Today marks the beginning of my 100-day adventure into the world of DevOps. I'm diving into the practices, tools, and culture that define DevOps, aiming to not just learn technical skills but also foster a collaborative spirit between software development and IT teams.

What is DevOps?

I started by checking out Atlassian's definition of DevOps. Here’s what I found:

DevOps is a set of practices, tools, and a cultural philosophy that automates and integrates the processes between software development and IT teams. It emphasizes team empowerment, cross-team communication and collaboration, and technology automation. The primary goal is to shorten the system development lifecycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality.

Key Takeaways:

• Practices: DevOps improves collaboration between development and operations, enabling faster and more reliable software delivery.
• Tools: Various tools automate and speed up processes, enhancing reliability and efficiency.
• Culture: DevOps fosters a collaborative culture, breaking down silos between teams and promoting shared responsibility.

The DevOps Lifecycle

The DevOps lifecycle has eight phases, each crucial for development and operations. Here's a quick rundown:

1. Discover: Teams explore, organize, and prioritize ideas aligned with strategic goals and customer impact.
2. Plan: Agile practices break work into manageable pieces, improving speed and quality.
3. Build: Version control systems like Git manage code and development workflows.
4. Test: Continuous Integration (CI) tests and merges code changes into a shared repository.
5. Deploy: Continuous Deployment (CD) automates frequent releases into production using feature flags.
6. Operate: IT services are delivered, including infrastructure design, implementation, and maintenance.
7. Observe: Monitoring and quickly resolving issues to maintain product uptime and performance.
8. Evaluate: Reports and feedback are generated to improve future releases and incorporate customer feedback.

Learning Resources and Tools

DevOps Best Practices:
I explored the importance of automation, continuous integration, and the cultural shift necessary for effective DevOps. For more details, check out this guide on DevOps best practices.

Key Takeaways from a Quick Video:
I watched a brief video titled "DevOps Explained in 5 Minutes | What is DevOps?" by Merlin. Here are the highlights:

• Integration of Development and Operations: DevOps bridges coding and IT operations, improving communication and reducing errors.
• Automation and Tools: Tools like microservices, virtual machines, and Infrastructure as Code (IAC) speed up processes and enhance reliability.
• Continuous Integration: Ensures ongoing code integration and infrastructure creation, boosting efficiency and quality.

Additional Learning Resource:
I found a promising Udemy course by Ranga that dives deeper into DevOps concepts, which seems like a valuable resource for my journey.

Final Thoughts for Day One

Today's deep dive into DevOps has given me a solid foundation for the days ahead. I've learned about the fundamental principles, lifecycle, and tools and practices that drive DevOps. I'm excited to continue this journey and look forward to sharing my progress and insights. Stay tuned for more updates as I navigate the world of DevOps!