DAY-1 [FUNDAMENTALS OF DEVOPS]

What is DevOps?
Why DevOps?
What are the day to day activities of a DevOps Engineer?

What is DevOps?

In simple terms DevOps is a culture and practice that organizations adopt to improve their ability to deliver applications quickly and efficiently.

In the technical world, DevOps is a set of practices, principles, and tools that help organizations deliver applications and services more efficiently by promoting collaboration between development and operations teams. It focuses on automation, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and monitoring to improve the speed and quality of software development and deployment.

DevOps mainly focuses on Four aspects:

Improve Delivery
Automation
Monitoring
Testing

Simple structure of the DevOps life-cycle:

Plan: In simplified terms, the Plan is the first and foremost stage in the DevOps lifecycle is when the team figures out what needs to be built, what features are important, and how to approach the work. It involves setting goals, deciding on tasks, and organizing everything that needs to be done before the actual development starts. This helps everyone stay focused and aligned on what needs to be achieved.

Code/Develop: The second stage in the DevOps lifecycle is Develop. In this stage, developers write the code based on the requirements and tasks defined in the Plan stage. It involves building features, implementing functionality, and making changes to the software according to the outlined plan.

Build: The third stage in the DevOps lifecycle is Build. During this stage, the code written in the Develop stage is compiled, packaged, and prepared for testing. It includes processes like building the software, creating executables, and ensuring that all dependencies are included so the software can run smoothly.

Test: The fourth stage is Test. In this stage, the software is thoroughly tested to identify any bugs or issues. Automated and manual tests are run to ensure that the code meets the required standards, functions correctly, and does not introduce new problems. This stage helps verify that the software is ready for deployment.

Release: The fifth stage is Release. In this stage, the software is prepared for deployment to a production environment. It involves finalizing the release, ensuring that all components are ready, and that any necessary configurations or approvals are in place. The software is packaged and made ready for delivery to users.

Deploy: The sixth stage is Deploy. In this stage, the software is actually deployed to the production environment or made available to end users. This can involve automated deployment processes to ensure that the release is smoothly rolled out with minimal disruption to users.

Operate: The seventh stage is Operate. In this stage, the software is actively running in the production environment. The operations team monitors the system to ensure it is functioning properly, handling any issues that may arise, and managing the infrastructure to support the software’s performance and stability.

Monitor: The final stage is Monitor. In this stage, the system’s performance, security, and user experience are continuously monitored. Metrics and logs are collected to identify potential issues or areas for improvement. This feedback helps in making informed decisions for future development, ensuring the software remains stable and optimized.

As the DevOps is typically a continuous cycle, so after the Monitor stage, the process goes back to the Plan stage to start the cycle over. This continuous feedback loop ensures that improvements are constantly made, issues are addressed, and new features or updates are planned for future releases, keeping the software up-to-date and aligned with user needs.

Wonder to know the most important and the common stage that every organizations are often considered the most crucial i.e “Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD)” .

Continuous Integration (CI) ensures that code is frequently integrated and tested, which helps catch bugs early and prevents integration issues later.
Continuous Delivery (CD) ensures that the software is always in a deployable state, enabling faster and more reliable releases.

Hence, these stages power the entire DevOps process to make the development cycle more efficient by eliminating manual labor and improving the quality and reliability of the software; without a solid CI/CD pipeline, the remaining stages like testing, deployment, and operations are less effective.

Why DevOps?

In simple terms DevOps is needed to deliver software faster, improve teamwork, automate repetitive tasks, and ensure better quality and reliability in everyday operations. And this is the end goal of the DevOps approach.

Faster Delivery: DevOps allows for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), enabling teams to release software faster. With automated testing and deployment, updates and new features can be delivered to users more quickly, giving the business a competitive edge.
Improved Collaboration: By breaking down silos between development and operations teams, DevOps fosters better communication and collaboration. This leads to faster problem-solving and a smoother workflow, which ultimately increases productivity.
Automation of Repetitive Tasks: Many tasks, like code building, testing, and deployment, are automated in DevOps. This reduces human error, saves time, and allows teams to focus on higher-value work, improving overall efficiency.
Higher Quality: Continuous testing and integration in DevOps ensure that bugs and issues are identified and fixed early, leading to higher-quality software. Automated testing helps catch problems before they affect users, reducing errors in production.
Continuous Improvement: The feedback loop in DevOps, which includes monitoring and analyzing system performance, allows for continuous improvement. Teams can iterate quickly, make adjustments, and enhance the software based on user feedback and performance data.

What are the day to day activities of a DevOps Engineer?

Till now we have understood what is DevOps and why DevOps, now lets deep dive into roles and responsibilities of a DevOps Engineer in a day to day practice.

The day-to-day activities of a DevOps Engineer can be generalized as:

Monitoring: Keeping an eye on system performance, checking for issues, and ensuring everything is running smoothly.
Automation: Writing scripts and automating tasks like deployments, updates, and testing to save time and reduce errors.
Collaboration: Working closely with developers and operations teams to ensure smooth integration and deployment of new features.
Managing Infrastructure: Setting up and maintaining the servers, cloud environments, and systems that the software runs on.
Troubleshooting: Fixing issues that come up with the software or infrastructure to ensure everything works properly.
Security: Ensuring that systems and applications are secure, by addressing vulnerabilities and following best practices.
Improving Processes: Continuously refining and improving workflows, tools, and automation to make development and operations more efficient.
Documentation: Keeping track of configurations, processes, and solutions to problems to ensure smooth operations in the future.
These activities help maintain a reliable, efficient, and secure environment for delivering software.

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