Applying DevOps fundamentals to infrastructure provisioning can help your team work more efficiently and reliably
The traditional DevOps approach to development became popular thanks in large part to its emphasis on communication and collaboration between different parts of the team. It provides a more holistic view of the process and deeply systematizes practices such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC), merge requests (MR), and continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).
However, GitOps workflows present a related methodology that is also rising in popularity. These workflows position Git as the single source of truth and application infrastructure. They can handily function alongside DevOps as a means of applying the same development and live ops principles to infrastructure provisioning.
The key to understanding the GitOps workflow is knowing how it is similar to and different from the DevOps workflow, and how GitOps can fit your business’s specific needs. This guide will help break down what adopting GitOps could mean for your business in practical terms.
Dig deeper into GitOps best practices, tools, and more with What is GitOps? A Guide for Developers.
What is the GitOps workflow?
GitOps is a framework that takes existing DevOps principles and further hones their aspect of continuous delivery. It takes IaC, CI/CD, and MR to the next level by automating these processes to more quickly deploy digital products. GitOps automates CD by constantly monitoring the Git repository; when new changes are submitted, it detects them and applies them to the target environment for the desired state.
In traditional DevOps deployment, code is “pushed” to the repository, and if the code aims to change the target environment, then it does so. It’s one linear process. If the infrastructure somehow breaks as a result of that process, then teams have to manually intercede and rework it.
GitOps uses a “pull” method in which infrastructure is updated and monitored by an automatic tool. This method allows for the detection of differences between the deployed infrastructure and the desired state, and then acts accordingly. This allows for faster deployment. If you’d like to find even more reliable ways to start deploying cloud applications faster, read our free whitepaper.
Benefits of GitOps workflows
A GitOps workflow allows teams to more quickly and reliably furnish new applications or microservices then deploy them, thanks to Git serving as the single source of truth. Because infrastructure configurations are stored in the Git repository, engineers can easily track any changes to code. In case issues arise, changes can also be rolled back if necessary. This can lead to more customer satisfaction as issues are addressed more quickly and downtime is reduced.
CI/CD can be manually laborious, requiring multiple check-ins across teams and workflows. It may even feel like its own internal bureaucracy, removed from the end result of building a great app. GitOps helps automate more of those processes, allowing engineers to focus their efforts elsewhere. Senior developers can spend their time on more high-impact tasks, while junior employees can learn as they go and spend less time waiting for guidance thanks to the built-in guardrails of a GitOps workflow.
Finally, DevOps teams are likely already familiar with many of the best practices that make GitOps workflows function and will simply need to apply them to a new area. As a result, there is less of a learning curve in transitioning from traditional DevOps to GitOps than in moving from traditional development and operations to DevOps.
Challenges of GitOps workflow
New Git repositories begin whenever a new application is made. Since everything is stored in Git, you can see what’s going on in the target environment and what your desired state is. However, visibility is best when your team only needs to manage a few Git repositories. In large corporations or enterprises, Git repositories can expand and multiply rapidly. This can make the code in Git difficult to search through and keep track of.
This can lead to another issue regarding auditing containerized applications. While all changes to Kubernetes clusters can be seen in the repo, it may be hard to comb through the extensive history to find answers to specific questions, such as “How many times has this event been deployed?”
It’s also important to protect the Git repository with robust security and compliance systems. Since the GitOps workflow relies on Git at the center, any sort of security breach to that repo can compromise the entire process. Being able to protect the repository while remaining agile is key to having a successful GitOps model.
Accelerate your business with DuploCloud
Now that you understand the GitOps workflow, as well as its benefits and challenges, it’s time to decide how to use them to help your business.
At DuploCloud, we’re proud to help our clients explore this new frontier of innovation by facilitating CI/CD services. Our DevOps automation platform can validate each integration with automated build and testing procedures, minimize human error, and accelerate release cycles. It’s built to integrate with your existing tools and platforms so that your current workflow and development pipeline aren’t disrupted.
If you’d like to learn more about how DuploCloud can help unlock the potential of GitOps workflows for your business, set up a demo today.
