DevOps is a set of practices that aims to unify software development (Dev) and software operation (Ops). Traditionally, these teams have operated in separate silos. However, combining their perspectives better aligns software outcomes with business goals and optimizes the software development process.
Under a DevOps model, agile development and operations teams work together across the entire software application lifecycle, from development and testing through the deployment process.
The impact of effective DevOps is well documented. For example, the 2019 Accelerate State of DevOps Report found that agile teams utilizing DevOps have:
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208 times more frequent code deployments
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106 times faster lead time from commit to deploy
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2,604 times faster time to recover from incidents
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7 times lower change failure rate
In this article, we will review 5 key DevOps best practices (and relevant DevOps tools) to help your organization improve software delivery performance.
1. Continuous Integration and continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
Continuous integration and continuous deployment (often combined as CI/CD) are critical components of DevOps practices. CI/CD bridges the gaps between development and operation activities by enforcing automation in building, testing, and deployment.
Continuous Integration (CI)
Development teams integrate code into a shared repository several times a day. Each check-in is then verified by an automated build, allowing teams to detect problems early. Through regular integration, you can identify errors sooner, improve software quality, and reduce the time it takes to validate and release new software updates.
Some popular tools for continuous integration include:
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Jenkins
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Travis CI
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CircleCI
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GitLab CI
Continuous Deployment (CD)
With continuous deployment, every code change that passes through your production pipeline is released to users.
This means there is no manual intervention; unless automated testing fails, your work can go live in minutes. As a result, you can gather user feedback and iterate on code quickly.
Continuous deployment is an extension of continuous delivery, which automatically releases changes to a testing or staging environment. From there, developers can manually deploy to the production environment.
Some popular tools for continuous deployment include:
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Jenkins
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Spinnaker
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GoCD
2. Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
In traditional methods of managing servers, system administrators might manually configure an operating system, install software, and apply configurations as needed. This process can result in “snowflake” servers, where each server is unique and cannot be reproduced easily.
Infrastructure as code enables developers to provision computing infrastructure (such as servers, operating systems, database connections, and storage) with machine-readable definition files. All server configurations are stored in version control systems, such as Git, just like any other source code. As a result, servers can be created and configured in an automated, repeatable manner using tools like Terraform.
With IaC, developers don’t need to manually provision or manage infrastructure elements throughout the software application lifecycle. This provides a few key benefits:
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Faster deployment and development times
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More developer bandwidth to deliver new features
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Ability to scale infrastructure up and down as needed
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If the system fails, infrastructure can be recreated using code definitions
3. Monitoring and Logging
It is crucial to monitor your application and infrastructure performance to understand how changes or updates impact end users.
Monitoring tools can alert you when something goes wrong; logging tools can help you understand why it happened. Together, they provide the information needed to quickly identify and resolve issues, minimizing system downtime.
Monitoring
This is the process of continuously checking your systems to ensure they are functioning correctly.
For example, you might check metrics related to system performance (CPU usage, memory usage, network latency, etc.), application performance, and user behavior. Alerts can be set up to notify the relevant team members when certain conditions are met (e.g., if an application’s response time exceeds a certain threshold, indicating a potential issue).
Popular monitoring tools include:
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Prometheus
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Grafana
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Datadog
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New Relic
These tools provide real-time insights and analytics, helping different teams to identify and address anomalies quickly.
Logging
While monitoring provides a high-level view of system health, logging provides a more detailed view of events happening within the system.
Logs are time-stamped files that record specific events in an application or system. They can include everything from user activity to data transactions and error messages.
Log data can be extremely valuable for:
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Troubleshooting specific issues
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Understanding user behavior
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Conducting security audits
To keep track of different systems and applications, many DevOps teams employ centralized logging. This is a process where logs from multiple sources are consolidated in one place.
4. Security Integration
Security integration, often referred to as “DevSecOps,” embeds security practices in every stage of the software development lifecycle. Here are two key ways to implement DevSecOps and reduce the risk of security breaches:
Shift Left Security:
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Security practices incorporated towards the beginning of a project, when issues are cheaper and easier to fix. Activities might include:
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Threat modeling during the design phase
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Security-focused code reviews during development
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Automated security testing as part of the CI/CD pipeline (code reviews for security vulnerabilities, penetration testing, compliance checks)
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Security as Code:
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Defining security configurations and policies as code. This enables:
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Version control
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Automated deployment
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Consistent security configurations
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In a DevSecOps culture, everyone shares responsibility for security. Regular communication and training across development, operations, and security teams can help to foster this culture of shared responsibility.
5. Collaboration and Communication
DevOps is as much about culture as it is about tools. While technical processes like infrastructure as code have a significant impact on software development, practices that break down silos between developers, operations teams, and other stakeholders are equally important.
In a collaborative environment, development and doperations teams work together from the initial stages of design to the final stages of software deployment and monitoring. This collaboration can also extend to other departments, such as quality assurance and security, creating a more holistic and effective approach to software development and delivery.
Specific management and knowledge sharing practices can improve communication and foster a more collaborative environment:
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Daily standups
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Shared dashboards
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Automated alerts and notifications
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A culture of psychological safety that prioritizes learning from mistakes
How DevPath can help
As we discussed today, effective cross-team communication is crucial to the success of DevOps. DevPath facilitates better communication through a shared space for internal knowledge where you can easily:
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Capture and reference all your docs, code, and engineering enablement resources by embedding Confluence docs, Google docs, pdfs, and more for any software project.
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Assign seamless onboarding plans with access to 600+ technical courses, including topics such as DevOps, AI, Machine Learning, and System Design.
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Track internal doc reading progress and documentation process from one dashboard. You’ll be able to communicate business needs and maintain high-quality documentation through a verifiable workflow.
Your team will measurably decrease training delays, code review time, and documentation errors to avoid rework or code debt in the future.
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