DevOps is a software development approach that combines development and operations to optimize the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC) by emphasizing communication, collaboration, and automation. It enables development and operations teams to work together effectively and efficiently, resulting in faster delivery of high-quality software.

DevOps results in continuous development, testing, integration, deployment, and monitoring of the software throughout the lifecycle. (i.e. DevOps is the combination of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that increases an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services at high velocity: evolving and improving products at a faster pace than organizations using traditional software development and infrastructure management processes.) DevOps is all about the unification and automation of processes, and usually work within an Agile environment.

AWS - What is DevOps?

simplilearn - DevOps interview questions

DevOps offers several benefits, including:

• Speed: Faster time-to-market for software products
• Improved collaboration between development and operations teams
• Increased reliability and stability of software systems
• Faster detection and resolution of issues and defects
• Improved customer satisfaction

DevOps provides several benefits for businesses, including:

• Lower development costs
• Rapid delivery: Faster delivery of software products
• Improved quality of software products
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Improved employee satisfaction and retention

Improves the efficiency and quality of software development, delivery, and deployment.

(Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) = Ability to build and test changes, add to repositories, and deploy updates quickly and efficiently.)

Atlassian - DevOps

The role of a DevOps Engineer involves developing and implementing processes and tools to automate the SDLC. They are responsible for designing, building, testing, and deploying software applications, as well as monitoring and maintaining them. They are also responsible for identifying and resolving issues and defects, and continuously improving the SDLC.

A DevOps engineer introduces processes, tools, and methodologies to balance needs throughout the software development life cycle, from coding and deployment, to maintenance and updates. DevOps Engineers are software professionals who understands all aspects of software development and delivery.

RedHat - Who is a DevOps Engineer?

Their main point of contact will be the sofware Development and IT Operations teams. DevOps Engineers work with various teams, including:

• Developers
• Operations teams
• Quality assurance teams
• Business analysts
• Project managers
• Technical support teams

A DevOps Engineer interacts with various teams, including:

• Infrastructure teams
• Security teams
• Database teams
• Network teams
• Cloud service providers

The common deliverables of a DevOps Engineer include:

• Automated builds and deployments
  • Using automation tools to automatically build and deploy software applications to streamline the software development process and improve the efficiency, consistency, and reliability of software releases. (e.g. using Jenkins) CI/CD pipelines, creating scripts and workflows that enable software to be built and deployed automatically and quickly.
• Infrastructure as code
  • DevOps engineers create scripts, templates, and other configuration files to define infrastructure resources, such as servers, networks, and storage, as code. They work with development and operations teams to automate the process of deploying and managing infrastructure resources through code. They also ensure that the infrastructure is deployed and managed consistently across different environments, such as development, staging, and production.
• Continuous integration and delivery pipelines
  • DevOps engineers are responsible for designing, building, and maintaining continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. A CI/CD pipeline is a series of automated steps that code changes go through from development to production to ensure that code changes are thoroughly tested, integrated, and deployed in a timely and automated manner.
• Monitoring and logging tools
  • DevOps engineers use monitoring and logging tools to ensure the health and availability of the system they are responsible for. They configure and set up monitoring and logging tools to collect and analyze system logs, metrics, and events. Also used to analyze system performance and identify opportunities for optimization.
• Disaster recovery plans
  • DevOps Engineers play a critical role in ensuring that disaster recovery plans are effective and reliable. By designing and implementing highly available and fault-tolerant systems; developing, testing, and automating DRP procedures; and monitoring and managing DRP execution.
• Security policies and procedures
  • DevOps engineers work with security policies and procedures to ensure that the software development process adheres to the organization's security standards and regulations while in collaboration with security teams to identify potential vulnerabilities and threats in the software development lifecycle and implement measures to mitigate them.

• Improved efficiency and productivity of software development teams
• Increased software quality and reliability
• Faster delivery of software products
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Lower development costs

DevOps Engineers play a critical role in the SDLC by integrating development and operations teams and automating the process. They work closely with development teams to ensure that software is designed, built, and tested in a way that is consistent with operational requirements. They also work with operations teams to ensure that software is deployed and maintained in a way that is reliable and scalable.

There are several career paths for DevOps Engineers, including:

• DevOps Architect
• Site Reliability Engineer
• Infrastructure Engineer
• Cloud Engineer
• Technical Project Manager

Cloud computing is a computing model that allows access to shared computing resources, such as servers, storage, and applications, over a network. Cloud computing enables organizations to use computing resources on demand, without having to invest in and maintain their own infrastructure.

Netflix uses DevOps to deliver high-quality streaming content to its customers. The company has developed a suite of tools and processes that enable continuous delivery of software updates and improvements. This has enabled Netflix to rapidly respond to customer needs and stay ahead of the competition.

Netflix case study

Amazon uses DevOps to deliver its e-commerce services and AWS cloud computing platform. The company has developed a comprehensive set of tools and processes for automating the SDLC, including continuous integration and delivery pipelines, infrastructure as code, and automated testing and deployment. This has enabled Amazon to rapidly deploy new features and services to its customers, while maintaining high levels of reliability and security.

Amazon case study

Tools for DevOps by Amazon

BBC, a British public service broadcaster, uses DevOps to deliver its online and digital services. The company has developed a comprehensive set of tools and processes for automating the SDLC, including continuous integration and delivery, infrastructure as code, and automated testing and deployment. This has enabled BBC to rapidly deploy new features and services to its customers, while maintaining high levels of reliability and security. BBC also uses DevOps to optimize its cloud infrastructure and data management, which has enabled the company to improve efficiency and reduce costs. As a result, BBC has been able to provide a seamless user experience to its customers, while keeping up with the constantly evolving digital landscape.

BBC case study