Okay, here’s my blog post about breaking the chains of Scylla, written in a personal, informal style, just like the example:
So, I’ve been messing around with ScyllaDB lately, and let me tell you, it’s been a wild ride. Initially, I was pretty much locked into their ecosystem. It felt like I was stuck, you know? Everything was so intertwined, it was hard to break free. I’ll walk you through how I managed to “break the chains,” as I like to call it.
Getting Started – The Initial Lock-in
First, I deployed everything using their recommended setup. Think Docker containers, official images, the whole nine yards. It was super convenient at first. I got things up and running quickly, no doubt about that. But then, as I started to customize things, I realized how tightly coupled everything was.
For example, I used.
- Their monitoring stack: Seemed good, with everything connected to scylla.
- Their official Docker images. Again it used by many people.
- Recommended configurations. Which locked to some specific deploy ways.
I Quickly realized after the start.I was boxed in!
The Itching Feeling – Wanting More Control
It started small. I wanted to tweak the monitoring. The default dashboards were okay, but I needed something more specific to my workload. This is where I hit my first wall. Trying to swap out components of their monitoring stack was a nightmare. Everything was interconnected, and pulling one thread seemed to unravel the whole thing.
The Break – Small Steps to Freedom
The first thing I did was ditch their monitoring setup. Yeah, it was convenient, but it was also a major source of the “lock-in”. I replaced it with a Prometheus and Grafana setup that I was already familiar with. This was crucial. It gave me back control over my metrics and dashboards.
Here’s how that went down:
- I Setup the new monitor stack.
- I Configured the exporters for ScyllaDB to send metrics to my new Prometheus instance. This took some digging through documentation and forums, but I eventually found the right settings.
- I created some custom Grafana dashboards that showed exactly what I needed.
That was a big win. I could finally see what I wanted to see, without being tied to their pre-built stuff.
Bigger Steps – Containerization and Orchestration
Next, I tackled the containerization. I was using their official images, which, again, felt limiting. I wanted more control over the build process, and I wanted to integrate ScyllaDB into my existing CI/CD pipeline, not the other way around.
I build my scylla image base on the offical image with all libs I want.
The Final Push – Configuration Management
The last piece of the puzzle was configuration. I was tired of manually tweaking config files. I wanted a way to manage ScyllaDB’s configuration in a repeatable, automated way. I decided on using Ansible for the automation.
I write a playbook to auto setup and config it.
Now, I can spin up new ScyllaDB instances, apply my custom configurations, and integrate them into my monitoring and orchestration setup, all with a few commands. Talk about a game-changer!
Freedom!
It wasn’t easy, and it definitely took some time and effort, but I finally feel like I’ve broken free from the ScyllaDB lock-in. I’m using the parts I like, and I’ve integrated it into my way of doing things, not the other way around. It’s a much better place to be.
So, if you’re feeling trapped by any technology, remember, there’s almost always a way to break free. It might take some work, but the control and flexibility you gain are totally worth it!
