With 2 billion websites and web pages today, search engines have become sophisticated in ranking metrics.

Those were the days when keywords were ruling the ranking systems, but nowadays, as people are more concerned about quality, another bunch of things come to play in SEO.

From small online businesses to enterprises have to appear on the first page of SERPs to meet the business goals.

To do it, one must go through the other requirements, such as the website design, bounce rate, page load speed, and many other factors.

The website owners should measure all the components for running a successful web application.

Although there are many tools to measure, Grafana and Kibana go a step further with features that benefit the user while moderating the web application.

## How to take a business to the next level?
The evaluation of a business’s behavior depends on several factors. And to get precise data, a few particular tools are worth the penny.

The tools like Grafana and Kibana can help you with the most precise information that a business needs, like a customer’s behavior, and they offer a wide range of other features like automation and many more.

Is this your first time hearing about Grafana and Kibana?

Here is everything you need to know About Grafana and Kibana, and the use cases linked to them.


## What is Grafana?

![Grafana vs Kibana_1.webp](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/Grafana_vs_Kibana_1_94e4ebdd4b.webp)

It is a web application that helps business owners to measure the metrics of their app or website with cool customizable dashboards when their source is linked with Grafana.

Grafana makes it easy to understand using graphs, charts, and alerts when there is an issue with a particular thing. It helps the different pillars of the team, like product leaders, developers, and security analysts, to mold their decisions.

Grafana shows the businesses and teams about their customer’s behaviour, which is crucial in building a successful online brand, not just about the business’s behaviour.

And above all, if there is one thing that makes Grafana standout is that it shows all the metric charts and graphs on one manageable screen.

This way, businesses do not have to get confused about the available information. Instead, they can easily compare the different metrics on one tab and a screen.

## Features of Grafana -
The tools that an organization offers will vary from other organizations. It also depends on the premium plan chosen by the team.

However, each one of the tools has its significance in providing some helpful information. Here are some of the features and tools that Grafana offers its users.

### - Visualize-
Are you confused about the numbers that you see on the screen? How about if you visualize the numbers?

Yes, the feature that most other platforms miss, and Grafana offers it. It shows all the gathered information in charts and graphs, making it easy for monitors to compare the various elements.

### - Alerts-
Grafana alerts the monitor if there is an issue in any area of the app or website’s metrics. The alerts feature cautions the monitors before something terrible happens and comes in handy to get them right

### - Unify-
To avoid all the confusion and the hardness of comparing data, the unified feature allows monitors to bring all the visual information into one place, such that they can check the metrics more effectively.

### - Open-source-
Since Grafana is open-source, you can easily install and use its cloud platform.

### - Explore Logs-
Sometimes, information may seem overwhelming. In such conditions, with the exploring option, you can filter out the information you need.

### - Create and share-
In a few situations, the team may have to share the information with the other team members for productivity. In those times, Grafana can create sharable reports with the necessary information.

Since Grafana is more comfortable and convenient to work with, many reputable brands use it to boost their business performance.



## Use-cases
As the customer’s behavior is volatile, businesses use Grafana every time to look for the customer’s behaviour. And based on the site’s performance and the customer’s behaviour, the managing team decides on further steps.

With that, let us look at Kibana.

## What is Kibana?

![Grafana vs Kibana_2.webp](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/Grafana_vs_Kibana_2_538943bde5.webp)

Kibana is also an exploration and data visualization tool. It is used for log and time-series analytics, operational intelligence, and application monitoring use cases.

The powerful and easy-to-use features such as histograms, line graphs, pie charts, heat maps, and built-in geospatial support help its users to measure business performance better.

Kibana offers a wide range of features compared to Grafana. Some of the features of Kibana are-

### 👉 Explore and Visualize
Explore and visualize helps in providing the assessed information in charts and graphs.

The elements, like the Kibana lens, time series visual builder, and geospatial provide well-structured graphical representations with precise data.

### 👉 Management and Monitoring
The mid-cap and large-cap businesses communicate with their customers in many ways.

The management tools assure the safety of the customers and the business data, especially when communication takes place on the website’s chatbots.

### 👉 Solutions
The solution providers, like map layers, vector tiles, custom region maps, geo alerts, and many others, help businesses to solve critical issues on the website or the app.

These three are the main features of Kibana. However, there are other similar features that Kibana offers to Grafana. The same features with slight differences include:

### 👉 Share and Collaborate
The share and collaborate feature allows you to share with a PDF or any other extension. And also, Kibana lets you collaborate with others on the same dashboard, just like how you work in the TeamViewer.

### 👉 Data Visualization
Although this is the same, Kibana has other options too. They offer features beyond graphs and charts. Multiple options provide extra stability for businesses in validating the data.

### 👉 Download and Install
Kibana is easy to download and install on any computer. And it offers extra cloud options and benefits.

### 👉 Security
Kibana offers different security systems to protect the customer’s data. If there are any information breaches, the automated systems alert the monitors.

## Use Cases
The use of Kibana is high in monitoring applications. Since Kibana has many features, businesses use it to collect the log data to help the developers track the availability, find bugs, and explore the problems that affect the UX or the user experience. And then, these factors are used in debugging the issues.

These are some of the same features both platforms share. But Kibana tops in everything as it provides additional features.

The difference between Grafana and Kibana:

Grafana helps to analyze and visualize metrics such as system CPU, memory, and I/O utilization.

Grafana does not allow full-text data querying. Whereas Kibana, on the other hand, is used primarily for analyzing log messages.

## Conclusion
In today’s technology-driven world, it is hard to stand ahead of the competition, especially owning a website that serves people in different sectors like eCommerce, services-based businesses, and others.

It is essential to analyze the website’s performance and understand the customer’s behaviour o stand ahead of competitors.

One such tool that can help boost your business is Grafana and Kibana. Although they are similar in some cases, they have their benefits.

small_Grafana vs Kibana_Feature.webp

thumbnail_Grafana vs Kibana_Feature.webp

Grafana vs Kibana and the Use Cases linked to it

React JS, is the versatile front-end library for building user interfaces based on UI components and is very helpful in making web applications as well as mobile applications.

React adheres to the declarative programming paradigm and is in contrast with imperative programming.

Today, we are going to share how we can use React with any existing old project without having any disturbance in current development.

A few months ago, we were working on one old AngularJS-based project and the client asked to upgrade the project with the latest frameworks like ReactJS/VueJS/Angular.

However, we were stuck with a problem in that we were already in mid of one major long task and the client was in a hurry. It was a situation of doing or dying, but we overcame it by merging ReactJS.

Stay in the blog, and you will get to know how we managed to upgrade from AngularJS to ReactJS and what issues we faced while implementing the requirement —

## Challenges Faced while Merging React.js with Angular-
While upgrading the project, the following were the problems that we faced-

- The project manuscript was ancient, written in AngularJS (1.X version).
- The ongoing development tasks were almost 60–70% complete.
- The project delivery timeline was getting closer, so we needed to be quick.
Because of the aforementioned points, we were not in a position to set up a new project and start everything from scratch, as it would’ve taken a lot of time and affected existing and running tasks.


## Solution-
After analyzing the situation and looking over multiple options, we decided to use ReactJS parallelly with AngularJS and started implementing all new features in React and eventually moved completely onto that.

## Why React?
ReactJS is an open source Library, and that too is the simplest in the current avant-garde technologies.

We can easily include ReactJS in any website by using script tags or installing react package in case of using any build tool like webpack.


## Integration of React.js with Angular
We hope that now you have understood why ReactJS, was the best choice at that moment. So, now without wasting time, lets me show you how we integrated React with the existing AngularJS project with small configurations.

If you want to skip the explanation and directly want to see the implementation, you can check this sample [git repository](https://github.com/om-prakash-sharma/react-in-angularJs).

So, let me first share the screenshot of the folder structure so that we all are on the same page-

![ReactJs_Angular_1.webp](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/0_qaj5_RV_0_Gvd_H_Zvt_W_ceae83e74d.webp)


## Set up Webpack and ESLint

![ReactJs_Angular_2.webp](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/0_UR_si_HAP_Vi_F_Kuv_BZ_6d000e0247.webp)

We used webpack to configure the dev server and create a build so that developers can feel like they are working with ReactJS only. 😃

### To set up webpack-
✔ Install webpack and eslint-related dependency (you can check the dependency from the sample repository’s package.json)

✔ Create 3 configuration files -

- webpack.config.dev.js : Include common config + dev server-related configurations.
- 
- webpack.config.common.js : Add all common webpack configurations including main file, eslint config, plugins, rules for JS/JSX/SCSS files
- 
- webpack.config.prod.js : Include common config + build related configurations

## Root Files (Main.js & index.ejs)
After Webpack and eslint configuration, let’s create one JS file where we include all our AngularJS files like app.js, controllers, directives, scss files … etc.

Ex: main.js {You can check the [main.jsfile](https://github.com/om-prakash-sharma/react-in-angularJs/blob/main/main.js) content here}

This is our main file (Don’t forget to add webpack.common.js as an entry point).

Now let’s create one index.ejs file used to generate dynamic index.html with newly build files, you can also check the [index.ejs](https://github.com/om-prakash-sharma/react-in-angularJs/blob/main/index.ejs) file content.

## Configure and Render React Components
To configure React.js with Angular project-

- First install react dependency using npm (you can check the dependency from the sample repository’s package.json)
- After installing the dependency, create one react component, i.e. Login Component.
- Now we will create one common directive according to this path-
/src/directives/react-page.directive.js

This is our main directive which will take the id, pageName, and based on the respective page. It will render react components, will create some custom events to check whenever the theme/language will change, and then will re-render the component.

We can also pass props or methods instances to react from AngularJS. Refer to manage-todo.directive.js file for the same.


## Conclusion
This was the whole process of integrating React.js with Angular. The same approach can be used to integrate ReactJS with other projects as well based on JQuery, vanilla JS, or any other JavaScript framework.

To learn more, you can also check [how to create custom web components using VanillaJS](https://github.com/om-prakash-sharma/custom-web-component) with Life Cycle.

Let us know if you want to learn more about webpack configurations and react build configurations, we will surely make one blog on that as well.

small_1_oQPUNxm1OPVeUReGyD7K6Q.webp

thumbnail_1_oQPUNxm1OPVeUReGyD7K6Q.webp

How to Merge React.js with Angular Projects

Customers, Clients, and even projects act like an organization’s heart because without customers there is no selling and without projects, there is no product. So, we can say that customers and clients are directly proportional to the growth of an organization.

How we are studying customer data and behavior also plays a major role when it comes to finding better and more productive ways and to achieve this the organization can join hands with the technology and use the customer relationship management tool for accessing the data and studying it more efficiently.

## CRM Software and Common Benefits
CRM stands for “Customer Relations Management”, it’s a software or system that helps businesses nurture better relationships with their clientele.

It helps in achieving better time management and efficiency, with the end goal of impressing customers at every step of their buying journey.

CRM software is a package by which we can connect to the customers very fast and can even maintain a sorted relationship for a long time.

## Let’s take a look at some well-known benefits of CRM software -

### 👉 Helps in creating a centralized database
Unorganized or decentralized data always creates trouble when we need to analyze the data or search for the particular information of a customer.

As we know if the data is decentralized, then we have to go through multiple records, hardware, computers, and even multiple departments across your organization simply to find what you’re looking for which makes it less efficient.

Centralized data is always better because it provides several advantages:

- Enables faster, more efficient, and more accurate cross-team access, with more effortless management of data shared in one location
- Ensures higher security when it comes to confidential data
- Reduces the manual work and even makes it easier to create a roadmap and analyze the data

### 👉 Improved productivity
To achieve success, it is very important to know what is your focus and that too at the right moment as it can help you in deciding and planning for your next steps.

**In a survey conducted by Salesforce, businesses that switched to CRMs were able to increase sales by 29% and productivity by 34%.**

CRM software allows you to automate a range of tasks, helping everyone remain focused on actions that bring in more sales, thereby helping with enhancing productivity overall.

### 👉 Data Entry Automation
Entering the data manually after every purchase tends to create more human errors and even consume human labor, but using CRM would automate this work and will eliminate the chances of such errors considerably.

It even makes it easier for your sales team to keep tabs on important information that can help your business be more efficient and effective, sales-wise.

### 👉 Streamlining Sales Process


To stay on the top tier of customer relationships, it is crucial to keep the sales process quite simple and sophisticated rather than keeping it complex.

A streamlined sales process is really efficient in acquiring the leads, generating the profits, and converting those leads into long-term relationships with the customer.

To maintain a balance between sales and growth, CRM software is quite a useful tool as it gives an organization several leverages due to which the growth of the organization can be exponentially increased. CRM helps in mapping, tracking and even in facilitating better coordination with the customer.

### 👉 Helps customers in their buying journey
Physical business proves to be an earmark when it comes to accompanying customers in their buying journey.

Through this journey, the one can walk in when a customer starts with the journey and can remain in touch until and unless the customer exists with a satisfying face with the shopping bags in the hands but when it comes to online business or e-commerce sites then it is quite tough to manage the customers as the physical business formula will not work.

When a physical business does not come into the picture, there comes the role of CRM software as it keeps the things handy and makes it reliable for the organization to keep a track of its customers through this software.

## Working Strategies of CRM Software —



CRM software works on strategies that can help the companies to start with the first stepping stone. The strategies can differ from organization to organization, but definitely, it provides a way that helps to achieve what the enterprise dreams for.

To create a CRM strategy one needs to follow a few set steps and that is:

- Define your vision and goals on which the CRM will work on
- Establish a process that works for a full cycle of a customer journey
- Define who is your target customer
- Analyze the market and work on your position
- Define what will be your customer journey
- Know what you want to sell
- Invest in a CRM software

These are the few steps that can definitely help one to create their strategy, even they can work on what is required and the organizations can also generate a roadmap.

CRM software is not only used for large-scale organizations but also beneficial for small organizations as it lays off a perfect roadmap to meet the targets and deliver results.

Let’s have a look at how CRM can be beneficial for small organizations too -

## Why SMEs must use CRM Software?


- While managing the client, CRM seems to be a very powerful tool!
- It increases the productivity of the organization
- Keeping a track of each and every step of the customer
- It increases the profit as it gives a perfect roadmap
- It helps in generating the particular targets that organizations have planned for.


## Conclusion

**“Choose the right strategy with the right parameters to achieve what you dream for.”**

With ’n’ number of benefits and advantages that CRM brings along, it is highly beneficial for every business today!

In the event that you are striving to build CRM software for your business, Habilelabs, being a top-notch IT solution provider company, is ready to help you with the requirements round the clock. You can connect with our experts here!

Thanks for Reading! 😊🙌

small_CRM Software_feature.webp

thumbnail_CRM Software_feature.webp

5 Reasons that Make CRM Software Beneficial for Every Business

Over the past few years, low-code solutions have grown in popularity throughout the Software and IT industry.

**Gartner predicts that by 2024, low-code application development will account for over 65% of application development.**

Nowadays, businesses are increasingly utilizing low code applications to create web applications faster and gain a competitive edge. In simple words, low-code enables businesses to transform themselves by integrating digital technologies.

Let’s move ahead and learn what does the term ‘low-code’ exactly mean-

## What are Low-Code Solutions?
The term ‘low-code’ solutions are quite self-explaining, it means that we can create websites with less or no code at all.

Low-code solutions facilitate more straightforward iteration and prototyping, making web development simpler and faster. It enables the quick development of fully operational web applications with minimal coding effort.

These benefits are available to both professional developers and non-IT professionals. 

## Anyone willing to experiment can create unique websites using low-code solutions.

### 👉 Origin of the term “Low-Code”
Analyst firm Forrester formulated the term ‘low-code’ in 2014 and specified it as a platform for developing customer-facing applications.

The popularity of low-code has increased dramatically since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Organizations all over the world were obliged to hasten their digital strategies as a result of the pandemic and phased lockdowns.

Another factor driving low-code adoption is the mounting pressure on IT to provide value not only to organizations but also to target consumers.

Now that you know what low-code solutions are, let’s explore what makes them the future of web development. But before that, let’s shed light on the differences between low-code and no-code solutions.

## Low-Code vs No-Code Solutions


**In 2017, Forbes defined low-code as a movement and declared low-code and no-code as great disruptors.**

Low-code and no-code development platforms perform the same function and have been devised keeping precision and speed in mind. Nevertheless, there is a fine line of difference between the two.

While low-code platforms are less complex and require less coding, they still need some coding or programming experience for developing web applications.

For organizations having professional software developers, low-code platforms are a fast and practical approach to developing and deploying web applications. However, with the progression of low-code development tools, even a non-IT professional with minimal programming skills can create web applications.

The no-code platform, in contrast, can be used to develop applications and systems with minimal coding knowledge, and in some cases, no coding is required at all.

The no-code development approach is designed to create simpler and straightforward web applications for executing simple tasks. Although, some no-code tools are known to create far more advanced and complicated apps.

## Benefits of Low-Code Solutions

There are several advantages to a low-code approach to web development:

### ✔ Reduces Overall Expenses
Low-code development involves outsourcing a coding platform. Therefore, it eliminates the need of having a complete IT team.

Consequently, it allows for mitigating recruitment costs besides saving time in building web applications, thereby reducing overall web development costs.

### ✔ Enhances Business Agility
Experts say low-code website development is key to improving business agility. This type of development allows for the modification of internal software solutions, which ultimately assists non-coders in filling workflow skills gaps through visual elements that are relatively simple.

Furthermore, users can readily make it responsive for a wide array of devices.

### ✔ Enhances Productivity
Low-code lets you eliminate tedious and time-consuming technical code.

It allows you to modify or update processes without writing complex codes and enhances the collaboration between the development team and other departments.

Besides helping teams to collaborate more effectively, it saves a significant amount of time, resulting in increased productivity and profitability.

### ✔ Reduces Risk
Low-code solutions are bolstered by the industry’s best standards and security protocols. These platforms come with a data integration layer, cross-platform compatibility, and security algorithms that are always up-to-date.

Due to their high level of security and customization, your workflow remains highly protected, so you can concentrate on more crucial business tasks.

### ✔ Enhanced Customer Experience
Low-code development platforms have pre-built templates and offer a simpler user interface, optimizing consumer interactions on the platform.

As a result, it enables you to provide your end-users with a smooth and seamless experience without compromising the product’s features and functions.

## Drawbacks of Low-Code Solutions
Low-code solutions also have their share of drawbacks. Considering its shortcomings, experts opine that while low-code may have a place in the future, it may not substitute other methods of web development since this approach goes on the blink as the solution’s complexity increases.

Let’s take a look at why experts believe this:

### - The Risk of Vendor Lock-in!
It is one of the most significant drawbacks of low-code tools. The general assumption is that end-users are bound to their vendor for eternity. This issue, however, varies from vendor to vendor.

For example, some vendors dissuade you from leaving their platform by generating complex code that is virtually impossible to manage outside the platform.

To make things worse, some platforms do not let you modify your apps once you stop using them. In contrast, open-source vendors make clean and standard codes that work anywhere.

Although it is easier to manage these apps inside the framework, they can also be managed outside it. Thus, before acquiring a tool, do a bit of research to understand each vendor’s policies.

Also, ensure that you can manage the applications outside the platform. If possible, obtain a copy of the generated code beforehand, so you can understand how easily it can be altered.

### - Minimal functionality!
The number of functions you can execute on a low code development solution is limited. Though it helps you develop web applications quickly, it doesn’t provide adequate alternatives in the event you wish to try something new.

### - Calls for Technical Knowledge
It is a myth to say low code development requires no prior technical knowledge. Low-code tools require a solid technical background. Furthermore, learning the fundamental low-code development requirements is a time-consuming affair.

### - Limited Security
Despite incorporating built-in security protocols, low-code tools can’t match standalone development in terms of security. The security of data or source code access is often compromised with low-code applications.

### - Complicated Business Logic
Automating simple processes with low-code solutions is helpful for prototyping, but the business logic becomes complex after that point.

For example, in some cases, a feature that is not available in the platform can be implemented using custom code. Therefore, if you hope to advance the project, you will need an experienced team, otherwise, your business will be at risk.

## Wrap Up-
All things considered, it seems logical to predict that, even though the low-code platform is a technical facilitator in the making, which is yet to realize its full potential, the low-code trend will only keep growing in the years ahead.

While low-code development has helped many businesses incorporate digitalization and automation into their processes and services, it has yet to impact various industries significantly. Despite its advantages, it is, however, not intended to be a replacement for conventional web development.

It is worth noting that businesses can use low-code platforms to supplement traditional web development methodologies and fill existing loopholes.

Low code can speed up time-to-market and improve a company’s overall efficiency when combined with conventional methods. Thus, combining low-code and traditional techniques can result in high-productive and faster web development.

Habilelabs, with its innovative approach and cutting-edge web technologies, is readily helping enterprises to revolutionize their tech capabilities without incurring substantial costs.

For any assistance required at your project front, feel free to contact us round the clock. 🙌

small_Low-Code Solutions_feature.webp

thumbnail_Low-Code Solutions_feature.webp

Do Low-Code Solutions have a Future in Web Development?

Evidently, but not unexpectedly, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the market landscape and customer expectations on giant levels for every sector.

No industry would have remained untouched by the impact of the crisis, and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) is no exception.

The pricing methods and revenue management processes used earlier will no longer be of much importance post-COVID. Even the industry-leading companies that had invested highly in their ways will need to upgrade their revenue management systems in alignment with the customer demands, their buying patterns, and rapidly changing market value.

Even without the intervention of COVID-19, the picture was changing for consumer goods, as the majority of modern customers were favoring seamless online shopping. The consumer goods sector was bound to adapt as per customer expectations and introduce new ways to enhance their experience and deliver more value.

The shift to dynamism calls for consumer industry leaders to rethink and revise their revenue growth and management strategies to ensure their growth and meet objectives. But how to do this? Let’s move further-

## How to Enable the Revenue Reset in CPG?


Most companies were already experimenting and advancing their revenue management practices and are in better shape to make a move. They had already taken sophisticated measures by leveraging cutting-edge technologies and tools to optimize their pricing solutions and better understand their customers, market, and retailers.

## The revenue management reset calls to focus upon the following major points-

### 👉 Adopting Dynamism
As the consumer industry is pivoted around the factors like economic status of the customers, product features & demand, and price considerations as they primarily define customers’ buying choices and patterns.

Dynamism implies the ability to adapt quickly to change and make adjustments to respond rapidly. It means to become volatile enough to survive in a crisis situation with efficiency.

This is possible by building robust systems and algorithms to track the behavior of consumers, customers, and competitors in real-time and observe the demand shift. This sophisticated tracking system collects data from various external sources such as web traffic patterns, search results, retail panel data, online price scrapers, etc. and integrates it with comprehensive dashboard software and KPIs.

In addition, the CPG companies will require acting on this real-time information and respond quickly.

### 👉 Deliver value
Delivering value is basically assuring consumers that they are benefitting from the purchase, as we are delivering ‘more for less’.

The post-pandemic time requires CPG companies to reset their expectations, processes, and capabilities. The quote ‘delivering value’ has an obvious meaning, and companies can use any of these options to adhere to it-

- Lowering price per unit for larger packages
- Aligning the price points with consumer demands
- Targeted promotions

Choosing any of the above three approves the condition of delivering ‘more for less’. The larger packages enable the value-conscious consumers to upend their stocks and use the lower price-per-unit in their favor.

Companies can also use targeted promotions, short-term deals, and limited-time offers, while preserving the current package prices, to offer consumers with an irresistible urge to stock up.

Other than that, the CPG companies can also revise or enhance their pack-price architecture to offer lower price points to the consumers, without losing their margins.

### 👉 Differentiate Pack-Price Architecture
While it’s tempting for the CPG companies to stick to a one-price-for-all approach in terms of simplicity and speed, it will hardly benefit you in the changed and enhanced market landscape.


The new market is focused upon customer demands, consumption occasions, buying criteria, and shopper missions, and CPG need to grab these opportunities for their advantage as the shift in the market is the best time to make advancements and grow.

The differentiated pack-price architecture aims to better meet the unique consumer demands across all channels, i.e. grocer, online, mass, trade, discount, etc.

To enable purposeful assorting of prices and tailor them to consumers and their customers, businesses can back it by a stout online pack-price strategy.

## Summary
Now that the consumers are tilting towards online means, for many obvious reasons, the CPG companies need a dynamic and all-in-one revenue management approach that keeps tabs on online occasions, discount offers, buying options, and the overall purchase.

Embracing the new pricing reality and resetting the revenue management policies will help the CPG companies to regain stability in times of crisis.

Thanks for Reading! 😊

In case you require any assistance to embed IT into your business operations, we are here to help you build customized and next-gen software solutions. 🙌

small_Revenue Management_feature.webp

thumbnail_Revenue Management_feature.webp

A Revenue Management Reset in Consumer Goods

Ever experienced a situation wherein you are trying to come up with something, but your mind turns out all blank?

You somehow wish that you’d be struck with a great idea or an innovative solution to something, but then that never really turns real. And eventually, you end up naming it the “creative block”.


>Creativity in the literal sense is the ability to come up with or recognize ideas to solve problems, communicate with others or entertain.

It is all about finding new ways of solving something that isn’t restricted to worldly solutions only. It is a useful skill, but it is not necessary that you can find this in every person you come across, or you know of.

## Top 10 Tips to Increase Creativity
Well, there’s never really a straight line wherein we can put creative thinking.

>You can be creative without belonging to the creative professional world, but this might happen that even after belonging to that area you are less creative or not creative.

To get that creative flow again, here are the top 10 ways for taking on your creative thinking power to the next level-

### 1. Journal to the rescue!
It is a very common yet established method of being a creative head. It is simple, therapeutic and can be done completely in private.

Not only does it help in improving your levels of concentration, but also channelizes your creativity level like nothing else.

Research shows that the physical act of writing, which requires you to carry out sequential strokes by hand, actively engages your brain, which can improve your levels of concentration and creativity.

It fuels your brain to function optimally and think from outside the box. It sounds so simple, and yet in this era of information overload and highly charged urban life, this important element is often missing from our everyday lives.

### 2. Ignite mind-body connection!
Focus on things that give you new perspectives, and new horizons to think about. Brainstorm on refining your ideas and eradicating roadblocks.

Creativity isn’t just about thinking outside the box; make the most of that mind-body connection and throw the whole box away.

Do not process everything at once, make small chunks, do something different, challenge your brain to do something that you’ve never done, and then see the results.

Always understand, that giving an open out to things will always give you results. Try giving new windows to your thoughts and then see the exceptional creative flow it would bring along.

### 3. Say GOODBYE to your comfort zone!


While staying in your comfort zone might seem the safest option, it doesn’t always is the best decision.

Sometimes it is the only thing that discourages you from developing or growing, or exploring new ways of thinking.

You would have heard of the line “best views come from hardest climbs”, and it is true that you need to allow yourself to let your thoughts flow freely outside the vision you usually have.

Remember that no one else is judging your thoughts, and you shouldn’t either.

### 4. Create psychological distance!
Studies prove that whenever we step away from something that is blocking us and comes back to solve it later, we often find solutions straight away.

This phenomenon in psychological concepts is known as “Psychological distance”. Our brain tends to rephrase that particular problem in different aspects just to handle it in another form.

It gives our brain to have some time to think about it from different perspectives and also from so many other scenarios, which will result in more creative ways to look after that particular problem.

All in all, this is a concept that gives you some more ideas to deal with the creative block and increase it in a manner that gives you the results that you are looking for.

### 5. Break your routine!


Living a monotonous life casts a spell on you, which in turn results in the same routine that your mind follows.

Giving it a break from the routine can help to snap out of the trance and think out of the box. Engage your brain in your surroundings, draw inspiration from your neighborhood, and increase your capacity for creative thinking try to break that spell of your established routine of yours.

Do something different that gives you a new outlook on things, take new routes, and go to different places that are unusual for you not just because it’ll be a new experience but also because it will give you a new perception of things around you.

### 6. The formula of three “Ifs”!
Creative thinking doesn’t ask you to invent something extremely new, it just wants you to twist and tweak the existing concept and make it new.

Before dwelling on the concept of increasing your creative thinking power, we need to understand that there are no universal recipes for innovation, you need to develop your understanding and approach regarding how and when you are most creative.

For help, you can build an understanding of creative thinking around these three “ifs”:

- What would happen if I change it (the object/ system/ social relationship)?
- If I wanted to use it in 10 years, what would I change or improve about this object ?
- What would I do if I had a one-million-dollar investment to improve it?
These questions can become powerful tools that can help you to think differently. It is important to exercise these skills by repeatedly using the “three ifs” formula about all sorts of things.


### 7. Try the Six Hats Technique!
The [“Six Hat Technique”](https://www.mindtools.com/ajlpp1e/six-thinking-hats) involves looking at a problem from six different perspectives.

By doing this, you can produce more ideas than you might have had if you only looked at the situation from one or two points of view. See here-

- **Black Hat** : Use a negative perspective. Which elements of the solution won’t work?
- **Blue Hat** : Think broadly. What is the best overall solution? Blue hat, in general, signifies the sky and that is not the limit. That’s why it tells you to think more broadly than your limits.
- **Green Hat** : It signifies you think creatively. What are some alternative ideas?
- **Red Hat** : Look at the situation emotionally. What do your feelings tell you?
- **White Hat** : Look at the situation objectively. What are the facts?
- **Yellow Hat** : use a positive perspective. Which elements of the solution will work?
In addition to challenging yourself, you also need to create opportunities for creativity.

### 8. Try the “Snowball Technique”!
Ever noticed how one great idea often leads to another?

This, in a psychological sense, is known as the “snowball technique” which states that whenever you are thinking, don’t ever discard any idea.

If you think that any idea is not appropriate for your current work, set it aside to work on later or implement it in any other situation. Do not waste your ideas, keep them in close thought and tweak it to your interests.

### 9. Music-enhanced thinking!
Research has proven the idea of music-enhanced thinking. By engineering sound files with researched frequencies, scientists have proven increased brain performance.

**According to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, a “moderate level of ambient noise increases creativity”.**
The reason for this is that a moderate level of noise causes the right level of disruption in our thought processes to inspire abstract thinking, without disrupting us completely. Listening to music, at any volume, also helps you to relax and allows your mind to wander and wonder.

This will help your mind to be relaxed and give more creative solutions and ideas. The brain functions better and is more creative when listening to certain songs and compositions.

### 10. Reward your curiosity!
One common roadblock to developing creativity in the sense that curiosity is an indulgence.

Rather than chastising yourself for being a curious person, reward yourself when you are curious about something. Give yourself the opportunity and the time to explore new topics.

It is important because it develops an intrinsic motivation, which is the first step of the creative process. Although your efforts may not lead to success every time they will still be boosting your creative spirit which will help you in building creative talent and skills that serve us well in the future.


## Wrap Up
Always remember, that creativity is not a destination or a result, rather it is always about a process and flow that you maintain every day. It’s an art form, and art doesn’t have any specific destination.

Hope you liked the blog! If so, let us hear your claps & comments. ✌

Happy Reading! 😊

large_Creativity_feature.webp

medium_Creativity_feature.webp

small_Creativity_feature.webp

thumbnail_Creativity_feature.webp

Empowering your right-side brain” — Increasing Creativity

Redis is one of the most popular NoSQL databases on the market. It was created in 2009 as a response to the limitations of other databases.

Some main advantages of Redis are that it uses no SQL but supports data structures like hashes, sets, and lists accessing them via simple client libraries in different programming languages such as Java, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript (Node.js).

If you are running a website or web application that needs really fast data storage with lots of capabilities, then Redis is the perfect solution.

Let us see why we should use Redis in our project.

## Overview about Redis
Redis- which stands for ‘ Remote Dictionary Server’- is an open source, in-memory data structure store.

It’s a NoSQL or non-relational database, which means, there are no tables, and it does not define relations between data sources.

While it basically stores data in key-value format, it also provides efficient support for string-based key-value data storage, sorted sets, hash tables, and multiple data structures like lists, sets, etc.

## Key Features of Redis -


What is it that makes Redis a go-to choice for databases? Well, the reasons are many, and we have listed some major ones-

- Open source and free to use.
- It is written in C and can be used on a wide range of systems from Linux, Unix, Microsoft Windows to Mac OS X.
- Runs on a single server or distributes over different servers.
- No-SQL data structure store, but supports the same data types as key-value stores such as AWS ElastiCache or Memcached.
- Extremely scalable and have usage in caching, data structures and sets, lists, blogs, and ad serving.
- Currently used by several large websites including Twitter and Pinterest.

## Get Started with Redis
Let’s see how to install Redis on Linux machines, so you can get the best out of it.

Install redis-server by hitting this command:

```
sudo apt-get install redis-server
```

Enable the server daemon by hitting this command:

```
sudo systemctl enable redis-server
```

Start up the service using the above command:

```
sudo systemctl start redis-server
```

Redis is now installed and running. Type the following command to check the server installation:

The default Redis port is 6379 but some services/applications may prefer to change this.

The basic usage of Redis Client is to issue a command and to check the result. If there’s no error, it returns the result, otherwise returns an error message.

If you want to send an arbitrary command, you can type it as shown in the following example-

```
/usr/bin/redis-cli -h 127.0.0.1:6379> set n 3 3
```

Here, we are setting n variable is to 3 (integer value). You’ll notice that the value is not in the disk yet, and you won’t see any change on your terminal window.

## Pros & Cons of Redis
We have already learned about the features and functionalities of Redis, now we’ll see the popular pros & cons of Redis-

### Pros-
Redis is one of the most popular key-value store databases. It integrates well with many frameworks, and it’s fast, reliable, and easy to set up and use.



- Feature detection and troubleshooting at the application level.
- It can be configured to support multiple data types and meet particular performance needs: a cache of frequently accessed items; a histogram; transactional records; delay or bounded queues.
- Redis can be used to bolster feature testing during development. For instance, you can use it to store and quickly retrieve the names of all your user roles or build an in-memory analytics engine.
- You might also find Redis useful as a dependency container to hold transient information generated from RDBMS queries that would otherwise cause a round-trip to the server.
- Storing application data in Redis is fast (scales with speed of RAM) and because your data is available in memory, it’s never lost due to a system failure.

### Cons-
However, that is where it’s true strengths end. Its disadvantages may be more important than its advantages for some uses.

#### - Lack of persistence
Redis has no built-in persistence. Therefore, if you are using it in a production environment, you must use some other means to persist the data. A few different storage backend exist, ranging from simple to complex (Redis is usually combined with Memcached or other in-memory data store).

#### - No support for transactions
Redis has no support for transactions either as found with databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL or Oracle Database (Oracle Database 11g and 10g do support transactions, but they are not fully compatible with Redis).

#### - Tuning Redis
Tuning Redis is not a trivial process, and it’s easy to forget about something important. A lot of the tuning parameters are dependent on your use cases, which aren’t always obvious.

#### - No support for clustering
With no built-in clustering, you’ll have to resort to third party tools or develop your own if you want to scale out Redis across multiple nodes, or even multiple data centers.

Unfortunately, there are no standard interfaces for one application to talk directly with another through Redis. This means that scaling and redundancy must be handled by an external tool (i.e. HAProxy) if an application needs to communicate with another server using Redis as the message broker.

However, despite the mentioned cons of Redis, it’s getting popular everyday due to its obvious and handy features.

Thanks for reading this blog! If you find it helpful, let us know through your claps & comments.😊🙌

small_Redis_feature.webp

thumbnail_Redis_feature.webp

Introduction to Redis — An In-memory Database

**“It’s not always that we need to do more, but rather that we need to focus on less.”**

Sounds absurd, right?

To your surprise, you read it right! Less is more, is the new perspective to incline towards nowadays.

Imagine making a to-do list and completing it the same day, simultaneously knowing that you were at the peak of your creativity, this is the day when you know you are most creative and productive.

People usually look out for correct formulas to become productive with a snap of the fingers, but it cannot be possible as a specific formula for productivity doesn’t exist.

There is no exact set of words to describe what actually is the procedure of productivity or how it can be achieved. Every individual may have a different definition of productivity or a different perception of the same.

But there are a certain set of tips that may help you sort out such productivity concerns. Let’s see what these go-to tips are-

## How to Improve Your Productivity?
Most of the time, all we want to know is how to increase productivity and how to improve our workflow, but during that moment we kind of forget the time management strategies and how important they are in this procedure of being productive.

Researchers in the past have noticed that productivity can be cultivated through meaningful elements of a larger goal, better mental energy, a sense of motivation, and alertness.

With this in mind, let’s find out some best tips & tricks to help improve your productivity starting today!



Although it’s no rocket science, by any stretch of the imagination it does require some effective points to make the most of your day and achieve a sense of accomplishment.

Let’s get going then-

### - Eat a frog!
It means, whenever you’re feeling best, do your most demanding task at that time.

All the productivity experts advise you to do all your tasks right in the morning that are creatively demanding and require your utmost focus. Doesn’t matter what that is, if it makes you feel better for a day, do that right in the morning.

### - Prepare a to-do list!
As ignorable and small as this task it may sound to be, it is more important than any other process out there.

They are the most invaluable productivity aids, whether daily or weekly or monthly, always plan ahead to feel more in control of yourself. It will not only be helpful for your own clarity, but will also add value and effectiveness to your schedule.

### - Be Proactive, Not reactive!
Being reactive — which is an element of revealing emotions at workplace — is one of the very essential implications of a human being, but it generally has some faults.

Corporates want you to be proactive. To be the “Doer” and get things done. In short, being proactive is just the same thing but with one big difference — you do the “reacting” ahead of time.

### - Eliminate Distraction!
To be productive, you need to shut down your noise and shoo them away.

Eliminate them entirely or give them a specific time, may be X number of minutes, only after you accomplish a major task.

### - Be Optimistic!
It is true when they say — “Happy people are more productive.”

A study of optimism and performance at Maastricht University shows that people who are more optimistic or always expect a good outcome are generally shown to have more bonuses and achieved more in professional life.

### - Record, Reset & Review!
The three R’s- whenever you have any idea, “Record” them down so that they can be stored and revisited whenever necessary.

It is perfectly okay to have “just one of those days”. In that case, remember to take some time alone to reset and recharge yourself. And at last, always review whatever you’ve done.

Process & optimize your productivity by reviewing your work at the end of every week or maybe at the end of every month as you find suitable.

### - Prioritize!
This point is very similar to making a to-do list, or rather this is more like updating your to-do list by prioritizing what tasks are lengthy enough to demand more attention at first.

You can use [“Eisenhower Box”](https://asana.com/resources/eisenhower-matrix) to divide your tasks into four different possibilities. According to his decision matrix, there are four ways in which you can organize your tasks, which are:

- Urgent & Important: Tasks you’ll do immediately
- Important but not Urgent: Tasks you will do later
- Urgent but not important: Tasks that you’ll delegate to someone else
- Neither urgent nor important: Tasks that you’ll eliminate

Dwight Eisenhower’s this decision matrix will help you organize your tasks in a better manner.

### - Minimize Distractions, but Take Breaks!


To give a rise in productivity, it is essential to minimize as many distractions as you can.

All those things that cause interruptions produce a change in work pattern & a drop in productivity. But as important as it is to minimize distractions, it is very important to take breaks in order to achieve your potential because even small breaks can boost up your efficiency.

It keeps you stay focused & motivated, and a productive break should leave you feeling refreshed and ready to return to your desk with a renewed focus.

However, the longer you choose to break for, making sure to use the time for something different.

### - Stop Striving for perfection!
The race to perfection is the fastest route to unhappiness.

Perfection is an illusion, it doesn’t have any specific set of definitions for everyone, so it can differ for everyone and hence you can exempt yourself from this race to increase your productivity.

Instead of striving for perfection, focus on completing the task first to the best of your ability.

### - Reward yourself!
As a firm believer in acknowledging every little effort and celebrating achievements, we feel that every time you complete a task, reward yourself with a little something to boost your motivation.

It’ll help you in completing all your commitments with extra enthusiasm.

## Bottom Line
All in all — It is very easy to take up a task, but what’s more important is to be productive and creative enough to complete that task in the most optimum manner.

**Always remember, “Productivity isn’t about being a workhorse. It is all about priorities, planning, and protecting your time.”**

Thanks for reading the blog! Share your views through claps and comments 😊

small_Productivity_feature.webp

thumbnail_Productivity_feature.webp

Mastering the essence of “Productivity”

**W**ondering what Docker is? Actually, it’s something worth wondering about. If you’re a Network Engineer or Software Developer, you would already be familiar with Docker- a fantastic tool for developing, shipping and deploying applications within “containers”.



It would be hard not to get attracted to it seeing its amazing ability of containerizing applications.



If you take a dive into the depths of the Internet you would find a whole stack of articles about it but only a few of them are beginner-friendly. Thus, I found myself coerced to write about docker for beginners.



Hopefully, this post will clear all your concepts about docker, and you’ll be able to create your first container.

## What is Docker??


Docker is a stateless server that packages software into standardized units called containers that have everything the software needs to run including libraries, system tools, code, and runtime.



>Docker is an open-source software platform that lets us build, test, run and deploy applications reliably and quickly. It was launched in the year 2013 by Docker Inc. Since then, it’s been the cause of attraction and excitement among developers across the IT world.



Some short-listed features that make it so popular, are-


- Compatibility with almost every programming language you’re familiar with.
- Easier Workflow
- Agility and Simplicity for Software Development
- Handy Application Encapsulation
- Easy Scaling and Monitoring
- Faster Development & Deployment



## Why Do We Need Docker ?



Almost every developer finds himself in such a situation, every so often, when their project works fine as long as its running on their laptop/machine. But, when it is moved onto production state, server or maybe another machine, it usually fails to work even close to fine (and It’s very annoying!). The efficiency, optimization, and performance with which it was working earlier get compromised critically.



You would be baffled to know how frequently these cases come out. The average rate is — about every 3 out of 4 projects.



Likewise, if you develop any website using any framework and move it onto the web server, you’ll definitely face some diminishes and uncertainties.



Docker is an ultimate solution to all these problems and a relief for the developer’s world. In fact, it’s been designed specifically to address and resolve such issues.


## Docker Terminology



Let’s understand a few important terms about Docker-



**Docker Engine:** Docker Engine is a key part of Docker. It is a client-server application, having a CLI (Command Line Interface), Rest API, and a server as its components. It creates and runs the containers from the Docker Image.


![docker_1.jpg](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/docker_1_e8d89e56a5.jpg)



**Docker Container:** A docker container is a standardized, lightweight, stand-alone unit of software that contains entire software/application code, along with its configuration, dependencies, libraries, and tools, all wrapped up into a portable format, ready to run on any computing environments.



You can put these containers anywhere you like and the application will run exactly and absolutely like it was working on your machine.



>A docker container is a docker image brought to life.



Docker container is the running instance of the code that was stored in the form of a docker image.



Algorithm for a docker container looks like-


![docker_2.jpg](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/docker_2_e206e2d605.jpg)

**Docker Image:**  By the term ‘Image’, you don’t need to suppose it to be a picture. The context of Docker Image goes beyond the physical images, they are more like blueprints of a software, holding together the code, libraries, Dockerfile and everything else that needed to run it.



A docker image is a set of stateless and immutable files containing the application code and environment required by an application to run. It’s a read-only file which means you cannot modify it. It will remain like that forever as nothing has ever changed.



## What are Virtual Machines (VMs)??


Before containerization entered into the picture, the job of isolating and organizing applications was done by Virtual Machines (VMs).



_A virtual machine is a software or virtual server that emulates the functionality of a hardware server. It makes it possible to run what appears to be multiple machines on hardware which actually is a single computer._



The virtual machines run many applications on the same hardware, this process is known as Virtualization.



Both containers and VMs pursue the same goal of isolating the applications and its dependencies in a self-contained unit that can run in any environment. While the VMs virtualize the hardware, containers virtualize the operating system.



So, which one is better??



Now, this is the tricky part. Both play a significant role, depending upon the requirement. While VMs are more secure, containers are still preferred as they are more portable, efficient, flexible, lightweight and, above all, consume fewer resources.



## Essential Functions of Docker



There is a long list of tasks that we can do with docker, which is quite impossible for me to explain in this single blog but we will definitely learn about some important ones -



- Client-side Application Program- You can pack up the whole software code along with its configuration, libraries and move it anywhere you like.
- It acts as a service and can be deployed on to any server.
- You can fix the bugs and redeploy the application in the development environment only.
- Acts as a social networking platform where you can share your work in the form of docker containers.

## Understanding Docker with ‘Hello World’ Example



You’re going to learn a lot form this very simple example (If you’re a beginner!!). If you’re a regular user of Docker then it’ll be like a nursery-class lecture.



Starting from the installation, I’ll go through every necessary step such as creating Dockerfile, building, and processing Docker Image, running the container, and a few additional things.



Keep up with me so that you don’t miss anything-


### Install Docker:


#### For Windows:


```
https://hub.docker.com/editions/community/docker-ce-desktop-windows/
```

#### For Linux:



Install some prerequisite packages under the following command-




```
#Installing some prerequisite packages
$ sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common
#Add the GPG key to the docker repository
$ curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
#Add the docker repository to APT
$ sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu bionic stable"
#Update the database
$ sudo apt update
#Install Docker
$ sudo apt install docker-ce
```

### Create a Dockerfile and Index:



I’m sharing an example of creating a simple ‘Hello World’ container in here. Follow me step by step to learn the whole process of building and running a container-



After successfully installing Docker, we will create a Dockerfile-



- Create a text file named ‘Dockerfile’.
- Pull the Nginx docker image to serve your static webpage in the Dockerfile, as mentioned here-


```
FROM ubuntu
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get install nginx -y
COPY index.html /var/www/html/
EXPOSE 80
CMD ["nginx","-g","daemon off;"]
```

Add the commands for a simple web application of ‘Hello World’ in index.html file, like this-


```
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Hello World</h2>
<p>&copy; Welcome to Docker</p>
</body>
</html>
```

**Note:** The index.html and Dockerfile have to be saved in the same directory.

### Create a Docker Image:


To build the docker image, run the command-

Note: “_hello_world_ is the name of the docker image.”


### Run the Docker Container:



After the successful build of the docker image, run the container with the following command-


```
docker run -d -p 8080:80 hello_world
```

To check the running container or to render the docker container on the web browser you need to hit the URL-

#### Output goes here -


![docker_3.jpg](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/docker_3_4fd77e46d6.jpg)


**Note:** The -p parameter represents the port number. Any web application is run on a browser with a specific port number.



For example-



_8080:80_ means all the requests hitting on port 80 will bind to 8080 port only.



**Additional:** 


```
#To check the status of your docker container
docker ps
#To enter into the docker container
docker exec -it <container ID> bash
#To check the logs of running container
docker logs <container ID>
```

Once you’re done by creating a Docker Image, you can share it on Docker Hub and make it public.

## Future with Docker/ Business Value of Docker



Do you have any rough guesses about what is the statistical condition of Docker in the marketplace?? Not even close?? That’s fine, let me break it to you that more than 15,000 companies are currently using Docker.



The pie-chart below will picturize the general usage of Docker in the international market-



![docker_4.jpg](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/docker_4_d93bb2cc46.jpg)


With 40%, Software companies have occupied the majority of ratio. Then comes IT field with 17%, followed by HR & Recruiting industry with 10%.



The remaining proportion is covered by Telecommunications, Hardware, Consulting, Healthcare, Accounting, Socializing, and Retail industries. With every passing year, the pace of using Docker is increasing at a high rate, in each and every niche.



## Parting Words:



From the very moment when Docker was first introduced, it’s been easing the lives of developers. There have been a few misconceptions about Docker, such as, it’s not secure, requires Cloud, and all, but it has ruled them all out.



As a result, most of the companies have started shifting towards containers-driven environments.



The unbound flexibility and portability of Docker makes it a powerful tool. And who knows what the futuristic Docker has in store for us??



Thanks for reading this blog. Hopefully, you liked it. If it’s a yes, then stay connected with us.

medium_docker_feature.jpg

small_docker_feature.jpg

thumbnail_docker_feature.jpg

Docker — Develop & Deploy Containerized Applications

**It**‘s been a year (almost!) since Google Cloud Platform (GCP) first announced this interesting serverless SaaS product, knows as ‘Cloud Run’. It was built with the idea to bring serverless computing to fully-managed container service.



>Cloud Run allows you to create dynamic web and mobile applications that automatically scale to meet traffic demands with a pay‐per‐use billing model.



That means you no longer have to pay for the times the application is not used and need not bear any hefty infrastructure costs.

## Serverless Agility for Containerized Apps



Cloud Run can be defined as the combination of two biggest trends of recent times i.e. Containerization and Serverless. Serverless means no infrastructure management, usage-based pricing, and easier auto-scaling while containerization stands for serving a project with stateless containers.



In its documentation, Google defined it in the best way possible-



>Run stateless HTTP containers on a fully managed environment or in your own GKE cluster.



Cloud Run was built around an open API, Knative, which enables the portability of your workloads and lets them run anywhere inside a stateless container. It allows you to store the docker images of the container with a web server within a specified memory specification/CPU resources and concurrency.



It is responsible for creating endpoints for serving over HTTP requests, routing to the container, and monitor the running container to handle the volume requests.


## Key Features of Cloud Run



Being fully serverless, Cloud Run portrays a different and better scenario of using web server infrastructure. Apart from that, Cloud Run also confers numerous other wonderful features, such as-



- Built-In Logging
- Fast Auto-Scaling
- HTTP URLs
- Supports All Languages, Libraries, and Binaries
- Monitoring Through Stackdriver
- Compatible with CI/CD tooling
- Stateless HTTP-Driven Containers
- Container Workflows and Standards
- Custom Domains
- Integration with Stackdriver Monitoring

## Install Cloud SDK



Cloud SDK is compatible with all of Linux, Windows, and macOS. It is a set of command-line tools used to get direct access to cloud storage, BigQuery, and other Google cloud services. Let’s check out its installation steps-


### For Linux User



Cloud SDK is available in package format for installation on Debian and Ubuntu systems. This package contains all gcloud commands for deployment over the command-line interface.



One can manually install the Cloud SDK by following the instructions below-


```
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg] https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates gnupg
curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg add –
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-cloud-sdk
gcloud init
```

### Reduction of the Cloud SDK version



If one wants to go back to a specific version of Cloud SDK, where VERSION has the 123.0.0 module, run:


```
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-cloud-sdk=123.0.0-0
```

### For Windows User



- Download gcloud sdk for [windows](https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe).
- Launch the installer and follow the prompts.
- Be vigilant for the following to be selected:
- Start Google Cloud SDK Shell
- Run ‘gcloud init’


## Troubleshooting Tips:



- If the Cloud SDK fails to run after installing version 274.0.0, refer to this [tracking bug](https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/146458519) for the latest workarounds.
- If your installation is unsuccessful due to the find command not being recognized, ensure that the PATH environment variable is set to include the folder containing find. Usually, this is C:\WINDOWS\system32;.
- If you have just uninstalled Cloud SDK, you will need to reboot your system before installing Cloud SDK again.


## Initialize the Cloud SDK


The gcloud init command is quite useful to perform various common SDK configuration tasks including authorization of the SDK tools, accessing Google Cloud platform, and configuring the default SDK settings.



To initialize the SDK, run the following at a command prompt:

To restrict the command from initiating a web browser, use instead-

To authorize without a web browser and in a non-interactive way, create a service account with appropriate scopes using google cloud console and **gcloud auth enable-service-account** with the corresponding JSON key file.

1. Sign in with your Google user account.

2. In the browser, log in to your Google user account.

3. If prompted, click ‘Allow’ to grant permission to access resources on the Google Cloud Platform.

4. At the command prompt, select a Cloud Platform project from the list, having Owner, Editor, or Viewer permissions.

5. In case of a single project, gcloud init will select it by default.

6. If you have the Google Compute Engine API enabled, gcloud init allows to choose a default Compute Engine zone.

7. It also ensures that you have completed the setup process successfully: Kudos, gcloud has now been configured!



## Connection to Cloud SQL from Cloud Run



Cloud SQL is a fully-managed database service that serves the configuration, maintenance, and administration of PostgreSQL and MySQL relational databases in the cloud.



To use this service in running state in an instance of Cloud Run to a Cloud SQL, one needs to have this service in the container and loaded into the container registry.


![cloud-run_1.jpg](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/cloud_run_1_da450f07b5.jpg)


If you don’t have the container in _gcloud_ run then follow the below-given commands to build and push the docker image-


```
!/usr/bin/env bash
docker build -t image-name .
docker build -t gcr.io/$(gcloud config get-value project)/simple-example:latest .
docker push gcr.io/$(gcloud config get-value project)/simple-example
gcloud beta run deploy --image gcr.io/$(gcloud config get-value project)/simple-example:latest
```

## Connecting to Cloud SQL


Once you are done with configuring docker container correctly, the only way to connect Cloud SQL to cloud run is to use UNIX socket with cloud run instance (follow the below format for connection string):



**/cloudsql / INSTANCE_CONNECTION_NAME**



These connections are serviced to be automatically encrypted without any additional configuration.



Warning: Linux-based operating systems have a maximum socket path length of 107 characters. If the total path length exceeds this length, one cannot connect to a socket from Cloud Run (fully managed).



Cloud Run (fully managed) does not support connecting to the Cloud SQL instance via TCP. The code must not attempt to access the instance using an IP address such as 127.0.0.1 or 172.17.0.1. For example:


```
let variable;
const createVariable = async () => {
variable = await mysql.createVariable({
user: process.env.DB_USER, // e.g. 'my-db-user'
password: process.env.DB_PASS, // e.g. 'my-db-password'
database: process.env.DB_NAME, // e.g. 'my-database'
// If connecting via unix domain socket, specify the path
socketPath: `/cloudsql/${process.env.CLOUD_SQL_CONNECTION_NAME}`,
// If connecting via TCP, enter the IP and port instead
// host: 'localhost',
// port: 3306,
//...
});
};
createVariable();
```

That’s it folk!! I’ll wrap up here, hoping that this whole info about using cloud run services and connecting with google cloud database will be proved helpful for you, sooner or later. Stay tuned with us. 

medium_cloud-run_feature.jpg

small_cloud-run_feature.jpg

thumbnail_cloud-run_feature.jpg

Cloud Run- Bringing Serverless to Containers

_“Recently, I came across an announcement on HackerNews stating that Python replaced Java as the second-most popular language on GitHub. Python has taken over the whole programming world as one of the easiest languages, that too, quite rapidly within the past 4 to 5 years only. The reason behind its popularity is its simple syntax, comprehensive standard library, application-rich & productive nature.”_

Although there is a long list of Python’s features, we are not going in detail because we are here to discuss the newest version of Django, i.e. Django 3.0. It’s been a few days only and this version is already winning the developer’s hearts.

Wondering why?? Well, there is nothing to wonder about. Quality always speaks even when people fail to do so.

However, before going deep down into Django 3.0, it is important to know about Django first. If you are a beginner then you will get your basic ‘What’ and ‘Why’ questions about Django answered in this blog.

## Overview About Django — Features & Benefits


Django is an open-source, high-level and free Python-based web framework, used to develop web applications and database-driven websites. It comes with all essential libraries & tools thus, often known as the **“Batteries-included”** framework.

One can create a web application with the use of either of any Tkinter GUI toolkit, Flask or Django framework. But which one of these will be the best fit for your project?? When to use Django?? And Why to use Django??

We can use Tkinter GUI for small projects only so, we’ll cancel out this option. Now, we’re left with two more choices, i.e. Flask or Django. As per the very first question, which one will be the best fit for your project, it depends upon your requirements. If you want to create a complex application quickly and easily then Django will be an obvious choice.

In answer to another question as ‘when to use Django’, if you want to build a secure and reliable web application with the least efforts then Django is the best choice to go for. You can also integrate your application with cutting-edge technologies like Machine Learning in the future. In the case of Flask, you will have to do most of the coding by yourself whereas Django makes it easy for you with its built-in libraries.

## Major Features of Django- Why Django??


As we reach the next question, **‘why to use Django’**, I would say that no framework other than Django will offer simplicity, scalability, security, flexibility and reliability to your applications. It is also rich in very intuitive technical features, such as-

- Simple Syntax
- Operating System Independent
- HTTP libraries
- Own web server
- DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) Code
- ORM (Object Relational Mapper) Support
- Middleware Support
- MVC (Model-View-Controller) Architecture
- Batteries-included Framework


What’s New with Django 3.0?
As we are already aware that Django is a fast, simple and secure framework. It can be considered as an exemplary framework that allows tackling projects of any size whether it is a complex high-load web application or otherwise.


>“In an annual survey report by Stack Overflow, Django got the Sixth position in Top-most Loved Web Frameworks List.”

With the up-gradation of the framework, the features have also stepped a level up. Django 3.0 is compatible with the latest versions of Python, i.e. Python 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8. It enables faster database and web applications to be created, precisely and efficiently.

## Now, moving aside all your assumptions, we focus our attention towards the intuitive features of Django 3.0 framework, as mentioned below-

### Supports MariaDB


Django 3.0 supports MariaDB 10.1 and higher versions with the use of MySQL backend, which is a great update. MariaDB is an open-source relational database, developed by MySQL developers, built upon three main pillars as openness, stability and performance. It is quite popular in the developers’ world due to its exclusive feature of turning data into a structured format for a number of applications.

### Python Asynch Support


Django has begun its journey being Python Asynch, one of the most powerful features of Python, which makes python programs run faster and efficiently especially in case of networking applications. In addition to the existing WSGI (Web Server Gateway Interface), Django 3.0 now provides full support to run as an ASGI (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface) application.

For the past few years, ASGI, being a single-callable asynchronous interface, is grabbing a lot of attention, and for many good reasons. It acts as an interface between asynchronous web servers and Python asynchronous applications. While WSGI is intended to be compatible only with the synchronous web applications, it supports HTTP protocol only, which is a limitation.

But now, with the introduction of python-asynch, Django 3.0 can now run multi-queries simultaneously on a single thread.

### Enumerations for Model Field.Choices


Field Choices are now available as a group of custom enumeration types such as **IntegerChoices, TextChoices,** and **Choices**. While it is transparent from the IntegerChoices and TextChoices classes that they are indicating towards integer and text fields respectively, the Choices class enables defining enumeration for other concrete datatypes.

### Adding Exclusion Constraints on PostgreSQL


In this Django 3.0 version, support for PostgreSQL 9.4 has been dropped, rather, it now supports PostgreSQL version 9.5 or higher. The newly included feature, i.e. **ExclusionConstraint** class, allows adding exclusion constraints on PostgreSQL using **Meta.constraints()** option.

### Filter Expressions
It’s indeed a great update for the developers because unlike the previous versions, Django 3.0 can now directly use the expressions resulting **BooleanField** in the **QuerySet** filters. The same was not true earlier, in fact, previously these expressions were first annotated and then filtered against the annotations and it was quite a challenging and time-taking process.

## Backwards Incompatible Changes in Django 3.0


- **Model.save():** In older versions of Django, Model.save() action used to find a row while saving a new model instance and performed either an INSERT or UPDATE based upon whether the row exists or not. But now, it only performs a single INSERT query always.


You need to call **Model.save()** while providing a default primary key value equivalent to pass **force_insert=True** to model’s save(). Any attempts to update an existing row using a new Model instance will result in IntegrityError.

- **Python 2 Private APIs:** While support for Python 2 was dropped with the release of Django 2.0, some private APIs were still in use. Due to the compatibility issue, [some of these APIs](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/releases/3.0/) have been removed.

- **New default value for FILE_UPLOAD_PERMISSIONS:** Previously, the setting FILE_UPLOAD_PERMISSIONS default to None but now it defaults to 0o644 to avoid the inconsistency aroused due to the default FILE_UPLOAD_HANDLERS setting.

- **New default values for Security Settings:** To advance the security for Django projects, there have been enhancements in security settings. Now, SECURE_CONTENT_TYPE_NOSNIFF defaults as ‘True’ while X_FRAME_OPTIONS defaults to ‘DENY’.


## Some miscellaneous changes in Django 3.0 are-


- To disambiguate models of same names in different apps, ContentType.__st2__() includes model’s app_label.

- To escape HTML, Django.utils.html.escape() now works as html.escape().

- Rather than working as a shortcut for –keepdb, the django-admin test -k option now works as unittest -k.

- The option urlencode() now encodes the iterable values, as they are when ‘doseq=False’, instead of iterating and bringing them into line with the urllib.parse.urlencode() function, as used to done earlier.

- RegexPattern, as used by re_path(), does not return ‘None’ values keyword-arguments anymore, to be passed to the view for the optional named missing groups.

Well, this is not it, the list of all the miscellaneous changes is quite long, which you can check out in the [Django 3.0 Release Notes](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/releases/3.0/).

### Removed Features in Django 3.0


Some features have reached to the end of their deprecation cycle, thus, have been removed in Django 3.0, are as follows-

![python-django-3-0-is-here-check-whats-new_1.jpg](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/python_django_3_0_is_here_check_whats_new_1_7a89d496e4.jpg)


Also,

- Support for PostgreSQL 9.4 has been dropped, now supports versions>= 9.5.
- Support for Oracle 12.1 ended with the release of Django 3.0, now it supports 12.2 and 18c versions.
- Support for pywatchman versions lower than 1.2.0 is removed.
- Support for sqlparse versions less than 0.2.2 is removed.
- Django.contrib.gis: Django 3.0 no longer supports PostGIS 2.1, SpatiaLite 4.1, 4.2, GDAL 1.11 and GEOS 3.4.

## How to Install??


Now, as we come to discuss the downloading procedure of Django 3.0, make sure to install the latest version of Python first. There are certain ways to install Django 3.0, better to go with Git Clone, as you will be notified about all the incoming changes and bugs-


```
git clone https://github.com/django/django.git
python -m pip install .
```

You can also install it with pip command-

Well, we are done here, folks!! I hope you got all the necessary information about Django 3.0 in this blog. Django upholds being rational and contemporary and is evolving all around the world with its latest updates. It keeps upgrading to 3.0.1, 3.0.2 and so on versions, deprecating, removing outdated features and fixing all the bugs, unleashing a wide scope for future applications.

For more similar latest tech release blogs, stay tuned with our frequency!!

medium_python-django-3-0-is-here-check-whats-new_feature.jpg

small_python-django-3-0-is-here-check-whats-new_feature.jpg

thumbnail_python-django-3-0-is-here-check-whats-new_feature.jpg

Python Django 3.0 is Here — Check What’s New!!

What do you understand by the word Vulnerability?? Liability? Inability to withstand the situation? A weak spot, easy to be exploited? Well, all of them are true. The vulnerability can crop out in terms of physical, social, psychological, technical, financial, legal or any other sector and it is crucial to be assessed to determine its severity and potential impact so that possible security measures could be taken.

The same is true with the case of software application vulnerabilities. Thus, it is very important to identify them first in order to process further in the direction of preventing their impact. Here comes the role of CVSS. Let’s move forward to know what is this CVSS-

## Overview About CVSS


The CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) is the standard scoring system used to estimate the criticality of the vulnerabilities present in the software application.



>In technical language,
CVSS is an open framework that calculates the severity of software vulnerabilities in the form of a numerical value (called Base Score), ranging from 0 to 10. The score value reflects whether the vulnerabilities present in the software are low, medium, high or critical in nature.
However, the whole procedure of calculating the Vulnerability Score is quite complex; first, you have to write a whole lot of code, mention the metrics in string form, apply the formula and then you will get the Base Score.

But these all efforts can be reduced immensely with the help of CVSS Calculator. We’ll get a detailed report about CVSS Calculator in this blog-

## CVSS Calculator: Introduction


As technology is ruling over time, thousands of amazing applications, packages, techniques get released every day and help human minds by significantly reducing their efforts. CVSS Calculator is one of those many tech-applications.

As you can easily deduce from the term ‘CVSS Calculator’, it calculates the Vulnerability Score in an application. From the point of view of a developer, it can greatly diminish your endeavors of calculating the Vulnerability Score. All you need to do is to follow the below-given 4 steps-

- Install the [npm package of the CVSS calculator](https://www.npmjs.com/package/cvss-v3.1-react).
- Hover over the base parameters.
- Select appropriate options from the available metrics (as shown in the image below).
- Click on the ‘Generate CVSS’ key.

And that’s it. You will be provided with the final score. How simple is that!!

![cvss-calculator-software-vulnerability-scoring-process_1.jpg](https://backend.habilelabs.io/uploads/cvss_calculator_software_vulnerability_scoring_process_1_1281cbbc60.jpg)

## Base Matrix Group/ Base Parameters

Before going through the procedure to install the npm package of the calculator, it would be great to refresh our memories about base parameters.

The Base Matrix Group basically reflects the intrinsic characteristics of a vulnerability that are uniform and constant over time, irrespective of user environments. It is comprised of two sets of metrics, together known as Base Parameters, that are-

1. Exploitability Metrics

2. Impact Metrics

### Exploitability Metrics -


The Exploitability Metrics represent the properties of the vulnerable components and the ease by which they can be exploited. In the following sections, we’ll have a look upon various exploitability metrics that define the characteristics of the vulnerability that accomplish successful exploitation-

#### Attack Vector (AV)

This metric evaluates the context by which the vulnerability can be exploited. More remote the attacker is, the larger will be the base score. Instead of writing the whole string, you can just select the metric value from the available options, that are as under-

- Network: <Value 0.85>
- Adjacent: <Value 0.62>
- Local: <Value 0.55>
- Physical: <Value 0.2>


#### Attack Complexity (AC)

This metric reflects how complex/easy it is to exploit the vulnerability i.e. the base score will be greatest for the least complex attacks. You need to select one of the values from ‘Low’ <Value 0.77> and ‘High’ <Value 0.44>.

#### Privileges Required (PR)

It determines the privilege level the attacker must possess for the successful exploitation of the vulnerability. The base score will be highest in case of no privileges. The possible values are:

- None: <Value 0.85>
- Low: <Value 0.62>
- High: <Value 0.27>

#### User Interaction (UI)

It describes whether a vulnerability can be exploited without the participation of a separate user or not. The values it contains are: None <Value 0.85> and Required <Value 0.62>.

#### Scope (S)

It captures whether or not the vulnerability has any impact upon the components beyond its security scope. The base score is lowest when no change occurs. There are two values basically i.e. Changed and Unchanged.

### Impact Metrics -

The impact metrics reflect the impact and consequences of a successfully exploited vulnerability on the components that are affected to the worse and directly associated with the attack, in one way or another. Nevertheless, the final impact is determined by the combined effect of all the three impact-metrics together, described below.

The 3 possible values for each of the impact metrics are as following- High: <Value 0.56>, Low: <Value 0.22> and None: <Value 0>

#### Confidentiality (C)

This metric scales the amount of confidential information that has been compromised in the impacted component due to the exploitation attack. The term ‘Confidentiality’ refers to limiting the disclosure of sensitive information to authorized users only. The Base Score is directly proportional to the loss of confidentiality. Higher the confidentiality loss, the greater the Base Score value.

#### Integrity (I)

Integrity metrics measure the impact of the exploited vulnerability on the integrity of the information, used by the impacted components. When the impact is highest, the Base Score value will be greatest.

#### Availability (A)

The availability metric describes the impact on the availability of the target system. Attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, memory or any other resources affect the availability of a system. When the consequence of the impacted component is highest, the Base Score value will be greatest.

## How to Calculate the Base Score??

The Base Score reflects the severity of vulnerability as per its exploitability and impact parameters. Earlier, before the release of this package, we have to use all our mathematics knowledge in order to determine the below-given parameters and finally to calculate the Base Score. 

**Let’s see how-**

Base Score depends upon three parameters known as Impact Sub Score (ISS), Impact and Exploitability. So, first, we need to determine the value of these parameters and then only we can use the formula of Base Score.

1. Impact Sub Score (ISS) -

[ISS= 1- [(1- Confidentiality) *(1- Integrity) *(1- Availability)]]

2. The Impact value can be determined with the formula-

- If Scope is Changed, Impact= [7.52 *(ISS-0.029)- 3.25 *[(ISS-0.02) ^15]]
- If Scope is Unchanged, Impact= [6.45 *ISS]

3. Exploitability can be determined from the formula-

[Exploitability = 8.22 × Attack Vector × Attack Complexity × Privileges Required × User Interaction]

After determining all these parameters, the Base Score can easily be found out as under-

- If ISS <=0, the Base Score will be 0.

Else,

- If Score Unchanged=> [Base Score = Roundup (Minimum [(Impact + Exploitability), 10)]]
- If Score Changed=> [Base Score = Roundup (Minimum [1.08 *(Impact + Exploitability), 10)]]


## CVSS Score:

After determining the Base Score, we used to check out the severity level of the vulnerabilities on the basis of tagging the score with the rating scale as mentioned below:

- None: <0>
- Low: <0.1 to 3.9>
- Medium: <4 to 6.9>
- High: <7 to 8.9>
- Critical: <9 to 10>

But, with the introduction of the CVSS Calculator, this whole calculation process, of determining the base score, got limited to a click only. Let’s check out the how-to-install this calculator below-

## Installation Process:

The npm package installation process for CVSS Calculator has been described below in a few easy steps-

- Enter the following command on the Command Prompt-

- After installation, you need to import **cvss-v3.1-react-**


```
import CvssV3 from ‘cvss-v3.1-react’
```

- Now, include the **cvss-v3.1-react** component with the command, as given below-


```
const severityVector = “CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:L”;
//severityVector is optional variable. It can be used to initialize the calculator.
<CvssV3 severityVector={severityVector} onChange={(data)=>{
//In data variable, you will get cvss score and cvss vector
}}/>
```

You can customize the styles based on your requirements as per the details, given in this article. Check out the npm package of [CVSS Calculator](https://www.npmjs.com/package/cvss-v3.1-react)

## Parting Words:

This was all about the CVSS Calculator, we hope you find it beneficial!! Stay connected with our page for more blogs about Latest Tech Releases. It’s time to part ways but before taking your leave we would like to tell you that we are looking forward to your valuable feedback & suggestions about this blog. Also, you can ask your related queries in the comment box.

Insights for the enthused minds!

Want to know more

How we build pillars to achieve heights

Want to join us ?

Let’s fill the gaps with IT