In the near future, even as DevOps adoption go on to accelerating in both large enterprises and web-native organizations, confusion lingers about what precisely the term refer to and how is Devops Engineer oriented.
The History of Devops Establishment
At the beginning of the computer era, when DevOps Engineer doesnot appear, the software development process did not have a clear separation between the two stages of development and operation. Engineers are also responsible for developing and concurrently testing, deploying products.
And this is still true for small and medium products. The simple reason is that developer is a person making products so he also understands the products to choose the most suitable way to operate.
The explosion in the size of companies and technology products leads to an exponential expansion of the system. From some servers, the system can grow to tens, hundreds, thousands or even millions of servers (for example, Google, Facebook).
The requirement for specialization becomes severe, making the software development process separate into distinct stages. This is the period when dev and ops separate.
Devops Concept
DevOps (combination of English words “software DEVelopment” and “information technology OPerationS”) is a term for a set of actions that emphasize the cooperation and exchange of information of programmers and IT experts working together to automate software product transfer and system architecture changes. This is to establish a culture and environment where software development, testing, and software release can happen quickly, frequently, and more reliably.
The popular programming language for DevOps Engineer is Python, shell script.
In general, DevOps is a working culture that promotes collaboration, aimed at pulling two stages of development – operation together.
Specifically, the software development progress (Software Development Life Cycle) consists of two main stages: development and operation.
Development stage (development) includes the work of designer, developer, QA QC …
Operations stage with the participation of system engineer, system administrator, operation executive, release engineer, DBA, network engineer, security engineer, …
These two periods are relatively separate, especially in companies with average or higher size. Therefore, the DevOps concept was created to optimize the software development cycle, help IT products release faster and more frequent.
In addition, the software development industry shifted in a different direction – microservices.
Microservices: a large product is split into many small services, these services are linked together to create a complete product.
For instance, with users, an e-commerce website is a complete product. But in fact, this site is bundled with lots of features like registration, search, etc. Each of these features is a distinct service, which can use its own programming language and database.
The importance of DevOps in the software development lifecycle:
DevOps plays a crucial role in creating an efficient, flexible, and reliable software development process. Here are some key importance of DevOps in the software development lifecycle:
Increased speed and agility: DevOps helps minimize the time for software development and deployment by automating processes and reducing wait times between stages. This enables businesses to bring products to market quickly and respond flexibly to changes and customer requirements.
Improved quality: DevOps focuses on controlling software quality by automating testing processes and ensuring continuous integration. This helps reduce errors and incidents while enhancing the reliability and performance of the software.
Collaboration and communication: DevOps promotes smooth collaboration and communication among teams within the organization, including development, operations, and testing teams. Sharing information and aligning common goals among teams creates a positive working environment and enhances project efficiency.
Automation and configuration management: DevOps utilizes tools and techniques to automate deployment and configuration management of the infrastructure. This ensures consistency and reliability in building and deploying new development environments.
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Devops Engineer – Career and Skills
DevOps Engineer is a position that arises due to the practical needs of the work of developing and operating software products.
In general, the main work of DevOps Engineer is very close to the work of System Administrator (Sysadmin), including: deploy, optimizing, monitoring, analysis, … The difference is:
– DevOps Engineer requires more soft skills, and must know to use coding and scripting to automate the system.
– DevOps Engineer also needs to find out about the stack used in the company products, to be able to review the bug, write common unit tests, and when developing the CI / CD process (the combined practices of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery and/or Continuous Deployment) it will deploy smoother. It can be said that DevOps Engineer is a “new style” Sysadmin.
Skills and personality needed for DevOps Engineers:
– With Dev, “Proficient” programming skills are required.
– In addition, to Ops, need to understand deeply and proficient in the operating system in use (Linux, Docker, …)
– In particular, people who work with DevOps must have good research capabilities to quickly find solutions and handle situations.
– As for personality of DevOps Engineer, care and meticulosity are the most important.
Challenges and Future Trends in DevOps Engineering:
A. Overcoming Cultural and Organizational Barriers:
One of the key challenges of DevOps is overcoming cultural and organizational barriers in traditional organizations. Changing the way development and operations teams work and think can encounter difficulties and resistance. To succeed, DevOps needs to create a positive interactive environment that fosters collaboration and information sharing between teams.
B. Scaling DevOps Practices in Large Enterprises:
Another challenge is scaling DevOps practices from small projects to large enterprises. Large enterprises with complex systems and scale may struggle to adapt and implement DevOps across the entire organization. To achieve this scalability, detailed planning, investment in suitable tools and processes, and commitment from all stakeholders are necessary.
C. Integrating Security and Compliance in the DevOps Process:
Security and compliance are crucial elements in the DevOps process. However, integrating security and compliance into the DevOps process can pose challenges. To ensure safety and compliance, DevOps needs to integrate security measures and risk assessment checks into the software development process while ensuring adherence to relevant regulations and standards.
D. Embracing Emerging Technologies and Trends:
In the future, DevOps needs to embrace emerging technologies and trends to continue evolving and improving performance. Technologies such as serverless computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and edge computing are becoming important trends in the industry. DevOps ensures that they stay updated and grasp these technologies and trends to leverage their benefits and potential.
Role and Responsibilities of a DevOps Engineer:
A. Overview of the role of a DevOps engineer:
A DevOps engineer plays a crucial role in ensuring smooth collaboration between the development and operations teams. Their role is to bridge the gap between these two teams, aiming for the common goal of delivering high-quality software and quick deployments.
B. Collaboration with the development and operations teams:
DevOps engineers need to create a conducive working environment between the development and operations teams. They must understand and meet the requirements of both teams while establishing appropriate workflows and tools to ensure continuous integration and efficient software deployments.
C. Continuous integration and deployment:
DevOps engineers are responsible for building and maintaining continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) processes. They utilize tools and techniques to automate testing, integration, and source code deployments, enhancing efficiency and ensuring stability throughout the software development process.
D. Infrastructure automation and configuration management:
DevOps engineers must employ tools and methods to automate infrastructure deployment and configuration management. They create infrastructure-as-code and utilize configuration management tools to ensure consistent and reliable processes for building and deploying new development environments.
E. Monitoring and incident response:
DevOps engineers are accountable for monitoring system activities and responding to incidents promptly. They utilize monitoring tools and log files to track application and infrastructure operations, detect issues, and implement timely resolutions.
F. Security considerations and compliance:
DevOps engineers need to evaluate and ensure the safety and compliance with regulations and standards related to information security and privacy. They implement security measures and perform risk assessments to safeguard the organization's systems and data. Additionally, DevOps engineers establish processes and controls for adhering to legal requirements and internal policies.
Devops toolchain
Because DevOps is a cultural and collaborative change (between software development, operating and testing teams), there is not only one “DevOps tool” but instead the tool chain DevOps covers many tools.
Usually, the DevOps tool chain used to do the job is suitable for one or more categories, which reflects the key aspects of software development and software delivery process:
Code – code development and approval, code management tools, code merging
Build – continuous integration tools and build status
Test – continuous testing tools, determining performance results that provide quick and timely feedback on business risks
Package – artifact repository, stages of application in pre-deployment
Release – change management, release approvals and automatic release
Configure – infrastructure configuration and management as well as infrastructure as code tools
Monitor – applications performance monitoring, end-user experience.
Source: Internet
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