Establish CI/CD Pipelines in Software Development Using Cloud Engineering Services
Mon Oct 09 2023
Introduction
Software development has become more reliable, scalable, and agile with improved speed and enhanced security. Adopting continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices along with robust cloud engineering and infrastructure have streamlined application deployment, reduced downtime, minimized deployment costs, and maintained seamless integration. Cloud engineering ensures the delivery of high-quality applications, automating development and testing processes. Cloud infrastructure also offers diverse services, such as containerization and Infrastructure as Code (IaC), with the help of popular cloud service providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
Actors
01
The DevOps Team
They are responsible for writing high-quality tested codes and making changes to the code based on version control. They also monitor the overall performance of the production environment, system metrics, and logs.
02
CI/CD Server
Automates the process of code integration and application deployment in addition to running and building tests whenever there is a change in the code.
03
Build Server
It generates artifacts by compiling the source code. The source codes are complied with the execution of build scripts and manage dependencies.
04
Artifact Repository
It stores and manages versioned and built artifacts so developers can easily retrieve them during deployment. It also contains artifact metadata and dependencies.
05
Other Critical Actors
A few other crucial actors in this use case play different roles, such as a version control system for tracking changes made by developers, test automation frameworks for automation of additional tests, and a production environment for hosting live operational application versions.
Pre-Conditions
Establishing Cloud Infrastructure
Whether an AWS cloud engineer or an Azure cloud engineer, you must ensure that cloud infrastructure is provisioned and configured correctly. You must set up proper networks, virtual machines, and access controls that host CI/CD pipelines.
Source Code Repository
You must store the source code of a software development project in a version control system like Git. You must implement the best practices to branch, merge, and commit changes.
Build Tools
Cloud engineering solutions also ensure the project configuration with the best build tools like Gradle or Maven. Developers must place the build scripts to compile source code and generate artifacts appropriately.
Unit Tests
Unit tests are always integrated into the source code, and they play a pivotal role in validating the individual unit code’s functionality and ensuring its improved quality.
Post Conditions
Establishing CI/CD Pipeline
Developers can use various tools, such as GitLab CI/CD and Jenkins, to set up continuous integration and delivery pipelines. The pipeline provides an automated workflow to create tests and deploy software.
Automated Testing
Different automated tests, such as unit tests, functional tests, regression tests, etc., are integrated into the CI/CD pipelines. These tests are conducted to confirm that the code changes do not bring regressions.
Artifact Repository
The artifact repository, such as Artifactory or Nexus, has been configured to create artifacts. It ensures that all artifacts have been versioned, and you can easily retrieve them during development.
Deployment Targets
Cloud engineering services provide deployment targets, such as production environments and staging. You can easily define and access these deployment targets and ensure they replicate the production environment very closely.
Main Flow
Code Commit
AWS Cloud Engineers or Azure Cloud Engineers can unveil new features, fix bugs, commit changes, or make improvements after making the changes to the source code. These changes are visible in version control systems (VCS) like Git.
Triggering Action in CI/CD Pipeline
The changes in the source code lead to triggering action in the CI pipeline, which gets initiated automatically in response to a code commit. When the CI server identifies a new code commit, it pulls the latest code to initiate the CI process. The triggering of continuous delivery or CD begins after the completion of the CI trigger. The trigger ensures cloud engineers that the code changes have cleared all the necessary tests and are ready for the further deployment process.
Compiling the Source Code
Once the CI/CD pipeline pulls the latest version of the source code, it utilizes build tools like Gradle or Maven to compile it. The step ensures that the code is syntactically correct, and you can convert it into executable artifacts.
Performing Unit Tests
After successfully compiling the source code, the next job is to conduct unit testing extensively and verify the functionality of each code’s component or unit, ensuring that the components are working as expected.
Generating and Storing Artifacts
Once the tests get carried out successfully, the CI/CD pipeline generates build artifacts. These artifacts mainly include essential components, such as compiled binaries, libraries, and deployable units. Cloud security engineer helps to store the generated artifacts safely in the artifact repository. The artifact storage serves as a centralized data center that is easily accessible.
Deployment to Staging
Cloud engineering services with support from continuous delivery deploy the application to a staging environment, which closely replicates the production environment. However, you must note that both environments are separate and help developers conduct additional testing and validation processes.
Integration and User Acceptance Testing
Integration and user acceptance testing are performed during the staging environment to check if all system components are working properly and identify any issues that might occur during the integration process. UAT checks the software’s features and functionalities from the user’s perspective, ensuring everything works as expected.
Monitoring and Logging
CI/CD solutions help to deploy logging and monitoring tools in the production environment to track software’s performance to detect any anomaly during the process. It helps to maintain the application's health and increase its reliability.
Alternative Flow
- Failure of Testing - The AWS or Azure engineer may face circumstances when tests, such as unit, functional, integration, or UAT fail, leading to pipeline halts and interruptions. However, they may get notifications regarding the same to address the issue quickly and appropriately.
- Rollback Conditions - If the CI/CD pipeline detects any abnormality in the production environment, deployment, or post-deployment process, it initiates a rollback mechanism, where the application is reverted to its previous state or a stable version.
- Security Vulnerability -If the cloud security engineer identifies a security vulnerability in the code or dependency, he may ask the development team to conduct a security review and understand its nature and severity.
Conclusion
Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) tools have accelerated, automated, optimized, and simplified the software development process with comprehensive support from cloud engineering services. It has streamlined all phases, mainly build, testing, and deployment. It has enabled software developers to provide faster delivery of high-quality applications hassle-free and error-free. Combining DevOps practices with the CI/CD process has enhanced team collaboration and productivity, leading to a much more improved and reliable software development lifecycle.
Suggested TechStack
It is a free and open-source Java-based tool that provides scalability and flexibility during app development and is used for continuous integration and continuous delivery.
Popular cloud service providers that help to store and manage data on the cloud for real-time access and are integrated with a build tool from CI.
Another popular free and open-source software that can seamlessly integrate with other platforms and third-party tools through an API. It also configures deployment and release pipelines with GitLab.
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