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DevOps and Cloud Computing go hand in hand. Why? You might ask. Well, DevOps focuses on streamlining development to expedite application production whereas Cloud Computing provides automated scaling and provisioning to accommodate changes in applications.
Unfortunately, many IT experts who practice DevOps in the cloud find themselves making avoidable mistakes. This is because they do not have a good understanding of best practices. DevOps and Cloud Computing are quite new. But, this problem might have more to do with individuals than technology.
To help you better understand DevOps and Cloud Computing, we have curated a list of best practices that you can follow. Read on to discover the dos and don’ts to follow when you are operating or implementing DevOps in the cloud.
1. Consider Containers
Containers serve as a path through which you can “componentize” applications. Containers make applications portable and easy to orchestrate and manage. As such, you should incorporate containers into both your DevOps and cloud strategy.
Invest some time in the technology to assess what works and what does not as you figure out how you will use those technologies. Moreover, ensure that you consider governance, orchestration tools, security, and cluster management as elements of your platform that leverage containers.
This is not to assert that containers will always be an ideal fit for how you construct and deploy applications. But, you will discover that it is refreshing when you consider the value and standards of this application architecture approach. You should also consider the enabling technology so that you do not miss the perks the technology can offer.
2. Continuous Deployment and Integration
Continuous deployment and continuous integration are two of the best techniques that make up DevOps best practices. DevOps in the cloud benefits from continuous integration and automated deployments. Both practices facilitate the frequent delivery of code by using an automated and well-defined deployment pipeline.
When it comes to effective integration and delivery:
- IBM UrbanCode Deploy™ provides an automation deployment framework that:
- Reduces the likeability of deployment errors and secures file sharing, and
- Improves traceability, efficiency, and correctness.
- IBM Tivoli™ Provisioning Manager offers a high-powered infrastructure. It automates:
- Virtual servers,
- Physical servers,
- Networks,
- Storage, and
- Software.
- IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager for OS Deployment automated the deployment of OSs (Operating Systems).
3. Keep Security in Mind
Security models in the cloud are ever-changing. As such, you will need to integrate identity-based technologies and security models. You will also need to extend security measures to the DevOps tools, as well as the DevOps organizations.
Security needs to be a part of the automated testing, and it should be part of continuous deployment and continuous integration processes. If you can afford it, appoint or hire a Chief Security Officer whose primary job description is to govern the security of DevOps in the cloud.
4. Do Not Forget About Automated Performance Testing
Most application performance issues in the cloud are a result of application design. A majority of these performance issues are not discovered in time. Thus, they make it into production, and users end up discovering and reporting them, which is a shame.
You should ensure that performance testing is a significant part of your automated testing. First, you should ensure that poor-performing applications do not go into production. Second, you should watch out for public cloud providers. Public cloud providers can try to account for performance hiccups by adding more resources. If this happens, you can end up with a huge cloud computing bill that will drain your pockets.
Automated performance testing enables the application to provide efficient use of resources and effective performance. These tests need to merge with
- Existing stability,
- Accuracy testing,
- User interfaces, and
- Existing testing for the APIs
5. Automate Configuration
You should automate configuration, especially for end-user access rights. Make sure that you make testing for configuration part of your verification process.
Certain platforms have powerful permission tests, as well as powerful profiles, that allow user access only to the correct information. The improper configuration is risky because it can expose PII (Personal Identifiable Information), medical health data, social security numbers, and credit card numbers.
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6. Do Not Force Every Application to the Cloud
When transferring your existing applications to the cloud, you should know that enterprises have innumerable applications to regard for migration. Before you make your selection, you should know that:
- It is unrealistic to transfer various applications to a cloud server because applications operate on traditional technology.
- The cost associated with transferring applications cannot be justified because of the extensive changes needed to host them in the cloud.
- Prioritize applications starting with those that have the potential of providing the most value to the organization if transferred to the cloud.
- Evaluate applications to find out the amount of work required to meet requirements.
7. Consider Making Your Applications Cloud-Native
To have the best cloud storage and take total advantage of cloud platforms, you must design applications in a manner that decouples them from physical resources. It is no secret that the cloud can provide a virtualization or abstraction layer between the application and the virtual and physical resources. But this is not good enough.
If you consider decoupled architecture in your design process and use underlying cloud resources in your application, you can improve your application by as much as 70 percent. For example, if a makes its application cloud-native, it will save money because it will only pay for the resources it is using. This is because applications that are compatible with the resources you use run faster, thus creating smaller bills.
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Add the Finishing Touches
Cloud-based computing has a plethora of benefits when used well. DevOps best practices allow you to monitor and govern your runtime environments. After implementing the above seven steps, you will be in a position to detect unauthorized changes caused by malicious human intent. Even better, you can handle incidences by reconstructing your applications when necessary.
Being able to rebuild your systems is an essential ability when you discover that individuals are facilitating free file sharing of corrupted files. You should understand that navigating cloud-based services is not easy. So, you need to be careful from when you start considering containers up until you choose to make your applications cloud-native.
Conclusion
DevOps has a powerful collection of practices and principles that can alleviate the challenges that are prevalent in cloud computing. If you are an IT expert that has made mistakes caused by avoidable reasons such as not knowing how to turn on online sync, do not fret. The above best practices will help you realize the capabilities and power of cloud-based computing.
