The term "DevOps" is a portmanteau of "development" and "operations", and it represents a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). It aims to shorten the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality. DevOps is a culture, a movement, a philosophy, and a practice that emphasizes the collaboration and communication of both software developers and other IT professionals while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes.
DevOps is not a technology, but rather a methodology that ensures that both the development and operations go hand in hand. DevOps lifecycle is pictorially represented through an infinite loop, demonstrating the integration of developers and operation teams by automating infrastructure, workflows, and continuously measuring application performance.
Definition of DevOps
DevOps is a set of practices that works to automate and integrate the processes between software development and IT teams, so they can build, test, and release software faster and more reliably. The term DevOps was formed by combining the words 'development' and 'operations' and signifies a cultural shift that bridges the gap between development and operation teams, which historically functioned in siloes.
The DevOps model is inspired by the Agile software development methodology. It emphasizes people and culture, and seeks to improve collaboration between operations and development teams. DevOps implementations utilize technology—especially automation tools that can leverage an increasingly programmable and dynamic infrastructure from a life cycle perspective.
DevOps as a Culture
DevOps is more than just a set of processes and tools—it's a culture. It's about a shared understanding between developers and operations, and sharing responsibility for the software they build. That means increasing transparency, communication, and collaboration across development, IT/operations, and "the business".
DevOps culture is about a shared understanding between developers and operations. It's not just about making software and running it, but about building a culture where both sides understand each other's needs and work together to build software that works well and is maintainable.
DevOps as a Methodology
DevOps is also a methodology, a design philosophy, and a set of practices. It's about speeding up the development process through efficient communication, collaboration, and integration between software developers and IT operations teams. The goal is to make the process of designing, building, and delivering software as smooth and efficient as possible.
DevOps methodology focuses on constant testing and delivery. The idea is to catch bugs and other issues early in the development process. This requires a high degree of coordination between developers, who are typically responsible for writing code and testing it, and operations, who are typically responsible for deployment and maintenance.
History of DevOps
The concept of DevOps originated in 2007 with the "Agile System Administration" and "Agile Operations" movements. The term "DevOps" itself was coined in 2009 by Patrick Debois, who became one of its gurus. The methodology, however, has been in the industry for a long time in one form or another.
The idea behind this is to make developers more involved in the IT operations side – understanding the production environment, while the operations teams can make good use of developers’ knowledge to improve the production operations, making it more efficient.
DevOps and Agile
DevOps is often associated with Agile software development; both methodologies began as kinds of rebellious movements against the traditional waterfall project management model. While Agile software development has a longer history, dating back to the 1990s, DevOps culture is relatively new.
The two methodologies share common ground in philosophies, practices, and tools. Both emphasize automation, collaboration, frequent releases, and the ability to quickly respond to changes in the market or feedback from customers. They’re natural allies and often paired together.
Use Cases of DevOps
DevOps practices have become increasingly prevalent in the past few years, particularly among large tech companies and enterprises. The main use cases of DevOps include: software development, infrastructure management, and business process redesign.
Software development teams use DevOps practices to automate and streamline the software development and infrastructure management processes. They use coding, scripting, and process re-engineering to improve operational efficiency and create a more agile environment.
Software Development
In software development, DevOps focuses on shortening development cycles, increasing deployment frequency, and releasing to production faster. This is achieved by adopting agile practices that emphasize collaboration, customer feedback, small, rapid changes, and trust in the talented team to drive change.
DevOps practices enable developers to work on code in isolation, providing them with a full copy of the production environment on which to work. This approach allows developers to move faster, reduces the risk of errors, and reduces the time it takes to get changes into production.
Infrastructure Management
DevOps practices are also used in infrastructure management. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a type of IT infrastructure that operations teams can automatically manage and provision through code, rather than using a manual process. Infrastructure as Code is often referred to as programmable infrastructure.
DevOps teams use coding for automation of the infrastructure decisions, all the way from staging, deployment, to production. This enables a consistent environment across all stages of the delivery process, which in turn leads to a significant reduction in the number of errors.
Specific Examples of DevOps
Many organizations have successfully adopted DevOps practices. For example, Amazon has used DevOps to create a robust and resilient infrastructure that can handle the massive scale of their operations. Netflix is another company that has leveraged DevOps, particularly in its use of automated testing to improve software quality.
Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are also known for their use of DevOps practices. These companies have large, complex systems that require a high degree of coordination between development and operations teams. They have used DevOps to improve collaboration, streamline processes, and improve the quality and speed of software delivery.
Amazon
Amazon is a prime example of a company that has successfully adopted DevOps practices. They have a culture of "You build it, you run it", where developers are responsible for the day-to-day operation of their software in production. This has led to improved communication and collaboration between development and operations teams, and has helped Amazon scale its business rapidly and efficiently.
Amazon has also made extensive use of automation in its software delivery process. They have automated everything from server configuration to database provisioning, code deployments, and application monitoring. This has allowed them to reduce errors, increase efficiency, and deliver software more quickly and reliably.
Netflix
Netflix is another company that has embraced DevOps practices. They have a culture of "freedom and responsibility", where developers are given the freedom to make decisions and the responsibility to ensure their software works in production. This has led to a high degree of trust and collaboration between development and operations teams.
Netflix has also made extensive use of automated testing in its software delivery process. They have automated the testing of their software at every stage of the development process, from development to staging to production. This has allowed them to catch and fix bugs more quickly, improve the quality of their software, and deliver new features to their customers more quickly.
