DevOps methodology is rightfully considered the most efficient approach in software development nowadays. Previously software development used the Waterfall model. This is a plan set in stone you can’t change. The Waterfall model literally looks like a waterfall. You ask the customer for requirements, make design, write code, do tests, deploy and support customers. In words, it looks good but in reality, such an approach is very unwieldy. You can’t fix bugs at the stage of development, for example. There are no tools to make tests before the development part of the Waterfall model.
At the same time, DevOps methodology is quite a flexible approach in software development allowing going to the market fast. There are a lot of steps in the DevOps implementation and a lot of services you might order. If you want to know more, please, follow the link – https://itsvit.com/services/devops/. Now we propose you to have a look at the DevOps benefits and features.
Benefits and features of DevOps
DevOps methodology has multiple benefits for your company. As we said, you’ll significantly reduce the time-to-market. We’ll describe why this is possible below. Reducing time-to-market will increase the cost-efficiency of software development. DevOps methodology utilizes cloud computing, so you will use resources from the cloud. Before the DevOps, all the data and software was stored on dedicated or on-prem servers. Thus, when you need more capacity, you need to buy an additional server and when you need less capacity, you still pay for all the servers you have. Cloud computing allows to use the resources the same as public utilities and you pay only for used volumes. This is very efficient, especially in big companies.
Also, the DevOps methodology provides a high level of reliability and security in software development. Before the DevOps implementation, DevOps engineers make an assessment of the system and look for bottlenecks and other weak parts. They redesign the infrastructure in a secure way and you can be sure about data safety. Reliable infrastructure guarantees you no leaks.
How does it work?
Of course, there are great benefits but how are they provided? The main idea of DevOps philosophy is strong communication in the development team. Contrary to the opinion that DevOps engineer is a mix of developers and IT operations, it isn’t. DevOps engineer is a separate specialist with a separate set of skills. At the same time, DevOps methodology teaches developers and IT operations how to work with each other efficiently but doesn’t make them DevOps engineer or another new specialist. So, DevOps methodology has some common principles that make DevOps what it is.
You might face pictures where DevOps methodology looks like an infinity sign. This is a very exact image. The main idea in the DevOps culture is to build the Infrastructure as Code (IaC). It means the infrastructure for software deployment is described with manifests. Manifest is the textual file written in descriptive language. A developer can change this file and change the deployment environment at the same time literally with a few lines. He just changes some parameters and can deploy the code in the new environment.
IaC allows building another important for DevOps points like CI/CD pipeline. CI/CD is Continuous Integration and Delivery. CI provides building code in small parts. The developer writes code and the code is automatically tested. After successful tests, new parts of code are added to the main software. Thus, we receive Continuous Integration. Continuous Delivery provides deployment after successful testing. Thus, it looks like some kind of magic. The developer writes code and it’s somehow delivered to the end-users almost immediately.
Behind the scenes, DevOps engineers did a lot of work and implemented a lot of tools to automate these processes, also there is a huge work with development teams. As a result, you have a reliable autonomous infrastructure that is continuously monitored and improved. To reorganize work this way, you need to hire experienced DevOps engineers.
How to implement DevOps culture to your company?
The best way to accomplish a transition to the DevOps methodology is to hire an experienced DevOps team. You might hire specialists in-house one by one but this is quite a long process. Hiring the whole team is more efficient. Such teams are called dedicated teams and provided by Managed Service Providers (MSP). MSP is a company that provides different services and specialists. Referring to the MSP will give you reliable skilled team of engineers who have a lot of successful cases of work and ready solutions that can reduce the time of DevOps implementation. Thus said, you’ll have a beneficial development model in the shortest possible time.