The key concepts that DevOps centers on are the ideas of continuous integration, continuous delivery, collaboration, and automation. DevOps isn’t a technology but a practice based on fundamental concepts that use a wide variety of tools to get the job done. When organizations put together their toolbox, they are creating a DevOps toolchain. The end goal of any toolchain is to create better products faster, and it uses tools to solve problems. In this article, we’ll discuss what is a DevOps toolchain, uses for a DevOps Toolchain, how to build a DevOps Toolchain, and where to go to find DevOps toolchain experts.
What is a DevOps Toolchain?
A DevOps toolchain is a series of tools that work together to solve a problem while supporting quality, on-time product delivery. Here are some of the end goals & best practices the DevOps toolchain enables.
1. Collaboration
The strength of a DevOps culture is the collaboration it fosters between teams.
2. Planning
Transparency between all participants (stakeholders, clients, employees) about their goals allows common goals to be selected and planned around.
3. Source Control
This is a centralized storage location for documents, code, data, files, etc.
4. Issue Tracking
The clearer the vision and plan, the easier it is to track issues. Use the same issue tracking tool across the whole team.
5. Configuration Management
Use configuration management tools to make sure your system is automatically configured and updated. This also helps avoid configuration drifts.
6. Continuous integration
Resolve issues when bringing pieces of code together from different teams with continuous integration tools.
7. Binary Repositories
A repository manager is a good way to bridge the gap between completed code and the production environment.
8. Monitoring
Monitoring tools are essential for a DevOps toolchain.
9. Automated testing
This uses tools to quickly and accurately test integrated code before it passes onto the build phase.
10. Development
These tools support a speedy release of products into the marketplace.
11. Database
Make unwieldy amounts of data manageable and useful with database management tools.
Uses for a DevOps Toolchain
A solid DevOps team, or teams means your organization is making more money, has happier customers, and is putting out quality, secure products. While it may require changes to the company culture (e.g. siloed departments becoming more interconnected, changes in management styles, etc.) DevOps teams have the potential to bring a myriad of benefits to your organization.
- Expect faster deployments with a DevOps team. By using a toolchain, they can automate many of the stages of the SDLC. The agility and speed DevOps brings increases organizations’ competitive edge.
- Since standardization is the name of the game with DevOps, you’ll have a greater degree of control over any human mistakes in the programming. Having standards and tools in place increases team efficiency when responding to a problem.
- In short, DevOps teams make better products. The agility of these teams and their level of feedback and collaboration allow defects in the software to be resolved accurately and quickly. This results in a higher quality product in the same or less time.
How to Build a DevOps Toolchain
There are five key components to building a DevOps toolchain.
- Accept that the current systems aren’t working and that they need to be fixed. This is a fundamental step to creating revolutionary change.
- Get inspired from those around you who have successfully implemented DevOps toolchains. There are are multitude of stories in blogs and articles online.
- Analyzing the way things are working right now gives you key information for where things need to change. You’ll also be able to tell how long each step in the SDLC is taking and how well it’s being performed.
- Now that you’ve accepted, been inspired, and analyzed your current systems, it’s time to build. Select the tools that best match your vision & suit your needs, and remember they can always be edited later.
- Strategically build into your toolchain the ability to adapt to new circumstances. This also includes planning to regularly check-in and maintain the toolchain, as new information arises and practice expands, different tools might need to be selected.
Rely on Encora for your DevOps teams
Adapt to the changing competitive landscape with DevOps from Encora. Our agile DevOps services shorten development cycles, increase deployment frequency and deliver high-quality, high-performance releases. This will improve your application’s visibility and growth as well as time to market. Whatever your DevOps needs are, we’re here to help you. Reach out to us today to get started.
