In the bustling corridors of the tech world, a revolution known as DevOps reshaped the way software is built and delivered. It’s not just about bridging the gap between development and operations; it’s about fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.

Today, DevOps is recognized as a culture of beliefs, practices and principles. As DevOps increases in popularity as the preferred methodology of software development, it’s important to understand how it evolved and what it requires of today’s DevOps engineers.

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Which of the following best describes how you currently monitor and manage systems across your hybrid cloud environment?(Required)

Multiple separate tools for different environments

Multiple separate tools for different monitoring and management functions

Single consolidated dashboard

Custom built monitoring and management solution

No full monitoring and management solution

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How valuable would it be for your monitoring and management solution to incorporate predictive analytics to help you identify and address system issues that are critical and not waste time or effort working through all the data and “noise” that is not critical?(Required)

Extremely valuable

Moderately valuable

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How do you most typically address potential system issues BEFORE they impact your operations?(Required)

Automated workflows and playbooks to remediate potential issues as soon as they are detected

An orchestrated response process that leverages automation, AI, and human expertise to rapidly respond to potential issues

Advanced monitoring tools such as predictive analytics and anomaly detection to proactively identify and address potential issues

Respond to issues as they arise, using manual processes and troubleshooting techniques

A combination of automated remediation, orchestrated response, and/or proactive monitoring to address potential system issues

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What methods does your organization use to control and monitor cloud/IT spending?(Required)

Centralized procurement processes

Pre-approved budget thresholds

Automated cost monitoring tools

Department-level spending controls

Regular cost audits and reviews

Cloud cost optimization platform

Approval workflows for resource provisioning

Native financial operations tools provided by the cloud provider

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Which methods do you rely on most to detect security vulnerabilities in your systems?(Required)

Automated scanning tools

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Vendor notifications

Threat modeling (for early detection)

None of these

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What are the TWO most common ways you prioritize vulnerabilities to address within your environment?(Required)

Based on potential impact

Based on exploitability

Regulatory compliance requirements

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How do you typically handle system updates and security patches?(Required)

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Manually review and apply updates and patches on a regular schedule

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Apply updates and patches on an as-needed basis.

Outsourced update and patch management

No defined process

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Evolution of DevOps

Before DevOps became common practice, development and operations existed as two separate components of the application release process. The development team would write code and pass it to the operations team, who would then deploy it to the production environment.

Part of the problem with this process is the tension between what the developers are trying to achieve versus the goals of the operations team.

• Application development pushes for continuous updates to add features, fix defects and make other necessary changes, often as fast as possible.

• IT operations, on the other hand, tries to limit the number of releases as they are responsible for running a stable system with the highest percentage of uptime.

To further complicate matters, there was often no clearly defined or automated process for handing over applications. This would result in miscommunications and misalignments, such as:

• Developers writing code without considering where or how the code would be deployed or passing along poorly-documented deployment guides.

• Operations not fully understanding what they were deploying and why, resulting in inefficiencies. Additionally, any time they would discover issues with the application they would have to send it back to the developers with improvement suggestions.

These situations would cause release delays as operations would struggle with unclear directions or try to resolve unforeseen interactions between the new code and the servers. Server errors could also result in blame games between developers and operations, which would negatively impact company morale. And as this was a continuous process, the development of updates and fixes would continue well beyond the initial launch of an application.

That process began to change in 2007 when consultant Patrick Debois, facing frustrations over the barriers between development and operations teams, looked for a different approach. A meeting in 2008 with software developer Andrew Shafer over “Agile Infrastructure” led to the formation of the Agile Systems Administration Group.

Then, in 2009 Debois watched a livestream of the “10+ Deploys Per Day: Dev and Ops Cooperation at Flickr” presentation from the O’Reilly Velocity Conference. Inspired to host his own event, he launched the first DevOps Days conference in Belgium, which inspired similar conferences around the world.

DevOps quickly gained popularity as companies realized how it could increase efficiencies by:

• Making software development and related operations more reliable
• Reducing the time needed to bring software products to market
• Quickly and effectively delivering software updates
• Improving the culture of work within the organization

DevOps Today

The DevOps mindset changed the culture of software development organizations and evolved into a comprehensive set of practices and principles. DevOps aims to bring both development and operations together by:

1. Shortening the software development life cycle (SDLC) and increasing the velocity with which applications move through the release pipeline.
2. Providing a high level of quality control and ensuring that each update is well tested with a minimal number of bugs or errors.

Today, DevOps engineers have their own role, which often requires a range of technical skills and the ability to work effectively with other teams and departments. Many different methods of rapid deployment and various DevOps toolchains are used across an organization’s development team. These approaches often have different points of emphasis, such as the differing emphases of speed of release, security considerations and user experience between DevOps, DevSecOps and site reliability engineering. For instance, the adoption of microservices architecture. By decomposing applications into smaller, independently deployable services, organizations can enhance deployment efficiency. This allows for quicker iterations and updates and minimizes downtime during deployments, ensuring a seamless user experience. Furthermore, the collaborative culture inherent in DevOps paves the way for faster problem resolution and innovation, fostering an environment where continuous improvement it’s a daily reality. These benefits translate into a competitive edge in the market and drive business growth through technological excellence.

No matter the approach, currently, there are a few consistent sets of best practices for all modern DevOps teams:

• Automation. Automation is a cornerstone of DevOps and affects every stage of the SDLC from infrastructure provisioning to configuration management and testing. By eliminating much redundant manual work, automation can drive down costs and human error.

• Cloud computing. Cloud services provide scalable and on-demand resources, facilitating more flexible and dynamic infrastructure. Use of the cloud speeds developer productivity and efficiency by providing a unified platform for deploying, testing and releasing applications.

• Containerization. Containerization simplifies the process of packaging applications into a single, self-contained unit. Utilizing technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes enables developers to create standardized and portable containers that are deployable across different environments.

• Microservices. The adoption of microservices architecture breaks down large applications into smaller, self-contained services, enabling DevOps teams to develop, test and deploy more efficiently, significantly streamlining the overall process.

• Continuous Everything. DevOps goes beyond the standard practice of continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) as it also includes continuous testing, monitoring, feedback and operations. By seamlessly sharing insights across various stages, this approach cultivates an ecosystem of relentless enhancement and perpetual progress.

Aspiring DevOps Engineers

There are many professional skills needed to work in DevOps, including expertise in environmental testing, application monitoring and version control. However, true success within DevOps is less about programming skills or managing computing resources but instead comes from the ability to manage extremely complex systems.

In the dynamic landscape of technology, DevOps stands as a beacon of efficiency, collaboration and continuous improvement. DevOps has proven to be a transformative methodology that propels organizations toward a future where innovation, resilience and customer satisfaction are paramount.