DevOps Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a cloud-based delivery model for deploying, managing, and monitoring software applications.

It provides an software development infrastructure in the cloud that can be used to support the development and deployment. DevOps IaaS aims to automate applications’ developing, testing, deploying and operating.

How DevOps Infrastructure as a Service is Disrupting Traditional IT Architecture 

Traditional IT architecture is characterized by centralized operational control and management structure. This centralized structure imposes certain limitations on how IT can be engineered and how it can support business goals. 

DevOps Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is disrupting the traditional IT architecture by providing an infrastructure built on source code, eliminating the centralized operational control and management structure. 

This enables IT to be engineered more agile and responsive, allowing it to support business goals effectively. 

DevOps Transformation or Traditional Approach? When is an Organization Ready for the Modern Approach to IT? 

The answer to this question depends on several factors, including: 

  • The size of the organization 
  • Its business goals 
  • The state of its IT infrastructure

In general, however, an organization is ready for a DevOps transformation when it seeks to improve its agility and speed of delivery while also reducing costs. 

Several indicators can help organizations determine whether they are ready for a DevOps transformation. 

For example, suppose an organization is experiencing frequent outages or delays in releases. In that case, this may be a sign that its current IT infrastructure for software development cannot meet its business’s demands. 

In addition, if an organization is struggling to keep up with the pace of change in the market or frequently making changes to its IT infrastructure for software development without a clear plan or strategy, this may also be a sign that a DevOps transformation is needed. 

The Advantages of a DevOps Environment 

1. Reduced Costs

By automating the process of developing, testing, deploying, and operating applications, DevOps IaaS can reduce the costs associated with these activities. 

2. Increased Speed and flexibility

By automating these processes, DevOps IaaS can speed up the development process and allow greater flexibility in how applications are deployed. 

3. Increased Quality and Security

By automating these processes, DevOps IaaS can help ensure that applications are developed with high quality and security standards. 

4. Greater Interoperability

By automating these processes, DevOps IaaS can help enhance the interoperability of different applications. 

5. Reduced Stress on Developers and Operators

By automating these processes, DevOps IaaS can reduce the stress placed on developers and operators when performing these activities. 

Achieving Continuous Delivery with an Automated CI/CD Pipeline for Your Applications

Continuous Delivery (CD) is a DevOps culture-driven way of delivering software products that ensures the quality and consistency of the product. It is a crucial principle of continuous integration and continuous deployment. 

CI/CD is a software delivery process that automates applications’ build, test, and deploy cycles. It ensures that all code changes are integrated and tested before they are released to the end users. 

With an automated CI/CD pipeline, you can achieve continuous delivery for your applications. This means that your software can be released regularly and with consistent quality. 

There are several CI/CD tools available, but arguably the most popular is Jenkins. Jenkins is a Java-based integrated development environment (IDE) that lets you automate your applications’ build, test, and deployment cycle. You can also manage your code repositories and deploy your applications to remote servers. 

To get started with CI/CD in your project: 

  • You first need to set up a Jenkins server. Once you have set up Jenkins, you can configure it to work with your application sources (code repositories) and build systems (compilers and linkers). You can create jobs that automatically build, test, and deploy your code changes. Several pre-made Jenkins projects available online will help you start CI/CD. You can find a few of these projects on the Jenkins website.
  • Once you have set up your CI/CD pipeline, you must ensure that your development and production environments are configured to work together. This involves installing an automated system for deploying your applications to the correct servers. One way to achieve this is to use a deployment pipeline manager, such as Ansible or Puppet. These tools let you define scripts that automatically deploy your applications to the correct servers.
  • Once you have set up your CI/CD pipeline and deployed your applications, you will need to monitor them for quality assurance (QA). This involves continuously testing your code changes and verifying that they are released in a quality manner. With an automated CI/CD pipeline, you can achieve continuous delivery for your applications. This means that your software can be released regularly and with consistent quality.

By monitoring and managing your code quality and automating the build, test, and deploy process, you can ensure that your applications remain high quality and compliant with industry best practices. 

How to Implement a Continuous Delivery Strategy with IaaS Tools 

There is no single answer to this question, as the best IaaS tools for CI/CD will vary depending on your specific needs. However, some of the most popular IaaS tools for CI/CD include: 

  • Jenkins 
  • Amazon AWS 
  • IBM Bluemix 
  • Microsoft Azure 

You must determine your project’s requirements to implement a CI/CD strategy with these tools. For example, Amazon AWS is popular for deploying and managing web applications, while Jenkins is more suited for building and testing software applications. 

Once you have determined your project’s requirements, you can begin setting up your CI/CD environment. To do this, you will need to: 

  • Create a Jenkins job configuration file (job.xml) and configure your IaaS tool to launch the job when a change is made to a source code repository 
  • Create a source code repository that is automatically built and tested using your CI/CD tool. This can be done using a continuous integration (CI) tool such as Jenkins or Bitbucket Pipelines 
  • Configure your environment to deploy changes automatically to the target platform(s). This can be done using either a continuous deployment (CD) tool such as Puppet or Chef or an automated deployment tool such as Azure Automation or AWS CloudFormation 

Related Article : DevOps Tools

In Review 

CI/CD pipelines are a powerful tool for automating your applications’ build, test and deploy cycle. You can achieve continuous delivery for your applications by automating these processes. 

This means that your software can be released regularly and with consistent quality. Thus, you can ensure that your applications remain high quality and compliant with industry best practices by: 

  • Monitoring and managing your code quality 
  • Automating the build, test, and deploy process 

Want to learn more about how, DevOps as a service can super-charge your business goals? Talk to us !