In most cases, software application development becomes time-consuming due to its specification and complexity. In order to deliver high-quality applications in a short time, software developers are following a common set of practices, called the
DevOps life cycle.
So, what role does DevOps play in the field of software application development? Let's dive into its meaning, purpose, and every key stage in the DevOps life cycle.
What is DevOps
Before DevOps, practitioners used waterfall models or agile development models for software project development: waterfall models or sequential models were a pioneering method in the software development life cycle (SDLC). In this model, software development became a linear process Different stages and tasks are positioned in turn; while agile development involves the use of various methods and the collaboration of multiple teams in SDLC. The linearity of the waterfall model and the cross-functionality of agile development do not ensure fast and continuous delivery of defect-free software applications.
The software industry increasingly recognizes that in order to deliver software products and services on time, development and operations must work closely together. Under such circumstances,
DevOps came into being.
DevOps is a simple abbreviation derived from the two words "development" and "Operation". It involves the task of
practicing application development in a specific way. More broadly, the combination of software development and IT operations is called DevOps.
Advantages of DevOps
The effectiveness of DevOps in promoting the agile relationship between IT operations and software development is supported by several factors. By achieving better communication within multiple business units of the software development and IT operations department, DevOps improves the overall production of software by combining the following advantages: stable operating environment, ultra-fast delivery, solid cooperation, and time optimization (Especially in the repair/maintenance phase) and continuous innovation. Such technological advantages make
DevOps a highly sought-after method in the development of software applications in the world.
To understand how DevOps realizes these advantages, it is important to understand the full life cycle of DevOps. Let's break down the key stages in DevOps and find the process to achieve perfect, continuous and rapid software development.
Decrypt the DevOps life cycle
DevOps is mainly used for application development of e-commerce websites, cloud native applications and other large distributed platforms. It consists of multiple stages, which are collectively referred to as the DevOps life cycle: continuous development, continuous integration, continuous testing, continuous feedback,
continuous monitoring, continuous deployment, and continuous operation and maintenance.
These seven stages are the main components of the entire development process that can ensure DevOps optimization from proposal to production to complete delivery. The following is a phased and complete decomposition and analysis of the DevOps life cycle.
Continuous development
The first stage of the DevOps life cycle is planning and software coding. Planning includes understanding the vision of the project and conceiving software based on these visions. Planning does not involve any major tools, and maintaining the code requires a series of tools. The first step in developing application source code is to choose from different programming languages. JavaScript, C/C++, Ruby and Python are mainly used for coding applications in DevOps.
The process of maintaining code is called source code management (SCM), which uses version control tools such as Gir, TFS, GitLab, Subversion, and so on.
In the SCM process, Git is the tool of choice for supporting distributed version control. It contributes to data assurance through a cyclic non-linear workflow. For large projects involving a large number of collaborators participating in development activities, Git establishes reliable communication between teams by submitting messages.
With the help of version control tools, stable versions of
application code can be built during the continuous development phase. Developers can also use Garden, Maven, and similar tools to package code into .exe (executable) files.
Continuous integration
The source code is modified many times, and these frequent changes occur every week or even every day. The next stage of code integration is the core of the entire DevOps life cycle. In continuous integration, new code that supports additional functions will be built and integrated into existing code.
At this stage, errors in the source code will be detected early. To generate new code that brings more functionality to the application, developers run tools for unit testing, code review, integration testing, compilation, and packaging. Continuous integration of new code into existing source code helps to reflect the changes that end users experience when using the updated code.
Jenkins is a widely used and reliable DevOps tool for obtaining updated source code and building the build into .exe format. These conversions are done seamlessly, and the updated code will be packaged and moved to the next stage, the production server or the test server.
Continuous testing
Some developers perform the
continuous testing phase before the continuous integration phase. Based on the updates in the application code, this phase can be repositioned around the continuous integration phase in the DevOps life cycle.
At this stage, continuous bug testing of the developed software. Use Docker containers to simulate the test environment. Through automated testing, developers can save the energy and time normally wasted in manual testing. Reports generated by automated tests can improve the test evaluation process and make it easier to analyze failed test cases. After the UAT (user acceptance testing) process, the generated test suite is simpler and free of bugs.
TestNG, Selenium and JUnit are some DevOps tools for automated testing. These tools can also schedule the execution of test cases on a preset timeline. Quality assurance engineers (QA) can use these tools to test several other code bases in parallel. It ensures perfect functionality and network interconnection of applications. Finally, the tested code is re-sent to the continuous integration stage to update the source code.
Continuous feedback
Continuous testing and continuous integration are the two key stages to ensure continuous improvement of the application code, and continuous feedback is the stage to analyze these improvements.
Developers can evaluate the results of these modifications on the final product. Most importantly, customers who test these applications can share their experience at this stage. In most cases, this stage of the DevOps life cycle provides a turning point for the application development process. Evaluate feedback in a timely manner, and developers begin to make new changes. In this way, customer feedback can quickly receive a positive response, which paves the way for the release of new versions of software applications.
Continuous monitoring
Monitoring application performance is critical for application developers. At this stage, developers record data about application usage and continuously monitor each function. "Server inaccessible" or "out of memory" are some common system errors that can be resolved at this stage.
Continuous monitoring helps maintain the availability of services in the application. It can also confirm the threat and root cause of repeated system errors. At this stage, security issues can be resolved, and defects can be automatically detected and repaired.
Compared with the software development team, the IT operation and maintenance team is more involved at this stage. Their role is critical in monitoring user activity, checking the system for abnormal behavior, and tracking the existence of errors.
Sensu, ELK Stack, NewRelic, Splunk and Nagios are the key DevOps tools for continuous monitoring. These tools provide complete control of system, production server, and application performance. With the help of these tools, the operation and maintenance team can actively participate to improve the reliability and productivity of the application.
When a major problem is detected at this stage, the application will quickly re-run at all early stages of the DevOps life cycle, which is why finding solutions to various problems at this stage becomes faster.
Continuous deployment
Generally speaking, the continuous deployment phase occurs before continuous monitoring. However, developers need to ensure that this stage is always active during the DevOps life cycle, especially after the application goes online and begins to receive a lot of traffic.
At this stage, the finalized application code will be deployed to the production server. Configuration management is the key process at this stage. It performs precise deployment of application code on all servers, establishing and managing the consistency of application performance and functional conditions. Publish code to servers, schedule updates for all servers, and keep these configurations consistent throughout the production process.
Ansible, Puppet, and Chef are some effective DevOps tools for configuration management. They often perform rapid and continuous deployment of new code.
Containerized tools are used to achieve continuous deployment through the configuration management process. Vagrant is a containerized tool that can develop consistency in different environments from development and testing to stages and production. Similarly, the scalability of continuous deployment is handled by tools such as Docker. These tools eliminate various production failures and system errors by copying and packaging software from the testing, staging, and development stages. Eventually, the application can run smoothly on different computers.
Continuous operation and maintenance
The final stage of the DevOps life cycle is the shortest and simplest stage. The purpose of continuous operation and maintenance is to automate the process of released applications and subsequent updates. The development cycle in continuous operation and maintenance is shorter, allowing developers to continuously accelerate the time to market of the application.
DevOps life cycle deliverables
Each stage of the DevOps life cycle is controlled by two common factors: maximum automation and continuity. Multi-function tools replace additional steps, greatly reducing the time required to detect failures. DevOps runs in a life cycle that provides the best version of the software application.
The end product enables companies to regain the speed of rapid development while improving the user experience.
The high return on investment (ROI) simplifies cost control, and development and operations teams can collaborate organically.
Combined with a continuous deployment solution, it is feasible to send programming code to more than 1,000 production servers. In the DevOps life cycle, there are some advanced models designed for deployment. Similar features are used to deliver on-demand deployment and review.
As technology continues to innovate, DevOps continues to develop at the highest quality and speed. Today, it has become a strategic part of the digital transformation journey of millions of companies around the world.
The DevOPS life cycle clearly breaks the barriers of teamwork. When DevOps can be used to build a responsible business environment, no redundant work is required.
The reports generated by DevOps tools provide business insight and enhance visibility in SDLC. Through end-to-end value management, DevOps systematically increases the speed of delivery.
With DevOps, the tasks of project management and planning will be finalized. DevOps can be applied to large enterprises as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. Organizing, scheduling, adjusting, and tracking projects are all easier. All stages of the DevOps life cycle maintain complete traceability.
