DevOps

DevOps is a set of practices that combines (Dev) and (Ops) which aims to shorten the and provide with high .

Academics and practitioners have not developed a unique definition for the term "DevOps."[d]

From an academic perspective, , , and — three computer science researchers from the and the — suggested defining DevOps as "a set of practices intended to reduce the time between committing a change to a system and the change being placed into normal production, while ensuring high quality".[6]

The term DevOps, however, has been used in multiple contexts.]

In 2009, the first conference named devopsdays was held in , . The conference was founded by Belgian consultant, project manager and agile practitioner Patrick Debois.]

In 2012, the State of DevOps report was conceived and launched by Alanna Brown at Puppet. As of 2014, the annual State of DevOps report was published by Nicole Forsgren, Gene Kim, Jez Humble and others.
In 2014, they found that DevOps adoption was accelerating.[13]
Also in 2014, Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory wrote the book More Agile Testing, containing a chapter on testing and DevOps.

As DevOps is intended to be a cross-functional mode of working, those who practice the methodology use different sets of tools—referred to as ""—rather than a single one.[]]

Some categories are more essential in a DevOps toolchain than others; especially continuous integration (e.g. , , pipelines) and infrastructure as code (e.g., , , ).]]

Forsgren et al. found that IT performance is strongly correlated with DevOps practices like and .[13]

Agile[]

Agile and DevOps serve complementary roles: several standard DevOps practices such as automated build and test, , and originated in the Agile world, which dates (informally) to the 1990s, and formally to 2001. Also, DevOps has focus on the deployment of developed software, whether it is developed via Agile or other methodologies.[22].

ArchOps[]

ArchOps presents an extension for DevOps practice, starting from artifacts, instead of source code, for operation deployment.[24]. ArchOps states that architectural models are first-class entities in software development, deployment, and operations.

TestOps[]

TestOps is to hardware development what DevOps is to software development. The idea is a toolchain that links design and test operations together. In the case of hardware, design means tools and the department, and test means electronic measurement equipment like oscilloscopes and so on.[25]

Continuous delivery[]

Continuous delivery and DevOps have common goals and are often used in conjunction, but there are subtle differences.

While continuous delivery is focused on automating the processes in , DevOps also focuses on the organizational change to support great collaboration between the many functions involved.[26]

DevOps and continuous delivery share a common background in and : small and frequent changes with focused value to the end customer.] and continuous delivery are fundamental to delivering value faster, in a sustainable way.[14]
Continuous delivery focuses on making sure the software is always in a releasable state throughout its lifecycle.

Improved collaboration and communication both between and within organizational teams can help achieve faster , with reduced risks.

DataOps[]

The application of continuous delivery and DevOps to data analytics has been termed DataOps. DataOps seeks to integrate data engineering, data integration, data quality, data security, and data privacy with operations.] It applies principles from DevOps, and the , used in , to improve the cycle time of extracting value from data analytics.]

Site-reliability engineering[]

In 2003, developed (SRE), an approach for releasing new features continuously into large-scale high-availability systems while maintaining high-quality end-user experience.[]

Systems administration[]

This section needs expansion. You can help by . (June 2018)

DevOps is often viewed as an approach to applying work to cloud technology.[35]

WinOps[]

is the term used for DevOps practices for a Microsoft-centric view.[]

Toyota production system, lean thinking, kaizen[]

Toyota production system, TPS, implemented , , and early. The to create fast feedback, swarm and solve problems stems from TPS.

DevSecOps, Shifting Security Left[]

DevSecOps is an augmentation of DevOps to allow for security practices to be integrated into the DevOps approach. The traditional centralised security team model must adopt a federated model allowing each delivery team the ability to factor in the correct security controls into their DevOps practices.

IT performance can be measured in terms of throughput and stability. [13]
Throughput can be measured by deployment frequency and lead time for changes; stability can be measured by mean time to recover. The State of DevOps Reports found that investing in practices that increase these throughput and stability measures increase IT performance.

The goals of DevOps span the entire delivery pipeline. They include:[]

• Improved deployment frequency;


• Faster ;


• Lower failure rate of new releases;


• Shortened lead time between fixes;


• Faster mean time to recovery (in the event of a new release crashing or otherwise disabling the current system).

Simple processes become increasingly programmable and dynamic, using a DevOps approach.] DevOps aims to maximize the predictability, efficiency, security, and maintainability of operational processes.[] Very often, automation supports this objective.

DevOps integration targets , , , feature development, and in order to improve reliability and security and provide faster and cycles.[] Many of the ideas (and people) involved in DevOps came from the and movements.]

Practices that correlate with deployment frequency are:[13]

• Continuous delivery


• Using version control for all production artifacts

Practices that correlate with a lead time for change are:[13]

• Using version control for all production artifacts


• Automated testing

Practices that correlate with a mean time to recovery for change are:[13]

• Using version control for all production artifacts


• Monitoring system and application health

Companies that practice DevOps[] have reported significant benefits, including: significantly shorter , improved customer satisfaction, better product quality, more reliable releases, improved productivity and efficiency, and the increased ability to build the right product by fast experimentation.[29]

The 2014 State of DevOps Report found that "IT performance strongly correlates with well-known DevOps practices such as the use of version
control and continuous delivery."[13]

There is a lack of evidence in academic literature on the effectiveness of DevOps.

DevOps initiatives can create cultural changes in companies , , and collaborate during the development and delivery processes.

DevOps as a job title[]

While DevOps describes an approach to work rather than a distinct role (like ), job advertisements are increasingly using terms like "DevOps Engineer".][45]

While DevOps reflects complex topics, the DevOps community uses analogies to communicate important concepts,[ ] much like "" from the open-source community.[46]

• Cattle not Pets: the paradigm of disposable server infrastructure.[47]


• 10 deployments per day: the story of Flickr adopting DevOps.

Building a DevOps culture[]

Organizational culture is a strong predictor of IT and organizational performance. Cultural practices such as information flow, collaboration, shared responsibilities, learning from failures and new ideas are central to DevOps. activities are often used to create an environment that fosters this communication and cultural change within an organization., trust activities, and employee engagement seminars.]

The 2015 State of DevOps Report discovered that the top seven measures with the strongest correlation to organizational culture are:
1. Organizational investment in DevOps:[14]
2. Team leaders' experience and effectiveness.
3. Continuous delivery.
4. The ability of different disciplines (development, operations, and infosec) to achieve
win-win outcomes.
5. Organizational performance.
6. Deployment pain.
7. Lean management practices.

Companies with very frequent releases may require knowledge on DevOps.[] For example, the company that operates image hosting website developed a DevOps approach to support ten deployments a day.] Daily deployment is referred to as ] or ] and has been associated with the methodology.] and have formed on the topic since 2009.]]

Architecturally significant requirements[]

To practice DevOps effectively, software applications have to meet a set of (ASRs), such as: deployability, modifiability, testability, and monitorability.[56] These ASRs require a high priority and cannot be traded off lightly.

Microservices[]

Although in principle it is possible to practice DevOps with any architectural style, the architectural style is becoming the standard for building continuously deployed systems. hence reducing the need for a big upfront design,[] allows for releasing the software early[] and continuously.

DevOps automation[]

DevOps automation can be achieved by repackaging platforms, systems, and applications into reusable building blocks through the use of technologies such as and .][59]

Implementation of DevOps automation in the IT-organization is heavily dependent on tools,[] which are required[] to cover different areas of the (SDLC):

Some articles in the DevOps literature assume or recommend significant participation in DevOps initiatives from outside an organization's department, e.g.: "DevOps is just the principle, taken to the full enterprise."]

In a survey published in January 2016 by the SaaS cloud-computing company , DevOps adoption increased from 66 percent in 2015 to 74 percent in 2016.[] And among larger enterprise organizations, DevOps adoption is even higher – 81 percent.]

Adoption of DevOps is being driven by many factors – including:[]