June 2018 Edition: Latest IBM Cloud news and links (Db2 included)

IBM Cloud news

It's been a while since my last news compilation. Here is a collection of news interesting links related to IBM Cloud from the past few weeks:

• I always recommend to regularly go over the "What's new in IBM Cloud" page in the IBM Cloud docs.
• Something announced this week is a major expansion to IBM cloud capabilities and availability zones. It includes the option to run Docker containers on a Kubernetes cluster with worker nodes distributed across different zones.
• Several new IBM Cloud solution tutorials were added and some updated. Check out the one on how to move a VM-based application to containers on Kubernetes and best practices on how to organize users, teams and applications.  I also recommend the tutorial describing how to build a database-driven Slackbot. Last but not least, to analyze traffic to your GitHub repositories read the tutorial on combining serverless technology and Cloud Foundry for data analytics.
• Db2 on Cloud has extended its federation support to non-SSL connections. Several Db2-based data sources can be integrated and queried.
• Do you know that with a recent update to the IBM Cloud CLI (command line interface) the CLI command changed to "ibmcloud"? No worries, the old "bx" is still supported.
• I recommend taking a look at current capabilities of IBM Cloud Key Protect, IBM Cloud App ID and IBM Cloud Activity Tracker. They provide some essential security features and have been enhanced over the past weeks.

With the above you should alreay have enough reading material. But here is another link featuring a cool application built on IBM Cloud: Listen live to Kone elevators around the world.

If you have feedback, suggestions, or questions about this post, please reach out to me on Twitter (@data_henrik) or LinkedIn.

Building a Solution? The Cloud Architecture Center has Blueprints

Cloud Architecture Center

Remember the days when a simple text client and a small database server were the core enterprise solution? These days data flows from various endpoints to data lakes or data reservoirs, data streams are analyzed in real time to trade stacks, prevent fraud, to react to sensor data. How are other companies building their solutions or what are best practices? What products or services can be used? Great that the new Cloud Architecture Center offers blueprints.


Right now the IBM developerWorks Cloud Architecture Center features an architecture gallery where you can filter the available blueprints by overall area like data & analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), Mobile or Web Application. Another filter criterias are by industry or capability, i.e., you could look for sample solution for the insurance industry or a use-case featuring a Hybrid Cloud scenario.

Partial view: Architecture for Cloud Solution

For the selected architecture and solution you are presented with the overall blueprint (as partially shown in the screenshot) and are offered information about the flow, the included components are deployed services and products, and get an overview of the functional and non-functional requirements. Depending on the solution there are links to sample applications, code repositories on GitHub, and more reading material. See the Personality Insights as a good example.

The Architecture Center offers great material for enterprise architects and solution designers and the linked samples and demos are also a good start for developers.

(Update 2016-02-21): There is a new and good overview article with focus on Big Data in the cloud and possible architecture.

DIY: 3D-printing a quadrocopter (or hardware for IoT)

3D-printed quadrocopter/drone

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to get deeper into 3D printing. I got invited to Maker World 2015 in Friedrichshafen and to a workshop run by the guys of Construction Zone. The goal was to get an overview of 3D printing by designing parts for a small quadrocopter, printing them, and eventually assembling printed parts and electronic components to a flight-ready drone. Creating the casing for Internet-of-Thing (IoT) devices basically is the same.

The mini drone and its parts can be seen on the picture above. It has a printed body, a printed cover, a small board (in the middle of the drone), a battery pack, and 4 motors. The first step in getting the copter up into the air was to design the body and cover as seen on the picture below. Some attention needs to be applied to keeping the rotors in a safe distance to each other and to have space within the body to house the battery pack and the controller board.

Design process for a DIY quadrocopter

Once the design is complete, the next step is to create a STL file and/or G-code for the 3D printer. During that process the printing quality is specified. It is based, among others, on the number and thickness of printing layers. And that directly impacts the time needed for printing. What I learned is that patience is a virtue...