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Given your background, combining the responsibilities and skills from both job descriptions to create comprehensive projects in your homelab would be an excellent approach. This will allow you to build on your existing projects while aligning them closely with the expectations for both Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) and Network Reliability Engineer (NRE) roles. Here are some project ideas that integrate the key aspects of both roles, along with expansions on your existing projects documented in your personal wiki:
1. **Enhanced CI/CD Pipeline with Network Reliability**
Project: Comprehensive CI/CD Pipeline with Integrated Network Monitoring and Automation
- Existing Projects to Expand: Your current CI/CD pipeline setup and any network monitoring projects. - Goals:
- Develop a robust CI/CD pipeline using Jenkins or GitHub Actions.
- Integrate network monitoring tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and Loki.
- Automate network configuration and management using Ansible or SaltStack.
- Define SLOs (Service Level Objectives) for network and application performance.
- Implement network observability to monitor latency, packet loss, and throughput.
- Learning Outcomes: Gain experience in CI/CD tools, network monitoring, automation, and defining performance metrics.
2. **Distributed Ceph Storage Cluster with High Availability and Performance Tuning**
Project: Highly Available Ceph Storage Cluster with Performance Monitoring
- Existing Projects to Expand: Your Ceph storage setup. - Goals:
- Build a small-scale, highly available Ceph cluster.
- Use tools like FIO to benchmark storage performance and tune Ceph, the Linux kernel, and server hardware.
- Automate the deployment and scaling of the Ceph cluster with Ansible or Terraform.
- Monitor and visualize storage performance metrics using Prometheus and Grafana.
- Collaborate with the open-source community by contributing to Ceph documentation or codebase.
- Learning Outcomes: Develop skills in distributed storage, performance tuning, automation, and open-source collaboration.
3. **Automated Microservices Deployment with Advanced Networking**
Project: Deploy and Manage Microservices with Advanced Networking Capabilities
- Existing Projects to Expand: Your container orchestration and microservices deployment setups. - Goals:
- Deploy a microservices-based application using Docker and Kubernetes.
- Implement advanced networking configurations such as network policies, ACLs, and routing protocols.
- Automate deployment and management processes using Jenkins, Ansible, and Terraform.
- Integrate observability tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and ELK for comprehensive monitoring.
- Develop scripts and tools using Python, Bash, or Go to enhance deployment workflows and network reliability.
- Learning Outcomes: Deepen your understanding of microservices, advanced networking, CI/CD, and observability.
4. **Network Performance and Reliability Testing Lab**
Project: Build a Network Performance and Reliability Testing Environment
- Existing Projects to Expand: Any network troubleshooting or monitoring projects. - Goals:
- Create a simulated environment for testing network performance and reliability.
- Use tools like tcpdump, iostat, strace, iftop, netstat, and iotop to troubleshoot and resolve network issues.
- Define and measure key performance indicators (KPIs) such as latency, jitter, packet loss, and throughput.
- Automate testing scenarios and result collection with Python or Bash scripts.
- Document and analyze test results to identify and address bottlenecks.
- Learning Outcomes: Enhance your skills in network troubleshooting, performance testing, and automation.
5. **Contribute to Open-Source Networking Projects**
Project: Engage with Open-Source Networking Software and Communities
- Existing Projects to Expand: Any contributions you’ve made to open-source projects. - Goals:
- Identify and contribute to an open-source networking project (e.g., Open vSwitch, FRRouting).
- Develop features or fix bugs in the codebase, collaborating with the community.
- Write and improve documentation for the project.
- Share your experiences and contributions through blog posts or presentations.
- Learning Outcomes: Experience with open-source software development, community engagement, and collaborative coding.
Combining Projects into a Comprehensive Learning Path
1. Start with the CI/CD Pipeline Project:
- Set up the basic pipeline and integrate network monitoring tools.
2. Build the Ceph Storage Cluster:
- Focus on automation and performance tuning.
3. Expand to Microservices Deployment:
- Incorporate advanced networking and observability tools.
4. Develop the Network Testing Lab:
- Simulate and troubleshoot network performance issues.
5. Engage with Open-Source Communities:
- Contribute to networking projects and share your findings.
Each of these projects builds on the previous one, creating a comprehensive and interconnected learning experience. This approach will help you develop a broad and deep skill set relevant to both SRE and NRE roles at a company like Akamai.