DevOps Culture - The Practice of Cloud System Administration - page 184

with the tools, we simplify the interface between goals and configurations. Some
commonly used tools in this area include CFEngine, Puppet, and Chef.
8.4.7 Release Engineering DevOps Practices
Certain release engineering practices have become closely related to DevOps practices.
Releaseengineeringistheprocessoftakingsoftwareinsourceform,buildingit,packaging
it, testing it, and deploying it into the field.
While not DevOps practices in themselves, these development practices have a great
deal to offer in achieving operational efficiency ( DevOps-Toolchain 2010 ). Each of these
practices is discussed in more detail in Chapters 9 , 10 and 11 .
• Continuous Build: With each change, attempt to compile the code base and gen-
erate the packaged software. This detects build-related problems as soon as pos-
sible.
• Continuous Test: The software is tested in an automated fashion with each change
to the code base. This prevents problems from becoming embedded in the system.
• Automated Deployment: The process of deploying the software for use in test
and live environments is automated.
• Continuous Deployment: With fully automated build, test, and deployment, the
decision whether to deploy a particular release is also automated. Multiple releases
are deployed in the field each day.
• Automated Provisioning: Additional resources, such as CPU, storage, memory,
and bandwidth, are allocated based on a predictive model. As the system detects
that more resources are needed, they are allocated for use by the system.
8.5 Converting to DevOps
Before implementing any of these recommendations, developers and operations need to
open a dialogue. Building bridges between the groups needs to start by forming collegial
connections. This is often best done away from the office, preferably over a beer or other
beverage. That is when operations and developers really start talking to each other, shar-
ing their perspectives, and finding common ground that make adopting DevOps practices
happen. In an interview on the DevOps Cafe podcast, Jesse Robbins noted that spending
$50 on fries and drinks may be the best investment some companies ever make ( Willis &
Edwards 2011 ) .
When adopting DevOps principles in a traditional, non-DevOps organization, it is im-
portant to start slowly. Adopt a few new practices at first and add more practices as they
get buy-in from the team. There are three basic phases involved in this type of conversion.