What is DevOps?
‘DevOps’ in simple words is a collaborative approach introduced between 2007 and 2008 for software development adopted by companies globally where the Development team and Operations team work together to improvise the productivity of the organization by carrying out effective communication processes.
Background
Initially, the development team and the operations team were treated as two separate departments. While the development team was involved in planning, designing, and building codes from scratch and also implementing new changes, the operations team tested and implemented whatever was developed. Whenever there was a bug that needed to be fixed, the operations team gave feedback to the development team.
The problem with this way of working was a delay in communication and a lack of speed in working. Once the development team creates a system, they start working on a new project. While the operations team would still be working on old the project and testing the bugs and then giving feedback on it when the development team had already started working on a new project. This led to slower delivery of software products.
So how does DevOps work?
The working of DevOps involves several phases and these phases are implemented with the help of different tools. Let’s take a closer look at these phases:
- Planning: The development team, marketing team, technical writers, and system administrators create a plan of objectives that should be delivered to the customers.
- Code: Coding is the next phase. The development team creates codes after deciding on a plan. They work on different versions of code and design it. They use tools like Git and Merged. This process is called version control.
- Build: The development team works on building these codes into an executable version with the help of tools like Maven and Gradle.
- Test: After building the code, the development team checks if there are any bugs in the code. This process is called automation testing. The tool that is used for this is called Selenium.
- Deploy and operate: Once the codes are tested successfully, they are deployed to the working environment. The tools used here are Ansible, Docker, and Kubernetes.
- Monitor: The operations team constantly monitors these codes and if there is any feedback, they are sent back to the development team and plans are made once again to take action on the feedback received. The tool used for this is called Nagios.
The DevOps approach is a continuous process to improve efficiency. Hence, this approach can be symbolized in the form of an infinity loop. The picture below can give you better clarity.
Benefits of DevOps:
Companies adopting the DevOps approach enjoy a list of benefits. Some benefits of DevOps include:
Better communication and collaboration: With the presence of cross-functional collaboration between the development team and the operations team, problem-solving capabilities will increase and reduces misunderstandings.
Increased productivity: Due to the involvement of technology in the automation processes such as code building, testing, and deployment, the development and operations team can gain a lot of valuable time to work on creative tasks as manual testing tasks won’t be there anymore. Hence, software updates with new features can be delivered faster.
Continuous delivery and deployment: DevOps involves a culture of Continous Integration and Continous Development where software is tested and deployed on a regular basis. This approach enables faster feedback loops and reduces the risk of large and complex releases.
Better risk management: Potential risks and issues can be prevented as these security concerns can be prevented in the early development cycles. This can also improve the quality of the software and make it more reliable.
Continuous improvement: Because of regular feedback loops and constant monitoring, organizations can spot areas of optimization and make changes accordingly, and with this, they can continuously improve their processes.
To know more about DevOps, check out our next blog titled: DevOps- Opportunities and Pathway
References
- https://www.comptia.org/blog/top-skills-for-devops-engineers
- A List of DevOps Job Titles and Roles to Help You Hire (contractrecruiter.com)
- https://www.nntechus.com/post/what-is-a-good-devops-engineer
- https://herovired.com/learning-hub/blogs/devops-engineer-skills/
- https://community.educationnest.com/knowledge-base/devops-skills-that-organizations-are-looking-for-devops-engineer/
- https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/devops-market#:~:text=DevOps%20Market%20size%20crossed%20USD,development%20cycle%20and%20accelerating%20delivery
- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/devops-market
- https://dayshadevops.co.uk/devops-case-studies/
- https://www.simform.com/blog/capital-one-devops-case-study/#:~:text=As%20a%20result%2C%20Capital%20One,management%20and%20policy%20compliance%20tools.
