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DevOps Pipeline Diagram

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05th Sep, 2023
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    DevOps Pipeline Diagram

    DevOps is a blend of "development" and "operations" that helps foster efficient development and delivery of applications, its main principle being the cultural change. Documenting the DevOps process can help gain control and visibility; visualization is the key to understanding any process. If you are planning to get certified in DevOps, do check out Courses on DevOps for a guided prep. To ensure that no step is missed in the entire process, it is imperative to have a DevOps pipeline diagram. Any requirement based on diagrams can easily be consumed, understood, and contextualized by business users.

    What is DevOps Pipeline Diagram?

    A DevOps pipeline diagram is a collective illustration of the stages involved in a pipeline plus the automated procedures, tools, environments, and technologies that enable operations, non-developers, and developers, all breathing in an environment, to work together through the entire software development lifecycle. A DevOps pipeline diagram can also be called a CI/CD flow diagram.

    As per the diagram above, you can see the stages included in the CI/CD process flow diagram and how the output from each stage is taken as feedback making the complete chain iterative.

    The two most paramount components of a DevOps CI/CD pipeline diagram are Automation and Continuity. All the stages are automated, with some exceptions where manual intervention is required, and continuous output is fed back into the loop.

    What Does It Mean to Diagram Your DevOps pipeline?

    The importance of mapping your DevOps pipeline offers an opportunity for your organization to have a checklist of all the tools, software, and steps needed to complete a development cycle as a whole. As part of this process, each step and tool are examined to monitor and track how the work is progressing. Including input from each team ensures that no steps are overlooked.

    Mapping a CI/CD flow diagram will give an overview of the end-to-end process, including the indistinct stages of SDLC, activities occurring at each stage, environments, and a list of tools used for SCM, Build, Repository management, CI, CD, etc.

    With multiple teams and environments/sandboxes, especially in a large organization, it is important to keep track of the delivery cycles and avoid any potential conflicts whilst promoting collaboration, communication, and sharing amongst the teams. 

    In mapping the end-to-end DevOps ci/cd pipeline, relationships between tool environments can be determined and made sure that everything is integrated seamlessly.

    In case you are interested in learning more about DevOps, do explore DevOps Best Training programs.

    What Does a DevOps Pipeline Map Show?

    When mapping the DevOps process, some steps may be obvious, while others can be neglected. There is a tendency where businesses can conflate several steps into one, which is not an accurate representation of what happens, and intermediate stages are ignored, such as the need for integration, testing, and version control.

    This is where the DevOps pipeline map will come into the picture, it will depict the tools, stages, and environments in a streamlined manner making it easy to understand and catch any loopholes in the entire process. Furthermore, a CI/CD flow diagram can uncover redundant quality assurance steps in the toolchain, allowing you to knock them out during the build phase rather than later.

    To understand it better, let us break down each stage of the pipeline and see how they feed back into one another:  

    1. Plan: This stage defines creating a roadmap to plan your project and deciding on the technology, environment, architecture, tools, and software. You also understand the implications of the changes and ensure the smooth running of the system.  
    2. Code: Developers may use several tools in their development environment to incorporate consistency, coding standards, and best practices.  
    3. Build: This is where the DevOps pipeline fully kicks in, and the developer commits code into the shared repository, raising a pull request to merge code changes. A series of automated integration and unit test can be tugged in here to notify about any issue. 
    4. Test: Once the build is approved, it will be deployed to an environment closely mirroring Production. A series of test runs, both manual and automated, will be performed. Every organization has its testing suite, but the main idea is to carry out testing without disrupting the development workflow. 
    5. Release: With this phase, the Operations part of DevOps begins. The organization will know that the new build is ready to be deployed and have the confidence that no undiscovered defects or bugs will be encountered. 
    6. Deploy: Once a build is released, it is ready to be deployed into production. At this stage, organizations can orchestrate a blue-green deployment strategy, i.e., having two identical production environments where one environment hosts the new changes while the other hosts the old codebase.  
    7. Operate: To ensure the smooth operation of the application, we have this phase. The operations team will manage and improve the application through automated configuration settings. 
    8. Monitor: Setting up automated monitoring tools to identify any potential bottlenecks, application bugs, and user behaviour. This is where the collection of data logs, analytics, and user feedback takes place, and actionable items are passed back to the product team for planning and iteration, feeding back through the DevOps pipeline.

    How to Draw DevOps Pipeline Diagram?

    Now that you have understood the importance of a DevOps pipeline diagram, to find out how to draw a pipeline diagram and build a solid foundation in DevOps, go through DevOps Foundation Training online.

    DevOps pipeline diagram is a package of core elements viz. Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Delivery, Continuous Deployment (CD), Continuous Testing, Continuous Feedback, and Continuous Operations and the tools used for each of these.

    If you are wondering how to create a DevOps Pipeline Diagram, follow the steps below: 

    1. Setup a Source Control Environment

    This is where you decide where to store the source code with version control to avoid merge conflicts. Since you will be working in shared environments on the same codebase, GitHub is by far the most popular code-hosting website. GitLab and Bitbucket are robust alternatives. 

    2. Establish a CI/CD tool

    Each organization, as per their specific requirements and needs, can pick the best fit CI/CD tool. Jenkins is the preferable choice here, with its pack of powerful plugins and easily customizable feature. Other choices can be GitLab, TeamCity, and Bamboo. 

    3. Setup a Build Server

    A build server, also known as a CI server, is a stable and centralized environment acting as an integration point for all developers. Two of the most popular solutions for creating builds are Jenkins and Travis-CI. Jenkins is completely free and open-source, while Travis-CI is a hosted solution that is also free but only for open-source projects. 

    4. Run Automated Tests

    The most common test runs are unit, integration, regression, and functional testing, each of the testing stages can be automated to run after the other. The idea is to run tests without disrupting the development workflow and ensure error-free code. TestComplete is a fine choice having a Jenkins plugin to store test history. 

    5. Deploy to Production

    The final stage of your pipeline, where your application is ready to be deployed to production. Now, this can be done manually if it is a significant change for easy monitoring and identifying any flags. In case you are confident, set up and run an automated script to save time and effort.

    Why Use DevOps Pipeline Diagram Generator Tools?

    A DevOps pipeline diagram generator will help you visualize workflow along with the best tools and technology solutions suggestions to accommodate the entire application development and operation process.

    It will also allow the testing of various optimization strategies without worrying about unwanted consequences eliminating much of the trial and error associated with it. This will help consider different options virtually without actual implementation. Moreover, since this will be online, you can easily communicate the idea to the team with its sharing feature. Communication and collaboration will automatically come in handy with this tool in place. You can easily send the CI/CD flow diagram across and receive feedback, thus avoiding the need for a meeting in person and saving time.

    The tool offers intelligence and analysis features to create an effective DevOps pipeline. It provides an ability to make the most out of it, highlighting the right tools to connect the stages well.

    Best DevOps Pipeline Diagram Generator

    The best part is we have easy-to-use tools to create a DevOps pipeline. 

    All you have to do is select the tool, visualize your pipeline and generate a customized diagram. Further, you can download, print, and share your DevOps pipeline. The best DevOps Pipeline Generator Tool is Digital.ai Release, simply add in your basic information, and you are good to go. Another option can be the Modern Requirements4DevOps Diagram which is built into Microsoft Azure DevOps, this can help create an Azure DevOps pipeline diagram. Interested in becoming certified in DevOps and wondering where to go? Consider  to upskill yourself. fication course to upskill yourself.

    Benefits of having a DevOps Pipeline Map

    DevOps pipeline is the heart and soul of DevOps and delivers a range of benefits as below: 

    1. Continuity and Automation

    A good CI/CD map will automate builds, testing, and deployment to save time and effort. Also, it is a continuous process, so there is always a scope to include ongoing feedback and maintaining the codebase with continuous testing. 

    2. Communication and Collaboration

    The delivery of any project is a combined effort, and since the development, testing, and operations teams coexist, they must work in collaboration to achieve a common goal. This will not only help deliver an efficient product but will also extend a chance for cross-training, and employees can elevate their technical expertise.  

    3. Innovation and Speed

    The teams from development, testing, operations, and delivery will be working together, allowing them to better understand customer expectations and cultivate new ideas which will help add value to the organization. Of course, since the entire chain will be automated, the whole delivery process will speed up with decreased monitoring time and quick fixes resulting in a better-quality product. 

    4. Security and Reliability

    With no security in place, the DevOps process will be futile. This is where DevSecOps comes into the picture, extending DevOps core components by taking care of security breaches and non-compliance activities which will ultimately help reduce security costs. Adopting the DevOps pipeline will improve environment stability with features like rollback, better code quality, and increased productivity.

    Conclusion

    There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to creating a DevOps pipeline map since each organization has its own need. DevOps has enormous technical and business benefits. To summarize, a solid DevOps strategy will surely redefine how your business operates.

    If you have not yet incorporated DevOps in your organizations, now is the time, as its advantages are too many to ignore. We need to create a repeatable system that uses automation and enables continuous improvement so we can deliver higher-quality products faster. 

    DevOps Pipeline Diagram FAQs

    1How many types of pipelines are there in DevOps?

    Fundamentally, there are two types of pipelines, viz. Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CD). This can be further expanded to Continuous Testing and Continuous Operations.

    2How do you create a DevOps diagram?
    • Establish a CI/CD tool 
    • Setup a Source Control Environment 
    • Setup a Build Server 
    • Run Automated Tests 
    • Deploy to Production 
    3What is a CI CD pipeline example?

    A typical CI/CD pipeline example will have the following stages: 

    • Source 
    • Build 
    • Test 
    • Deploy 
    4What is the role of automation testing in the CI CD pipeline?

    Automation Testing is at the crux of any CI/CD pipeline. Since the whole idea of CI/CD revolves around "build fast, test fast, fail fast." To deliver feedback early, tests should be run at the fastest pace possible. Detecting bugs early is thus possible.

    5What are the key factors to consider when implementing a DevOps pipeline?
    • Code Scan: It is important to have a Code analysis tool integrated to have quality gates promoting optimized and high-quality code. 
    • Automation: Automate build, tests, and deployment wherever possible to save time and effort. 
    • Security: Make sure to have security checks in place for any kind of failures. It will also help in faster recovery in case of any incident. 
    • Cost Reduction: CI and CD practices will help with quick identification and bug fixes. APM tools can monitor and track changes continually.
    Profile

    Ila Anmol Verma

    Author

    Ila is an experienced Salesforce Consultant/Release Manager, driven by intellectual curiosity to solve problems. She loves taking up challenges and her industry interest lies at the intersection of technology and business. She has hands-on experience in end to end Salesforce implementation, assuring code quality and best practices.

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