFS / TrueNAS / ZFS.
• Needs to handle large-scale infra, but the ops team is literally 2 people.

Ask: If you’ve deployed HA Zabbix (or any big NMS) — does this setup make sense? Should I stick with the K8s + Talos route, or would you recommend something more straightforward?

Any advice, feedback, or gotchas would mean a lot.

https://redd.it/1notg9a
@r_devops

Interview Test Prep suggestions for Oracle SRE-DevOps position?

I have a technical interview scheduled for a DevOps position at Oracle (the new health division) and there will be a noscripting test as part of it. It could either be Python or PowerShell, I'll probably do Python since I've worked with it more than PowerShell recently. I'd rank myself as intermediate with Python... I can get the job done but don't have much memorized. I didn't get to use Python in my last DevOps position because so I'm not even familiar with what people build in it.

Any suggestions on prepping? The phone screen interviewer didn't provide any direction to narrow it down from "Python" and I'm wondering what to expect or what will likely be in the test. She said they use Hackerrank and I got on there and started going through challenges but I can't imagine a lot of what I've done so far is what's going to be expected. I also have 3 or 4 different languages rolling around in my head and I know I'll get tripped up on syntax.

Any help is appreciated!

https://redd.it/1np0hdl
@r_devops

New hires, what helped you land the job??

4 years DevOps and overall 10 years IT experience. I’ve been looking since January (remove & even Raleigh, NC). Thousands of applications and the only 10 interviews I’ve gotten, I’ve been passed by other candidates and unsure why.

I’ve tried the LinkedIn Ai to tweak my resume, jobhire.ai to mass apply, endless resume ATS checkers, I’m honestly too burnt out to keep applying. Even putting freelance work on my resume

Has anything specific worked for yall? Any new tech I should be specifically looking at like azure, kubernetes, or terraform?

https://redd.it/1np08hp
@r_devops

Need guidance for Platform Engineer interview prep (Istio, K8s, AWS, Terraform, CI/CD)

Hi everyone,
I’ve got a technical interview coming up for a Platform role at a foreign MNC (payment domain). The JD mentions 3–5 years of experience, but I’ve only got about 2 years. Somehow my resume matched and I got the call.

The role mainly requires Istio, Kubernetes, AWS, Terraform, and CI/CD. I’ve worked with these technologies before, but I don’t feel super confident about how deep I should go or what to focus on for interview prep. I worked in startup so I kept hands on all most all the tools they required but I am afraid what if loose this opportunity, I am being preparing since last 2-3 days with some chatgpt mock interview and practicing python noscripting.

The interviewer will be from Brazil (I’m based in India), and I’m not sure what kind of questions to expect.

Can anyone suggest how I should prepare, especially for interviews at this level? Maybe some resources, topics to prioritize, or typical questions asked in such roles?

Thank you in advance

https://redd.it/1np26t4
@r_devops

Path to AWS devOps for very beginner

Hi everyone, I’m 30 and lately I’ve been thinking about learning AWS to land a job in 2026. Back in my 20s I went to IT school, so I’m somewhat familiar with technologies, but I haven’t really done anything hands-on in a long time since I was focused on other things.

I’d love your honest opinion — is it too late for me to start now?

Also, if anyone can recommend some good beginner-friendly courses, I’d really appreciate it


https://redd.it/1np3ubo
@r_devops

[FREE] AI-Powered Veo 3 Script Writer – Looking for Beta Testers! 🎬🤖

Hey r/devops 👋

I’ve built a free web tool called Veo 3 Script Writer that helps creators turn plain text into production-ready Veo 3 video noscripts.
It’s live now and I’d love some early feedback from the Reddit community.

https://preview.redd.it/fyhb1j8cr1rf1.png?width=1276&format=png&auto=webp&s=b951c7cf4046ef8c35b4ad8432acb1806b2f2b6a

https://preview.redd.it/p71p6dwgr1rf1.png?width=1546&format=png&auto=webp&s=154ad9f2a696036dfcbbbfd1645541979a112655

# ✨ What it Does

* Intelligent dialogue detection – automatically finds every line of spoken text.
* Visual prompt generation – creates scene cards and cinematic prompts ready for Veo 3.
* 95-character dialogue limit – auto-splits long lines so they’re Veo-friendly.
* Character & environment settings – keep characters and scenes visually consistent.

# 🛠 How to Use

1. Paste any noscript with dialogue.
2. Click “Generate Script.”
3. Get a full Veo 3-optimized noscript with scene prompts and dialogues you can copy or download.

# ✅ Why Test It?

I’m looking for real-world feedback from video creators:

* Does the dialogue detection work for your noscripts?
* Are the generated scene prompts clear enough?
* Any features you’d love to see added?

It’s 100% free to try—no signup needed.

👉 Give it a spin here: [https://www.avioncitojuego.com/](https://www.avioncitojuego.com/)

Thanks in advance for any thoughts, bug reports, or feature ideas! Your input will help make this a go-to noscript generator for Veo 3 and other AI video platforms.

— RAOGY

https://redd.it/1np3sto
@r_devops