Open source has been an incredible boon to software. It is the foundation of every modern startup and has allowed small teams to outbuild their larger rivals. As critical as open source software is I wish there was a single repository containing production deployment stats and configurations. For example, if you look at the Kafka documentation you quickly discover there are hundreds of options that can be set. Some matter more than others but it’s a larger undertaking to properly configure a cluster and understand the impact each of these configuration options will have.

Instead, imagine having a quickly searchable repository of production configurations sourced from a variety of companies running a variety of different clusters across a variety of different platforms and providers. For someone who only has a journeyman understanding this would be an incredible tool. They’d be able to use their existing cluster statistics to find a set of comparable deployments and then compare configurations. This would provide much needed guidance to those starting out and would lead to more efficient and secure deployments.