Software development and operation in IT are two areas that traditionally work in isolation from each other due to their methods and processes. Both specialist departments can benefit immensely from each other and incorporate their expertise into the respective teams. Thus, the development of high-quality products can be delivered faster and a reliable operation can be guaranteed. DevOps is an approach that pursues exactly this goal, bringing together development and operations in IT companies
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Methodologically, flexibility (development) and stability (operation) meet in the DevOps approach. Unlike agile methods that normally stop development, DevOps transfers the agile method to the entire software lifecycle, thus including operation in this method. The automation of these processes is the declared goal of the DevOps approach. This change means a big step for all participating teams but especially for IT operations.
Revolutionary DevOps methods
DevOps is methodically based on both technological and procedural levels, putting classic ITIL processes to the test. ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) describes a structured process collection of best practices for service management in IT. ITIL is now part of the day-to-day business of many IT organizations that use the proven standard procedures to work economically and in a quality-conscious manner. Now, the innovative DevOps concept provides for "breaking out" of standardized processes, posing challenges for companies with stable process frameworks.
Technologically, DevOps offers development, code management, testing, and deployment methods:
Continuous integration.
Continuous delivery/ deployment
Integration into existing processes
Continuous integration
Continuous integration is a method of continuously assembling components into an application. Through continuous integration, the software quality is to be increased. In order for the components of the product to be transparent to all team members, artifacts serve to represent product components. DevOps uses continuous integration to target automated building of software artifacts from source code.
Continuous Delivery Deployment
Continuous Delivery is the next step in building on Continuous Integration. The aim of the continuous delivery is to (also) automatically deploy the previously automated artifacts. This means that the artifact is automatically tested and then installed in the production environment.
Integration into existing processes
Traditional companies have their established processes. Now DevOps has emerged from the understanding that standardized processes are no longer enough to stay competitive. Thus, the established processes are driven by higher customer requirements to adopt: DevOps is the driver.
A good starting point for implementing DevOps is to start at the process level. Here, for example, change management is a good idea. Change management according to ITIL is a process in which all changes to the IT infrastructure are controlled and executed with low risk. All adjustments are monitored and controlled according to the specified goals. If this process is redesigned in a transparent way, DevOps teams can more frequently replicate functionalities in production environments in a comprehensible way. The transparency ensures that the entire infrastructure is more comprehensible and thus more stable in the event of a breakdown, it can react faster and more directly.
Is your company DevOps-Ready?
What is the current status of your company? Would you like to use the innovative method to make your software development more efficient and to revolutionize the collaboration of your teams?
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