DevOps Project Ideas

Containerize a Node.js API and React frontend using Docker and Docker Compose for local development.

• Create Dockerfiles for both frontend and backend services
• Define a docker-compose.yml with networking between services
• Add a containerized PostgreSQL database with a volume for persistence
• Expose correct ports and set environment variables via .env files
• Include a health check for the API container

Build a GitHub Actions workflow that lints, tests, and builds a Python or Node.js app on every pull request.

• Trigger workflow on pull_request and push to main
• Run linting and unit tests as separate jobs
• Cache dependencies to speed up runs
• Report test results and fail the PR on test failure
• Post a build status badge to the README

Provision a cloud VPC, EC2 instances, and an RDS database on AWS using Terraform modules.

• Write reusable Terraform modules for networking, compute, and database
• Use remote state stored in an S3 bucket with DynamoDB locking
• Parameterize environments (dev/staging/prod) via tfvars files
• Output public IPs and connection strings
• Enforce tagging policy via variables

Deploy a microservices app to a local Minikube or managed Kubernetes cluster with proper resource management.

• Write Deployment, Service, and Ingress manifests for at least two services
• Configure resource requests and limits on all containers
• Use ConfigMaps and Secrets for configuration and credentials
• Implement a rolling update strategy and test it
• Set up a HorizontalPodAutoscaler based on CPU usage

Implement GitOps-based continuous delivery using ArgoCD to automatically sync Kubernetes manifests from a Git repo.

• Install and configure ArgoCD on a Kubernetes cluster
• Store all K8s manifests in a dedicated Git repository
• Create an ArgoCD Application resource pointing to the repo
• Trigger automated sync on every Git push to main
• Configure health checks and rollback on sync failure

Deploy Prometheus, Grafana, and the ELK stack to monitor a running application and visualize metrics and logs.

• Instrument an API with Prometheus metrics endpoint
• Deploy Prometheus with scrape config and alerting rules
• Build a Grafana dashboard showing request rate, error rate, and latency
• Ship application logs to Elasticsearch via Filebeat
• Create at least one alert that fires a Slack notification

Build an event-driven ETL pipeline using AWS Lambda, S3, SQS, and RDS, provisioned entirely with Terraform.

• Trigger Lambda on S3 file upload via SQS event source
• Transform CSV data and load it into RDS PostgreSQL
• Store Lambda code in ECR as a container image
• Deploy all infrastructure with Terraform including IAM roles
• Implement dead-letter queue and CloudWatch alarms for failures

Build a complete platform where code commits flow automatically through dev, staging, and production Kubernetes environments using Helm and ArgoCD ApplicationSets.

• Define Helm charts for all application services
• Use ArgoCD ApplicationSets to generate apps per environment dynamically
• Implement promotion gates: staging must pass smoke tests before prod sync
• Store secrets in HashiCorp Vault and inject them via the Vault Agent sideshow
• Enforce RBAC so developers can only sync to dev, not prod

Build golden AMIs with Packer, configure servers with Ansible, and use AWS Auto Scaling to replace unhealthy instances automatically.

• Write a Packer template that bakes application dependencies into an AMI
• Use Ansible playbooks for idempotent server configuration and app deployment
• Create an Auto Scaling Group with health checks tied to the baked AMI
• Automate AMI rotation: new AMI triggers rolling instance refresh
• Run the full pipeline from CI on each code merge to main