What is DevOps?

DevOps Overview

DevOps practices have become an integral part of software development with developers and operations teams communicating and collaborating to enable the rapid release of software applications. By adopting a DevOps framework, developers can work with operations to understand how their code can affect builds, testing, distribution, vulnerability detection and remediation. 

At the same time, operations teams want to work with developers to create an automated, transparent self service software development environment and pipeline that lets them concentrate on writing code without wasting time on redundant operational and security tasks. By adopting the right infrastructure and tools, DevOp teams can ensure that source code, binaries, and all their dependencies are up-to-date and secure at every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

The Concept of DevOps

The increasing importance of software development and adoption of new technologies used specifically in development environments, made it clear to IT departments that a specialized team was required to deal specifically with software production covering every stage of the software supply chain. As opposed to IT, the concept of DevOps is that  a dedicated team is required to ensure that all the stages or software development, from coding through to installation on the end user’s machine.  

In general, building an effective DevOps program should be based on these three pillars: 

• Deployment of the right technologies and tools 
• Documentation and  implementation of best practices
• Fostering of DevOps culture

In addition to upholding these pillars, on a more tangible level, DevOp teams are responsible for maintaining the development infrastructure, providing tools and services for developers, creating test and build environments, enabling distribution using continuous CI/CD delivery mechanisms and overall application security.

Key Principles of DevOps

The key goals that guide DevOps activities should be based on:

• Speed
• Efficiency
• Quality
• Security

In order to achieve these goals, it is recommended to adopt the following principles as part of your development operations:

End-to-End Responsibility

Accepting responsibility for every stage of the software supply chain from coding, through test & build, distribution and runtime – sometimes known as “you build it, you run it”

Global Support

Building environments, tools and processes that can be easily replicated and scaled to serve multiple development sites regardless of their geographical location.

Central Control & Visibility

Gain full control and have total visibility across the entire software supply chain with granular information regarding software artifacts, processes and potential vulnerabilities.

Continuous Updates

Supporting all stages of the SDLC by leveraging continuous integration of updated code, binaries and dependencies into applications after they are released.  

From a process perspective, DevOps teams need to provide full monitoring and troubleshooting of production systems, while encouraging adoption of new technologies and creation of feedback loops to continuously improve development operations.

Importance of DevOps

A strong DevOps practice benefits organizations in many ways, with each stakeholder focusing on what is most important from their perspective. For example, executives may look at the increased revenues and reduced costs that efficient DevOps brings, while an R&D manager may be more interested in faster release cycles and security professionals concerned with reducing the number of potential vulnerabilities.

Benefits of DevOps

Below is a list describing some of the main benefits that organizations enjoy when implementing an effective, robust and efficient DevOps program:

DevOps Methodology

Methodology plays a crucial role in DevOps, providing a structured approach that enables teams to work collaboratively and efficiently. By adhering to well-defined methodologies, organizations can streamline their software development and delivery processes, ensuring consistency, reducing errors, and enhancing overall productivity. A robust methodology in DevOps helps to align development and operations teams, fostering a culture of shared responsibility and continuous improvement, which is essential for delivering high-quality software at speed and scale.

The 3 phases of development can be broken down into the 7 stages of the software supply chain.

The Seven Stages of Development

As most applications leverage Open Source and third party components in their applications, it’s important to realize that the software supply chain actually starts before a line of code is written, and ends with a consumer who benefits from the capabilities and features of the software. In terms of the software supply chain, there are three basic phases of software production:

Coding – Includes original source code as well as third party and open source packages used by the developer.

Build & Test – Includes compilation of code into binaries and extensive testing resulting in promotion of specific versions to release candidates.

Deployment –  Packaging of an approved version including all necessary dependencies and distribution to users running the software in their local environment.

Per the diagram below, these phases can be further subdivided into stages that result in the seven stages of development that shape DevOps approach, methodologies and processes.

Key Practices of DevOps

In DevOps methodology, several key practices are instrumental in achieving seamless collaboration and efficient software delivery. One of the most fundamental practices is Continuous Integration (CI)  and Continuous Deployment (CD), where developers can frequently submit code changes into a shared repository which is then passed through an automated testing phase before it is deployed to production or merged into the main branch of code. This practice enables rapid and frequent releases, allowing organizations to deliver bug fixes and new feature updates to users quickly and efficiently. 

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a growing practice in DevOps, where the infrastructure required for software deployment is defined and managed using code. This approach allows for version control, automated provisioning, and consistent environment configurations. By treating infrastructure as code, teams can easily replicate and scale environments, reducing manual effort and the risk of human error. IaC also facilitates better collaboration between development and operations teams, as both can have control of the same codebase to define and manage the infrastructure.

For cloud environments a key practice is taking a cloud-native approach to building, deploying, and managing applications. By enabling highly scalable, flexible, and resilient applications within a cloud infrastructure produces the best results.

DevOps Culture

A DevOps culture is all about automation, communication, accountability, shared responsibility, and increased collaboration. With development, IT, operations and security working together as one team, this culture should engender a safe environment that allows for trial and error, with an emphasis on early feedback and continuous learning. 

Building a collaborative and agile culture

Building a collaborative and agile culture is important in DevOps because it breaks down traditional silos between development, operations and security teams and fosters a shared sense of responsibility and mutual trust. This cultural shift is crucial for DevOps success for several reasons:

1. Encouraging open communication and knowledge sharing, enables teams to work together more effectively. 
2. When developers and operations personnel collaborate closely, they gain a deeper understanding of each other’s challenges
3. It enables solutions created jointly by multiple teams that address developmental, operational and security requirements.

Ultimately, a collaborative and agile culture is the basis for successful DevOps operations, as it fosters an environment where continuous improvement is not just a goal but a way of life. Teams are empowered to experiment, learn from failures, and iteratively refine their processes and tools. This cultural transformation leads to higher job satisfaction, improved productivity, and the delivery of high-quality software that drives business success.

Importance of communication and teamwork

The importance of communication and teamwork in DevOps culture cannot be overstated. Effective communication is at the core of DevOps success, as it ensures that all team members are aligned and working towards the same goals. Clear, open, and frequent communication helps to break down barriers between development and operations teams, fostering a shared understanding of objectives, challenges, and progress. 

Teamwork is equally as crucial, as it encourages a collective sense of ownership and responsibility for the entire software delivery lifecycle. When teams collaborate closely, they can leverage each other’s strengths and expertise to overcome obstacles and innovate more effectively. This cooperative approach promotes a “we’re in this together” mindset, where successes are celebrated collectively, and failures are seen as opportunities for shared learning and growth.

Getting Development, Operations and Security working together is key to DevOps success

DevOps Best Practices

DevOps standards and best practices should be tailored to the needs of each organization.  That said, it is important that all the teams involved with software development share a well defined set of best practices, to ensure delivery of quality, scalable and secure software. Here are a number of suggested best practices that should be applicable to most software development operations.

Full Operational Visibility

Full operational visibility is a critical component of DevOps best practices, as it enables teams to have a comprehensive understanding of their systems and processes. This visibility involves monitoring and tracking all aspects of the software delivery lifecycle, from development and testing to deployment and operations. By having real-time insights into system performance, resource utilization, and user interactions, teams can proactively identify and address issues before they become major problems.

Developer Transparency

Keeping operations and security transparent to software developers is not just about sharing information; it’s about creating a culture of shared responsibility, informed decision-making, and continuous improvement. This transparency is key to building the trust and collaboration that result in the robust, secure, and efficient production of software applications.

Artifact Management

Software artifact management is a cornerstone of effective DevOps practices, offering a single source of truth regarding the composition of a software application and numerous operational benefits that streamline workflows and enhance software quality. By ensuring consistent and reliable artifact usage across all environments, teams can minimize issues, detect potential vulnerabilities, remediate security breaches and boost overall deployment reliability. 

Task Automation

Manual tasks and processes are error-prone and not scalable. Moreover, repetitive operational and security tasks are often assigned to developers which degrade development efficiency. As a rule, everything that can be automated, should be automated including: Curation of open source packages, scanning of code and binaries for potential vulnerabilities, testing procedures and deployment processes. In the end, automation should result in both minimizing development errors and increasing operational efficiency.

Continuous Integration/Delivery (CI/CD)

CI/CD automates the process of integrating code changes from multiple contributors into a shared repository and deploying those changes to production environments. This process accelerates the software delivery by reducing time-to-market and delivery of updates to users, enabling organizations to respond quickly to market demands, while reducing the risk of errors and vulnerabilities making it into production. 

Platform Adoption and Tool Consolidation

A centralized platform ensures that all team members are aligned around a single source of truth, and working together to reduce errors and prevent potential security risks based on access to correct source code, third party open source packages, binaries, infrastructure configuration data and other key dependencies of a particular application. By standardizing on a platform, organizations also benefit from better governance, security, and compliance, as the platform can enforce licensing policies and provide an SBOM with a complete inventory of software components that is acceptable to regulatory authorities.

Consolidating tools reduces the complexity and overhead associated with managing multiple, disparate solutions. With a consolidated toolset, teams can minimize context switching and simplify their workflows, leading to improved productivity. Consolidating tools can also result in significant cost savings by eliminating unused licenses, reducing maintenance  and simplifying vendor management.

DevOps Tools and Technologies

Tools and technologies play a pivotal role in the successful implementation of DevOps practices. They are capable of automating and streamlining each stage of development, from coding and testing to deployment and runtime monitoring. By leveraging the right tools, teams can enhance collaboration, improve efficiency, and ensure the reliability and quality of their software.

These tools facilitate continuous integration delivery and deployment, enabling organizations to deliver software faster and with fewer errors. Moreover, they provide visibility and control over the entire DevOps pipeline, helping teams to identify and resolve issues quickly, and ultimately drive business agility and innovation.

Introduction to popular DevOps tools

DevOps tools are instrumental in facilitating the collaboration and automation that define modern software development practices. These tools span various stages of the software development lifecycle, from coding and building to testing, deployment, and monitoring.

Source Code Management

Git is a distributed version control system that is widely used for tracking changes in source code during software development. It is known for its speed, flexibility, and robust branching and merging capabilities, and  is the foundation for many other tools and platforms.

GitHub is a web-based hosting service for version control using Git. It provides access control and several collaboration features such as bug tracking, feature requests, task management, and wikis for every project. It is widely used in the open-source community and by businesses for private repositories.

CI/CD

Jenkins is an open-source automation server that is widely used for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). It allows developers to automate various stages of the software development lifecycle, including building, testing, and deploying code. Jenkins is highly extensible with a vast ecosystem of plugins, making it adaptable to a wide range of use cases and development environments..

CircleCI is a cloud-based CI/CD platform that focuses on speed and simplicity. It offers a powerful and flexible configuration system that allows developers to define their build, test, and deployment processes. It supports a wide range of frameworks and provides features like parallelism, caching, and integration with leading version control systems.

Artifact Management

For managing artifacts, JFrog Artifactory is one of the leading universal repository managers that supports all major packaging formats and provides a centralized location for storing and managing binary artifacts, ensuring that teams can easily access and share dependencies. It is the centerpiece of the JFrog Platform which enables end-to-end visibility, full control, advanced security, distribution, automation and scalability across the entire software supply chain.  

Sonatype Nexus Repository is a popular artifact management solution that supports a wide range of formats, and offers features such as repository health checks, security scanning, and integration with leading DevOps tools.

Security Management

Veracode is a leading application security platform that provides a comprehensive suite of tools for identifying and mitigating security vulnerabilities in software and helps organizations ensure their applications are secure throughout the software development lifecycle.

JFrog Xray provides basic and advanced security for scanning source code and binary files, while detecting potential vulnerabilities, contextual analysis and recommending practical steps for fast remediation of potential security threats.

Infrastructure Management

Terraform is an open-source infrastructure as code (IaC) tool that allows developers and DevOps teams to define and provision data center infrastructure using a declarative configuration language. It supports a wide range of cloud providers and services, enabling users to manage multi-cloud environments efficiently. 

Ansible is an open-source automation tool that simplifies the management of IT infrastructure, including configuration management, application deployment, and task automation. It uses a simple, human-readable language (YAML) to define automation tasks, making it accessible for both developers and system administrators.

Configuration Management

Puppet is an open-source configuration management tool that automates the process of managing the configuration of Unix-like and Microsoft Windows systems, using a declarative language to define the desired state of the system, and providing reporting and compliance features to help organizations meet their regulatory requirements.

Chef is an automation tool designed to streamline the management of server configurations. It uses a Ruby-based domain-specific language (DSL) to define IaC to ensure that systems are configured correctly and consistently. It supports a wide range of platforms and integrates well with leading cloud providers. 

Testing

Selenium is an open-source automation testing tool primarily used for web applications. It supports multiple programming languages such as Java, Python, C#, and Ruby. It allows testers to write scripts that automate browser actions, making it easier to test web applications across different platforms. 

TestRail is a web-based test case management tool designed to help teams manage and track their software testing efforts. It provides features for creating and organizing test cases, running tests, and tracking results, while integrating with leading issue tracking and automation tools.

These tools, among many others, enable implementation of DevOps practices that result in teams delivering high-quality software quickly, reliably and securely.

Choosing the Right Tools for Your Environment

 Selecting the best tools for a particular DevOps environment involves considering several criteria to ensure they align with your team’s needs and goals. Here are some key factors to consider in tool evaluation:

1. Functionality and Features:

• • Assess whether the tool’s capabilities match the specific requirements of your DevOps pipeline, such as continuous integration, continuous delivery, infrastructure as code, monitoring, and logging.
  • Ensure the tool supports the programming languages, frameworks, and platforms used by your organization.

2. Integration Capabilities:

• • Evaluate how well the tool integrates with your existing tech stack and existing tools in your ecosystem.
  • Check for compatibility with your version control systems, containerization platforms, cloud providers, and communication tools.

3. Scalability and Performance:

• • Consider the tool’s ability to scale with your team and projects as they grow.
  • Assess its performance in handling large codebases, high traffic, or complex infrastructure.

4. Ease of Use and Learning Curve:

• • Determine how intuitive and user-friendly the tool is for your team.
  • Consider the learning curve for new users and the availability of documentation, tutorials, and support.

5. Security and Compliance:

• • Evaluate the tool’s security features, such as access controls, encryption, and vulnerability management.
  • Ensure it complies with your organization’s security policies and industry regulations.

6. Cost and Licensing:

• • Consider the tool’s pricing model and whether it fits within your budget.
  • Assess the long-term costs, including licenses, subscriptions, and service fees.

7. Community and Support:

• • Evaluate the tool’s community size, activity, and contributions. A larger, more active community can provide better support and more resources.
  • Consider the quality and responsiveness of the tool’s official support channels.

8. Vendor Stability and Roadmap:

• • Assess the vendor’s reputation, financial stability, and commitment to the tool’s ongoing support and development.
  • Review the tool’s roadmap to ensure it aligns with your team’s future needs and broader DevOps trends.

By carefully considering these criteria, you can select tools that effectively support your DevOps environment, streamline your workflows, and drive successful project outcomes.

The JFrog platform provides full visibility and control of development, operations and security.

DevOps and the JFrog Platform

The Frog Platform is the single system of record for every software release. All software development inputs and outputs flow through the system and are monitored and managed by JFrog Artifactory, providing organizations complete visibility across the entire software supply chain. This central point of control is capable of standardizing, securing, and automating the process of delivering trusted software.

JFrog offers a universal set of DevOps tools that work with all major software technologies to accelerate the secure delivery of software packages, promoting them through quality gates and distributing them to runtime systems, while enabling end-to-end automation resulting in increased efficiency and faster release cycles.

The JFrog Platform’s approach to DevOps is based on the ability to provide full traceability, provenance, and prioritization capabilities that save time and enable a quick response to security incidents and prompt remediation of vulnerabilities. Continue to explore more topics related to DevOps using the links below, or see the platform in action by taking an online tour, scheduling a guided demo, or starting a free trial at your convenience.