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Hello, I'm Alain

Alain Igban

Cloud Support Engineer at Core42

I am a Certified Cloud Engineer with seven years of experience in designing and maintaining cloud infrastructure solutions using AWS, Azure and private-cloud environments. Managed 300+ cloud environments serving 5000+ users. Expert in Kubernetes troubleshooting, CI/CD implementation, and IaaS management. Skilled in infrastructure-as-code with Ansible, Terraform, and Pulumi. Developed serverless solutions using AWS Lambda and Azure Functions.

CKS - Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist
CKA - Certified Kubernetes Administrator
CKAD- Certified Kubernetes Application Developer
RHCE - Red Hat Certified Engineer
RHCSA - Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)
HashiCorp Certified - Terraform Associate
Microsoft Certified - Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Microsoft Certified - Azure Administrator Associate
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

Professional Experience

1
Core42

September 2020 - Present

Abu Dhabi, UAE

National-scale enabler for cloud and generative AI

Cloud Support Engineer

September 2020 - Present

Responsibilities:
  • Supported over 300 cloud environments with a combined user base exceeding 5000.
  • Used GitLab, forgejo actions and ansible-semaphore for CI/CD pipelines
  • Performed routine cloud server maintenance tasks for IaaS (using RHEL and Ubuntu Operating Systems), such as monitoring performance, checking logs, updating software, and installing patches.
  • Used Ansible, Terraform and Pulumi for provisioning resources in multi-cloud environments
ValueMentor

January 2019 - July 2020

Dubai, UAE

A comprehensive cybersecurity company that manages IT security for organizations, including consulting, advisory, testing, operations, and engineering services.

Systems Engineer

January 2019 - July 2020

Responsibilities:
  • Created streaming ETL pipeline, enriching data with threat intelligence using Apache Kafka and MISP
  • Converted infrastructure docs to IaC using GitLab for version control, Ansible for configuration, Terraform for IaC, Docker for app deployment, Packer for automating image builds
  • Achieved 99.9% uptime by successfully implementing redundant systems and failover protocols
  • Reduced infrastructure and licensing costs by migrating to a Proxmox (KVM) Cluster
  • Managed 100+ Linux servers and containerized services
2
3
Ion Management Solutions

May 2016 - January 2019

Makati, Philippines

IT Management Design, Deployment & Support with proven specialized skills in Virtualization and managing large, complex or critical IT infrastructure

Information Security Engineer

October 2017 - January 2019

Responsibilities:
  • Technical Lead for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) deployments
Information Security Analyst

May 2016 - October 2017

Responsibilities:
  • Fine-tuned threat detection systems (SIEM, IPS)
  • Installed security solutions, firewall, SIEM, IPS/IDS, NACs on customer sites

Education
Mapua Institute of Technology
2007-2012
Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology
Mapua Institute of Technology
2007-2012
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry

Skills

Projects

apigban/rhel-9.3-base
Maintainer

Base configuration for RHEL 9.3

hobby
Star
xezpeleta/Ansible-Proxmox-Inventory
Contributor

Proxmox dynamic inventory for Ansible

hobby
Star
apigban/devbox
Maintainer

Role for creating a RHEL 9.3 development environment

hobby
Star

Recent Posts

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Deploying My Portfolio Website on Netlify

This is how I set up Netlify to host my portfolio website. Previously, I used a static website deployed via Ansible with this GitHub repository: https://github.com/apigban/alain.apigban.com and the update-playbook.yaml from this repository: https://github.com/apigban/webhost-playbook. My decision to use Netlify was driven by several factors: Reducing Homelab Dependency: I wanted to eliminate my site’s reliance on my homelab hardware, which I take offline every two weeks for maintenance, cleaning, and cold archives. Improving Latency: Netlify’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) infrastructure helps decrease latency and improves site load times for users. Multi-Platform Series: This is the first in a series of blog posts where I’ll explore deploying my portfolio website on various static site hosting platforms, including Cloudflare, Vercel, and others. The initial setup using Netlify’s web UI took me about 22 minutes and four attempts, mainly due to my own errors.

Thursday, March 20, 2025 Read
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Reverse Proxy Configuration Update: Redirecting alain.apigban.com to Netlify

I’ve recently made a change to the reverse proxy configuration for my domain, alain.apigban.com. Previously, the reverse proxy was forwarding requests to my web server at 172.21.5.201 - this is located in a vm in my homelab. However, I’ve updated the configuration to now forward these requests to a Netlify-hosted website. Current Infrastructure This reverse proxy is hosted on an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure VM. It serves as the web traffic ingress to my homelab. The specific components involved in serving web traffic are:

Sunday, March 16, 2025 Read
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2025-02-27 - Another i/o Error for storage01

Another disk issue on storage01 cropped up, and I haven’t even finished documenting the fault that happened last February 21, 2025. This time, it’s sdb1 acting up. Thankfully, I was able to resolve the issue without any data loss, but it was a close call. Incident I/O Error on /dev/sdb1 during scrub operation. Severity High Impact Data corruption on /dev/sdb1, potential data loss sdb1 is one branch of the mergerfs volume served by storage01, losing access to sdb1 effectively halves the usable capacity of the Network File System Affected Systems storage01 Timeline 2025-02-27: I/O errors detected during snapraid scrub operation. 2025-02-27: XFS filesystem on /dev/sdb1 shuts down due to log I/O errors. 2025-03-01: Troubleshooting steps initiated to identify the root cause. Logs from dmesg [145729.843018] sd 1:0:0:10: [sdb] tag#84 Sense Key : Aborted Command [current] [145729.843019] sd 1:0:0:10: [sdb] tag#84 Add. Sense: I/O process terminated [145729.843021] sd 1:0:0:10: [sdb] tag#84 CDB: Synchronize Cache(10) 35 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [145729.843023] I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x800 phys_seg 0 prio class 2 [145729.850513] sd 1:0:0:10: [sdb] tag#201 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_OK cmd_age=0s [145729.850517] sd 1:0:0:10: [sdb] tag#201 Sense Key : Aborted Command [current] [145729.850518] sd 1:0:0:10: [sdb] tag#201 Add. Sense: I/O process terminated [145729.850519] sd 1:0:0:10: [sdb] tag#201 CDB: Synchronize Cache(10) 35 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [145729.850540] I/O error, dev sdb, sector 3909372392 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x9800 phys_seg 1 prio class 2 [145729.850549] XFS (sdb1): log I/O error -5 [145729.850569] XFS (sdb1): Log I/O Error (0x2) detected at xlog_ioend_work+0x6e/0x70 [xfs] (fs/xfs/xfs_log.c:1378). Shutting down filesystem. [145729.850749] XFS (sdb1): Please unmount the filesystem and rectify the problem(s) Detection Alert from Discord

Sunday, March 2, 2025 Read
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Resolving Reverse Proxy Host Header Issues

I was having an issue with my website. When I used my browser to navigate to https://alain.apigban.com, there was nothing displayed. The setup is like this: User > Frontend proxy (Caddy) > Backend HTTP Server (Caddy) The frontend proxy receives the request, and here’s one line from the frontend proxy access logs: {"level":"debug", "ts":1740849407.8355885,"logger": "http.handlers.reverse_proxy", "msg":"upstream roundtrip", "upstream": "backend_server_1_IP:10000", "duration": 0.01451143, "request": {"remote_ip": "client_IP", "remote_port": "56466","client_ip": "client_IP", "proto": "HTTP/2.0", "method": "GET", "host": "alain.apigban.com", "uri":"/posts/ansible/02/netbox-source-of-truth/", "headers": {"Priority":["u=0, i"], "Sec-Fetch-Mode": ["navigate"], "X-Forwarded-For":["client_IP"], "Sec-Fetch-User": ["?1"], "Accept-Encoding": ["gzip, deflate, br, zstd"], "Upgrade-Insecure-Requests": ["1"], "Sec-Fetch-Dest": ["document"], "X-Forwarded-Host": ["alain.apigban.com"], "User-Agent": ["Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:135.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/135.0"], "Accept-Language": ["en-US,en;$q=0.5"], "Sec-Fetch-Site": ["none"], "X-Forwarded-Proto": ["https"], "Te": ["trailers"], "Accept": ["text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;$q=0.9,*/*;$q=0.8"]},"tls": {"resumed": false, "version": 772, "cipher_suite": 4865, "proto": "h2", "server_name": "alain.apigban.com"}},"headers": {"Date": ["Sat, 01 Mar 2025 17:16:47 GMT"], "Content-Length":["0"], "Server": ["Caddy"]},"status":200}

Saturday, March 1, 2025 Read
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Disk Passthrough to VM - Method in Proxmox

I frequently find myself needing to directly attach physical disks to virtual machines (VMs) in my Proxmox homelab environment. Usually due to disk failure or when I need to perform a cold-archive of data. This is a handy technique when I need to provide a VM with dedicated storage or access to a raw disk. Here’s documentation for future me looking for how to replace a disk. Prerequisites A Proxmox VE (PVE) host with a physical disk available for passthrough. A VM configured and running on the PVE host. Procedure Identify the Disk’s DEVICE-ID I use the following command to list block devices and their corresponding device IDs:

Saturday, March 1, 2025 Read
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A NAS was my first impulse purchase for my homelab

Initial Homelab Storage Configuration and Limitations My initial homelab storage solution comprised a RAID5 array utilizing four Toshiba N300 NAS drives within a prebuilt 4-bay NAS. While the low initial cost was a primary factor in the selection, the long-term operational limitations of this configuration became apparent. The Realtek RTD1296 ARM-based CPU and limited, non-upgradeable RAM presented significant performance constraints. The Operating System, with its last update for this model in 2023, further restricted functionality. Specifically, the lack of a compatible Tailscale package for the ARM architecture, a desired feature, highlighted the limitations of the older hardware and software. While this prevented direct Tailscale installation on the NAS, it gave me the opportunity to learn how Tailscale’s subnet routing works.

Saturday, February 15, 2025 Read
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Deploy a new version of Immich using Ansible and Podman

This post outlines the process for deploying a new version of Immich, a self-hosted photo and video backup solution. The deployment is managed using an Ansible playbook. Prerequisites Access to the server where Immich is deployed. Ansible installed and configured to manage the target server. The Ansible playbook update-immich.yaml. Deployment Procedure The deployment process is automated using the provided Ansible playbook (TODO: Publish to github). The playbook performs the following key steps:

Friday, January 10, 2025 Read
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alain.apigban.com: Practical Solutions and Technical Deep Dives

https://alain.apigban.com/posts/ This blog is a journal of adventures in the constantly changing technology, specifically within the context of my homelab. It’s driven by a core motivation: to meticulously document the technical challenges I encounter and the solutions I implement. Think of it as a detailed logbook of my explorations, filled with practical, step-by-step guides and illustrative code examples designed to help others navigate similar technical struggles. I believe in sharing the nitty-gritty details, the “gotchas,” and the hard-earned lessons that often get glossed over in official documentation. Posts like “Working with Stacked Loops in Ansible” and “Operation Not Permitted: SubID showdown to Save My Family Media Database” are prime examples of this approach, offering concrete solutions to very specific problems.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025 Read
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Operation Not Permitted: SubID showdown to Save My Family Media Database

My homelab includes a virtual machine, media01, which hosts several critical services. Among these is an Immich instance, a self-hosted photo and video management application. This service is used by my family to access media dating back to 2010. Recently, an issue arose after I inadvertently removed the media01 VM from the domain using the ipa-client --uninstall command. Compounding this, the last backup of the VM was on April 5, 2024.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025 Read
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Ansible Role for Installing PaperMC

From Bedrock to Java: My Reseach for the Ultimate Minecraft Experience (with a little help from Ansible) Repository: https://github.com/apigban/papermc_role My journey into the world of Minecraft server administration started in October 2024, a shared adventure with my daughter. Like many others, we initially dove into the Bedrock edition, quickly setting up a server on our home network. It wasn’t the most elegant setup – a hastily configured LXC container in Proxmox, a far cry from well-documented infrastructure. I even dabbled with PufferPanel, but I just preferred using the Cli, so I ditched Pufferpanel.

Friday, December 20, 2024 Read
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My Method for Testing Ansible Roles with Molecule and Proxmox Driver

This document outlines my method for testing Ansible roles using Molecule with the molecule-proxmox driver. Thanks to Michael Meffie for creating the molecule-proxmox plugin. Overview Molecule is a testing framework for Ansible roles. It has allowed me to create test scenarios that automate the process of provisioning, converging, verifying, and destroying infrastructure. The molecule-proxmox driver enables me to test my roles against virtual machines running on a Proxmox virtualization platform. Configuration Files Molecule uses several configuration files to define the test environment and the steps involved in the testing process. I typically put these files in the molecule/default/ directory.

Friday, December 20, 2024 Read
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Working with Stacked Loops in Ansible

In my homelab environment, I recently encountered an interesting challenge: I needed to execute multiple Hugo commands across multiple website directories. This led me to explore one of Ansible’s powerful features - stacked loops. In this post, I’ll share my experience and show you how to effectively use stacked loops in Ansible. The Challenge I maintain several Hugo-based websites in my homelab, each requiring the same set of commands for updates and maintenance. Manually running these commands for each site was becoming tedious and error-prone. I needed a way to automate:

Tuesday, November 19, 2024 Read
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Automating Netbox Deployment with Ansible and Podman

Automating Netbox Deployment with Ansible and Podman Having a reliable source of truth for my infrastructure design is important. While enterprises often use AWS Systems Manager Inventory for this purpose, homelab environments need a more accessible solution. This is where Netbox comes in - an open-source infrastructure resource modeling tool that can serve as a powerful alternative for homelab environments. Why Netbox for My Homelab? It began with a specific need: I needed to simulate AWS Systems Manager Inventory functionality in my homelab environment. I needed a robust source of truth for my infrastructure, and Netbox’s IPAM (IP Address Management) capabilities offered the perfect solution to help get my homelab infrastructure to the desired state.

Tuesday, November 19, 2024 Read
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