4 ms·

Moving from Azure to Google Cloud Platform

80 points by suprememoocow 8y ago

iampims 8y ago
Who’s surprised? They can’t afford to run on their biggest competitor’s platform.
- ddorian43 8y ago
  Netflix does, at least ec2.
  - iampims 8y ago
    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 8y ago
      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.
  - lma21 8y ago
    Correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't Netflix run their billing / search / recommendation /... systems on AWS and their whole video content streaming are engineered / hosted internally in collaboration with ISPs?
- bearcobra 8y ago
  It's interesting how companies balance that decision, like Netflix's use of AWS despite Prime video being a competitor. That said, I'm skeptical that they made a major decision like this so quickly after the acquisition was announced.
  - detaro 8y ago
    They didn't, they announced this in April.
advisedwang 8y ago
It would be interesting to see details of the performance issues motivating this.
- jxub 8y ago
  It's probably more of a branding and PR strategy than a technical decision.
  - kparaju 8y ago
    It was a technical decision. They announced it before the GitHub acquisition. https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/06/why-and-how-gitlab-abandoned-microsoft-azure-for-google-cloud/ https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/06/why-and-how-gitlab-abando... https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/ https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/
- abledon 8y ago
  They did have an outage a couple weeks ago. servers were down for an hour or something. Logs are published on a google doc
AlexB138 8y ago
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.
- erazor42 8y ago
  Agree, this is the first thing i thought when i read that. Reaction to all troll on the fact that gitlab was hosted on Azure
  - detaro 8y ago
    Except they announced this before it was known that Microsoft buys Github... https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/ https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/
    - benatkin 8y ago
      They might have put these two things together: https://twitter.com/jasonfried/status/430871267881672704?lang=en https://twitter.com/jasonfried/status/430871267881672704?lan... https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/21/github_ceo_chris_wanstrath_resigns/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/21/github_ceo_chris_wa...
      - detaro 8y ago
        And would have looked very stupid if they had been bought by Google instead: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/github-interest-from-google-and-others-revenue-about-300-million.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/github-interest-from-google-...
- benatkin 8y ago
  I don't think moving to GKE implies that AKS is inadequate. They could just be choosing the best of two excellent options.
- giancarlostoro 8y ago
sbinthree 8y ago
The irony of GitLab running on Microsoft and GitHub not.
- benatkin 8y ago
  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.
Proven 8y ago
Haha
whoisjuan 8y ago
Kubernetes? Yeah right... The reasons are very clear: 1) GitHub being acquired by Microsoft. 2) Google is an investor in GitLab (through GV).
- txcwpalpha 8y ago
  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 8y ago
    At the very least GitHub acquisition is pushing them to do it faster.
- samueloph 8y ago
  Github being aquired by MS could be a thing if Gitlab was not doing this transition before that. Some of the jobs listing for Gitlab were specifying GCP knowledge because they were migrating from Azure (and this was written there).
- mesid 8y ago
  Can someone explain how exactly does MS acquiring GitHub forces GitLab to move out from Azure? Like is it some kind of fear that Microsoft will meddle with the data or something?
  - dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
    It's simple. Some people don't want their open source projects hosted on a site owned by Microsoft, a company that extremely hostile to Linux and open source for several years was, spreading a lot of misinformation and engaging in many shady actions against it. Now, if you migrate from Github to an Azure-based platform, you are indirectly supporting Microsoft, and some people would prefer to avoid that. I don't think anyone expects MS to meddle with their data in any way.
lma21 8y ago
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.
detaro 8y ago
previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17341508 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17341508
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
gboudrias 8y ago
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.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- pinewurst 8y ago
  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 8y ago
    We tested CephFS but we never switched to it.
swsieber 8y ago
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.
despera 8y ago
First announced in April. https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/ https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/
tnolet 8y ago
How did they end up on Azure in the first place? Any Gitlabbers here that know the story?
- bnt 8y ago
  Azure credits.
- YorickPeterse 8y ago
  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.

80 points by suprememoocow 8y ago

iampims 8y ago

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

ddorian43 8y ago
Netflix does, at least ec2.
- iampims 8y ago
  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 8y ago
    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.
- lma21 8y ago
  Correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't Netflix run their billing / search / recommendation /... systems on AWS and their whole video content streaming are engineered / hosted internally in collaboration with ISPs?
bearcobra 8y ago
It's interesting how companies balance that decision, like Netflix's use of AWS despite Prime video being a competitor. That said, I'm skeptical that they made a major decision like this so quickly after the acquisition was announced.
- detaro 8y ago
  They didn't, they announced this in April.

advisedwang 8y ago

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

jxub 8y ago
It's probably more of a branding and PR strategy than a technical decision.
- kparaju 8y ago
  It was a technical decision. They announced it before the GitHub acquisition. https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/06/why-and-how-gitlab-abandoned-microsoft-azure-for-google-cloud/ https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/06/why-and-how-gitlab-abando... https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/ https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/
abledon 8y ago
They did have an outage a couple weeks ago. servers were down for an hour or something. Logs are published on a google doc

AlexB138 8y ago

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.

erazor42 8y ago
Agree, this is the first thing i thought when i read that. Reaction to all troll on the fact that gitlab was hosted on Azure
- detaro 8y ago
  Except they announced this before it was known that Microsoft buys Github... https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/ https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/
  - benatkin 8y ago
    They might have put these two things together: https://twitter.com/jasonfried/status/430871267881672704?lang=en https://twitter.com/jasonfried/status/430871267881672704?lan... https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/21/github_ceo_chris_wanstrath_resigns/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/21/github_ceo_chris_wa...
    - detaro 8y ago
      And would have looked very stupid if they had been bought by Google instead: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/github-interest-from-google-and-others-revenue-about-300-million.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/github-interest-from-google-...
benatkin 8y ago
I don't think moving to GKE implies that AKS is inadequate. They could just be choosing the best of two excellent options.
giancarlostoro 8y ago

sbinthree 8y ago

The irony of GitLab running on Microsoft and GitHub not.

benatkin 8y ago
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.

Proven 8y ago

Haha

whoisjuan 8y ago

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

txcwpalpha 8y ago
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 8y ago
  At the very least GitHub acquisition is pushing them to do it faster.
samueloph 8y ago
Github being aquired by MS could be a thing if Gitlab was not doing this transition before that. Some of the jobs listing for Gitlab were specifying GCP knowledge because they were migrating from Azure (and this was written there).
mesid 8y ago
Can someone explain how exactly does MS acquiring GitHub forces GitLab to move out from Azure? Like is it some kind of fear that Microsoft will meddle with the data or something?
- dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
  It's simple. Some people don't want their open source projects hosted on a site owned by Microsoft, a company that extremely hostile to Linux and open source for several years was, spreading a lot of misinformation and engaging in many shady actions against it. Now, if you migrate from Github to an Azure-based platform, you are indirectly supporting Microsoft, and some people would prefer to avoid that. I don't think anyone expects MS to meddle with their data in any way.

lma21 8y ago

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.

detaro 8y ago

previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17341508 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17341508

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

gboudrias 8y ago

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.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
pinewurst 8y ago
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 8y ago
  We tested CephFS but we never switched to it.

swsieber 8y ago

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.

despera 8y ago

First announced in April. https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/ https://about.gitlab.com/2018/04/05/gke-gitlab-integration/

tnolet 8y ago

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

bnt 8y ago
Azure credits.
YorickPeterse 8y ago
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.