Posts

Introduction to Kong Gateway

Kong Gateway is an API Gateway built on NGINX and developed in Lua. It acts as the entry point between API consumers and backend services, playing the role of an advanced reverse proxy with powerful capabilities for managing, securing, and observing traffic. Its purpose goes far beyond forwarding requests. Some of the native capabilities it provides are: Authentication and authorization through mechanisms such as API Keys, JWT, Basic Auth, or OIDC. Traffic control through rate limiting policies, quotas, and allow lists. Request and response transformations without changing the applications. Event, metric, and trace logging to improve observability. Centralized exposure of multiple services through a single entry point. Thanks to this approach, APIs can focus exclusively on business logic while Kong Gateway takes care of common concerns such as security, traffic control, observability, and communication handling.

Sunday, July 26, 2026 | 5 minutes Read

01 - What is OpenStack?

OpenStack is a free and open-source software project that enables you to build and manage private, public, or hybrid clouds, offering full control over infrastructure through open APIs. It is not a product from a single company, but an open ecosystem maintained by a global community under the Apache license. Founded in 2010 by NASA and Rackspace, it has received contributions from organizations such as AT&T, Red Hat, Canonical, Intel, IBM, and Huawei.

Sunday, November 23, 2025 | 5 minutes Read

Introduction to storage in KVM/libvirt

Storage is a foundational part of virtualization: it determines how and where virtual machine disks are stored, how snapshots are handled, and what performance and protection options are available. In the KVM/libvirt ecosystem storage is organized around two basic concepts: Storage pools: logical groupings that represent a storage source (for example, a directory, an LVM volume group, an iSCSI target or a Ceph pool). Libvirt exposes and manages these pools to simplify storage usage for VMs. Storage volumes: the units inside a pool that act as virtual disks for guests. Types of pools Libvirt supports several pool types. A practical summary:

Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 4 minutes Read

Network types in KVM (NAT, isolated and bridged)

In KVM, network virtualization is mainly managed through libvirt, which lets us create and administer various kinds of virtual networks to which our virtual machines connect. Understanding the available network types is key to properly configuring guest connectivity and the host interaction. There are two broad categories of networks in KVM: Private virtual networks: Internal networks isolated from the outside, managed via virtual bridges created by libvirt. Bridged networks: Networks that connect virtual machines directly to the host’s physical network. Private virtual networks These networks are created on the host and provide a controlled environment for virtual machines. They fall into three main types:

Saturday, October 18, 2025 | 3 minutes Read

How to create a virtual machine with virt-install

After installing KVM on your Ubuntu or Debian system, the next step is to create a virtual machine using the virt-install command-line tool. Check existing virtual machines Before creating a new VM, check if there are any existing ones: sudo virsh list --all If no machines exist, the list will be empty. Create a virtual machine with virt-install The virt-install command allows you to specify all the VM’s properties. For example:

Monday, October 13, 2025 | 2 minutes Read

Basic Virtualization Concepts in Linux

If you have ever wondered how multiple “machines” can run inside a single physical machine, the answer is virtualization. Let’s explain it in a simple way. What is virtualization? Virtualization is a technology that allows you to create digital versions of machines inside a real machine. Each of these “virtual machines” is called a virtual machine (VM) and can run its own operating system and applications, just like an independent computer.

Monday, October 13, 2025 | 3 minutes Read

How to install KVM, QEMU and libvirt on Linux

To install KVM on Ubuntu or Debian, you need to prepare the system with the required packages, verify hardware virtualization support, and authorize users to run virtual machines. Below are the steps to install KVM on Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble Numbat) or recent Debian releases. Step 1: Update the system Before installing KVM, update your package repository information: sudo apt update Step 2: Check virtualization support 2.1 Verify CPU compatibility Check if your CPU supports hardware virtualization:

Monday, October 13, 2025 | 2 minutes Read

Installing Kong with Docker (Hybrid Mode)

Introduction In this article we will deploy Kong Gateway 3.10 open source in Hybrid mode using Docker Compose. This architecture, based on the separation between the Control Plane (CP) and the Data Plane (DP), is one of the deployment models recommended by Kong for API Gateway environments because of its flexibility, scalability, and high availability. In a Hybrid deployment, only the Control Plane maintains a direct connection to the database and is responsible for managing the full gateway configuration through the Admin API and Kong Manager. The Data Planes, on the other hand, run in DB-less mode and automatically receive configuration from the Control Plane through a secure channel protected by mTLS. This allows the Data Planes to keep processing traffic even if the Control Plane or the database becomes temporarily unavailable.

Sunday, July 26, 2026 | 22 minutes Read

02 - OpenStack installation and deployment methods

Before deploying OpenStack, it’s important to know that each release has its own installation and maintenance guide, adapted to its components and features. OpenStack releases are published regularly and receive direct support for roughly 18 months. This means it’s best to plan deployments around stable releases with active support, rather than always opting for the latest release, which may contain early-stage issues. You can find official installation guides for each release in the OpenStack Install Guide and review all published versions along with their support schedule at OpenStack Releases.

Sunday, November 23, 2025 | 2 minutes Read

How to manage storage pools

This post answers the following questions and provides practical examples: What is a storage pool? How is a pool created and what forms can it take? Storage in KVM/libvirt is organized using “storage pools” and “storage volumes”. In this article we explain what a pool is, why pools are used, and how to manage them with virsh or XML definitions. We include examples, practical recommendations, and notes about LVM-based pools.

Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 5 minutes Read

How to create and configure private virtual networks

In this step-by-step guide you’ll create three types of virtual networks managed by libvirt and learn simple ways to verify them: NAT (Network Address Translation) Isolated Very isolated (L2 only) We’ll use virsh and XML definitions (you can do the same with virt-manager, but we’ll focus on the CLI). After each creation, there’s a quick check to confirm everything looks good. Before you start: quick requirements Packages: libvirt-daemon and libvirt-daemon-system (or your distro equivalents). Optional: virt-manager. Run commands as root or with sudo. Service: systemctl status libvirtd should be active. See current networks: virsh net-list --all Persistent config paths: /etc/libvirt/qemu/networks/ Tip: avoid subnet conflicts, choose ranges that don’t collide with your physical LAN or other libvirt networks.

Saturday, October 18, 2025 | 4 minutes Read

How to validate the KVM host installation

Before creating and running virtual machines with KVM, it’s essential to validate that the host meets the required hardware and software capabilities to ensure optimal performance. This guide describes how to verify system capabilities using tools such as virt-host-validate and virsh. 1. Validating CPU virtualization support KVM requires processors with hardware virtualization extensions: Intel: VT-x AMD: AMD-V To check if your CPU is compatible, run: grep --color -Ew 'svm|vmx|lm' /proc/cpuinfo vmx → Intel CPU with VT-x svm → AMD CPU with AMD-V lm → 64-bit support If your CPU lacks these extensions, only CPU emulation will be available and performance will be significantly reduced.

Monday, October 13, 2025 | 2 minutes Read