Getting Started with Application Environments and DevOps
Are you interested in getting started with devops? Devops is a rapidly growing field that combines software development and IT operations to improve the speed and reliability of software releases. If you’re a developer or IT professional looking to learn more about devops and how to get started, this blog post is for you!
First, let’s define what devops is and why it’s important. Devops is a set of practices and tools that enable organizations to improve collaboration between development and operations teams. This collaboration allows organizations to deliver software faster and with more reliability, which is essential in today’s fast-paced business environment.
To get started with devops, there are a few key steps you should take. First, it’s important to understand the principles and practices of devops. This includes concepts like continuous integration, continuous delivery, and infrastructure as code.
Once you have a solid understanding of the fundamentals, you’ll need to choose the right tools and technologies for your organization. There are many different devops tools and platforms available, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Some popular tools include Docker, Kubernetes, and Ansible.
Once you have the right tools in place, you’ll need to implement processes and practices that support devops. This may include establishing a continuous integration and delivery pipeline, implementing infrastructure as code, and establishing a culture of collaboration and communication.
Finally, it’s important to continually monitor and improve your devops processes and practices. This may include collecting and analyzing data on your software releases, tracking metrics like deployment frequency and failure rate, and regularly reviewing and iterating on your processes and tools.
In summary, getting started with devops involves understanding the principles and practices of devops, choosing the right tools and technologies, implementing processes and practices that support devops, and continually monitoring and improving your devops processes. By following these steps, you can begin to improve the speed and reliability of your software releases and drive success for your organization.
The best way to understand DevOps is to sketch out the different layers of a sample application. Code is the the most basic and raw form of an application. If you begin to think about code and how this should progress in order to form an application, how it should be managed and maintained, how you can secure it then it becomes easier to under the stages of DevOps. A basic outline of stages of DevOps can be seen in the following figure:
5. Service Mesh
4. CI/CD
3. Orchestration
2. Containerization
1. Version Control
Istio
Jenkins, Spinnaker (Multi-Cloud)
Kubernetes, EKS, ECS, Fargate
Docker
Git
Version Control
As mentioned earlier code is the most basic unit of an application. Hence in order to design a complete development infrastructure for an application you can start thinking about code first. Where will developers write their code? How it should be managed or maintained? Which version control utility you should use? Mostly Git is used as a version control utility but different projects or teams can have different preferences.
Version control is a key concept in devops that refers to the practice of tracking and managing changes to software code over time.
Version control systems, such as Git, enable devops teams to collaborate on code development, track changes, and revert to previous versions if necessary.
By using version control, devops teams can improve the collaboration, transparency, and traceability of their software development process.
Version control also enables teams to easily manage and maintain different versions of their code, supporting the rapid and reliable delivery of software updates and new features.
Through the use of version control, devops teams can improve the speed, reliability, and collaboration of their software development process, enabling them to quickly and reliably deliver new features and updates to their users.
In order to get started with a project:
- Simply create a GitHub repository
- Span out branches for Dev, Quality Assurance/ Testing and then Production. The simplest repository for a professional project requires the aforementioned three units because you can’t have all the changes made to the repository directly.
- A new feature is first committed to the Dev branch by the developers
- Then it is submitted for testing when it is committed to the QA branch.
- And finally after successful results are obtained the feature finds its way to the production branch.
Containerization
Containerization is a method of packaging software applications so that they can be easily deployed and run on any platform.
Containers provide a lightweight and portable runtime environment for applications, allowing them to be easily moved and run on any infrastructure.
In devops, containerization can be used to improve the efficiency of software development and deployment processes, and to optimize the use of resources.
Containerization also enables organizations to run multiple applications on a single host, improving their scalability and flexibility.
Popular tools and platforms for containerization include Docker, Kubernetes, and Rocket.
By using containerization in devops, organizations can improve the speed, reliability, and scalability of their software releases, enabling them to quickly and reliably deliver new features and updates to their users.
Orchestration
Orchestration is a key concept in devops that refers to the automation and coordination of complex processes, such as software development and deployment.
The goal of orchestration in devops is to improve the speed, reliability, and efficiency of software releases.
There are several tools and technologies that can be used for orchestration in devops, including automation tools, containerization platforms, and configuration management tools.
By leveraging the power of orchestration, organizations can automate and coordinate the various tasks and processes involved in delivering software, reducing the time and effort required to release new features and updates.
Through the use of orchestration, organizations can improve the speed, reliability, and efficiency of their software releases, enabling them to quickly and reliably deliver new features and updates to their users.
CI/CD
CI/CD, or continuous integration and continuous delivery, is a key concept in devops that refers to the practice of automatically building, testing, and deploying software changes as they are made.
The goal of CI/CD is to improve the speed and reliability of software releases by automating the various tasks and processes involved in delivering software.
To implement CI/CD, organizations typically use a combination of tools and processes, such as automation tools, containerization platforms, and configuration management tools.
CI/CD can help organizations to reduce the time and effort required to release new features and updates, and can improve the reliability and quality of their software.
By leveraging the power of CI/CD, organizations can quickly and reliably deliver new features and updates to their users, improving the agility and competitiveness of their business.
Service Mesh
A service mesh is a network of microservices that communicate with each other to form a distributed application. It helps different units of your application to share data or messages with each other.
In devops, a service mesh can be used to improve the reliability and performance of microservice-based applications.
A service mesh provides features such as load balancing, service discovery, and circuit breaking, which can help to improve the resiliency and scalability of microservices.
A service mesh also enables organizations to easily monitor and manage the communication between microservices, providing visibility into the performance and behavior of the distributed application.
There are several popular service mesh tools and platforms, including Istio, Linkerd, and Consul, which provide the necessary infrastructure and features for implementing a service mesh.
By using a service mesh, devops teams can improve the reliability and performance of their microservice-based applications, and can gain visibility into the behavior and performance of the distributed application.