Stop spending engineering effort solving problems you don’t have

This post comes from a place of frustration. I apologise in advance. If you are writing a — a great web app, a fantastic web app, THE BEST EVER WEB APP — you do not need a container orchestrator. You need a PaaS. You do not need 5 different ways to deal with rolling out new versions of your app. You do NOT need to be able to configure and tweak your database. ! You do not need etcd. For everything that is holy: do not install consul. You do not have these problems. These are not your problems. Do not buy yourself these problems. web app Do not manage your own database Here’s a quick cheatsheet to help you avoid these things: How To Package and Orchestrate App Updates Look. You’re writing a web app. Put your data in a service someone else maintains. If you’re using Amazon, RDS seems good. Or, if you’re using Cloud Foundry (on BlueMix or PCF or GCP or wherever), bind a database service (mysql is fine). Now, what you have left is a simple, stateless web app. Let the platform deal with packaging and upgrading that app. Your app doesn't have state so this is easy. and is a simple web app Please, don’t create a custom rollout strategy or (are you kidding me now?) a ReplicationController, don’t build a “docker compose file” or a “pod” with redis and mysql in it, or an “operator” to deal with upgrading it. Don’t use chef or puppet unless you’re ordering food or performing in a children’s show (why are you reading this?). Push simple web apps. Use a platform that makes that easy. This should be easy. How to Manage and Upgrade Production Databases . Use a service provided, scaled and maintained by someone else. Use a service BACKED UP by someone else. Worry about changing this when this becomes a real for you (Hint: you will when this is you). Again, any good platform will make this easy. Don’t manage production databases problem know How to Do Service Discovery and Manage Quorum Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Do not do this. You’re writing a web app. You’re a small business or a large business and you’re writing a web app for all that is holy do not invest time in service discovery. Do not run etcd. Do not run zookeeper. Do not run consul. Consul is great if you need to manage a distributed micro-service system. You do not need to do this. Don’t do this. Just push your damn web app to a damn platform, OK? Ok. Post-Script: What to do if you ARE writing a complex micro-service-based stateful distributed application that actually needs quorum and service discovery Write a simple web app instead. Thank me later. is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising & sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories