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A lot of folks from the software industry might know a thing or two about the word DevOps & Cloud Engineering. But your understanding of DevOps is certainly incomplete without knowing the DevOps Life cycle. So in this blog, I would try and throw some light on DevOps Life cycle. After reading this blog you will know a lot more stuff about the DevOps lifecycle which would be a positive step towards probable Professional Certificate Program in DevOps.
Table of Contents –
- DevOps Lifecycle: Definition, Key Components
- What is DevOps Lifecycle?
- Key Components of DevOps Lifecycle
- Examples of DevOps Lifecycle
- Best Practices
- Role of Automation Tools in DevOps lifecycle
- Common Challenges Faced
- Conclusion
- FAQs
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.
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.
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. Know the devops engineer skills in this blog.
Key Components of DevOps Lifecycle
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.
- Continuous Development
| Component | Definition |
| Continuous Development | This is the phase that involves ‘planning‘ and ‘coding‘ of the software. The vision of the project is decided during the planning phase and the developers begin developing the code for the application. There are no DevOps tools that are required for planning, but there are a number of DevOps Lifecycle tools for maintaining the code. |
- Continuous Integration
| Component | Definition |
| 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. |
- Continuous Testing
| Component | Definition |
| Continuous Testing | This phase, where the developed software is continuously testing for bugs. For constant testing, automation testing tools such as TestNG, JUnit, Selenium, etc are used. These tools allow QAs to test multiple code-bases thoroughly in parallel to ensure that there is no flaw in the functionality. In this phase, Docker Containers can be used for simulating the test environment. Selenium does the automation testing, and TestNG generates the reports. This entire testing phase can be automated with the help of a Continuous Integration tool called Jenkins. |
- Continuous Deployment
| Component | Definition |
| Continuous Deployment | The completed program is released to operational servers in this stage, which is of the greatest importance and involved in the life cycle of DevOps. Configuration control is included in continual deployment to ensure that machines release programming accurately and smoothly.
The production groups distribute the code to computers and plan server upgrades, ensuring that the settings remain constant across the production phase. |
- Continuous Monitoring
| Component | Definition |
| Continuous Monitoring | This is a very crucial stage of the DevOps lifecycle where you continuously monitor the performance of your application. Here vital information about the use of the software is recorded. This information is processed to recognize the proper functionality of the application. The system errors such as low memory, server not reachable, etc are resolved in this phase.
The root cause of any issue is determined in this phase. It maintains the security and availability of the services. |
- Continuous feedback
| Component | Definition |
| 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.
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. |
- Continuous operations
| Component | Definition |
| Continuous Feedback | 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. |
Examples of DevOps Lifecycle
Best Practices
- Foster a collaborative culture
There must be a culture that encourages cross-functional collaboration and shared responsibilities. - 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. - 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.
Role of Automation Tools in DevOps lifecycle
DevOps and automation can provide consistency across repetitive tasks by configuring an automation tool and removing the threat of human error.
As well as increase the speed of the team from code integration to application deployment. It also creates a much more reliable and stable system due to improved collaboration. Test automation can increase software quality and reduce risk by doing it early and often.
Conclusion
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.
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. Also read about cloud deployment models blog by Hero vired.
Are you maintaining the continuity of the DevOps lifecycle and implementing the best DevOps practices for your business?
FAQ's
What is continuous integration (CI)?
Continuous integration is a DevOps software development practice where developers regularly merge their code changes into a central repository, after which automated builds and tests are run.
How does DevOps support agile development?
DevOps is an approach to software development that enables teams to build, test, and release software faster and more reliably by incorporating agile principles and practices, such as increased automation and improved collaboration between development and operations teams.
How do I manage change in a DevOps environment?
- Support a change management process.
- Meet both team and business objectives.
- Minimize the number of approvals required to address changes.
- Assist teams in their continual improvement processes.
How can I ensure security is addressed throughout the DevOps lifecycle?
- Adopt a DevSecOps Model. To achieve security in DevOps pipelines, it is essential to adopt a full DevSecOps model. ...
- Leverage Penetration Testing and Automated Security Testing. ...
- Establish Security Policies. ...
- Automate Everything. ...
- Use Vulnerability Management. ...
- Privileged Access Management.
What is continuous deployment (CDep)?
Continuous deployment is a strategy in software development where code changes to an application are released automatically into the production environment. This automation is driven by a series of predefined tests. Once new updates pass those tests, the system pushes the updates directly to the software's users.
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Hero Vired is a premium LearnTech company offering industry-relevant programs in partnership with world-class institutions to create the change-makers of tomorrow. Part of the rich legacy of the Hero Group, we aim to transform the skilling landscape in India by creating programs delivered by leading industry practitioners that help professionals and students enhance their skills and employability.
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- *These figures are indicative in nature and subject to inter alia a learner's strict adherence to the terms and conditions of the program. The figures mentioned here shall not constitute any warranty or representation in any manner whatsoever.