DevOps Fundamentals
This chapter introduces the practices that let teams deliver cloud software quickly and reliably. You will learn CI/CD pipelines, containers and orchestration, version control, and modern deployment strategies that reduce risk.
Continuous integration and delivery
Continuous integration (CI) automatically builds and tests changes as they are merged, catching defects early and keeping the mainline releasable. Continuous delivery and deployment extend this by automatically moving validated changes through environments toward production. Together, CI/CD pipelines shorten feedback loops and make releases routine rather than risky events.
Containers and orchestration
A container packages an application with its dependencies into a lightweight, portable unit that shares the host operating system kernel, making it faster to start and more portable than a full virtual machine. As container counts grow, an orchestration platform such as Kubernetes automates scheduling, scaling, health checks, and self-healing across a cluster, so operators manage the desired state rather than individual containers.
Version control and collaboration
Version control systems such as Git store both application and infrastructure code, providing a complete history, enabling parallel collaboration through branches, and allowing teams to roll back to a known-good state. Code review before merging improves quality and shares knowledge. Treating infrastructure the same way as application code is central to reliable DevOps.
Deployment strategies
Several strategies reduce the risk of releasing new versions. A canary deployment sends a small slice of traffic to the new version to detect issues before a full rollout. A blue-green deployment runs two complete environments and switches traffic between them, enabling fast rollback. Choosing a strategy balances risk tolerance, cost, and the ability to recover quickly if something goes wrong.