Friends, welcome to the world of software development! There have been more changes here in recent years than in Lady Gaga’s wardrobe during her Super Bowl halftime performance! You know, Agile, DevOps, the Cloud… These innovations have enabled organizations to develop and deploy software faster and more efficiently than ever before. One of the key DevOps practices is automated deployments.
In this article, we will discuss the importance of creating and monitoring strong automated implementations.
Automated deployments: achieve error-free software
Why do you need strong automated deployments?
Traditionally, software deployment was a manual process that implied manifold steps and was prone to human error.
Automated implantations, on the other hand, allow organizations to implement software automatically without human intervention, reducing the chances of errors.
Automated implementations also offer the following advantages:
- Faster deployment: Manual implementation is a slow process that implies manifold steps. Automated implementation reduces the implementation time and allows companies to implement software more frequently.
- Coherence: Automated deployments guarantee that the deployment process is documented and can be repeated, which reduces the chances of errors caused by human errors.
- Downgrade: Automated deployments allow organizations to return to the previous software version quickly and simply if some problem arises.
- Profitability: Automated implementations reduce the need for manual intervention, which can be expensive and time-consuming.
- Improved tests: Automated deployments can be tested in a test or pre-production environment before going into production, reducing the likelihood of problems arising.
Steps to create strong automated implementations
Creating strong automated deployments involves the following steps:
- Defining the deployment process: Define the steps needed to deploy the software, including dependencies, configuration settings, and environment requirements.
- Automating the deployment process: It uses tools like Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins, and YAML to write the deployment process as code, store it in source control, and test it.
- Add doors and approvals: It adds doors and approvals to require external approvals, perform quality validations, and collect status signals from external services before the implementation can be completed.
- Develop a rollback strategy: Develop a rollback strategy that includes feature indicators and bluish-green deployments to roll back to the previous version of the software easier should any issues arise.
- Implement automated monitoring: Implement automated monitoring of system metrics such as memory usage, disk usage, logged errors, database performance, average database response time, long-duration queries, simultaneous database connections, and SQL query performance.
- Test and refine: Test and refine the automated deployment process, making the necessary adjustments.
Monitoring of strong automated deployments
Automated implementations must be accompanied by automated monitoring.
Organizations must monitor system metrics such as memory usage, disk usage, logged errors, database performance, average database response time, long-duration queries, simultaneous database connections, and SQL query performance.
Mature monitoring systems make obtaining a baseline prior to implementation easier as well as spotting deviations after the implementation.
Holistic hybrid cloud monitoring tools that alert organizations to errors or abnormal patterns are an important part of feature flags and bluish-green deployments.
They are the indicators that allow organizations to find out whether they need to deactivate a feature or return to the previous production environment.
Tools and processes
Although implementation and monitoring tools alone do not guarantee the success of the implementation, they certainly help.
It is also important to create a DevOps culture of good communication, design reviews throughout development, and thorough testing.
Automated deployments are just part of the DevOps lifecycle, and organizations can decide at what point in the cycle automation it adds value and create it in small chunks over time.
Automated deployments reduce the risk and effort required. Their high return on investment often makes them a great place to start automating considering DevOps best practices.
Conclusion
Automated deployments are an essential part of the DevOps culture. They reduce the likelihood of human error, allowing faster deployment.
Closing the circle with a reference to Lady Gaga:
Automated deployments are like having Lady Gaga’s costume assistant as your personal assistant – there’s no room for error!
Dimas P.L., de la lejana y exótica Vega Baja, CasiMurcia, periodista, redactor, taumaturgo del contenido y campeón de espantar palomas en los parques. Actualmente resido en Madrid donde trabajo como paladín de la comunicación en Pandora FMS y periodista freelance cultural en cualquier medio que se ofrezca. También me vuelvo loco escribiendo y recitando por los círculos poéticos más profundos y oscuros de la ciudad.
Dimas P.L., from the distant and exotic Vega Baja, CasiMurcia, journalist, editor, thaumaturgist of content and champion of scaring pigeons in parks. I currently live in Madrid where I work as a communication champion in Pandora FMS and as a freelance cultural journalist in any media offered. I also go crazy writing and reciting in the deepest and darkest poetic circles of the city.
