Engine Yard Blog

A public facing API has been a much requested feature of Engine Yard Cloud. We’ve had this feature available for quite a long time, but this API has a number of drawbacks. Some time ago, we decided that it was time for something new. We call it the Core API.

Why do we call it the Core API?

Well, because this API presents an interface to the core of our product!

We have been using this internally for quite some time, and it has gone through a number of major revisions. Finally, we are happy with the stability and decided it was time to release it to our customers.

If you’re currently using our existing API, this one is a bit different but hopefully easier to use. We do plan to retire the existing API, however we don’t have a set date for retirement at this time.

We’ve written a Ruby gem, ey-core, that makes working with our new API a breeze. It’s an open source gem, and if you would like to make improvements, we welcome your contributions! Head along to the GitHub repository to get started.

The purpose of this post is to look at the API design and help familiarize you with the tooling we already have in place, as well as help you get started creating your own tooling if you desire.

Here at Engine Yard we're always trying to make your deployment experience easier: easier to provision instances, easier to deploy, and easier to manage your infrastructure. Historically, part of that process involved the creation of an AWS account specifically for your individual use. However, with more and more companies adopting cloud-based architecture, more and more Engine Yard clients already have their own AWS account; whether it be used for massive numbers of instances, or just for S3 storage. We've heard your feedback and we're happy to announce that you can now bring your own AWS account to our platform.

Blueprints have been a long requested feature on Engine Yard Cloud, but what exactly are they?

In the case of Engine Yard Cloud, a Blueprint is a way to describe an instance configuration for an environment, including the number, flavor,and volume sizing for all application, database and utility instances. This allows you to easily recreate environments without going through the tedious process of filling out the Boot Instances form each time.

You’ll find the Blueprint Manager page in your Tools drop down on the Cloud dashboard. From there, you can view, edit, or delete any existing Blueprint as well as create a new one. You may also notice that you have some auto-saved Blueprints. When all instances in an environment are stopped, the dashboard will automatically generate a Blueprint for the current configuration and save it for you.

We’ll see you at RubyConf

Calling all Ruby enthusiasts! Calling all Ruby enthusiasts! Engine Yard will be at RubyConf 2015 in San Antonio, and we are looking forward to seeing you. It’s been so long? My how you’ve grown. Us? Oh we’ve been great! We’ve been working hard to improve the Engine Yard cloud platform to make it easier to deploy and more feature rich. Engine Yard has always had a strong history of working within the open source community, be it supporting great ruby applications, contributing to open source projects, or investing in new open source technologies, like Deis.

We are focusing on bringing some new features to the Engine Yard platform, some that have just been released and some that are in the pipeline. We’ve integrated our Bring Your Own Credentials system to Engine Yard Cloud, enabling customers to connect their own AWS account while still being able to use the simplicity and ease of the Engine Yard platform. Got AWS credits? Bring your own credentials! Getting a better deal on AWS instances? Bring your own credentials! Want to use AWS free tier but still have the simplicity of deploying in minutes? Bring your own credentials!

Another feature we are bringing to Engine Yard Cloud is the idea of environment blueprints. With blueprints you’ll be able to quickly spin up a replicable environment blueprint that can be easily used for AB testing or in case of a catastrophic failure, simply select the blueprint and your environment will start rebuilding as it was.

Engine Yard is also bringing per environment support and updated stacks to the Engine Yard platform later this year. Allowing our customers to get the premium support they need for their critical environments while saving on their development environments. As well as updates to our tech stacks to bring new stable version updates for our customers.

So, if you happen to be attending RubyConf, swing by the booth to check out some of our swag. We’ll have some really sweet old school shirts, koozies, and some special stuff for our dedicated Engine Yard customers. Including high-fives, because who can pass those up?! Myself, support members, and engineers will be attending RubyConf, so stop by our booth and say hi, grab a t-shirt, or let us know what you’d like to see in the future. Here’s to another great RubyConf!

May all your deploys be green.

I am happy to announce the Engine Yard Cloud platform has successfully received a Service Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type II report with a positive opinion from the third party auditors.

Engine Yard’s SOC 2 report is a measure of the rigor applied to our systems, policies, services, and management processes. By demonstrating compliance with the industry security standards, Engine Yard is providing even greater assurance to customers that it is safe to run their applications on the our platform.

Engine Yard is committed to security and compliance. If you are an existing customer, you can open a support ticket and we will share the report with you. If you are considering hosting your application with Engine Yard, please contact a Sales Team representative.

Engine Yard can also host your Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) app. Our support team works diligently put the necessary security controls in place to make sure our customers are compliant. You can learn more about our efforts by reading our white papers on PCI here, and HIPAA here.

If you have questions about security and compliance (procedures or controls) in place at Engine Yard, please contact support via the ticketing system or IRC.