OpsForDevs

devops bootcamp material that I have taught at previous companies

---

Project maintained by debaghtk Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

Exercise 7: Automating Cloud Deployment with CI/CD

Objective

Automate the cloud deployment process from Exercise 6 using the CI/CD tool set up in previous exercises. This will create a fully automated pipeline from code commit to production deployment.

Prerequisites

• Completed Exercise 6 (Cloud Deployment with Infrastructure as Code)
• CI/CD tool set up (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions)
• Access to cloud provider and necessary credentials

Instructions

1. Review Your Current CI/CD Pipeline
   • Examine the existing pipeline stages (e.g., build, test, package)
   • Identify where to integrate the cloud deployment steps
2. Update Your CI/CD Configuration
   • Add new stages for cloud deployment
   • Ensure necessary credentials are securely stored and accessible
3. Integrate Terraform with CI/CD
   • Add a stage to run Terraform commands
   • Include steps to initialize, plan, and apply Terraform changes

4. Integrate Helm or Chef with CI/CD Depending on your choice in Exercise 6:

   For Helm:

   • Add a stage to update Helm chart version
   • Include steps to deploy or upgrade using Helm

   For Chef:

   • Add a stage to update and upload Chef cookbooks
   • Include steps to apply Chef configurations to servers
5. Implement Deployment Strategies
   • Configure rolling updates for Kubernetes or blue-green deployment for traditional servers
   • Ensure proper health checks and rollback mechanisms
6. Set Up Approval Gates (Optional)
   • Add manual approval steps for production deployments if required
7. Configure Notifications
   • Set up notifications for successful deployments and failures
8. Test the Automated Pipeline
   • Make a small change to your application
   • Push the change and observe the entire pipeline in action
9. Verify Deployment
   • Ensure the application is successfully deployed and running in the cloud
   • Verify that all infrastructure changes are applied correctly
10. Document the Process
    • Update your project documentation with the new automated deployment process
    • Include any troubleshooting steps or common issues

Bonus Tasks

1. Implement automated rollback in case of deployment failures
2. Set up parallel deployments to multiple environments (e.g., staging and production)
3. Integrate automated security scanning into your pipeline

Deliverables

1. Updated CI/CD configuration files
2. Screenshots or logs showing:
   • Successful automated deployment to the cloud
   • Infrastructure changes applied via CI/CD
3. Brief documentation including:
   • Overview of the automated deployment process
   • Any challenges faced and how they were overcome

Remember, the goal is to create a seamless, automated process from code commit to cloud deployment. This exercise will help you understand the intricacies of integrating cloud deployments into a CI/CD pipeline, a crucial skill in modern DevOps practices.