Breaking Down Silos: An Introduction to the DevOps Lifecycle

The Traditional Silos: Development and Operations

Right from the start, software development comprised two different departments: the development team that develops the plan, designs, and builds the system from scratch, and the operation team for testing and implementation of whatever is developed. The operations team gave the development team feedback on any bugs that needed fixing and any rework required.

Invariably, the development team would be idle awaiting feedback from the operations team. This undoubtedly extended timelines and delayed the entire software development cycle. There would be instances where the development team moves on to the next project while the operations team continues to provide feedback for the previous code. This meant weeks or even months for the project to be closed and final code to be developed.

Breaking the Wall: The DevOps Approach

Now, what if the two departments came together and worked in collaboration with each other? What if the wall of confusion was broken? This is called the DevOps approach.

The DevOps symbol resembles an infinity sign, suggesting that it is a continuous process of improving efficiency and constant activity. The DevOps approach helps companies adapt faster to updates and development changes. The teams can now deliver quickly, and the deployments are more consistent and smooth. Though there may be communication challenges, DevOps manages a streamlined flow between the teams and makes the software development process successful.

The DevOps Lifecycle: Phases and Tools

The DevOps culture is implemented in several phases with the help of numerous tools. Let's have a look at these phases.

• Planning: The first phase is the planning phase, where the development team puts down a plan keeping in mind the application objectives that are to be delivered to the customer.
• Coding & Version Control: Once the plan is made, the coding begins. The development team works on the same code, and different versions of the code are stored into a repository with the help of tools like Git and merged when required. This process is called version control.
• Building: The code is then made executable with tools like Maven and Gradle in the build stage.
• Testing: After the code is successfully built, it is then tested for any bugs or errors. The most popular tool for automation testing is Selenium.
• Deployment: Once the code has passed several manual and automated tests, we can say that it is ready for deployment and is sent to the operations team. The operations team now deploys the code to the working environment. The most prominent tools used to automate these phases are Ansible, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Monitoring: After the deployment, the product is continuously monitored, and Nagios is one of the top tools used to automate this phase.
• Integration: The feedback received after this phase is sent back to the planning phase, and this is what forms the core of the DevOps life cycle: the integration phase. Jenkins is the tool that sends the code for building and testing. If the code passes the test, it is sent for deployment, and this is referred to as continuous integration.

DevOps in Action: Real-World Examples

Many tech giants and organizations have opted for the DevOps approach, for example, Amazon, Netflix, Walmart, Facebook, and Adobe.

Netflix introduced its online streaming service in 2007. In 2014, it was estimated that a downtime for about an hour would cost Netflix $200,000. However, now Netflix can cope with such issues. They opted for DevOps in a fantastic way. Netflix developed a tool called the "Simian Army" that continuously created bugs in the environment without affecting the users. This chaos motivated the developers to build a system that does not fall apart when any such thing happens.

The Future is Automated

Today, more and more companies lean towards automation with the aim of reducing delivery time and bridging the gap between their development and operations teams. To attain all of these, there's just one gateway: DevOps.