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DevOps & Automation- Advantages Of DevOps

Automation is the key to realizing the philosophy of DevOps and in ensuring that it delivers. The underlying building blocks of DevOps are to ensure that the engineering platform is in place to facilitate continuous delivery, integration, and improvement.  Consider the following processes that have traditionally been carried out manually- Creating development, testing and production infrastructure and configuring networks Harnessing security and data protection Setting up, configuring and deploying software Testing and validation of data – data generated from the application and about the usage of the application Supporting infrastructure and the applications running on it – maintenance, upgrades and transitions In a traditional development scenario, each new environment has to be created from scratch and include all of the above processes, making it a very tedious and lengthy process. However, in a DevOps environment, releases are more frequent and time for testing and quality assurance is therefore much shorter. Performing all these tasks manually therefore severely undermines the efficacy of the DevOps approach. However, it is not just about making DevOps possible, it also has its own advantages. Unexpected errors in production still occur in manual builds as it is difficult to exactly replicate each environment. This in turn, increases the risk of errors occurring in production after testing has been carried out on non-identical pre-production systems. In today’s software world, it is all about productizing and replicating solutions. A product needs to be customized and deployed at a new client site within a really short period of time. Once deployed, the operations support team must be able to support with issues, bug fixes and day-to-day activities in a smooth manner. Similarly, a product deployed for one business domain must easily be configured and utilized by another industry. Such is the flexibility expected from software today. What’s more, in the traditional development cycle, each member of the team has a local copy of the code. When a developer implements a new feature or fixes a bug locally, once complete, the new code is committed back to a central repository. But in a team of developers and system operators, more than one individual can be following this process at the same time, unintentionally breaking the code or affecting another developer’s code. The rule of thumb is that the greater the human intervention, the more testing that will be required. Pre-production or development environments become non-standard which makes processes like testing or releasing new software versions more difficult to repeat and more prone to error. In worst-case scenarios, developers are left to re-invent the wheel each time they need to make changes in response to new business demands. The advantage of DevOps By creating a more responsive development environment that is closely aligned to business requirements and which removes human error from the project lifecycle, DevOps enables organizations to:  Reduce the implementation time of new services from months to minutes  Increase productivity of business and IT teams  Save costs on maintenance and upgrades, and eliminate unnecessary capital expenditure  Standardize processes for easy replication and faster delivery  Improve quality, reliability and reusability of all system components  Increase the rate of success for digitalization strategies and transformation projects  Ensure that money invested in cloud infrastructure, analytics and data management are not wasted Since it focuses on delivering value much earlier in a project lifecycle, DevOps can be seen as an ideal approach to national and government IT projects, as well as massive scale projects for the private sector. It helps accelerate new services through continuous improvement and operational flexibility, providing innovative and cost-effective ways for delivering value through new ways of development and operations. Devops course helps in automation of organization & more benefits
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DevOps & Automation- Advantages Of DevOps

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DevOps & Automation- Advantages Of DevOps

Automation is the key to realizing the philosophy of DevOps and in ensuring that it delivers. The underlying building blocks of DevOps are to ensure that the engineering platform is in place to facilitate continuous delivery, integration, and improvement. 

Consider the following processes that have traditionally been carried out manually-

  • Creating development, testing and production infrastructure and configuring networks
  • Harnessing security and data protection
  • Setting up, configuring and deploying software
  • Testing and validation of data – data generated from the application and about the usage of the application
  • Supporting infrastructure and the applications running on it – maintenance, upgrades and transitions

In a traditional development scenario, each new environment has to be created from scratch and include all of the above processes, making it a very tedious and lengthy process. However, in a DevOps environment, releases are more frequent and time for testing and quality assurance is therefore much shorter. Performing all these tasks manually therefore severely undermines the efficacy of the DevOps approach.

However, it is not just about making DevOps possible, it also has its own advantages. Unexpected errors in production still occur in manual builds as it is difficult to exactly replicate each environment. This in turn, increases the risk of errors occurring in production after testing has been carried out on non-identical pre-production systems. In today’s software world, it is all about productizing and replicating solutions. A product needs to be customized and deployed at a new client site within a really short period of time. Once deployed, the operations support team must be able to support with issues, bug fixes and day-to-day activities in a smooth manner. Similarly, a product deployed for one business domain must easily be configured and utilized by another industry. Such is the flexibility expected from software today.

What’s more, in the traditional development cycle, each member of the team has a local copy of the code. When a developer implements a new feature or fixes a bug locally, once complete, the new code is committed back to a central repository. But in a team of developers and system operators, more than one individual can be following this process at the same time, unintentionally breaking the code or affecting another developer’s code.

The rule of thumb is that the greater the human intervention, the more testing that will be required. Pre-production or development environments become non-standard which makes processes like testing or releasing new software versions more difficult to repeat and more prone to error. In worst-case scenarios, developers are left to re-invent the wheel each time they need to make changes in response to new business demands.

The advantage of DevOps

By creating a more responsive development environment that is closely aligned to business requirements and which removes human error from the project lifecycle, DevOps enables organizations to:

  •  Reduce the implementation time of new services from months to minutes
  •  Increase productivity of business and IT teams
  •  Save costs on maintenance and upgrades, and eliminate unnecessary capital expenditure
  •  Standardize processes for easy replication and faster delivery
  •  Improve quality, reliability and reusability of all system components
  •  Increase the rate of success for digitalization strategies and transformation projects
  •  Ensure that money invested in cloud infrastructure, analytics and data management are not wasted

Since it focuses on delivering value much earlier in a project lifecycle, DevOps can be seen as an ideal approach to national and government IT projects, as well as massive scale projects for the private sector. It helps accelerate new services through continuous improvement and operational flexibility, providing innovative and cost-effective ways for delivering value through new ways of development and operations. Devops course helps in automation of organization & more benefits

Rumesh

Rumesh Wijetunge

Chief Innovation Officer - Zaizi Limited, Chief Operating Officer - LearntIn (Pvt) Ltd., Director /

Rumesh is an IT business leader with over 12 years of industry experience as a business analyst and project manager. He is currently the CIO of Zaizi Limited, a UK based data management company heading the operations in Sri Lanka, the COO of LearntIn, a global training institute based in Sri Lanka and is also a lecturer / trainer at multiple private universities on management, IT, business analysis and project management subjects. He is the current president of the IIBA Sri Lanka chapter and is one of the most qualified and sought after trainers in Sri Lanka. Refer his LinkedIn profile for more details and to see more articles he has written on linkedin

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DevOps Engineer Salary

Before we start discussing the salary of DevOps Engineer, let’s understand what DevOps is? DevOps is a software development strategy which bridges the gap between the developers and the IT staff. It enables organizations to release small features very quickly and incorporate the feedback which they receive very quickly. Its benefits are less software failure and shortened the lead time between fixes.As a DevOps Engineer, you get a clear understanding of the Software Development Lifecycle along with various automation tools for developing digital pipelines (CI/CD pipelines). Glassdoor ranks DevOps at second among the 50 Best Jobs in America. But who can become a DevOps Engineer? The journey of becoming a DevOps Engineer is pretty long. However, you can become a DevOps Engineer even as a fresher. Further, working as a Developer, Ops person, Quality Assurance also prepares you to work in this role. The 2019 Tech Salary Report released by Dice shows that the salary of DevOps Engineer ranks in the Top 5 salaries with an average of $111,683.According to Experts, the popularity of DevOps is going to reach its peak in 2019. The above chart shows the Google trend for the term DevOps in the year 2019 projecting a hypothesis of its growth.Salary of DevOps EngineerWith all the skills and expertise as a DevOps Engineer, it is important for you to know where you stand in terms of salary. The salary you can earn as a DevOps Engineer in the major countries are as follows:CountriesCurrenciesSalary of DevOps Engineer (per annum)IndiaINR6,42,692UKPound Sterling40,883USAUSD92,054CanadaCAD76,357Experience also plays a pivotal role while determining your salary. Now let’s take a look at the experience-wise salary of DevOps Engineer across the globe:CountriesCurrenciesSalary of DevOps Engineer (per annum)Entry-levelMid-CareerExperiencedIndiaINR3,52,23310,47,56716,12,255UKPound Sterling29,59848,56160,629USAUSD72,966100,576117,161CanadaCAD61,19182,27789,198Further, the maximum and minimum salaries that DevOps Engineers earn in the above-mentioned countries can be seen in the following chart:CountriesCurrenciesMinimum Salary (per annum)Maximum Salary (per annum)IndiaINR3,07,00020,00,000UKPound Sterling26,00067,000USAUSD63,000134,000CanadaCAD55,00099,000Company-wise salary in various countriesAs we have seen the average as well as the minimum and maximum salary in the major countries, now let’s take a look at a company-wise salary in those countries. First, let’s take a look at the top companies hiring DevOps Engineers in India and the salary paid by them:Company NameAverage Salary (per annum in INR)Tata Consultancy Services4,92,545Accenture6,40,043IBM4,35,534Cognizant Technology Solutions4,43,759Amazon11,15,053Now, let’s take a look at the average salary paid by the top companies to DevOps Engineer in the United Kingdom:Company NameAverage Salary (per annum in £)Cloudreach35,222Accenture33,198KPMG58,575ClearScore55,827Sky44,642The top companies hiring DevOps Engineer in the United States and the salaries offered to them are as follows:Company NameAverage Salary (per annum in $)IBM112,432Cognizant Technology Solutions96,381Accenture107,086Amazon110,779Capital One100,344The following are the top companies hiring DevOps Engineer in Canada and the salaries offered to them are as follows:Company NameAverage Salary (per annum in CA$)IBM104,170Cloudreach74,068SAP105,500Blackberry89,500Global Relay83,544Why DevOps Engineers are paid highly?DevOps is one of the most spoken and popular terms in IT. As you can see in the above charts that apart from being in demand, DevOps can set you on a promising journey in terms of your career prospects. Now let’s take a look at a few reasons which make DevOps Engineer the most demanded job:1. High ROIDid you ever imagine why companies are ready to invest in paying high salaries to DevOps Engineers? The reason for the demand is high ROI. Implementation of DevOps helps an organisation to increase its annual profit, resulting in companies searching for such engineers.2. DevOps lead the futureReports tell that DevOps is going to remain an essential part of IT projects. This is another reason that leads to high demand in job. This increase in demand for hiring DevOps engineers as the experts believe that it’s going to be more vital for businesses in the future.3. It’s cloud-basedIn this era, when most of the applications are changing to cloud-based platforms, you might be glad to know that it’s important for you to have some DevOps experts by your side. The clouds and infrastructural processes applied through DevOps are complementary. Organisations need to deploy proper processes to successfully change the applications in the main platform. This is the core reason behind IT projects and businesses looking to hire DevOps Engineers.4. Triggers sufficiencyDevOps focuses on increasing the sufficiency. You are able to interact with the applications easily as well as all the changes are confirmed a fast as possible once you apply the practices and updates more frequently. This reduced reputation-threatening errors.5. CompetitiveAnother reason for DevOps’ demand is that it is capable of pushing you up the list. From IT-based company to business application company, DevOps can keep it going without fail.On a concluding noteTo conclude, a DevOps Engineer is equipped with the skills of testing, building, integrating, coding, and deployment along with problem-solving skills. Also, as a DevOps Engineer, you need to multitask and handle challenges that arise from multiple roles in order to justify your designation. It is suggestible to opt for a DevOps training with a reputed training provider and get DevOps certified to explore its benefits.The skills and expertise that you possess as a DevOps Engineer also makes you eligible to move towards a promising career with a good salary. This blog will give you a clear idea about the earning prospect around the globe as well as the top companies hiring DevOps Engineers across the globe. All the best for your DevOps career!
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DevOps Engineer Salary
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Top Devops Tools You Must Know

In the last decade for most of the enterprises, the term DevOps has transformed from just a buzzword to a way of working. The concept of DevOps originated in 2008 following a discussion on agile infrastructure by Patrick Debois and Andrew Clay Shafer. The idea started to gain momentum in 2009 after the first DevOpsDays in Belgium. What initially began as a practice to bring more efficiency in software infrastructure management, is now evolved into a continuous feedback model which has redefined every aspect of software development from requirement engineering to deployment. With this change, evolved new frameworks, practices and tools rooted in the core values of lean and agile. This paper discusses in detail the various tools that evolved during the DevOps movement. Readers would get a comprehensive understanding of what and where to apply these tools in their day to day DevOps journey.1. What is DevOps?DevOps is a culture where active collaboration between development, operations, and business teams are achieved. It’s not all about tools and DevOps in an organisation is to create value to end customer respecting human all team members. Tools are only aids to build this culture. DevOps increases organizations capability to deliver high-quality products or services at a swift pace. It automates all processes starting from build to deployment phase of an application. There are many tools available in the market to help us achieve this.2. What are the DevOps tools?DevOps tools are categorized into following categories:a. Collaboration Tools :DevOps teams rely on regular feedback and constant communication. Hence traditional email communication mechanism becomes less effective. Thus DevOps teams rely on more integrated collaboration suites that help in continuous communication and feedback loops. Some of these new generation collaboration tools include Slack, Teams, CA Flowdock etc.1. SlackSlack is a messaging tool for the teams providing a common place for all communications. We can set different channels for different kinds of work. Voice and video call options are also available with Slack. Atlassian and Slack have created a partnership and will be discontinuing other collaboration tools like Hipchat and Stride and will provide migration to Slack.Availability: Free version with limited features are available for users.For more details click here  2. CA FlowdockCA Flowdock is yet another collaboration tool from CA Technologies. It brings all conversations, chats, work items, etc to one place making it easier to prioritize work and solve problems.Availability: CA Flowdock is free for up to 5 member teams and free for non-profit organizations and student projects.Learn more about CA Flowdock here.     3. TeamsTeams is a unified communication platform by Microsoft. Teams combine workplace chats, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. The service also integrates with the company's existing Office 365 productivity suite and features extensions to integrate with non-Microsoft products and features.Availability: Teams is free for a small number of users.Learn more about Teams here.SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1.SlackIntuitiveSaaS productGood integration with other toolsThe video conferencing feature is not as great as its competitorsFreemium2.CA FlowdockEasy to configureIntegration with tools beyond CA tools is to be improvedFreemium for small users3.TeamOne stop shop -  Integrates file sharing, messaging, meetings, and other tools.Still early and could be a little buggyFreemium for small usersb. Top Application Life Management and Issue Tracking ToolsALM and planning tools help team members to plan their iterations by constantly getting feedback from the customers and prioritizing them. This helps to achieve visualisation of the works in hand, share plans, and track the progress. These tools make sure that all the team members are heard and addressed. Customer feedback is taken seriously and increases the responsiveness within the team. The tools enable teams to identify and track dependencies. It helps teams to plan their releases and sprints in a systematic way. Issue tracking tools enable features like auto triaging and assignment. Some of the tools are:1. JIRAJIRA is an issue tracking and project management tool from Atlassian. It could be used by small or large companies. Kanban and scrum boards which are simple and flexible are available with JIRA. It’s not free software.Availability: The pricing varies with the number of users.Learn more about JIRA here.  2. Mantis Bug TrackerMantis BT is an open source web-based issue tracker. It’s simple to use dashboard, helps to assign issues to developers and keep track of the issue progress. It is empowered with a built-in time tracking mechanism that helps the user to analyse the time spent by a developer on an issue.Availability: Paid version is available.For more details click here.3. TrelloTrello is a free project collaboration tool. It helps to manage projects with it’s simple and easy to work for boards. All tasks are defined as individual cards. These cards can be moved around helping the teams to visualise the work in progress.Click here for more information.4. CollabNet VersionOneCollabNet VersionOne is agile management  It helps in collaboration between teams at all levels to have a unified vision for software delivery.For more details about CollabNet VersionOne click here.  5. RallyRally is formerly known as CA Agile Central. It provides a platform to plan, track, prioritize work collaboratively. Thus improving visibility.Click here for more details.  6. OpsGenieOpsGenie is an incident management tool that helps to determine who should respond to events. It’s from Atlassian. It also helps in defining collaboration methods like video conferences etc. It’s free for small teams up to 5 users.Availability: Paid version is available which varies with the number of users and add on features.Learn more about OpsGenie here.7. Pivotal TrackerPivotal Tracker is an agile project management tool. Pivotal tracker helps to create public and private projects. Private projects are accessible only to the collaborators and it's the default setting. Public projects are available via URL in read-only mode. Edit permissions are given only to an invitee to the project. Open source software development process makes use of public projects.Availability: Pivotal Tracker for two projects,2GB of file storage, and a total of three collaborators. An upgrade from this could be only in the paid version.For more details click here.8. Azure BoardAzure Board is a tracking tool from Microsoft Azure. It helps to track and plan your projects via kanban boards, team dashboards etc. It supports all agile methodologies. Built-in analytics provide information about project progress and status.Availability: Azure Board is free for up to 5 users and unlimited stakeholders.Click here to know more about Azure Board.  9. TasktopTasktop is a stream management tool to integrate and synchronize development and operations tools together. It helps in tracking tasks across different task tracking systems.Availability: Tasktop is not a free tool but paid.Learn more about Tasktop here.10. KanboardKanboard is an open-source project used for project management. It is known for its super easy installations, great visualisation of the project tasks and drag and drops feature for project management.Availability: Free version of Kanboard is available.Click here for more details about Kanboard.SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1JIRAWidely  usedEnterprise-gradeLearning curveComplex to configurePaid2Mantis Bug TrackerFree and good communityPaid Hosting option availableNeed experts to configureGood for defects and simple projectsFree & open source3.TrelloEasy to useEasy to configureNot ideal for large teams /programsFreemium4CollabNet VersionOneWidely  usedEnterprise-gradeRich featuresLearning curveLess intuitivePai5RallyEnterprise-gradeEasy to set upLess intuitive and complex to learnPaid6OpsGenieRich features for issue tracking and on-call managementFeatures are limited to issue trackingFreemium7Pivotal TrackerRich feature set for trackingIntuitive and easy to use  Integrability with other toolsFreemium8Azure BoardIntegrates well with Microsoft toolchainLacks richness in feature set  in comparison with other enterprise-grade tools in the same segmentPaid9TasktopGood for Value Stream ManagementIntegrability with other toolsPaid10KanboardSimple to useLimited feature setNot ideal for large teams/programsFree & open sourcec. Cloud /iaas/paas/serverless toolsCloud along with Infrastructure as service and platform as service produces a platform for developing, testing and deployment of applications. Using such features DevOps reduces the much latency overload in acquiring and accessing assets. All private and public clouds provide support to DevOps tooling and thus reducing the cost spent for on-premises systems.Some of the platforms are1. AWSAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud services platform, offering to compute power, database storage, content delivery, and other cloud-related functionalities.Availability: AWS is an on-demand cloud computing platform where we are charged on as you go basis.Learn more about AWS here.2. AWS LambdaLambda is a serverless computing platform from Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is a service that manages the computing resources and runs code in response to events.Availability: We are charged only on the computing time.Learn more about AWS Lambda here.3. AzureMicrosoft Azure is an enterprise-grade cloud computing service that helps in managing applications through Microsoft-managed data centers. It provides software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS).Click here to learn more about Azure.4. Google Cloud PlatformGoogle Cloud Platform, offered by Google, is a suite of cloud computing services. Platform as service, Infrastructure as a service, and serverless computing are provided by GCP.Click here to learn more about Google Cloud Platform.5. IBM cloudIBM Cloud is a suite of cloud computing services from IBM. It also provides infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS).Availability: Lite version of IBM Cloud is free and allows one instance per plan.Click here to learn more about IBM Cloud.6. OpenStackOpenStack is a free and open-source software platform for cloud computing, mostly deployed as infrastructure-as-a-service, whereby all virtual servers and other resources are made available to customers. It’s written in python.Learn more about OpenStack here.7. Cloud FoundryCloud Foundry is an open source cloud platform that helps to develop cloud applications. It’s from Pivotal.Learn more about Cloud Foundry here.8. HerokuHeroku is a  platform as a service cloud environment. Thus help developers to work entirely on cloud.Availability: Free version is available with limited features.Learn more about Heroku here.9. OpenWhiskApache OpenWhisk is an open source, distributed Serverless platform. OpenWhisk manages the infrastructure, servers and scaling using Docker containers.Click here for more details about OpenWhisk.SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1.AWSEnterprise-ready providerComplex cost structurePay as you go2.AWS LambdaServerless computingReduced operational costsLimit on concurrent executions after which causing Denial Of ServiceCharged for computing time3.AzureIntegrates better with many Microsoft toolsServices provided still needs to be improvedPay for resources used4.Google Cloud PlatformScalableBetter load balancingServerless computingCurrently, GCP has fewer services and features compared to AWS or AzurePay as you go5.IBM CloudEasy setupConsistent performanceDifficulty in scalingFree Lite version6.OpenStackMassive scalabilityEasy implementationComplex configurationsFreemium7.Cloud FoundrySupports on-premises and multi-cloud deploymentGreat privacy and securityLess feature set compared to AWS or AzurePaid8.HerokuAdvanced Continuous Integration PlatformHighly scalableLess reconfigurabilityFreemium9.OpenWhiskOpen event provider systemServerless computingNot efficient for long running applicationsPaid as per computing timed. Top Source control managementSource control management as practice stores and tracks the application and infrastructure code. Even delivery pipelines for an application is nowadays stored in source code repositories. Some of the tools are GitHub, Bit Bucket, Subversion, Mercurial, Rational ClearCase.1. GitHubGitHub is a popular repository hosting service using Git. Git is a  free and open source system. It’s of the ease with which it performs branching and merge operations. It’s a distributed version control system that adds to its preferences.Click here for more details.  2. MercurialMercurial is a free distributed version control system. It is very easy to learn compared to Git but the branching feature of Git is more widely loved. Big and small projects could be handled in Mercurial.Click here for more details.3. BitbucketBitbucket is a repository hosting service from Atlassian. It could be used to store source code using  Mercurial or Git revision control systems. It’s free for teams with a maximum of 5 users. The paid version is available for bigger teams.Learn more about Bit Bucket here.4. Rational ClearCaseRational ClearCase is a source control management tool from IBM. It helps in the parallel development of software. Software artefacts whether it be source code or design documents etc could be managed by ClearCase. Enterprise version is available for ClearCase.Learn more about ClearCase here.5. SubversionSubversion is a version control system from Apache. It’s a free tool and open source.It helps to track down all the changes done to files and directories.Click here to learn more about Subversion.  6. JFrog ArtifactoryArtifactory is an artefact repository management tool from JFrog. It’s a paid tool. It primarily stores binary files which are typically the product of our build process.Click here to learn more about Artifactory.SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1.GitHubEasy to navigate user interfaceDifficult to learnFree2.MercurialCannot rewrite commit historySlower network operationsFree3.BitbucketSupports Git and MercurialDifficult integration with other toolsFreemium4Rational ClearCaseIntegrates with Microsoft Visual StudioNot suitable for projects with a big code baseDifficult to work withPaid5.SubversionEasy to learn even for non-technical usersSlower because of centralised version control systemFree6.ArtifactorySupports many languages and toolsEasy to useExpensivePaide. Top Package managersPackage managers build or package code with all metadatas like software’s name, purpose, version and all dependencies needed by the software to function correctly. It lessens the burden of manual installs especially in big enterprises where we need to install big software. Some of the tools available are1. MavenMaven is an open-source build automation tool from Apache used mainly for Java applications. Main features are it provides easy and uniform builds. It also keeps aside a parallel space for test code.Learn more details about Maven here.  2. GradleGradle is also an open source build tool from Apache. It is built on Groovy domain-specific language. It is more like a combination of Ant and Maven.Learn more about Gradle here . 3. MSBuildMicrosoft Build automation tool is a free and open source mainly for  C++ and .NET applications. Visual Studio makes use of MSBuild to build its applications.Learn more about MSBuild here.  SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1.MavenAll dependencies are downloaded automaticallyBetter suited for java projectsComplex to work withLarge learning curveFree2.GradleCan write build script ourselvesPoor integration with eclipseFree3.MSBuildGreat community supportMainly for .NET applications onlyFreef. Continuous IntegrationIn continuous integration, a code is checked into the source code repository whenever a developer finishes a requirement or user story. Continuous Integration tools enable teams to build software application automatically in a decided time. Thus reducing the time elapsed in a manual build. Some of the popular tools available are   1. GitLab CIGitLab CI is an integrated part of GitLab, GitLab offers a continuous integration service.Availability: A free version is available with limited features.Learn more about GitLab CI here.  2. SemaphoreSemaphore is the fastest hosted continuous integration and delivery solution as claimed by its developers.Availability: Open source projects can use Semaphore for free in its full capacity, free use for private projects is limited to 100 builds per month.Learn more about Semaphore here.3. Circle CICircle CI's continuous integration and delivery platform make it easy for teams of all sizes to rapidly build and release quality software at scale. It is built for Linux servers and automates build, test and deployment processes.Availability: Circle CI has a free version available for a single container.Click here for more details about Circle CI.4. JenkinsJenkins is an open-source continuous integration tool written in Java. Jenkins is a fork by the core developers of Hudson after a dispute with Oracle. Jenkins is the most widely used CI tool. Availability: Both free and enterprise versions are available.Click here for more details about Jenkins.5. HudsonHudson is a continuous integration tool written in Java that runs in a servlet container such as Apache Tomcat or GlassFish.Click here for more details about Hudson.   6. CruiseControlCruiseControl is an open source continuous integration tool and extensible framework for facilitating a continuous build process. Distributed under a BSD-style license.Learn more about CruiseControl here.  7. BambooBamboo is a continuous integration (CI) server produced by Atlassian. Bamboo ties automated builds, tests, and releases together in a single workflow.Availability: Licensed version is available at a starting price of $10.Learn more about Bamboo here.8. Team Foundation BuildTeam Foundation Build (TFB) is part of the Team Foundation system and provides the functionality of a public build lab. With TFB, build managers can synchronize sources and compile.Click here to know more about Team Foundation Build9. GumpApache Gump is an open-source continuous integration tool, designed with the overarching aim of ensuring that projects are compatible at both the API level and regarding.Learn more about Gump here.10. Travis CITravis CI is an open-source distributed continuous integration (CI) service used to build and test projects hosted on GitHub. Open source projects can freely avail Travis CI.Availability: Travis CI is free for first 100 builds but after which it is priced.Learn more about Travis CI here.11. TeamCityTeamCity is an open-source CI platform from Jet Brains. It’s known for easy user interface and support for Microsoft stack.Availability: Free version of TeamCity is available with the limited feature set.Click here to know more about TeamCity.  12. Puppet PipelinesPuppet Pipelines makes software delivery easy and unites silos of automation across Dev and Ops teams. It automates your application builds and deployments.The community edition of Puppet Pipelines is available free of cost for up to three users.Click here for more details about Puppet Pipelines.  SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1.GitLab CIEasy to configureSource control and continuous integration in one placeNeed GitLab integrationFreemium2.Semaphore CISimple and to the pointLess user base and community supportFreemium3.CircleCIEasy to useLess known in the community4.JenkinsUses plugin model to integrate with several DevOps toolsGreater community supportCumbersome groovy syntaxesFreemium5.HudsonJenkins forked from Hudson so has all basic features of JenkinsNo much development of new features taking placeLess community supportOpen source6.CruiseControlGoes well with .NET applicationsDifficult setupOpen source7.BambooA lot of tasks available as a built-in option and not as pluginsGoes well with Atlassian products like Bitbucket and JIRAOnly paid option availablePaid8.Team Foundation BuildWorks smoothly with .NET applicationsIntuitive easy to installInteroperability with other stacks is a challengePaid9.GumpIntegrates well with Apache tools like MavenLess plugin supportOpen source10.Travis CIEasy to set up and configureSupports most technological stacks using Node, Ruby, etcDoesn’t  support BitbucketFreemium11.TeamCityGreat user interfaceEasy to learnCommunity support is good but not greatFreemium12.Puppet PipelinesEasy setup and installationPlugin availabilityFreemiumg. Top Continuous Delivery and Deployment toolsContinuous deployment tools automate the delivery pipeline of application development, thus reducing the wastage of time caused by transfer between different teams like development and release teams. Few of the most popular deployment tools used by DevOps teams are1. ChefChef is a tool used to manage and develop infrastructure. It could be used for application deployment also. It is an open-source tool but with an enterprise version available. Chef uses a  domain-specific language based on ruby to define and configure infrastructure. Chef allows high flexibility and typically preferred by developers. It has a higher learning curve compared to other tools in this space. Chef is known to be the most preferred tool for large scale, complex enterprise systems.Availability: Chef is free for up to a limited number of nodes which is five nodes now after which it’s priced.Learn more about Chef here.2. PuppetPuppet is another configuration management tool to define infrastructure as code. Puppet is an enterprise-grade tool. Puppet uses a more declarative language and hence makes it easier to work with. It’s preferred by operations teams as it doesn’t require programming skills.Learn more about Puppet here.3. Octopus DeployOctopus Deploy is a release management server from XebiaLabs. It’s used mainly for .NET applications and windows services. It’s a paid deployment as a service.Click here for more about Octopus Deploy.4. SpinnakerSpinnaker is an open source free release platform that increases the number of good-quality releases. This platform helps in deployment across multi-cloud providers like AWS EC2, Google Kubernetes Engine etc.Learn more about Spinnaker here.  5. GoCDGoCD is a free and open source server that helps in continuous delivery. It helps in creating a continuous delivery pipeline in cloud environments like Docker, AWS etc.Learn more about GoCD here.  6. UrbanCode DeployUrbanCode Deploy or uDeploy is a tool used to automate application deployment from IBM. It’s a licensed version and available as hosted services also.Click here to know more about UrbanCode Deploy.  7. XebiaLabs XL DeployXL Deploy is a release automation tool for any environment. It is a licensed version by XebiaLabs.Click here to know more about XL Deploy.8. AnsibleAnsible is an open source configuration management tool and application deployment tool. In comparison with Chef, Ansible works with a decentralised agentless architecture and hence it’s easy to get started with Ansible.Availability: CLI based Ansible is free for no limit on nodes.Learn more about Ansible here.  9. SaltStackSaltStack is an open-source configuration management software written in Python. It enables teams to craft  "Infrastructure as Code".SaltStack in comparison with Ansible is quickly scalable but enforces teams to learn python.Learn more about SaltStack here.  SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1.ChefGreat documentation availableHard to learnNeed programming skillsFreemium2.PuppetProgramming skills are not a mustNot much suitable for applications where updates are frequentPaid3.Octopus DeployEasy configurationIntegrates smoothly with TeamCityA quick and flexible deployment pipelineLess community support especially for non-Microsoft applicationsPaid4.SpinnakerGreatly preferred for cloud-based deploymentsLess community supportOpen source5.GoCDBetter suitable for end-to-end Continuous delivery pipeline where great visualisation needed.Less cost efficientA Steep learning curve with a confusing user interfaceOpen source6.UrbanCode DeploySimple and easy to useSlower deploymentsPaid7.XL DeployA large number of plugins availableLesser visibility for the deployment processPaid8.AnsibleSimpler installationEasy to useGUI is not that greatNo support for windowsOpen source9.SaltStackQuickly scalableUnderdeveloped GUIOpen sourceh. Testing automationTesting automation tools are used in close proximity to continuous integration and deployment tools. It helps in performing repetitive tasks unable to perform by manual tests. The automated test gives a more clear picture of the health of the software product without any bias.1. Unit testingUnit testing tools help to test a single unit or component of the software. Thus detecting the errors earlier and fixing. And, Unit testing also helps in smooth integration.2. Integration testingIntegration testing tools help validate every integration that happens in the integration phase. Only successful build of the code move to the next stage.3. End-to-end testingIn end-to-end testing, the entire system or application is checked from start to finish. The tools generate the reports which can be used to verify whether the new change is causing  any unexpected behavior from the entire system4. Performance testingPerformance testing tools analyse the system in an expected workload. The tools measure the responsiveness of the system, scalability, and stability. Tools also provide details on where the system is failing and where the system needs improvement.5. Infrastructure testing and auditingInfrastructure testing plays a very important part as an error in the infrastructure code can even alter the production environment creating unseen repercussions. Ensuring the compliance of an organisation is an integral part of such tools keeping security in mind.i. Other Popular DevOps toolsSome of the popular tools used are1. SeleniumSelenium is a free and open source testing framework for web applications. It’s a suite of four tools Selenium WebDriver, Selenium RC or Remote   Selenium IDE And Selenium-Grid.Learn more about Selenium here.2. CucumberCucumber is an open source testing tool. It’s the best choice for behavior driven development popularly known as BDD as it tests business readable requirements. Free and enterprise version of Cucumber is available.Click here for more details about Cucumber.3. InSpecInSpec is a free and open source testing framework from Chef. InSpec tests infrastructure. It’s also a compliance framework.Click here to know more about InSpec.  4. KarmaKarma is a free test runner created for testing, applications made with Angular CLI. It’s from the AngularJS team.Learn more about Karma here.5. Jasmine  Jasmine is an open source testing framework. It is used mainly for JavaScript applications. It’s used for behavior driven development also.Click here to learn more about Jasmine.6. UFTUFT or Unified Functional Testing is a test automation tool for web, desktop, mobile   Micro Focus. There is a 60-day free trial version available but after which it’s not a free tool.Learn more about UFT here.  7. SoapUISoapUI is an open-source testing tool for web applications. It’s the market leader in API testing. It’s a licensed tool.Click here to know more about Soap UI.  8. JMeterJMeter is an open source load testing tool from Apache. It helps in analyzing the performance of services mainly for web applications. It’s a free test suite.Learn more about JMeter here. SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1.SeleniumWide range of languages supportedEasy integration with Jenkins, MavenDifficult to useNo support officiallyOpen source2.CucumberGreat documentationSupports Behavior-driven developmentSlow compared to other testing toolsOpen source3.InSpecHighly flexible and can be used cross any Infra As code framework.Need to know the scripting languageOpen source4.KarmaEasy debuggingLesser user baseOpen source5.JasmineDifficult to debugEasy to set up and useOpen source6.UFTEasily integrated with continuous integration DevOps toolsLess compatibility with different operating systems ExpensivePaid7.SoapUIUser-friendlyPlugin availability is lessOpen source8.JMeterEasy installation Great user-friendly interfaceHigher learning curve Doesn’t support javascriptOpen source9. DockerDocker is a platform for working with containers, from Docker, Inc.Docker is an open source and available as free and enterprise version. Containers help to develop applications and package it with its dependencies and libraries, thus ensuring the application runs in any environment. Docker containers are like virtual machines but share the same OS resources like file system etc.It has less overhead unlike VM 's. The building block of a container is an image which is the executable package including libraries, dependencies, environment variables etc needed to run the application. Running instance of an image is a container.Learn more about Docker here.10. KubernetesKubernetes is an open source production grade container orchestration tool. It helps in managing multiple containers in an application. Kubernetes is the market leader in this category. It is often compared with Docker Swarm which is the native clustering method for docker.  Click here to know more about Kubernetes.  11. OpenShiftOpenShift from Red Hat is a group of containerization software. OpenShift Container Platform is the major software in the group that provides a platform as a service built around Docker containers. These docker containers are managed for experimenting by an individual a free version is available for one project.Learn more about OpenShift here.  SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1.DockerContainers are lightweight compared to virtual machinesSecurity is a concernOpen source2.KubernetesHighly scalableWork better with CI/CD pipelinesLess user-friendlyOpen source3.OpenShiftGreat community supportOnly supports Red Hat Enterprise LinuxFreemiumj. Release orchestrationRelease orchestration tools are used to achieve automation of the application release process. Some of the popular tools are Xebialabs XL release, Plutora Release, AWS Codepipeline, CACD Director, OpenMake, Spinnaker, HashiCorp Vault, SonarQube, BlackDuck, Signal Sciences, Checkmarx SAST.k. ContainerologyContainerology tools help to run an application on the virtual environment as a package with all dependencies. It avoids the situation “it doesn’t work in my system”.Some of the tools are:l. Monitoring ToolsMonitoring tools help to pinpoint and track issues and verify the health of the system. This enables fast recovery of the system with minimum or no human interventions.Popular tools are:1. PrometheusPrometheus is an open source monitoring tool from SoundCloud.Its mainly used with systems using microservices as it has a multi-dimensional data collection feature. It uses a flexible query language PromQL.All Prometheus server is standalone and doesn’t depend on network storage helping us to understand the defect especially during outages. Collected data through the multi-dimensional collection feature may not be too detailed and having complete information. So it is not suitable for systems where 100% accuracy is required.Click here for more details about Prometheus.2. SplunkSplunk as a monitoring tool is used across application management, security, compliance, web analytics etc. Splunk tools listen and store data, index the same and correlate the captured real-time data in a searchable repository from which it can generate useful graphs, reports, alerts, and various other visualizations. One can create and configure relevant dashboards based on various visualizations/ graphs.  Learn more about Splunk here.3. NagiosNagios is an open source and free tool to monitor services, applications and infrastructure. It’s known for its auto-discovery feature. Its user interface is a bit difficult for beginnersLearn more about Nagios here.  4. ZabbixSimilar to Nagios, Zabbix is an enterprise open source monitoring solution. Compared to Nagios, Zabbix is user-friendly and is comparatively easy to configure. The main disadvantage is that it doesn’t support plugins.Learn more about Zabbix here.5. ZenossZenoss is a free, open-source tool used for services and network monitoring. It is written in Python language.Click here to know more about Zenoss.6. ELK Stack"ELK" is the acronym for three free open source projects: Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana. Elasticsearch is a search and analytics engine based on Java. Logstash is a server‑side data processing platform with the ability to clean, transform data and send it to Elasticsearch.Kibana is a virtualization tool that helps to visualize data with charts and graphs in Elasticsearch.The Elastic Stack is the next evolution of the ELK Stack.Learn more about ELK Stack here.SL NoTool NameProsConsAvailability1.PrometheusEasy to useEasy integration with other DevOps toolsBad user interfaceOpen source2.NagiosNumber of plugins available in the marketDifficult configurations needed to make the system stableOpen source3.ZabbixEasy configuration based on a web-based user interfaceNon-availability of pluginsOpen source4.ZenossGreat community supportLimitation on the number of devices monitoredOpen source5.ELK StackEasy to installHighly customisableDifficult to configureOpen source6SplunkEasy to installUser-friendlyEasy to configure  simple graphsFor complex configurations, the learning curve is a bit steepPaidm. AnalyticsAnalytics tools give a clear picture of what is happening in the team, be it code development or team interaction, code coverage and efficiency etc. Some tools used are XebiaLabs XL Impact,New Relic,Dynatrace,Datadog,AppDynamics, ElasticSearch .Bonus Information3. Why is DevOps needed?DevOps helps to remove silos in organisations and enable the creation of cross-functional teams, thus reducing reliance on any one person or team during the delivery process. Frequent communication between teams improves the confidence and efficiency of the team members. Through automation, DevOps team increase their productivity making satisfied customers. According to State of DevOps report 2016 “Teams that practice DevOps deploy 30x more frequently, have 60x fewer failures, and recover 160x faster“. It also provides better work environments with increased trust, better management of issues reducing unplanned works.4. How to implement DevOps?The “DevOps Handbook” defines the “Three Ways: The principles of underpinning DevOps” as a way to implement DevOps in large enterprises. In this session, we will detail these three ways and three core pillars.The First Way: Systems ThinkingThe First Way emphasizes the need for global optimisation as opposed to local optimisation, hence the focus is on optimising all business value streams enabled by IT.The Second Way: Amplify feedback loopsThe Second Way is about discovering and injecting right feedback loops so that necessary corrections can be made before it’s too late.The Third Way: Culture of Experimentation and learningThe third way is all about creating the right culture that fosters two things, continual experimentation and learning from failures. It emphasises the understanding that repetition and practice make teams perfect.While the three ways focus on the key principles, we also have three pillars which are keys to any successful DevOps adoption.The three pillars of any DevOps adoption are,Culture and PeopleTools and TechnologyProcesses and practices4.1 Important DevOps practicesa. Continuous IntegrationContinuous integration is a software engineering practice where software development team members frequently merge and build their code changes. The key benefit is to detect and fix code merge conflicts and integration bugs in the early stages of software development. Hence reducing the cost to detect and fix the issues.b. Continuous DeliveryContinuous delivery is a software engineering practice in which changes are automatically built, tested, and made release ready to production. In order to get into a continuous delivery state, it is very crucial to define a test strategy. The main goal is to identify functional and non-functional defects at a much earlier stage thus reducing the cost to fix defects. It also enables teams to come up with working software as defined in the agile manifesto. Continuous delivery as a practice depends on continuous integration and test automation. Hence it is crucial that teams need to ensure that they practice continuous integration along with test automation religiously, to effectively practice continuous delivery.c. Continuous DeploymentContinuous deployment is a software engineering practice in which codes committed by the developers are automatically built, tested and deployed to production. Continuous deployment as a practice, require that teams have already adopted continuous integration and continuous delivery approach. The primary advantage of this practice is reducing time-to-market and early feedback from users.d. Continuous TestingContinuous Testing can be defined as a software testing practice that involves a process of testing early, testing often and test automation. The primary goal of Continuous Testing is to shift left the test phase as much as possible to identify defects and reduce the cost of fixing.e. MicroservicesMicroservices architecture helps to create an application as a set of small services independent of each other. Any language could be used to create microservices and typically an HTTP based API is used to interact between services. Microservices as a design approach helps to achieve fewer risk deployments and enables continuous delivery.f. Infrastructure as codeInfrastructure as a code is an engineering practice in which infrastructure is developed and managed through code. Thus creating a consistent, reproducible and versioned infrastructure. Since the infrastructure is implemented as the code it’s easy for the team members to update and change it. Infrastructure as a code no more considers scaling as a major problem.g. Policy as codePolicy as a code is a software engineering practice where compliance rules or policies of the organisation could be monitored and verified. Policy as code enables organizations to enforce the compliance rules more strictly and helps to bring the non-compliant resource into compliance mode. This practice gained importance during the DevSecOps movement.h. Continuous Monitoring and LoggingMonitoring and logging as a best practice to help organizations to analyse the products’ end user experience. This helps the software teams to get to know about the root cause of the defects and latencies in the software development process. More transparency into the actions performed by the team members causes increased responsibility among the teams causing increased performance.i. Communication and collaborationEffective communication and collaboration are one of the key values emphasised by DevOps.Devops tools in the field of communication and collaborations bring together collective responsibility for the products delivered.   5. How to choose the right DevOps tools?Today the DevOps market is overcrowded with tools across different stages of software development life cycle. As enterprises, it's extremely crucial to select the right tools in order to get maximum benefit. Saying so choosing the right tool is an extremely difficult and time-consuming process given the spectrum of tools available today. Hence enterprises should have a five-point strategy towards deciding the right tools. Five point strategy would include dimensions likeAbility to integrateScalabilitySecurityTechnical know howReliability5.1. Ability to integrateThe ability to integrate is extremely crucial and is one of the fundamental requirements while checking out tools. Certain tools integrate smoothly with a particular technology stack in comparison with others. Hence it is vital for the DevOps architect to compare different tools on the basis of integration ability and ensure that tool that is been selected seamlessly integrates with the team’s technology stack. Another aspect that needs to be considered is how a particular tool integrates with other tools that are selected in the ecosystem. For eg., you would want your continuous integration system to constantly talk to the reporting system and alert prediction system in a smooth way. Hence integration between tools also becomes a very important factor while choosing tools.5.2. ScalabilityScalability is the second most important factor in choosing the right tools. Based on the need for scalability an enterprise might choose an enterprise version over a community version. Scalability also is a key factor why certain companies go for SaaS-based products. SaaS-based products are easily scalable and hence without any overhead, it can be adopted across large enterprises.5.3. SecurityThese days a lot of enterprises are emphasising on the need for security in the DevOps tooling space. Hence enterprise versions by various tooling companies have taken special care towards addressing these security-related issues. Thus enterprise versions are comparatively more preferred in comparison with that of open source solutions. Saying so this doesn't mean that all open source DevOps tools have security vulnerabilities. Certain open source DevOps tools fair much better than available enterprise versions5.4. Technical know howThis people dimension is one of the factors that is typically overlooked by enterprises. Knowing the skill levels and capability of team members is a key towards choosing the right tool. Often the tools available in the market wouldn't work out of the box and would need a substantial level of customisation to smoothly integrate with existing systems and workflows. Also, certain tools require a certain specific skill set towards configuration and customisation. Typical eg. is Chef, which is chosen by developers who are comfortable in ruby language whereas Puppet is preferred by system admins as it does not require much of programming skills.5.5. ReliabilityLast but not the least, reliability is extremely crucial for any successful tool adoption. Most of the tools available in the market, both enterprise and open source needs to be checked using this quality wheel. Tools should be reliable even during large scale and complex operational conditions. ConclusionIn this paper, we discussed the what, why, and how of DevOps.We also deep dived into various tool categories and tools available across the spectrum in today's DevOps market. Tools are definitely the key ingredients in successful DevOps adoption but saying so a lot of companies only invest in tool part without focusing on cultural and people dimensions. In order for tools to bear fruit its vital that the people operating and analysing the tools/data understand and realise the true spirit of DevOps. To conclude, would like to resonate with the wise words “yes, we need all the tools that can help us, but just tools will not help us get there!”.
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Docker Vs Virtual Machines(VMs)

Let’s have a quick warm up on the resource management before we dive into the discussion on virtualization and dockers.In today’s multi-technology environments, it becomes inevitable to work on different software and hardware platforms simultaneously.The need to run multiple different machines (Desktops, Laptops, handhelds, and Servers) platforms with customized hardware and software requirements has given the rise to a new world of virtualization in IT industry.What a machine need?Each computing environment(machine) needs its own component of hardware resources and software resources.As more and more machines are needed, building up and administering many such stand-alone machines is not only cumbersome, time consuming but also adds up to the cost and energy.Apparently; to run a customized High-power Scalable Server is a better idea to consolidate all the hardware and software requirements into one place and have a single server run and distribute the resources to many machines over a network.That saves us time, resources, energy and revenue.These gigantic servers are stored in a data warehouse called a Datacenter.Below Diagram (2) indicates a single server serving and sharing resources and data among multiple client machinesDoes this look simplified enough? Yes of course!So, this setup looks feasible we have a high-power, high-storage Server that gives resources to many smaller(resources) machines over a network.How to manage huge data - ServersWith Internet Of Things in boom, Information is overflowing with a huge amount of data; handling tremendous data needs more system resources which means more Dedicated servers are needed.Many Servers approach challenge:Running several Dedicated servers for specific services such as Web service, application or database service as indicated in Diagram (3) is difficult to administer and consumes more energy, resources, manpower and is highly expensive.In addition; resource utilization of servers is very poor resulting in resource wastage.This is where simulating different environments and running them all on a single server is a smart choice; rather than having to run multiple physically distinct servers.This is how Diagram (3) would change after consolidating different servers into one as shown in Diagram (4).Sheet 2VirtualizationWhat is VirtualizationThe above single server implementation can be defined as the following term.Virtualization is a technique used to simulate and pretend a single infrastructure resource (hardware resources and software resources) to be acting as many providing multiple functionalities or services without the need to physically build, install and configure.In other words;Running multiple simulated environments in a single machine without installing and configuring them is called Virtualization.Technically speaking;Virtualization is an abstract layer that shares the infrastructure resources among various simulated virtual machines without the need to physically set up these environments.Diagram (5) displays different virtual Operating systems are running on the same machine and using the same hardware architecture of the underlying machine.What is a Virtual machineThe simulated virtualized environments are called virtual machines or VM.Virtual machine is a replication/simulation of an actual physical machine.A VM acts like a real physical machine and uses the physical resources of the underlying host OS.A VM is a running instance of a real physical machine.Need for virtualizationSo; we have an overview of virtualization, let us examine when should we virtualize and what are the benefits of virtualization?Better resource management and cost-effective: as indicated in Diagram (6) and Diagram (7); hardware resources are distributed wisely on need basis to different environments; all the virtual machines share the same resources and reduce resource wastage.Ease of quick administration and maintenance: It is easier to build, install, configure one server rather than multiple servers. Updating a patch on various machines from a single virtualized server is much more feasible.Disaster recovery: Since all the virtualized machines reside on the same server and are treated as mounted volumes of data files, it is easier to back up these machines. In case of a disaster failure (power failure, network down, cyber-attacks, failed test code, etc) VM screenshots are used to recover the running state of the machine and the whole setup can be built up within minutes.Isolated and independent secure test environment: virtualization provide an isolated independent virtual test environment to test the legacy code or a vendor-specific product or even a beta release or say a corrupt code without affecting the main hardware and software platform. (This is a contradictory statement though; will discuss more under types of virtualization)These test environments like dev, uat, preprod, prod etc..can be easily tested and discarded.Easily scalable and upgradable: Building up more simulated environments means spinning up more virtual machines. Also upgrading VMs is as good as to run a patch in all VMs.Portable: Virtual machines are lightweight compared to the actual running physical machines; in addition, a VM that includes its own OS, drivers, and other installation files is portable on any machine. One can access the data virtually from any location.The screenshot of activity monitor below compares the CPU load:Implementation a) What is hypervisor and its types?As discussed in the previous section; virtualization is achieved by means of a virtualized layer on top of hardware or a software resource.This abstract layer is called a hypervisor.A hypervisor is a virtual machine monitor (VMM)There are 2 types of hypervisors: Diagram (8)Type-1 or bare-metal hypervisorType-2 or hosted hypervisorType-1 or bare-metal hypervisor is installed directly on the system hardware, thus abstracting and sharing the hardware components with the VMs.Type-2 or hosted hypervisor is installed on top of the system bootable OS called host OS; this hypervisor abstracts the system resources visible to the host OS and distributes it among the VMs.Both have their own role to play in virtualization.b) Comparing hypervisor typesType-1 or bare-metal hypervisorType-2 or hosted hypervisorInstalled directly on the infrastructure-OS independent and more secure against software issues.Installed on top of the host OS-more prone to software failures.Better resource flexibility: Have direct access to the hardware infrastructure (Hard-drive partition, RAM, embedded cards such as NIC). Provide more flexibility and scalability to the VMs and assign resources on a need basis.Limited resource allocation: Have access to just the resources exposed by the host OS.VMs installed will have limited access to hardware resources allocated and exposed by the host OS.Single point of failure: A compromised VM may affect the kernel. Extra security layers needed.A compromised VM may affect only the host OS, kernel still remains unreachable.Low latency due to direct link to the infrastructure.High latency as all the VMs have to pass through the OS layer to access the system resources.Generally used in ServersGenerally used on small client machinesExpensiveLess expensiveType-1 Hypervisors in market:VMWare ESX/ESXiHyperkit (OSX)Microsoft Hyper-V (Windows)KVM(Linux)Oracle VM ServerType-2 Hypervisors in market:Oracle VM VirtualBoxVMWare WorkstationParallels desktop for MACTypes of virtualizationBased on what resource is virtualized, there are different classifications of virtualization.Server, Storage device, operating system, networkDesktop virtualization: Entire desktop environment is simulated and distributed to run on a single server all at once. A desktop virtualization allows administrators to manage, install, configure similar setups on many machines. Upgrading all the machines with a single patch update or security checks becomes easier and faster.Server virtualization: Many dedicated servers can be virtualized into a single server that provides multi-server functionality.Example:Many virtual machines can be built up sharing the same underlying system resources.Storage, RAM, disks, CPUOperating system virtualization: This happens at the kernel levelHypervisor on hardware type 2 bare-metalOne machine: Can boot up as multiple OS like Windows or Linux side-by-sideApplication virtualization: Apps are packaged and stored in a virtual environment and are distributed across different VMs. Example Microsoft applications like excel, MS word, Powerpoint etc, Citrix applications.Network functions virtualization: Physical network components such as NIC cards, switches, routers, servers, hubs, and cables are all assembled in a single server and used virtually by multiple machines without having the load of installing them on every machine.Virtualization is one of the building blocks and driving force behind cloud computing.Cloud computing provide virtualized need-based services. This has given an uplift to the concept of virtualization.A quick mention of various cloud computing models/services are listed below:SaaS – Software as a Service– end-user applications are maintained and run by service providers and easily distributed and used by the end users without having to install them.Top SaaS providers: Microsoft (Office suite, CRM, SQL server databases), AWS, Adobe, Oracle (ERP, CRM, SCM), Cisco’s Webex, GitHub ( git hosting web service)PaaS – Platform as a Service – computing infrastructure(hardware/software) is maintained and updated by the service provider and the user just have to run the product over this platform.Top Paas providers: AWS beanstalk, Oracle Cloud Platform (OCP), Google App EngineIaaS – Infrastructure as a Service – Provide infrastructure such as servers, physical storage, networking, memory devices etc. Users can build their own platform with customized operating system and applications.Key IaaS providers: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google compute engine, CitrixConclusion:We now have a fair understanding of types of virtualization and how they are implemented.ContainerizationThough virtualization has its pros; there are certain downsides of virtualization such as:Not all systems can be virtualized always.A corrupt VM is sometimes contagious and may affect other VMs or the kernel in-case of a Type-1 or bare-metal hypervisor.Latency of virtual disks due to increased payload on the CPU resources with a higher number of VMsUnstable performanceAn alternative approach to overcome the above flaws of virtualization is to Containerize the applications and the run-time environment together.What is containerization  Containerization is an OS-level virtualization; wherein the entire build of an application along with run-time environment is encapsulated or bundled up in a package.These packages are called containers.Containers are lightweight virtualized environments. These are independent of the infrastructure both hardware and software.The run-time environment includes the operating system, binaries, libraries, configuration files and other applications as shown in Diagram (9).What is DockersDockers provide an excellent framework for containerization and allow to build, ship, and run distributed applications over multiple platforms.Docker framework is setup as a docker engine installed on host OS and a docker daemon (background process) process is started that manage the virtual containers.Refer Diagram (10) that shows a Docker engine with 3 containers residing on host OS (MAC OS).An instruction file called dockerfile is written with a set of system commands that change the filesystem such as add, copy or delete commands, run commands, install utilities, system calls etc…This dockerfile is built and packaged along with its run-time environment as an executable file called a docker image.Docker daemon services run these images to create docker containers.Docker container is a run-time instance of an imageIt is wise to say that many images (or layers of instruction files) make up a container.Docker containers have a compact packaging and each container is well isolated.We can run, start, stop, attach, move or delete containers as these runs as services on the host OS.Each image is made up of different layers; each image based on top of the other with the customized command changes that we make.Every time we make a change in the filesystem, each change related to the image is encapsulated in a new layer of filesystem and stacked up above the parent image.Only the changed layers are rebuilt, rest of the unchanged image layers are reused.Certain docker commands ADD, RUN and COPY create a new layer with increased byte size; rest of the commands simply adds up a new layer with zero-byte size.These layers are re-used to build a new image, hence faster and lightweight.Docker images are alsoThe layer approach of an image every time there is a change in the image makes it possible to Version control the docker images.Here is a terminal recording that shows docker engine process and how images and containers are created.Docker documentation - to create containers.Ppt diagram:Code -> package -> build images -> registry hub -> download/pull image -> run containerAnimation: sheet4Let’s consider the docker container: divyabhushan/learn_docker hosted on docker hub.Latest tagged image: centOS_release1.2What is the container environment?Base OS: Centos:7Utilities: vim, yum, gitApps/files: Dockerfile, myApp.sh, runtests.sh, data and other supporting files.Git source code: dockerImagesDownload as: git clone https://github.com/divyabhushan/DockerImages_Ubuntu.gitWhat does the container do?Container launches “myApp.sh” in Ubuntu:14.04 environment and run some scripts along with a set of post test_suites in the container (Ubuntu:14.04) and saves the output log file.How to modify and build your own appStep 1: pull 1.1: Pull the docker image1.2: Run image to create a container and exitStep 2: modify2.1: Start the container2.2: Attach to the container and make some changesStep 3: commit3.1: Examine the history logs and changes in the container3.2: Commit the changes in containerStep 4: push4.1: Push new image to docker hubLet us see the steps in action:Step 1: pull docker image on your machine1.1: Pull the docker imageCommand:docker pull divyabhushan/learn_docker:myApp_ubuntu_14.04View the image on systemdocker imagesscreenshotCommand:docker run -it --name ubuntu14.04 0a6f949131a6Run command in ubuntu container and exit, the container is stopped on exiting out.View the stopped container with the ‘ps -a’ command.Step 2: modifyStart the containerCommand:docker start Now the container is listed as a running processAttach to the container and make some changesCommand:docker attach 7d0d0225778cedit the ‘git configuration’ file and ‘myApp.sh’ scriptContainer is modified and stoppedStep 3: commitExamine the history logs and changes in the containerThe changes done inside the container filesystem can be viewed using the ‘docker diff’ command as:Command: docker diff 7d0d0225778cCommit the changes in containerDocker commit:Usage: docker commit [OPTIONS] CONTAINER [REPOSITORY[:TAG]]docker commit -m 'new Ubuntu image' 7d0d0225778c divyabhushan/learn_docker:ubuntu14.04_v2New image is created and listedStep 4: pushPush new image to docker hubCommand:docker push divyabhushan/learn_docker:ubuntu14.04_v2Point to note: just the latest commit change layer ‘50a5ce553bba’ has been pushed, while the other layers were re-used.Image available on docker hub:The latest tagged image can now be pulled from other machines; and run to create the same container environment.Conclusion: An image was pulled and run to create a container to replicate the environment. Container was modified, new changes were committed to form a new image. New Image pushed back on the docker hub and now available as a new tag ready to be pulled by other machines.Difference between Dockers and Virtual machinesTabular differences on various parametersParametersVMsDockersarchitectureHardware level virtualization. Each VM has its own copy of OS.Software level virtualization. Dockers have no own OS, run on host OSIsolationFully isolatedProcess or application-level isolation.  InstallationHypervisor can run directly on the hardware resources or on the host OS.Docker engine is installed on top of the host OS. A docker daemon process is initiated on the host OS. There is no separate OS for every container.CPU processing + performanceSlower: A VM contains the entire run-time environment that has to be loaded every time. Uses more CPU cycles; gives unstable performance.Faster: Docker images are pre-built and share host resources as a result running an image as a container is lightweight and consumes less CPU cycle; gives a stable performanceHardware storageMore storage space as each VM is an independent machine (OS). Example: 3 VMs of 800MB each will take 2.4 GB of space.Docker containers are lightweight since do not require to load OS+drivers, run on host OS as processes.PortableDependency on host OS and hardware makes VM less portable. Importing a VM still requires manual setup such storage, RAM and network.Highly portable since lightweight and zero dependency on hardware.Scalable and code-reusabilitySpinning up more VMs still need administrative tasks such as distributing resources to VM. Running a new machine puts extra load on the system resources also re-managing earlier VMs becomes a task. Every VM keeps its own copy of resources-poor code-reusability.Spinning up new docker containers simply means running pre-built images into containers as a process inside host OS. Containers are also configured on-the-fly passing parameters and run-time. Single image can be run and used to create many containers; encourage code-reusabilityResource utilizationStatic allocation results in resource wastage in case of idle VMs or if a VM’s resource requirement increases.Resources are dynamically allocated and de-allocated on the need basis by the docker engine.Docker system prune or garbage collectionVirtual machines do not have an in-built prune mechanism, these have to be administered manually.Docker image and containers can be pruned; which frees up a sensible amount of storage and memory space and CPU cycles.New environmentCreating new VM from the scratch is a tedious, repetitive tasks. It involves installing a new OS, loading kernel drivers and other tools and configurations.Package the code and dependency files, build into an image, run the image to create a new container. Use an existing or a base image (dockerhub- scratch) to run and create more containers on the go.Web-hosted HubNo web hosted hub for VMsdockerHub provides an open-source reliable trusted source of pre-built images that can be downloaded to run new containers.Version control (backup, restore,track history)(refer git)Snapshot of VMs are not very user-friendly and consume more space.Docker images are version controlled. Every delta difference in each docker container can easily be viewed (demo: docker diff ). Any change in the image is stored as a different layered version. A reference link to older images saves build time and space.Auto-buildAutomation of creating VMs is not very feasible.Docker images can also be auto-built from every source code check-in to GitHub (Automated builds on Dockerhub)Disaster recoveryTedious to recover from VM backup files.Easier to restore docker images (like files) just like git source files in case images are version controlled. Backup images only have to be run to create containers. (refer: screenshot).UpdateAll the VMs have to updated with the release patch.A single image is updated, re-built and distributed across multiple platforms.Memory usage+speedSlower: Entire snapshot of a machine and the OS is loaded into the cache memory.Real-time and fast: pre-built images. Only the instance, i.e, a container has to be run as a process and uses memory like an executableData integrityVM behavior may change if the dependency includes beyond the VM boundaries. (example: an app depends on production host network settings)Same behavior of apps in any environmentsecurityMore secure: A failure inside a VM may reach its guest OS but not the host OS or other virtual machines. Type-2 hypervisor though has a risk of kernel attack.Less secure: If a docker container compromised; underlying OS and hence all the containers may be affected since they share the same host kernel. OS Kernel may also be risked.Key providersRed hat KVM, VMWare, Oracle VM VirtualBox, Mircrosoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServerDockers, Google kubernetes Engine, AWS Elastic Container serviceData authenticationLot of software licenses.Docker maintains inbuilt content trust to verify published images. When to use VM or a DockerWhen the need is an isolated OS, go for VMs.For a hardware and software independent isolated application that needs fast distribution on multiple environments, use dockers.Docker use-case:Example: A database application along with its databaseConsider the docker image - Oracle WebLogic Server on Docker Hub.This image is pre-built Oracle WebLogic Server runtime environment, including Oracle Linux 7 and Oracle JDK 8 for deploying Java EE applications.To create Server configurations on any machine, just download this image and run to create and start a container.There is no need to install and configure JDK, Linux or other run-time environment.Do not use Docker use-case:The application depends on utility outside the docker container.Code developed on dev machine with base OS as MAC; needs certain firewall setting on say Ubuntu OS.How can the code be tested on the production ubuntu OS firewall while running from MAC OS docker container?Solution:  Install a virtualization software on host OS-MAC; Create a VM (Virtual machine) with host OS as Ubuntu (same as production environment).Configure the desired firewall settings on host VM – Ubuntu; import the test code inside Ubuntu and test.Use a VM:For Embedded systems programming, a VM is installed that connects to the system device drivers, controllers and kernel.Virtualization used along with docker:An extension to the previous scenario would be if you would want to also test your python application in the host OS-Ubuntu VM without having to set up the python exe and its libraries and binaries.All you have to do is: Install Docker engine for Ubuntu OS and pull the python image from Docker hub as:docker pull python:tag [ tag is the python version-choose the appropriate version ]docker pull python:2.7Refer: Python imageEither write a Dockerfile to import/copy entire source code to python environment or directly run the image passing the script path as below:Command:$docker run -it --name my-python-script -v “$PWD”:/usr/src/myapp -w /usr/src/myapp python:2.7 python my-application.pyCommand options:-v = volume list-bind mount a volume [mount present working directory onto /usr/src/myapp inside container]-w = workdir string-working directory inside the containerMoreover; you can also test your python code in more than one version by downloading different python images, running them to create different containers and running your app in each container.What’s exciting here is that once the code tested in each python environment; you could quickly work on the test results and drop the containers. And deploy the code to production only once code tested against various python versions.Final thoughtsVMs and dockers are compatible with each other. Dockers are not here to replace Virtual machines.Both serve the same purpose of virtualizing the computing and infrastructure resources for optimized utilization.Using both Virtual machines and dockers together can yield better results in virtualization.When one desires a fast, lightweight, portable and highly scalable hardware-independent environment for multiple applications isolation; wherein security is not the major concern; Dockers is the best choice.Use a VM for embedded systems that are integrated with hardware; such as device driver or kernel coding.A scenario simulating an infrastructure setup with a high resource control and dependency on system resources; VMs are a better choice.Use of Dockers inside VMCI/CD pipelines scenario:Virtualization enables a smooth CI/CD process flow by promoting the users to concentrate only on developing the code on a working system that is set up for automated continuous integration and deployment without having to duplicate the entire setup each time.A virtualized environment is set up; either using a VM or a docker image that takes care of the automatic code check-ins, builds, regression testing, and deployments on the server.
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Docker Vs Virtual Machines(VMs)
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Docker Vs Virtual Machines(VMs)

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