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From YouTube: What We Learned During Our Journey in Using Backstage at DAZN - Marco Crivellaro, DAZN
Description
Don’t miss out! Join us at our upcoming event: KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2023 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands from April 17-21. Learn more at https://kubecon.io. The conference features presentations from developers and end users of Kubernetes, Prometheus, Envoy, and all of the other CNCF-hosted projects.
What We Learned During Our Journey in Using Backstage at DAZN - Marco Crivellaro, DAZN
Getting Backstage up and running locally is pretty easy, however, this is just the first step of a long journey that presents some challenges. To get the most out of Backstage, you will need to find the best way to populate its software catalog based on your company's needs and you will have to choose which plugins to use to make it effective. Another important aspect that will present its own challenges is how to capture engineers’ interests and drive its adoption across the engineering community. This talk will present how we implemented Backstage at DAZN, it will touch on the technical and social challenges that we faced and how we overcame them. We will also see how we are leveraging Backstage to foster contributions for both internal and open source plugins.
A
So,
what's
the
zone
beside
a
funny
name,
the
zone
is
a
global
life
support
streaming,
Ott
platform.
It's
present
in
11
countries
with
exclusive
rights
such
as
Italian
Syria,
German,
Bundesliga
and
Spanish
La
Liga,
and
it's
also
available
in
more
than
180
countries
with
global
rights
such
as
UEFA
women,
champions
league
and
boxing
matchroom.
A
The
design
engineering
engineering
is
the
part
of
the
organization
that
builds
the
design
platform.
It
counts,
roughly
700
Engineers,
distributed
across
70
teams
working
from
several
countries.
The
developer
is
currently
experience.
Team
is
one
of
the
platform
teams
that
provides
supports
services
and
tools
to
the
rest
of
the
engineering
organization.
A
So
let's
look
into
a
bit
of
history
now
early
in
our
journey,
while
implementing
the
microservice
based
architecture
of
the
Zone,
we
found
ourselves
multiple
times
in
trouble,
while
trying
to
answer
in
questions
such
as
which
team
owns
a
specific
service.
What's
the
scope
of
such
a
service,
where
can
we
find
the
code?
A
A
A
When
we
first
heard
about
backstage
listening
to
a
podcast,
we
we
were
Amazed
by
the
fact
that
it
had
all
the
features
that
we
were
looking
for,
if
not
more
so
it
would
have
been
silly
for
us
to
not
try
and
use
it.
So
we
started
the
work
of
implementing
backstage
internally
in
March
2021
and
we
officially
launched
it
October
last
year.
So
we
are
looking
at
one
year
of
learnings.
A
First
of
all,
how
do
you
start
well?
As
for
most
of
the
things,
the
best
thing
that
you
can
do
is
start
small
and
then
build
piece
by
piece.
Backstage
has
a
very
large
quantity
of
plugins
which
keeps
growing.
It
isn't
necessarily
a
bad
thing,
but
sometimes
it
could
be
overwhelming,
especially
the
beginning
start
with
what
matters
the
most
and
then
build
from
there.
A
When
we
started
implementing
backstage
at
the
Zone,
we
made
the
mistake
or
trying
to
implement
all
possible
plugins
that
we
could
think
of,
because
we
wanted
to
show
all
the
engineering
teams
how
cool
backstage
could
have
been,
but
that
had
the
result
of
raising
even
more
questions
rather
than
answering
them.
So
we
made
a
step
back
and
we
focused
on
the
software
catalog.
Then
we
introduced
Tech
docs,
and
only
recently
we
started
looking
at
the
scapholder.
A
A
A
A
Sometimes,
though
getting
your
hand,
dirty
could
be
painful.
An
example
for
that
is
how
we
had
to
handle
the
authentication.
As
I
mentioned
earlier,
we
are
using
AWS
load
balancer
to
handle
the
authentication
and,
as
we
started
to
use
backstage,
there
was
already
an
API
in
place
to
handle
the
authentication
via
the
application
load
balancer.
A
But
there
was
no
documentation,
so
we
reached
out
to
the
community
of
maintainers,
which
is
always
helpful,
and
we
kind
of
find
a
solution
running
a
dummy
signing
component
on
the
front
end
and
handling
the
the
authentication,
the
identity
creation
at
the
backend
side.
But
as
backstage
was
evolving
as
its
API
was
evolving.
A
We
also
love
external
Integrations.
We
think
that
they
are
really
powerful
external
Integrations,
allow
you
to
consume
apis
or
other
sources
that
you
already
have
in
place.
We
don't
necessarily
have
to
use
catalog
info
format
to
populate
your
catalog
and
we
are
using
those
to
populate
our
catalog.
As
I
mentioned
earlier.
We
have
an
API
around.
The
Manifest
is
called
the
Manifest
API
and
we
use
it
to
to
ingest
components
an
API
into
backstage.
A
A
An
example
of
the
automation
that
we
put
in
place
is
how
we,
for
instance,
emit
a
custom
tag
whenever
we
identify
that
an
entity
have
as
low
defined.
So
we
are
a
creating
that
talk,
shows
it's
easier
to
filter
the
entities
that
already
have
an
SLO
in
place.
We
haven't
built
a
plugin
to
displace
the
SLO,
and
also
another
automation
is
how
we
automate
The
annotation
that
enables
Tech
docs
on
the
front
end
in
the
zone
we
are
using.
A
We
are
publishing
our
Tech
docs
to
an
awss-free
bucket,
and
the
engineering
teams
are
already
required
to
maintain
a
GitHub
action
workflow
to
publish
the
tactdocs,
and
we
didn't
want
to
ask
them
to
also
remember
to
go
into
the
Manifest
and
not
an
annotation
there,
so
that
the
front
end
could
could
enable
the
link
to
tack
docs.
So
we
decided
to
use
the
at
the
external
integration
level.
We
are
checking
if
the
tactics
exist
on
the
answer
bucket.
If,
if
it's
there,
then
we
immediate
notation,
otherwise
we
don't
so.
A
External
Integrations
have
allowed
us
to
implement
another
principle.
The
principle
that
we
wanted
to
adopt
since
the
very
beginning,
which
is
not
letting
backstage
becoming
our
single
social
truth
backstage,
is
more
like
an
aggregator
for
us.
We
could
we
ingest
entities
from
GitHub,
manifest
API
that
I
mentioned
earlier,
identity,
API
and
other
apis
that
we
will
have
in
the
Futures.
There
is
no
entity
that
is
only
owned
by
backstage.
We
don't
register
entities
directly
in
backstage.
A
A
Config
example
that
they
could
copy
and
paste,
and
not
a
good
example
for
that
again,
is
how
we
are
hinting
them
how
to
populate
Tech
dogs.
If
we
identify
that
the
tactics
are
not
available,
we
provide
them
a
snippet
of
code
that
they
can
copy
and
paste
into
their
GitHub
workflow
to
publish
tag
docs,
and
if
they
don't
know
what
tactics
is
we
provide
a
link
to
the
documentation
that
we
maintain
explaining
how
to
populate
DAC
docs
and
how
good
they
are.
A
You
should
also
try
to
stay
on
top
of
it,
since
it
is
very
easy
to
get
started
with
backstage.
It's
also
easy
to
forget
to
maintain
it
and
let
it
run
and
that's
where
many
products
beside
losing
the
latest
features
and
security
fixes
it
you
will.
You
will
find
a
lot
of
friction
when
you
try
to
to
upgrade
it.
A
So
our
recommendation
is
to
try
and
stay
up
to
date
with
the
monthly
release,
since
the
introduction
of
the
upgrade
appear,
it's
much
easier
to
do
that,
but
sometimes
you
will
need
to
be
able
to
be
ready
to
to
dig
into
the
change
log
or
even
to
the
code,
especially
if
you
have
customized
some
aspects
of
Backstage
definitely
stay
in
touch
with
the
community
Community.
The
community
community
session
is
a
great
way
of
knowing
what's
coming
up
and
reach
out
to
the
community
of
maintainers
and
and
adopters
in
Discord.
A
A
We
think
it
could
become
a
driver
of
innovation
and
creativity,
so
it
must
be
easy
to
contribute
to
it
and
the
contribution
I
mean
contribution
internal
and
to
to
the
Upstream
open
source,
but
it
wasn't
really
easy
to
contribute
to
backs
to
the
internal
instance
of
Backstage,
especially
at
the
beginning,
as
I
mentioned
earlier,
we
use
Vault
to
to
to
manage
our
secrets,
and
not
not
all
the
engineering
teams
have
access
to
our
world
namespace.
So
the
moment
that
we're
cloning,
the
GitHub
repository
they
couldn't
start
backstage.
A
A
It
will
create
a
configuration
file
that
makes
use
of
the
identity
API
and
the
Manifest
API
uses
the
secrets
that
you
have
involved
and
then
you
can
run
it
and
populate
the
catalog
as
if,
if
as
if
it
were
in
production,
if
you're
not
an
engineer
in
the
X
team-
and
you
don't
have
access
to
those
secrets,
you
can
configure
backstage
without
access
to
secrets
and
it
will
populate
the
catalog.
Sorry,
we
populate
the
configuration
with
pointing
backstage
to
some
manifest
files
in
the
GitHub
repositories.
A
A
It
contains
information
such
as
the
countries
in
which
the
application
is
available
means
viewed
per
month
for
that
type
of
application.
How
the
application
is
packaged,
which
features
are
available.
It
even
allows
you
to
con
to
to
edit
feature
Flags
many
many
additional
informations
that
somebody
in
the
DX
team
would
have
not
come
up
with
because
we
don't
know
the
domain.
So
it
is
key
that
you
enable
Engineers
working
on
other
domains
to
contribute
to
Backstage
because
they
know
what
they
need.
A
A
You
also
need
to
be
prepared
to
make
your
voice
heard
and
engage
with
your
internal
engineering
organization.
It's
incredible,
but
even
after
an
year
that
we
launched
backstage
internally,
we
still
hear
from
people
that
they
haven't
heard
that
backstage
was
around.
Oh,
we
need
a
server,
it
would
be
nice
to
have
a
service
that
tells
us
who
owns
a
specific
service.
Well,
we
have,
it
is
backstage,
haven't
you
heard
about
it
so
yeah
we
and
we
are
trying
to
get
being
in
touch
with
them
continuously.
We
are
writing.
A
We
have
an
internal
blog,
blog
post
platform
and
we
are
posting
there.
We
post
their
new
features,
announced
announcements
every
time
we
add
a
new
feature
to
our
internal
instance.
We
are
posting
there.
We
are
hosting
demos
for
teams.
We
are
shouting
out
for
contribution
opportunities,
so
whenever
we
we
hear
from
people
or
from
Engineers
that
they
have
some
something
that
they
would
want
to
work
on,
and
that
might
be
done
in
backstage.
A
We
try
to
hint
them
to
go
and
contribute
to
our
internal
instance
of
Backstage,
and
we
also
try
to
attend
the
townhouse
that
our
company
has
just
to
make
to
spread.
The
word
that
backstage
is
around
and
I
like
to
close
with
a
a
result
of
the
first
learning,
and
it
is
that
it's
likely
that
someone
else
will
benefit
from
the
solution
that
you
build
so
give
back,
and
there
are
multiple
ways
include
in
which
you
can
contribute
back
to
to
UPS
to
Backstage
open
source.
A
You
can
go
to
GitHub
issues
and
find
a
good
first
issue,
but
contribute
with
backstage
bug.
Fixes
documentation
as
well
is
a
good
way
to
contribute
tutorial
in
the
zone.
We
have
contributed
a
tutorial
to
to
enable
AWS
application
load,
balancer,
Authentication
and
also
with
plugins
in
the
zone.
We
have
created
a
few
plugins.
One
is
the
open.
A
The
GitHub
request
board
that,
as
in
the
X
and
other
engineering
teams
in
the
zone
are
using
during
their
standups
to
see
what
are
the
the
pull
requests
that
they
they
have
opened.
What
are
the
statuses
we
have
contributed
with
a
similar
plugin,
but
for
GitHub
issues,
because
at
the
moment
at
the
moment
we
have
introduced
stackdocs
and
we
allowed
people
to
to
comment
on
tactdocs
by
opening
a
GitHub
issue.
A
We
realize
that
nobody
was
looking
at
the
GitHub
issues,
so
we
created
this
plugin,
so
it's
there
in
backstage
and
since
it
was
mentioned
earlier
soon,
we
will
also
have
a
plugin
to
do.
Neuralic
analytic,
using
the
analytics,
API
and
also
another
great
way
to
contribute,
is
to
give
talks
like
I'm
doing
and
with
that
I'd
like
to
thank
you
for
listening
to
me,
and
it
was
a
great
pleasure.
B
C
Thank
you,
Marco
really
really
interesting.
As
usual.
I
know
that
one
of
the
most
question
is
tips
and
lesson
learned
from
real
adopters.
I
mean
this
is
the
focus
of
your
protection
and
a
lot
of
presentation.
We
want
to
share
some
tips.
That
I
mean
some
suggest.
You
know
what
not
to
do
with
backstage
or
worrying.
A
A
C
So
let
me
let
me
change
another.
If
I
can
I
mean
if
you,
if
you,
if
you
would
be
because
now
you
have
an
experience,
if
you
would
be
able
to
think
about
one
missing
feature
of
Backstage,
what
you
would
like
to
see
as
next
or
what
you
would
like
to
see
if
different
I
mean
something
different,
easier,
diff
not
done,
or
what?
What
do
you
like
to
choose
for
the
Zone
yourself,
the
developer
and
the
team
that
you're
working
with.
A
So
I
I
love
data
and
one
thing
that
I
would
like
to
see
is
more
data,
especially
on
the
backend
side
of
things
so
being
able
to
to
monitor
all
of
how
backend
is
is
working
latencies
and
whatever
errors.
All
of
that,
if
that
could
become
easier,
that
would
be
great
and
observability
as
well.
We
we
also
added
just
because
we
are
working
on
the
scaffolder.
A
Now
we
added
we
did
a
bit
a
small
contribution
that
would
allow
us
to
tell
to
to
see
who
is
creating,
who
is
running
the
scaffolder
just
because
it
is
changing
something
in
in
our
GitHub
repository.
So
we
need
to
know
that.
So
all
of
that
those
kind
of
details
on
the
backend
level
is
what
I'd
love
to
see.
B
B
Thank
you.
We
talked
a
lot
about
analytics
and
data
collection
and
data
consumption,
I'm
curious
about
analytics
of
Backstage
usage
itself.
What
do
you
know
about
users
about
their
patterns
about
their
habits,
because
we
mentioned
a
little
bit
like
that?
Some
teams
are
using
backstage
during
their
standups
during
onboarding
of
new
team
members.
Another
extremism
is
that
some
people
say
tell
that
they
use
backstage
for
everything.
So
what
kind
of
groups
of
users
are
you
identified
and
what
data
you're
collecting
and
any
thoughts
on
that.
A
Yeah,
so
we
have,
as
we
launched
backstage,
we
were
a
bit
blind
on
what
how
it
was
used
and
then
we
introduced
Google
analytics.
So
what
we
see
backstage
being
used
is
that
that
TV,
Target
plugging
is,
is
used
very
frequently
because
it's
something
specific
to
to
what
we
do
at
the
zone
and
it's
not
only
Engineers
that
are
using
it.
Now
we
have
even
prod
people
from
the
product
team
that
are
using
it.
A
So
probably
something
that
not
only
the
engineers
need
is
something
that
would
make
it
is
what
is
used
most
frequently.
Then
I
can
see
the
pull
request
plugin,
because
it's
a
lot
of
Team
using
it
and
and
then
the
catalog.
It
really
depends
because
we
have
I
think
we
are
around
2
000
entities
right
now
and
you
have
the
granularity
up
to
the
which
entity
the
they
are
browsing.
A
A
The
documentation
as
well
is
is
something
that
is
really
valuable,
especially
as
more
teams
are
migrating
to
techdocs,
because
until
now,
until
backstage
really
until
we
launched
backstage
all
the
documentation
was
hosted
in
in
conference,
and
now
teams
are
slowly
but
surely
migrating
into
backstage.
So
that
that
is
getting
a
lot
of
attention
now,
I
hope
that
answered
the
question.