
Moving from Azure to Google Cloud Platform - suprememoocow
https://about.gitlab.com/2018/06/25/moving-to-gcp/
======
detaro
previously:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17341508](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17341508)

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whoisjuan
Kubernetes? Yeah right... The reasons are very clear: 1) GitHub being acquired
by Microsoft. 2) Google is an investor in GitLab (through GV).

~~~
txcwpalpha
GitLab began migrating to GCP months ago, long before GitHub had anything to
do with Microsoft.

[https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-
integration/](https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/)

~~~
whoisjuan
At the very least GitHub acquisition is pushing them to do it faster.

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lma21
I understand that Gitlab helm charts are now beta in 11.0, does it also mean
Gitlab is fully running on Kubernetes on Azure (there's no mention of AKS)?

I wonder if they'll also publish the difference in cost between the two
platforms.

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gboudrias
For everyone saying this is a political decision, I don't see why Gitlab would
be afraid of being political, especially seeing as a lot of developers were
annoyed/angered at the Microsoft buyout.

I also can't see on a technical level a company planning this kind of
maintenance operation this quickly. It would be reckless.

~~~
pinewurst
This is the same organization that switched precipitously to unstable CephFS
in 2016. Recklessness doesn't seem to be a problem at GitLab.

[https://about.gitlab.com/2016/11/10/why-choose-bare-
metal/](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/11/10/why-choose-bare-metal/)

~~~
sytse
We tested CephFS but we never switched to it.

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AlexB138
They claim this is because of their focus on Kubernetes, but I have to wonder
how much of this has to do with Microsoft acquiring Github. That aside, that's
a tough slight for AKS.

~~~
giancarlostoro
I think GV investing $20 million on them helps too:

[https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/09/gitlab-
raises-20m-series-c...](https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/09/gitlab-
raises-20m-series-c-round-led-by-gv/)

~~~
cobookman
GV is not partial to a particular cloud vendor. They do not push GCP onto the
startups they invest in.

~~~
rockostrich
Do the start-ups that they invest in get discounts/credits/a better rate
though? They might not push GCP, but they may give incentives.

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sbinthree
The irony of GitLab running on Microsoft and GitHub not.

~~~
benatkin
Indeed. This moves them closer to reversing that. Now to complete that, all
that has to happen is for GitHub to move to Azure. They probably wouldn't want
to do that now because it would look like they were implementing the merger
before regulatory approval.

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swsieber
btw, this was announced in April, before the GitHub acquisition.

Credit to detaro
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17393538](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17393538))
for this tidbit.

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despera
First announced in April.

[https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-
integration/](https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/)

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advisedwang
It would be interesting to see details of the performance issues motivating
this.

~~~
jxub
It's probably more of a branding and PR strategy than a technical decision.

~~~
kparaju
It was a technical decision. They announced it before the GitHub acquisition.

[https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/06/why-and-how-gitlab-
abando...](https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/06/why-and-how-gitlab-abandoned-
microsoft-azure-for-google-cloud/) [https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-
gitlab-integration/](https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-
integration/)

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tnolet
How did they end up on Azure in the first place? Any Gitlabbers here that know
the story?

~~~
YorickPeterse
A year or two ago Y Combinator startups would be given around $1M in Azure
credits, should they move to Azure. GitLab.com at the time moved over to
Azure, with the goal being to reduce costs before we consumed those credits. I
think we consumed all of it in a matter of months. Once you're stuck with a
hosting provider (Azure or not), it's difficult to move away from it.

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iampims
Who’s surprised? They can’t afford to run on their biggest competitor’s
platform.

~~~
ddorian43
Netflix does, at least ec2.

~~~
iampims
Is amazon video their biggest competitor? I’d have thought that Hulu, HBO Go,
iTunes and other streaming services might be more popular than Amazon Video. I
have no data to back that up though.

ps: given that Amazon Video is available for all prime members, we can’t
compare total number of subscribers. Hours of videos watched per day might be
a better number to look at.

~~~
extra88
Amazon is definitely Netflix's biggest competitor when comparing who's
spending the most on original content in streaming. They're also a major
competitor when it comes to bidding for exclusive rights but there are many
participants in that fight, including cable plus companies like Disney setting
up their own streaming service.

It would be an enormous risk for any cloud provider to attempt to degrade the
use of their platform or snoop on how it's used by a company who is a
competitor in another area, be it streaming or code management.

