Automating infrastructure at SA Home Loans with Python (and friends)
summary
SA Home Loans automates its 50-plus server production image into ~18 isolated labs (about 900 VMs total), replacing week‑long manual builds with Packer templates and RunDeck orchestration. Windows and Linux hosts run SSH, Docker containers and an internal Harbor registry; GitLab CI, Yeoman templates, Consul/Vault and Prometheus + ELK provide CI, secrets and monitoring. Database backups move to Docker‑based DB backup/restore containers. A three‑person effort ships in six months and cuts recurring lab support by roughly 80%.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Introduction and speaker intro
- 1:07Corporate background and team size
- 3:13Infrastructure challenges and manual labs
- 5:01Automation approach and tool selection
- 9:19RunDeck orchestration and benefits
- 12:28Infrastructure validation with InSpec
- 14:58Docker container management and CI
- 17:49Support reduction and team efficiency
- 20:20Database automation with Python and Docker
- 25:19Lessons learned and automation best practices
- 30:14Q&A session
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