AWS Graviton: The Great Arm Migration

AWS Graviton: The Great Arm Migration

Author: Bret Fisher June 28, 2024 Duration: 39:16

Bret and Nirmal are joined by Michael Fischer of AWS to discuss why we should use Graviton, their arm64 compute with AWS-designed CPUs.

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Graviton is AWS' term for their custom ARM-based EC2 instances. We now have all major clouds offering an ARM-based option for their server instances, but AWS was first, way back in 2018. Fast forward 6 years and AWS is releasing their 4th generation Graviton instances, and they deliver all the CPU, networking, memory and storage performance that you'd expect from their x86 instances and beyond.

I'm a big fan of ARM-based servers and the price points that AWS gives us. They have been my default EC2 instance type for years now, and I recommend it for all projects I'm working on with companies.

We get into the history of Graviton, how easy it is to build and deploy containers and Kubernetes clusters that have Graviton and even two different platform types in the same cluster. We also cover how to build multi-platform images using Docker BuildKit.

Watch the video version on YouTube. Includes demos.

★Topics★
Graviton + GitLab + EKS
Porting Advisor for Graviton
Graviton Getting Started

Creators & Guests

  • (00:00) - Intro
  • (06:19) - AWS and ARM64: Evolution to Graviton 4
  • (07:55) - AWS EC2 Nitro: Why and How?
  • (11:53) - Nitro and Graviton's Evolution
  • (18:35) - What Can't Run on Graviton?
  • (23:15) - Moving Your Workloads to Graviton
  • (27:19) - K8s Tooling and Multi-Platform Images
  • (37:07) - Tips for Getting Started with Graviton

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Homepage bretfisher.com


Bret Fisher hosts DevOps and Docker Talk: Cloud Native Interviews and Tooling alongside Nirmal Mehta, pulling conversations directly from their live audience sessions. This isn't a theoretical lecture series; it's grounded in the practical, often messy realities of building and running modern systems. Each episode digs into the specific tools and philosophies shaping infrastructure today, from the foundational elements like Docker and container orchestration with Kubernetes or Swarm to the broader cultural shifts of DevOps, SRE, and platform engineering. You'll hear discussions that span the entire software lifecycle, touching on the integration of security with DevSecOps, the automation promises of GitOps, and what "Cloud Native" truly means for development teams. The dialogue stays focused on actionable insights and real-world use cases, offering a genuine sense of what works and what doesn't in the field. For anyone navigating the container and cloud ecosystem, this podcast serves as a regular, insightful check-in with practitioners and experts, hosted by someone deeply embedded in the community. The natural, interview-driven format makes complex topics accessible, ensuring listeners come away with more than just buzzwords-they get context and clarity.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

DevOps and Docker Talk: Cloud Native Interviews and Tooling
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