From Indifference to Delight in Infrastructure
In this day and age, as a developer I can't imagine the idea of still having to rely on physical servers. The advent of Microsoft Azure and other Cloud providers has revolutionized our lives over the past decade, and the advancements keep getting better and better. Now, with just a flick of a finger, you can have a server or any other Cloud solution up and running in no time.
I started my career journey at a startup during its scale-up phase, and it was an incredibly exciting experience. Back then, I was the sole .Net Developer in the company and held the responsibility of developing in-house applications. All of these applications, along with numerous other software, ran on our own on-premises servers located at the company headquarters.
Then came the day when management made the decision to relocate the servers to a data center in Brussels. The task of executing this move fell upon our IT specialist and myself. As a junior employee, and primarily a developer, I had little knowledge of how to handle such a process. Nonetheless, I trusted our IT specialist and offered my assistance.
The undertaking was quite an adventure. Our company headquarters had a dedicated server room, securely enclosed within a separate locked chamber, almost like a cage within a cage. It seemed like there was no such thing as excessive security measures. So, we began dismantling the server racks one by one, carefully handling each server. Given that the company heavily relied on the software running on these servers, time was of the essence.
We loaded all the server modules into a small van, and much to my surprise, I was assigned the task of driving them to the data center. Unfortunately, the data center happened to be located right in the heart of chaotic Brussels. As anyone familiar with the city would know, driving there can be an absolute nightmare at times.
Naturally, I felt a tremendous amount of pressure and nervousness, knowing that any mishap during transportation could potentially devastate the company. Thankfully, the IT specialist followed closely behind in his own vehicle, which provided me with some kind of reassurance.
Upon reaching the data center, we encountered an impressive level of security, which was entirely understandable. At one point, the IT specialist enlightened me about a fire suppression system that would swiftly eliminate oxygen from the air in the event of a fire. The idea of having only a few seconds to evacuate the room was far from amusing. Nevertheless, we successfully completed the move and reinstalled all the servers within a single day. The overall outcome left everyone satisfied. That particular day marked the only instance I had the opportunity to set foot in a data center.
Throughout my career, I've worked with various companies, each with their unique approaches to hosting applications. Some still rely on on-premises servers, while others have migrated a portion or the entirety of their infrastructure to the Cloud. Personally, my preference and focus now lie primarily in Azure Cloud solutions.
In the past, I never considered myself an infrastructure enthusiast, nor did I pay much attention to the specific server or Windows version my applications relied on. My sole concern was that they functioned flawlessly upon deployment.
However, the introduction of cloud solutions has completely shifted my perspective. It has opened my eyes to a whole new realm. I've developed a genuine passion for diving into the intricacies, understanding where my applications are deployed, comprehending the resources they utilize, and gaining a deeper understanding of their inner workings. The level of power and flexibility we have at our fingertips today is truly remarkable. When I reflect on how things were done in the past, the current approach fills me with absolute delight.