
OFA + AWS - dylanvee
http://awsofa.info/
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siliconc0w
Anyone know of a good tool to make these types of diagrams? Preferably
automatically? I've been meaning to create something that plugs into Chef and
or nmap/netstat. In my experience, any diagram/inventory/whatever that isn't
automatically updated invariably drifts from reality.

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danoprey
We're attempting just that at <http://www.madeiracloud.com/> , would love to
chat more: dan [at] mc2 [dot] io

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jared314
The diagram follows the style of the AWS Reference Architectures[0]. I have
yet to find a published set of diagram components that compare well to that
style.

Edit: Juan Domenech[1] has a small custom made component pallet in png form.
And, it looks like the original diagrams are custom Adobe Illustrator
drawings[2].

[0] <http://aws.amazon.com/architecture/>

[1] [http://blog.domenech.org/2012/06/aws-diagrams-
palette-v10.ht...](http://blog.domenech.org/2012/06/aws-diagrams-
palette-v10.html)

[2] <http://blog.domenech.org/2012/05/aws-diagrams.html>

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mappu
That's an awesome diagram and quite a few servers (but latency kills the map-
overlay experience, i think a static png or svg might have been better...)
Interesting that servers are are either paired autoscaling over two AZs, or
statically provisioned in three AZs - or am i mis-reading the diagram? Two
entire mirrors for testing and staging must have become a pretty big cost.

For others outside the US confused about what the application actually does,
and what the Narwhal in the testing/staging pictures refers to, this helped;
[http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2012/11/built-...](http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2012/11/built-to-win-deep-inside-obamas-campaign-tech/)

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DrJ
Looks like the AutoScaling groups are applications or stores where they do not
need to coordinate their actions. The 3-az deployments seems to be APIs, which
I am guessing scales with each regions (to reduce data cost?) and probably
brought up/down automatically with Puppet to handle post-launch
configurations. (you are reading it correctly).

I would guess testing is a skeleton version of the entire deployment so the
cost is minimal and just need to test new deploys and verification for tests.

Staging probably wasn't a full mirror, at best I would venture to guess they
had hot swaps coming up in staging and then being switched against production
via ELBs.

They mention costs a few times in articles, so I would venture to guess they
did optimize around many of those corners.

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vosper
This is really great - I'd love to have a similar diagram for data flow and
components of the systems I work on. It might not benefit engineers very much
but it'd be fantastic for clients or some of the less technical people in the
company.

I wonder how hard (I'm thinking hard?) it would be to have a tool for
something like this, making the layout easy and revealing more and more
information as you zoom in.

Even better if it was live and updating with system metrics.

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chubot
Yeah it looks kind of cool, but kinda hard to read. Is this graphic based on
something else?

I would like to see one where the labels are clearer. It doesn't seem like the
3D perspective adds any clarity.

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doctorpangloss
When folks from the Romney campaign complained of technical deficiencies in
his get-out-the-vote operation, pundits and news outlets intimated that the
complaints were scapegoating IT for bad policy.

But looking at this diagram, I'm pleased to see that engineering was a big
part of the Obama campaign. It really hammers home how badly out of their
league Romney's TechOps team was.

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obilgic
<http://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/obama/>

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twic
Is each one of those little grey cuboids an virtual machine? If so, that is
rather a lot of virtual machines. I am surprised so many were necessary. What
kind of load was this system handling?

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harper
i guess this leaked. ;)

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sneak
Please watch this: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNsePZj_Yks>

You are materially responsible for the re-election of someone who commits
large-scale crime (in the form of blatantly unconstitutional surveillance of
Americans under no suspicion of criminal activity).

Please reconsider your choices. You are working for the wrong side.

~~~
SkyMarshal
_> You are working for the wrong side._

Which side should he be working for that doesn't do any of that?

~~~
sneak
The side building tools to resist surveillance, tyranny, violence, and war.
You know, the one trying to prevent all the stuff his boss is up to.

