Choosing the right DevOps tools can sometimes be a challenge – but we are here to make that easier! This guide will help you decide what tools should be part of your stack, and how they relate to the 7 DevOps practices.
What are DevOps Tools?
DevOps tools refer to the technology that allows your development and operations teams to collaborate and communicate when creating applications. These tools facilitate automation, reproducibility, and consistency across your organization.
When you have the appropriate tools in your stack, you can keep developers and operators in sync. Not only does this enhance project planning and innovation, but it also supports operational efficiency and quicker releases.
DevOps tools can automate building, testing, and deployment so you can create seamlessly manage the development lifecycle!
Popular DevOps Tools
So, what are some popular DevOps tools?
There are many options to choose from to support DevOps in your organization, but three popular tools are Docker, Kubernetes, and QuerySurge.
Docker
Docker is a DevOps platform that allows companies and users to create, manage, run, and deploy software applications. This tool focuses on building within Linux Containers, which give developers and IT teams freedom when it comes to the infrastructure and application itself.
The Docker containers are very lightweight, so you can run and maintain containers within a single operating system. It is a great choice for building, running, and deploying applications in any environment.
Kubernetes
Kubernetes is also a popular tool for companies that are trying to enhance their DevOps capabilities. This technology was released by Google, and it allows you to create containerized applications in virtual, physical, and cloud environments.
For instance, if you are using Docker on several operating systems, you can use Kubernetes to automate everything from security and load-balancing to scaling and networking. In terms of the DevOps practices, this platform focuses on continuous deployment and configuration management.
The key here is that it reduces the workload between multiple environments so that your development team can focus on meeting customer requirements instead.
QuerySurge
Another valuable tool for DevOps is QuerySurge. This smart data solution was designed to support continuous testing, and it seamlessly integrates into any existing DevOps pipeline.
Since it has a robust API, it can verify large amounts of data rapidly while providing valuable data analytics and intelligence. QuerySurge works to detect any changes in the code or product requirements so that it can update the tests accordingly – it will even send alerts to the development team to let them know a change occurred!
Understanding the 7 DevOps Practices
When it comes to DevOps, we can break down the framework into 7 unique practices: continuous integration, continuous delivery, configuration management, continuous monitoring, automated testing, continuous deployment, and infrastructure as code.
Let’s dive into each one of these DevOps practices in greater detail.
1. Continuous Integration
Continuous integration, often abbreviated CI in DevOps, is the practice of integrating code into your shared databases often. The goal is to obtain feedback quickly to measure success – and identify areas that need improvement – during active development.
Developers can accomplish this by storing the finished code as soon as it comes out of unit testing. They have to consistently check in and test their code to give feedback to the rest of the development team.
There should not be any guesswork involved regarding whether the test runs worked or failed. By creating small but workable code chunks that are regularly validated and integrated back into the central repository, you are laying the groundwork for the rest of the DevOps best practices like continuous delivery and deployment.
2. Continuous Delivery
The next DevOps practice on our list is continuous delivery. Continuous delivery refers to automatically developing, testing, and releasing programs across your organization.
For this to work seamlessly, you need to have tools in place to approve and deliver code without human intervention wherever possible. You may need to leave pauses for higher-level approvals depending on the specific needs of your software. However, the idea is to automate wherever possible.
3. Configuration Management
Configuration management, or CM, is the process by which your organization controls how changes are made to software and programs. There should be strict version control practices to ensure that you are aware of any changes that are made, as well as a standard code management strategy.
When you create a standardized code management strategy, you ensure that the process for branching or merging code is the same across your development team – and minimize the risk of one-offs or human error.
4. Continuous Monitoring
Continuous monitoring is just what it sounds like. Your developer should have a proactive approach to monitoring your DevOps pipeline and taking action whenever necessary.
If you find any red flags in a piece of code or a program fails a test, there should be an immediate response based on a predefined strategy. This process can significantly decrease the time between identifying an issue and resolving it.
5. Automated Testing
Automated testing is an essential component of DevOps. Using tools like the ones described above allows you to automatically run tests to speed up the process and eliminate manual work.
Since the tests can be performed automatically, they can run consistently during development or on an ad hoc basis if necessary. You should aim to automate performance tests, security checks, integration and end-to-end validation, and more.
6. Continuous Deployment
If we expand the automation component of DevOps to launching new software, we get continuous deployment. This piece can only operate effectively if your organization has automated testing – without that, you will not be able to continuously deploy new systems.
In a streamlined environment, the code will be deployed as soon as it has passed all of the required automated tests.
7. Infrastructure as Code
The last DevOps practice on our list is infrastructure as code or IaC. This defines specific sets of code that, if executed, can hold up an entire computing and networking infrastructure.
When you utilize this type of IT infrastructure, your development teams can automatically provision and manage it through code instead of relying on manual processes. It also lets you version control your infrastructure so that you can be more agile and adapt quickly!
