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DevOps: The Basics

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a culture, set of practices, and tools that combine software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). It aims to shorten the development lifecycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality.

In simple terms, DevOps bridges the gap between Developers (who write code) and Operations (who deploy and manage that code in production).

DevOps: The Basics


Imagine you’re at a car assembly line, where designers plan and engineers build. DevOps is like a streamlined process that allows designers and engineers to work together closely, ensuring that every car model rolls off the line faster, with fewer errors, and with higher quality.


Why Do We Need DevOps?

Before DevOps, developers and operations teams often worked in silos i.e. isolation or separation. Developers would create code, throw it over the wall, and operations would handle deployment and management. This traditional model led to:

  1. Slow releases: Development took time, testing took time, and deployment could be a nightmare.
  2. Frequent errors: Since teams didn’t always collaborate, issues would arise at deployment.
  3. Lack of feedback: Developers didn’t always know how code performed in real-world environments.


DevOps improves on this by fostering collaboration and automating workflows, which helps:

  1. Deliver software faster and more reliably.
  2. Respond to market changes more quickly.
  3. Enhance product quality through faster feedback loops.

Basic DevOps Terminology

Here’s a quick glossary of commonly used DevOps terms:

  1. CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery): This is a process where code changes are automatically tested and delivered to production. CI ensures that code integrates well with existing code, and CD automates the deployment process.
  2. Infrastructure as Code (IaC): IaC allows infrastructure to be managed and provisioned through code, making it easy to version control, replicate, and automate environments.
  3. Containers: Containers, like Docker, allow applications to run consistently across different environments by packaging code and dependencies together.
  4. Orchestration: Tools like Kubernetes manage containers, scaling them up or down as needed.
  5. Monitoring and Logging: Tools like Prometheus and Splunk help track performance and errors in applications, providing insights for improvement.


The DevOps Lifecycle

DevOps isn’t just a single process; it’s a cycle made up of various stages:


  1. Plan: In this phase, teams plan new features, enhancements, or fixes.
  2. Code: Developers write code.
  3. Build: The code is compiled and packaged for further testing and deployment.
  4. Test: Automated tests ensure quality before deployment.
  5. Release: Code that passes tests is released to production.
  6. Deploy: Applications are deployed to live environments.
  7. Operate: Systems are monitored for issues.
  8. Monitor & Feedback: Continuous monitoring helps identify issues or needed improvements and insights from monitoring and user feedback are used to plan the next cycle.

This DevOps Cycle is often visualised as an infinity loop, representing its continuous nature.

DevOps Life Cycle


Which Companies Use DevOps?

DevOps has been widely adopted by both tech giants and smaller startups for its efficiency. Here are some well-known companies using DevOps:


  • Netflix: With a huge demand for uptime and service quality, Netflix leverages DevOps to release new features quickly and keep up with user demands.
  • Amazon: DevOps enables Amazon to manage millions of deployments per year, allowing rapid response to customer needs.
  • Apple and Samsung: They both use DevOps for streamlined app development and release cycles, especially on platforms like the App Store and Galaxy Store.
  • Google: Known for its massive infrastructure, Google uses DevOps to automate deployments, scaling, and monitoring.

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