What is DevOps?
Before the advent of DevOps, developers and system administrators were two different areas. The development team wrote the code and then handed it over to the system administration department to run and operate the written application.
It should be noted here that the motivations and goals of programmers and system administrators are completely different. The former focuses on the rapid implementation of new features, while the latter makes sure that the application runs smoothly.
But often the application works correctly on the developer’s computer, but when deployed in a productive environment to hundreds of servers, it does not. It turns out that, in fact, programmers do not participate in the application deployment process and do not understand this process, and system administrators, in turn, do not understand how the application works in order to properly install it and ensure its high availability for users.
John Willis, the author of books on DevOps, identifies four aspects on which, in his opinion, this concept is based on culture, automation, measurement, and knowledge sharing. Brian Dawson sees DevOps a little differently and defines it as people and culture, process and practice, tools and technology.
From a business point of view, DevOps has this description:
Improving the quality of your software by speeding up release cycles with cloud automation and practices, with the added benefit of software that actually stays up in production.
- The Register
Simply put, DevOps is about helping businesses deliver new versions of a software product as quickly as possible. And DevOps really works. Companies that have implemented DevOps principles release quality code much faster, respond to failures in a timely manner, and thereby significantly improve the quality of their applications.
DevOps is not a fad; rather it is the way successful organizations are industrializing the delivery of quality software today and will be the new baseline tomorrow and for years to come.
- Brian Dawson (Cloudbees)
