What is a Pipeline in DevOps?

DevOps is a popular application design philosophy that merges development and operations, hence the terminology. And, the pipeline in DevOps is an integral part of it.

Most terms relate to DevOps, and sometimes, looking closely at one of these terms can help us.

By breaking down a concept like DevOps and focusing on one element at a time, we gain a greater overall understanding, which in turn helps us get more out of the process.

So, to better understand a pipeline in DevOps, let’s read the below article.

The Blog will answer your question about what a DevOps pipeline is. We will also examine its components and stages and explain what a DevOps delivery pipeline is all about.

Also, we will be showing you a comprehensive guide on DevOps pipeline tools. Keep reading further!

What is a Pipeline in DevOps?

A pipeline in DevOps automates processes and equips developers and operations professionals with tools for collaborative coding and deployment into a production environment.

While there is considerable variation between organizations, a typical DevOps pipeline would include building automation or continuous integration, automation testing, validation, and reporting.

In some cases, DevOps teams include manual gates requiring human intervention before allowing the code to proceed.

The distinguishing feature of a pipeline in DevOps is its continuous nature. Each of the four aspects, including continuous integration, delivery/deployment, feedback, and operations, is continuous.

In a DevOps delivery pipeline, developers write code, run tests to identify bugs, errors, typos, and redundancy, then fix and patch these issues, test them a little more, and finally release the working product to users.

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The 7 Key Components of the Pipeline in DevOps

A pipeline in DevOps comprises seven components as follows:

1. Continuous Integration (CI)

We typically refer to two aspects as CI/CD or a CI/CD pipeline. Continuous integration incorporates new code changes regularly into the central repository, and the usual frequency is several times daily.

This makes merging different code changes easier and makes bugs less likely to be missed.

2. Continuous Delivery (CD)

Continuous delivery (CD) refers to gradual software releases and updates to production. It allows developers to automate the entire software release process and increase the number of releases with new features.

3. Continuous Testing

DevOps personnel continuously test every code integration produced during the continuous integration stage.

CI ensures high-quality application development and analyzes the risks made in the release to be forwarded for delivery.

Understanding the differences in a Docker image vs container setup is often essential for testing environments.

4. Continuous Deployment

Most people confuse this part with continuous delivery, although both are very different. Continuous deployment follows continuous delivery.

All the updates that successfully pass the automated testing are automatically released into production, allowing several production deployments on a given day.

5. Continuous Monitoring

Continuous monitoring confirms the stability of the environment and checks whether the applications are performing what they are supposed to do.

At the same time, the operations teams monitor the applications and systems and observe the latter’s performance.

6. Continuous Feedback

Many organizations overlook continuous feedback, which is unfortunate since DevOps teams need it. The app does what everybody expects (developers, stakeholders, and customers).

Everybody should be on the same page, and that’s what continuous feedback does.

7. Continuous Operations

This aspect does precisely what its name signifies: It is a 24/7, seven-day-a-week operation with minimal planned downtime.

The ultimate aim of continuous operations is to ensure no disturbance to end-users due to either hardware or software change.

It’s an expensive up-front investment, but it pays off over time by avoiding costly losses in production.

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Stages of the DevOps pipeline

A pipeline in DevOps begins with planning, as teams introduce and schedule new features or fixes.

Collaborating early among team members can help clarify mobile or Web Application Architecture requirements and system needs from the outset.

Here are the stages of pipelines:

1. Plan

A pipeline in DevOps begins with planning, as teams introduce and schedule new features or fixes.

Here, collaborating first amongst different people involved in the broad framework of a DevOps practice simply means starting at the earliest point of understanding what the users need and designing a solution.

In the DevOps delivery pipeline, it is crucial to understand what changes are implicated and whether the current system takes all the right dimensions.

2. Code

During the coding stage, an organization starts writing codes according to the plan. Their work is tracked through a version control system like Git.

This is also a crucial point in a delivery pipeline in DevOps, where developers can use many tools in their development environment to bring uniformity in the styling of codes and identify potential security flaws.

That could include services like a cloud-hosted IDE, often used to standardize the development workflows and accelerate the speed with which an entire coding environment can be set up.

Developers often consider using a Cross-platform app development framework to ensure device compatibility.

3. Build

In the build phase, the pipeline in software begins with code changes from a developer to a shared repository. This is the point at which the programmer would submit a pull request, combining their changes with the codebase.

This would then prompt another team member to review the code before allowing it to merge. Teams usually use Unit Testing Vs. Integration Testing methods.

In contrast, a standard pipeline in DevOps triggers an automated build process: the integration and unit tests of merging the codebase. The system automatically reports the issue to the developer if any test or build fails.

4. Test

Once the build is deployed in the test environment, it will undergo several automated and manual tests. Automated security tests include DAST or dynamic application security testing.

IAST, also called interactive application security testing, is designed to inject anomalous data or requests automatically into the application so that it can look for vulnerabilities or risk areas.

The process also includes manual user acceptance testing (UAT), where team members use the application and then note any potential problems or bugs that the customer may face.

5. Release

The release is an instance in a DevOps delivery pipeline in which newly built software is fully tested and ready to be deployed into production.

In addition to the code testing, its operational performance has also been cleared so that organizations will be confident it will run successfully in production without any bugs or issues that have not yet been discovered.

At this point, some organizations will deploy the code automatically as soon as it reaches this point in what is often called continuous deployment. This is how other software teams deploy multiple code changes per day.

Some manually put a new build into production, including an approval step. Others schedule automated releases at certain days or times. Also, they use cloud development platforms for easier product release.

6. Deploy

DevOps deployment is straightforward. Once deployment is done, the teams prepare a build and start the production. That is simply what a pipeline in DevOps is.

Organizations use automation tools for deployment by provisioning new production environments through infrastructure as code, where teams slowly integrate code changes to a percentage of users in the new environment.

At the same time, the old codebase remains operational for other users in a separate environment. A blue-green release strategy lets organizations back users to an old build if anything goes wrong.

7. Operate

A DevOps pipeline does not end after an application is released—that is when the run stage starts, and organizations need to ensure that everything is working.

It contains the orchestration and configuration of infrastructure settings that enforce rules to scale resources automatically to meet real-time demands.

In addition, it usually contains mechanisms to capture user activity within the application, such as behavioural logging and customer feedback forms.

8. Monitor

After establishing the operational stage of the pipeline, the organization can look towards automating monitoring capabilities to discover bottlenecks in performance and application issues as well as user behaviour.

This stage would involve a setup in tooling to collect data on the application’s performance and infrastructure and then pass actionable items back to the product teams.

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What are the Benefits of a Pipeline in DevOps?

Here are some of the benefits:

1. Faster Software Delivery

Organizations construct a pipeline in DevOps to faster product delivery through automated processes for better delivery, typically to the end users.

Through the SDLC, tools enable organizations to build, test, and ship software at speed and practices that favour fast-paced, incremental code changes.

CI/CD automates software builds, testing, and delivery within a pipeline in software to achieve faster delivery.

2. More Reliable and Higher-quality Software

Pipelines in DevOps generally run automated tests throughout the entire SDLC, especially in organizations that follow the DevSecOps approach, to simply extend DevOps to emphasize security issues.

The outcome depends on how much testing an organization automates and applies to its pipeline. Using high-quality tools in Android App Development Trends is one example of enhancing quality.

3. Lower Risk

A pipeline ensures risk minimization related to issues and bugs reaching the production software by focusing on consistently applied, automated testing during the SDLC.

Teams automate routine tasks to reduce the risk of human errors. CI/CD practices primarily achieve this by adopting automation in delivering software with faster mechanisms.

Furthermore, automated tests detect potential problems after the teams change codes in the database.

4. Manual Efforts Are Reduced With Automation

A primary element of any pipeline in DevOps is the automation of repetitive or tiresome tasks that computers perform better.

Automation reduces human effort; otherwise, performing these tasks manually would be tedious, repetitive, and time-consuming.

It also frees resources to focus on building and shipping software - freeing up one of the most precious assets of a software team time.

5. Review Times And Resolution Times Are Shorter

The team applies tests at key points within the System Development Life Cycle with automation features in the pipeline in DevOps, which are thus used to assess the functionality and security profile of code changes.

Every organization will put together its unique testing suite, but the net effect is that a pipeline frequently generates significantly shorter review times for new code.

A DevOps delivery pipeline also frequently leads to much faster resolution when issues are discovered in code through continuous monitoring and reporting.

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How to Build a Pipeline in DevOps?

Even though every company or organization defines its unique take on DevOps and meets its requirements, there are five steps to creating a pipeline in DevOps that everyone knows and recognizes.

1. Set Up a CI/CD Tool

The first step any organization should take is to get the right tool to build its CI/CD pipeline.

Since the choice will revolve more around the company’s specific needs, Jenkins is a solid choice since it can easily be customized to fit an organization’s situation.

2. Source Your Control Environment

Development teams need a sandbox that holds and shares their code, develops many app versions and prevents merge conflicts.

Git is an excellent control management tool, allowing developers to keep their code in a shared repository. Other options include GitLab and BitBucket.

3. Set up a Build Server

Also known as a CI server, the build server is a stable and reliable central environment assigned solely for distributed development projects to be built within. They are integration points for the developers themselves.

They take integrated code as a copy from source code repositories, offering them a clean environment where the code works.

4. Set Up or Build Testing Automation Tools

Testing automation is an integral element of the DevOps process, so the team must run testing against the tests.

Automated testing is essential, particularly for cross-platform applications that use Python vs Java or other language comparisons to maximize compatibility.

5. Deploy to Production

Here’s where the team’s software gets pushed to production. The easiest way is to set up the build server to run a script that deploys the application manually or automatically.

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What Should You Consider While Building a Pipeline In DevOps?

The design and implementation of a pipeline in DevOps depends on the technology stack used, the level of experience of a DevOps engineer, budget, and more.

A DevOps engineer must have wide development and operations knowledge, including coding, infrastructure management, system administration, and DevOps toolchains.

And each organization’s technology stack may impact the process. The developers use list of databases in the build process to simplify and optimize data retrieval and management.

For example, say your codebase is in node.js. Then factor in whether you use a local proxy npm registry, download source code, and run `npm install` at every point in the pipeline or do it once and generate an artifitcial that moves through the pipeline.

If you’ve containerized your app, you must determine whether you’ll use a local or remote container registry, build your container once and deploy it through your pipeline, or rebuild your container at each point.

Although each pipeline is unique, most organizations use similar basic components.

DevOps teams evaluate the success of each step before proceeding further in the pipeline. If the pipeline fails, it halts, and the system provides feedback to the developer.

Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

These two tools form the core of the pipeline in DevOps and, as seen above, comprise two of the seven parts.

CI/CD works in harmony to create a workflow to reduce the time or cost of an app development project.

One common critical word in the two concepts is “continuous.” Continuous integration enables the system to frequently integrate code changes into the central repository, simplifying the merging process and saving time.

The CD stage aims to gradually release the software and its upgrades into production.

This phase promotes increased new versions and feature releases and encourages customer participation by improving the feedback loop.

Deployment Pipeline Automation

DevOps teams should automate everything that can be automated. Automation significantly reduces the time needed to execute the deployment.

The backend developers need to pick the best deployment automation tool for the job.

In this context, selecting the right app development software helps simplify the deployment process and supports integration with CI/CD tools.

👉 AWS CodeDeploy

👉 DeployBot

👉 ElectricFlow

👉 Jenkins

👉 TeamCity

👉 Visual Studio

DevOps Pipeline Implementation Process

There is no one-size-fits-all, cut-and-paste recipe for implementing the pipeline in DevOps.

In developing their solution, DevOps teams will need to consider factors like organizational size, toolset availability, budget, and what the business expects to be met by the implementation.

There are three general steps that DevOps teams should take when implementing a pipeline in DevOps:

👉 Develop a clearly defined and established approach for your DevOps. Gather everyone from all the departments involved and collaborate in setting goals.

👉 Integrate Agile principles into your project. Agile and DevOps interrelate by focussing on delivering software through iterations.

👉 Make everything continuous. The foundation of DevOps relies on continuity, so constant deliverable times and code quality are ensured at all stages of the pipeline in DevOps.

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What are the DevOps pipeline tools?

The pipeline in DevOps uses the tools listed below for specific tasks:

1. Source Control Management (SCM)

👉 Git: Use it to track code changes. It is highly popular with tools like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket.

👉 GitHub: Provides source code management along with collaboration features.

👉 GitLab: Integrates source control with built-in CI/CD, security features, and issue tracking.

👉 Bitbucket: Offers Git repository hosting and CI/CD capabilities.

2. CI/CD Orchestration

👉 Jenkins: Open-source automation server, customizable with plugins for building and deploying pipelines.

👉 GitLab CI/CD: Built into GitLab, it provides an integrated pipeline solution with code, build, test, and deployment.

👉 CircleCI: Known for fast CI/CD pipelines, especially for containerized and cloud applications development.

👉 Travis CI: Simple CI/CD platform, popular for open-source projects.

👉 TeamCity: JetBrains CI/CD tool with powerful customization works well with various environments.

👉 AWS CodePipeline: Fully managed CI/CD service from AWS, integrates well with other AWS tools.

3. Configuration Management

👉 Ansible: Open-source tool that automates software provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment.

👉 Chef: Infrastructure as code (IaC) tool focused on automating infrastructure setup and configuration.

👉 Puppet: Declarative language tool for configuration management, good for managing large environments.

👉 SaltStack: Event-driven automation tool focused on configuration management and infrastructure automation.

4. Build Automation

👉 Maven: Build automation tool for Java projects, handles dependencies and build management.

👉 Gradle: Flexible build tool popular for Java and Android applications.

👉 Apache Ant: Java-based build tool, used for automating tasks like compiling code and packaging.

5. Containerization and Orchestration

👉 Docker: Containerization platform that packages applications and dependencies into isolated environments.

👉 Kubernetes: Container orchestration platform, It also automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

👉 OpenShift: Red Hat’s Kubernetes-based container platform, integrates CI/CD tools.

👉 Helm: Kubernetes package manager, helps in defining, installing, and managing Kubernetes applications.

6. Testing Automation

👉 Selenium: Open-source framework for automating web application testing.

👉 Junit: Widely used testing framework for Java applications.

👉 Jest: JavaScript testing framework for React applications.

👉 Postman: API testing tool, useful for automating tests on RESTful APIs.

7. Artifact Management

👉 JFrog Artifactory: Universal artifact repository that supports various package types, and integrates with CI/CD.

👉 Nexus Repository: Centralized repository for managing artifacts and dependencies.

👉 Docker Hub: Public Docker image repository, useful for managing and distributing Docker images.

8. Monitoring and Logging

👉 Prometheus: Open-source monitoring system, used for collecting metrics in real-time.

👉 Grafana: Visualization tool often paired with Prometheus to create dashboards for metrics.

👉 ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana): Log management and visualization tool, used for centralized logging.

👉 Splunk: Commercial log management and monitoring tool, often used for analyzing logs and monitoring performance.

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Ready to Create a Pipeline in DevOps With Arramton Infotech?

With a solid pipeline, organizations of all sizes can more confidently ensure their code gets out into the world in a predictable and controlled manner. Therefore, Arramton Infotech minimizes errors and deployment time.

We team up with the world’s most advanced technology companies to empower them to build modern and effective DevOps pipelines that effectively meet all their needs regarding deployment and monitoring.

At the coding stage, our developers also determine the best programming language for app development to ensure code consistency and security.

We are here to help if your organization requires more resources or advice on how to set up your pipeline.

We can recommend the best tools for your project, create custom multi-stage build plans, and even guide you on how to implement DevOps to enhance your organization’s commitment to Diversity and Inclusion.

Wrapping Up Pipeline in DevOps

A pipeline in the DevOps approach can be vital in any organization that wishes to simplify its software delivery process through automation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

A well-designed pipeline in DevOps will speed up the delivery while nurturing a resilient and forward-looking development culture.

Integrating every stage, from planning and coding to deployment and monitoring, makes workflows smoother and risk-free with better quality release cycles in DevOps delivery pipelines.

An organization could quickly respond to the changing needs of users and markets with the best tools and practices in place and dependable, fast-evolving software.

Arramton Infotech supports all business pipelines through creation and optimization and directs teams toward operational efficiency and innovation.

You can connect with us for DevOps services, on-demand app development services, web development services, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is a pipeline of DevOps?

Ans: A DevOps pipeline is a set of automated tools. It could also be regarded as the process that helps software development and engineering teams build, test, and deploy code. The pipeline in DevOps automates each step of building and improving the software product.

Q. What are the phases of the pipeline in DevOps?

Ans: There are 8 stages or phases of the DevOps pipeline:

👉 Plan

👉 Code

👉 Build

👉 Test

👉 Release

👉 Deploy

👉 Operate

👉 Monitor

Q. What is an example of a pipeline in DevOps?

Ans: In a two-stage DevOps delivery pipeline, teams might use a source stage called Source and a second stage called Prod. In this example, the pipeline updates the application with the latest changes and continuously deploys the latest result.

Q. What is a pipeline in deployment?

Ans: In software development, a deployment pipeline is a system of automated processes designed to quickly and accurately move new code additions and updates from version control to production.