tag-env-sustainability
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cncf
[Suggestion] Hackathon for Events
Description
We recently discussed that it would be great to have our own tracks at events like KubeCon, yet we have too less topics to address a whole stream for that. But to engage with the community, we could organize a Hackathon during the event. We can split the hackathon into 3-4 blocks, which can be done individually but best utilize each other.
As an example outline:
- Measure your application power consumption with kepler/scaphandre
- Scale your infrastructure with a green thumb! - leverage different tools to downsize the system
- Build and deploy your applications with the "environment" in mind - maybe something from the GitOps group
- Scale your apps with KEDA and power metrics
- etc
That way, we can engage with the community, we have bite-sized blocks, and maybe even can find sponsors for them.
In extension to it, we could craft an example/workshop directory so that end users can do this hackathon by themself.
Impact
This will help end users and people who are interested in environmental sustainability to get started with the topic, and get taught how simple it can be to get started.
Scope
To prepare the workshops we first need to think about a relevant outline. We also could prepare multiple different elements and let the group decide, but yet it might me to much effort.
Additional info and comments
- Reference to supporting material: I'm thinking about something similar to the Podtato-head but more focussed on the workshop character
Meeting Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OJCNCivpv2P4N5acS98OEJ9aV55lqUlhF0t0fpRmaMg/edit#
I think that this can be a very cool initiative. Having both regular sessions on the topic and a more interactive, hands-on workshop/hackathon would reach a broader audience and make it more fun to learn about environmental sustainability in context of cloud native. During KubeCon+CloudNativeCon EU 2023 and KCD Amsterdam 2023 there were workshops for learning Kubernetes security by "hacking" clusters which was a great learning experience. It was also fun to go through those CTF challenges. There were quite a few attendees present at those sessions.
It would require some preparation of course, and I think that it could be a good idea to come up with multiple challenges to accommodate for a broader audience and to reach people in different roles. For instance, one activity could be focused on making Kubernetes clusters sustainable, another - on making applications themselves more sustainable and resource-efficient for the cloud, the third could be more focused on understanding and working with the data that is being provided by applications like Kepler, sustainability dashboards, etc. (this track could have a potential to reach the less technical and maybe beginner level audience). Just lifting some thoughts here, but my point being is that there's so much more to environmental sustainability in tech and cloud native than just Kubernetes so I think that it would be beneficial to have a few diverse options available (it may depend on what kind of event it is of course).
I'd love to help, both with planning and building the workshops but also with executing those when the time comes 😊
This is a very nice idea! I would also be happy to join a group working on designing implementing and testing an eventual workshop. As @guidemetothemoon at KubeCon in Amsterdam I was very much surprised by some of the workshops and it would be amazing to have a sustainability focused one. I am still very new to the topic but I would love to support more experienced folks. Some questions:
- Would be the workshop thought to be on some vm on the cloud or on a local machine?
- What would be the difference between the second (scaling down) and the fourth point (scaling) can different tools be used?
- How can we start working on this?
I did not know the podtato head and it looks amazing, thanks!
Some of the TAG members who raised their interest in this initiative conducted a meeting Wednesday this week (31st May) to discuss and plan the roadmap for this activity.
Summary from the meeting is available here: Hackathons for Events
Adding a short summary of the meeting outcome here for transparency: It's been decided that we're going to focus on two areas to begin with and develop some exercises that the hackathon participants can work through during the hackathon. An important part of these exercises will also be to explain in detail how to use the tools, why this is important, what benefits it can bring and not just provide a collection of copy-paste commands without any in-depth explanation.
We will be focusing on following areas that will be done in the respective order during the hackathon, one after the other:
- Measure your application power consumption with kepler/scaphandre (@nikimanoledaki, @AntonioDiTuri)
- Scale your infrastructure with a green thumb! - leverage different tools to downsize the system (@guidemetothemoon, Chrystian Blas). Suggestion nr.4 from initial description (Scale your apps with KEDA and power metrics) can be incorporated as part of this area.
Next steps: Explore what the structure, content and exercises can be for both areas, discuss asynchronously if any questions arise or additional input is needed. Next meeting in 2-3 weeks to sync and plan for next steps.
Thank you @mkorbi for facilitating and @guidemetothemoon for the summary 🌟
Hi @TheFoxAtWork! 👋 One point that came up during our discussion was how to provide access to a cloud infrastructure for the hackathon attendees. Are there credits from cloud providers or a sandbox environment that could be provided by the CNCF for this? We are not sure about the policy around this. Any pointers would be really appreciated. Thank you so much!
Have the co-chairs file a service desk ticket. When we've run similar events in the past as part of KubeCon, infrastructure is covered from sponsorships and/or the providing organization of activity (like with Capture the Flags). It just depends. The service desk ticket will get you connected with the right team to figure out what will work best for this event.
Hey all, what is the status of this issue? Do we plan to organize a hackathon at KCCN NA? The event is just a few months away.
This is still a great initiative! With the WG Comms rebrand to WG Sustainability Advocacy this perfectly aligns with the goals of the WG. I am going to run some planning sessions in the coming weeks and an issue review so if anyone wants to lead getting this done perhaps we can spin it up as a project/planned event under the WG.
Please look out for slack messages for which meeting to join!
