In Software Engineering, Operations and Development both play crucial roles in order to deliver the results of an application. The development consists of analyzing the requirements, designing, developing, and thereafter testing the software components in the testing environment. On the other hand, the operation consists of administrative processes, services, and support services provided for the software. When Development and Operation are combined together to work in collaboration, that is the point when the DevOps architecture comes into existence. Moreover, it can be summarised that DevOps architecture is basically used for solutions to cover up the gap between Development and Operations teams so that the execution and delivery of a project can be done faster with fewer issues.
Here below are the various DevOps components:
- Build
Without DevOps, the basis of the cost of the consumption of resources calculation was based on predefined individual usage with the defined fixed hardware allocation. But with the introduction of DevOps, sharing of resources, the usage of cloud, comes into the scene and the build is totally dependent upon the user’s need. This way it’s a more relevant mechanism to control the usage of resources or capacity. - Code
Many good practices like one of the most used practices are git enable the code to be used which lets the developer ensure not only writing the code for business but also helps in the tracking of the changes. It also lets you get notified about the reason why the change was made and if necessary reverting to the original code developed. This way the code can be managed and arranged properly in files and folders and thereafter can be reused. - Test
The application will then be moved to production after testing is completed. In Manual Testing, it consumes more time for testing and it takes lots of time for moving the code to production. So, automation testing should be implemented which decreases the time for testing. Therefore, the time to deploy the code to production can be reduced with the automation testing as in automation the scripts will remove many manual steps. - Plan
In DevOps, the agile methodology is used to plan the development framework. The planned work always enhances productivity as compared to the unplanned one. So, the planning with the Development and Operations team helps in organizing the work to plan accordingly therefore, it also boosts the productivity of the team. - Monitor
Continuous Monitoring is also one of the major factors that should be used to identify any risks of failure simultaneously. Monitoring is helpful in tracking the system accurately so that the progress and health of the application can also be tracked easily. The monitoring becomes much easier and flexible with services where the log data gets monitored through many third-party tools. - Deploy
Nowadays most systems can support the scheduler for automated deployment mechanisms in the production process. A cloud management platform enables the users to capture accurate insights of the working and view the optimization scenario, analytics trends with the deployment of dashboards. - Operate
DevOps totally changes the traditional approach of developing and testing separately on the application or project. In DevOps, the teams operate in a collaborative way with each other so both the teams participate actively throughout the service lifecycle to maintain the workflow. The interaction of the operations team with developers results in visualizing the monitoring plan which helps in serving the business requirements. - Release
Generally, deployment to an environment is an automation process. But when the deployment is made to the production environment, it is basically done through manual triggering. To lessen the impact on the customers most of the processes involved in release management commonly specify to perform the deployment in the production environment manually.
Features of DevOps Architecture
Below are some of the key features of DevOps Architecture:
- Automation
Automation helps in reducing time consumption specifically during the testing and deployment phase. Through automation, productivity increases, and releases are made quicker with less issue because the tests are executed more rigorously. This process leads to catching bugs quicker so that they can be fixed more easily. For continuous delivery, each and every code change is done through automated tests, through cloud-based services. - Collaboration
The collaboration of the Development and Operations team as the DevOps team improves the cultural model which helps in improving productivity, which strengthens accountability and ownership. By sharing their responsibilities and work the teams work closely in sync and that results in making the deployment to production faster. - Integration
As in a production environment, continuous integration and testing enable continuous development. So, the applications need to be integrated with all the other dependent components in the environment. Therefore, the integration phase is where the existing code is merged with new functionality and thereafter the testing takes place. The frequency in the releases leads to significant operational challenges in the production process. To overcome such challenges, the mechanisms of continuous integration and delivery are implemented. So, this way it helps to deliver in a quicker, safer, and reliable manner. - Configuration Management
The configuration management ensures that the application only interacts with the concerned resources of the environment in which it will run. All the configuration files are created, while the configuration external to the application is separated from the source code.
Conclusion
In the meantime, DevOps architecture is the platform that enables collaboration between teams, it’s one of the essential features of delivery. This helps in improving the work culture among all the teams to understand the status of work related to other teams. This results in getting the releases faster and enables the concerned teams to work in a more synchronized and organized way by planning the work better and getting the work done in a more effective way.