DevOps lifecycle is defined as a combination of different phases of continuous software development, integration, testing, deployment, and monitoring. A competent DevOps lifecycle is necessary to build superior quality software through the system. This article explains the DevOps lifecycle, its key components, and best practices in detail.
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What Is DevOps Lifecycle?
DevOps lifecycle is a combination of different phases of continuous software development, integration, testing, deployment, and monitoring. A competent DevOps lifecycle is necessary to leverage the full benefits of the DevOps methodology.Â
The DevOps approach embraces continuous innovation, agility, and scalability to build, test, consume, and evolve software products. It promotes a culture of experimentation, feedback, and constant learning to reinvent products, services, and processes. However, to implement DevOps, a proper understanding of different phases of the DevOps lifecycle is crucial.Â
To deliver faster results, developers must be fully aware of all the different phases of the DevOps lifecycle. If they aren’t, the entire development process can become complex and time-consuming. Here is a complete breakdown and analysis of each component of the DevOps lifecycle.
DevOps Lifecycle: Key Components
The DevOps lifecycle optimizes development processes from start to end and engages the organization in continuous development, resulting in faster delivery times. This process mainly consists of the following seven stages.
DevOps Lifecycle
1. Continuous development
Continuous development involves planning and coding the software. Here, the entire development process gets broken down into smaller development cycles. This process makes it easier for the DevOps team to accelerate the overall software development process. This phase is instrumental in mapping the vision for the entire development cycle, enabling developers to fully understand project expectations. Through this, the team starts visualizing its end goal as well.
There are no DevOps tools required for planning, but many version control tools are used to maintain code. This process of code maintenance is called source code maintenance. Popular tools for source code maintenance include JIRA, Git, Mercurial, and SVN. Moreover, there are different tools for packaging the codes into executable files, such as Ant, Gradle, and Maven. These executable files are then forwarded to the next component of the DevOps lifecycle.
2. Continuous integration
Continuous integration (CI) includes different steps related to the execution of the test process. Along with this, clients also provide information to be incorporated for adding new features to the application. Most changes happen in the source code during this phase. CI becomes the hub for resolving these frequent changes on a daily or monthly basis. Building code is a combination of unit and integration testing, code review, and packaging. Since developers make frequent changes, they can quickly spot problems (if any) and resolve them at an early stage.
This phase experiences continuous integrations of new code functionalities with the existing source code. Due to continuous development, the updated code seamlessly integrates within the entire system. Jenkins is one of the most popular tools for continuous integration. It helps in fetching the updated code and preparing an executable build.
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3. Continuous testing
Next in the DevOps lifecycle is the testing phase, wherein the developed code is tested for bugs and errors that may have made their way into the code. This is where quality analysis (QA) plays a major role in checking the usability of the developed software. Successful completion of the QA process is crucial in determining whether the software meets the client’s specifications.
Automation tools, such as JUnit, Selenium, and TestNG, are used for continuous testing, enabling the QA team to analyze multiple code-bases simultaneously. Doing this ensures that there are no flaws in the functionality of the developed software.
Moreover, to simulate the entire test environment, Docker containers are used in continuous testing. A Docker container is a standalone, lightweight executable package with everything to run an app: system tools, system libraries, runtime code, and settings.
Automated testing is done on automation tools like Selenium, after which the reports are generated on another automation tool, for example, TestNG. Automation of the entire testing phase also becomes possible with the help of the continuous integration tool Jenkins. Automation testing plays a vital role in saving time, labor and effort.
4. Continuous deployment
Continuous deployment (CD) ensures hassle-free product deployment without affecting the application’s performance. It is necessary to ensure that the code is deployed precisely on all available servers during this phase. This process eliminates the need for scheduled releases and accelerates the feedback mechanism, allowing developers to address issues more quickly and with greater accuracy.Â
Containerization tools help achieve continuous deployment through configuration management. A containerization tool like Vagrant helps achieve consistency across test, development, staging, and production environments. Containerization deals with bringing virtualization to the level of an operating system.Â
Continuous deployment is guaranteed to benefit your organization once you have a reliable automated testing environment in place. Configuration management holds a lot of value in the continuous deployment phase. It involves configuring and maintaining consistency in the functional requirement of the app. Popular DevOps tools used for configuration management include Ansible, Puppet, and Chef that help execute quick deployment of new code.Â
5. Continuous monitoring
Monitoring the performance of a software product is essential to determine the overall efficacy of the product output. This phase processes important information about the developed app. Through continuous monitoring, developers can identify general patterns and gray areas in the app where more effort is required.
Continuous monitoring is an operational phase where the objective is to enhance the overall efficiency of the software application. Moreover, it monitors the performance of the app as well. Therefore, it is one of the most crucial phases of the DevOps lifecycle.
Different system errors such as ‘server not reachable’, ‘low memory’, etc., are resolved in the continuous monitoring phase. It also maintains the availability and security of the services. Network issues and other problems are automatically fixed during this phase at the time of their detection.
Tools such as Nagios, Splunk, Sensu, ELK Stack, and NewRelic are used by the operations team to monitor user activities for improper behavior. As a result, during continuous monitoring, developers can proactively check the overall health of the system.
Proactive checking improves the reliability and productivity of the system and also reduces maintenance costs. Moreover, important and major issues are directly reported to the development team to be corrected in the initial stages. This leads to faster resolution of issues.
6. Continuous feedback
Continuous feedback is essential to ascertain and analyze the final outcome of the application. It sets the tone for improving the current version and releasing a new version based on stakeholder feedback.Â
The overall process of app development can only be improved by analyzing the results from the software operations. Feedback is nothing but information gathered from the client’s end. Here, information is significant, as it carries all the data about the performance of the software and its related issues. It also contains suggestions given by end users of the software.
7. Continuous operations
The last stage in the DevOps lifecycle is the shortest and easiest to grasp. Continuity is at the heart of all DevOps operations that helps automate release processes, allows developers to detect issues quickly, and build better versions of software products. Continuation is key to eliminate diversions and other extra steps that hinder development.
Development cycles in continuous operations are shorter, allowing organizations to advertise constantly and accelerate the overall time to market the product. DevOps enhances the value of software products by making them better and more efficient, thereby attracting new customers towards it.Â
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Top 7 Best Practices of 2021
The DevOps methodology has truly revolutionized the way software products are built across the IT industry. Companies thrive when the development and operations teams come together to create something exceptional and valuable for the end users. Taking the plunge and embracing the DevOps mindset is worth the effort. DevOps can unleash your company’s true potential, provided you know how to implement it well.Â
However, the entire DevOps transformation endeavor cannot be taken lightly. Ian Head, research director at Gartner, predicts Opens a new window that 90% of infrastructure and operations organizations attempting to use DevOps without specifically addressing their cultural foundations will fail.
To leverage the benefits of DevOps, it is necessary to implement some best practices that go across the full spectrum of a project, from fostering a collaborative culture to using the right toolchain. Here, we have listed seven DevOps best practices for 2021.
Top DevOps Best Practices for 2021
1. Foster a collaborative culture
There must be a culture that encourages cross-functional collaboration and shared responsibilities. Trusting the DevOps methodology while replacing traditional approaches requires changes to be made right from the top level to the bottom. The DevOps transformation process is more about enabling people and encouraging them to shift toward a path of success instead of focusing only on tools and technology.
Organizations need to cultivate and nurture a DevOps culture while emphasizing continuous learning and improvement, team collaboration, and empowerment of each team member across departments. The path toward transforming to a DevOps methodology is a huge investment that requires patience and constant monitoring. The whole point of DevOps is moving away from the traditional siloed approach, breaking communication barriers, and fostering an inclusive culture.
Enabling collaboration between the development and operations teams helps create efficient products that provide real value to customers. Teams can also use pro-communication tools such as HipChat, Slack, Yammer, etc., to further enhance communication.
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2. Practice patience
While DevOps implementation may look easy from the outside, it’s actually quite the opposite from the inside. Bringing DevOps practices into your organization is equivalent to shifting residences. There’s so much that needs to be done, from leaving old ideologies behind to adopting new ones. DevOps implementation witnesses a complete change, and such scenarios are bound to lead to frustrations and disappointments.Â
Developers might face trouble adapting to the new requirements where it becomes your duty as an organization to step in, side with their challenges, and comfort them. It’s essential to imbibe proper education and training in terms of DevOps and its related tools. Make sure to sit with your team, get everyone on the same page regarding the transition, and clear any doubts or queries that they may have. Remember, a strong team is integral to DevOps, and the investment of cultivating a culture of trust and collaboration is sure to pay off in due time.Â
3. Set performance metrics
For a smooth and seamless DevOps transformation, organizations must lay down certain objectives and define performance metrics right at the beginning of the process. Appropriate benchmarks should be defined before the organization engages developers in the DevOps methodology. A benchmark can have multiple aspects such as the number of engineers required, the number of processes automated, etc. This exercise will help your organization set foot in the process and begin your DevOps transformation journey.Â
The DevOps transformation program requires goal-setting to be done, without which, it would be pointless to begin the journey in the first place. Here, the project teams can work in tandem with stakeholders to define performance metrics, upon which they can work backward on achieving those targets by using the DevOps transformation software development methodology.Â
Metrics also serve the purpose of acting as evidence when you need adequate information to depict the current state of your DevOps transformational efforts to the upper management.
4. Have the right DevOps toolchain
Automation is a key component of DevOps that benefits your organization in more ways than you can imagine. Automating the process of building software, testing, and releasing is a huge burden off your developers’ shoulders and makes life easier for them and the operations team. For this, you need to employ the right set of DevOps tools that notify you when things go wrong and continuously track and monitor your performance metrics.Â
A DevOps toolchain is a collection of tools that enables easy collaboration between the development and operations teams across development, design, building, testing, measuring, and deployment.
Choosing your DevOps tools is one of the most important decisions you will make. A smart selection of tools can help prevent disputes between the development and operations teams. It is important to note that while there are numerous tools available in the market, using more tools than necessary can overcomplicate your process and cause unnecessary confusion. This is why prioritizing processes over tools is a good idea. To ensure good configuration management practice, it makes sense to use toolsets that are compatible with your system and those that easily integrate with each other.
5. Look for long-term goals
Businesses must understand that DevOps is not a magic bullet. Instead, it is a long-term solution for the transformation process. The business will not get results to all its solutions with DevOps in one go.
Complex and bigger transformation projects are time-consuming and require a lot of resources. In addition, the company has to spend a sizable amount of money to complete these projects. Thus, companies looking at DevOps must not jump the bandwagon without understanding their own requirements.
 Often, organizations make the mistake of setting unrealistic goals or settling goals too soon and expecting immediate results. For example, automating everything all at once is not feasible. Instead, you should focus your energy on securing the acceptance of key organizational POCs. Having both internal and external stakeholders’ agreement is vital here, for which you can do a full-throttle survey to exactly understand their views.
6. Implement automated dashboards
An automated dashboard is no less than a blessing for developers. They can keep track of the SDLC process and maintain a database of the changes made to the server. This is where automated dashboards help. They provide a holistic view of all the updates and changes that are completed. Automated dashboards make it possible to render insights and reports about different operations in detail. These details include the duration of each test, success and failure rates, the total number of tests done, etc.
Automation in dashboards will also provide data and records of deployment across the system. Real-time insights are vital for the team to select the right tool for testing. Automated dashboards also render a holistic view of all the changes that are done. These dashboards have metrics, graphs, and logs so that users can easily understand the displayed data.Â
Along with data, dashboards monitor the entire DevOps implementation process and oversee how well the development and operational teams are working together. They also provide the overall status of the platform. Automating dashboards also helps stakeholders identify challenges and bottlenecks early on in the process.Â
7. Prioritize security practicesÂ
The staggering increase in the number of data breaches and security threats over the years has made it integral for organizations to be aware of the risks and implement foolproof security to safeguard their software. Organizations should embrace security monitoring and assurance automation practices and note that applying automated security controls will not restrict the agility of DevOps.
Be it script, software, templates, or blueprints, only proven version control practices should be used for the app software. Organizations should ensure that the source code of intellectual property should only be accessible by trusted users with verified credentials, and test and build scripts should not contain any credentials that can be accessed from any system. This integration of DevSecOps promises mitigation of risks along with greater collaboration in software development.
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Takeaway
Continuity is the most important factor when it comes to the DevOps lifecycle. Skipping stages of the DevOps lifecycle will create a distraction in the development system. Discontinuity will lead to untimely detection of bugs, hampering the overall performance of the software.Â
The DevOps methodology has been designed to make a software product more efficient. To achieve this, business organizations need to follow the best practices of the DevOps lifecycle to achieve success and stay ahead of the curve.
Are you maintaining the continuity of the DevOps lifecycle and implementing the best DevOps practices for your business? Comment below or let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!