Imagine a developer deploys a new company website. The deployment succeeds and the application is running...... but nobody can access it.😱 (anyones worst nightmare I know)
This is a common problem in Platform Engineering! The application may be working correctly, but the network does not know how to reach it.
Finding the Server
Every device connected to a network has an IP address. This includes laptops, cloud servers, phones and nowadays some toasters and fridges too haha.
An IP address works like a building address. It helps information reach the correct device.
192.168.1.20
In our example, this could be the IP address of the server running the website.
Finding the Application
A server can run several applications at the same time. A port identifies which application should receive the request.
Think of the IP address as the address of an office building and the port as a room number inside it.
192.168.1.20:8000
Here, 192.168.1.20 lets us know the server and port 8000 tells us what application.
What Went Wrong?
The developer’s application is running on port 8000, but the company network only allows users to connect securely through port 443.
The application is healthy but its current port cannot be reached!!
A Platform Engineer can configure the platform to accept secure requests on port 443 and direct them to the application on port 8000.
The code did not need fixing. The problem was how users connected to the application.
Public and Private Addresses
A public IP address can be reached over the internet. A private IP address is normally used within a home or company network.
A public website may need a public address, while its database should remain private. Platform Engineers help control this access so that internal systems are not exposed to the internet.
Protocols
A protocol is a set of rules that devices follow when communicating.
Websites commonly use HTTP or HTTPS. HTTPS protects the information travelling between the user and the website.
Port 80 is commonly used for HTTP, while port 443 is commonly used for HTTPS.