Introduction to DevOps in AWS
DevOps, a combination of development (Dev) and operations (Ops), is a software development approach that focuses on collaboration, communication and integration between software developers and IT operations. In the context of Amazon Web Services (AWS), DevOps plays a crucial role in streamlining the software development and delivery process. Let's delve into the basics of DevOps, explore its benefits in AWS and understand the key AWS services that support DevOps practices.
Understanding the Basics of DevOps
DevOps is not just a set of tools but a cultural shift that emphasizes collaboration, automation and continuous delivery. It aims to break down silos between development and operations teams, leading to faster development cycles, increased deployment frequency and more reliable releases.
The Benefits of Implementing DevOps in AWS
Implementing DevOps in AWS offers numerous advantages, including improved deployment frequency, faster time to market, reduced failure rates and enhanced collaboration between development and operations teams. By embracing DevOps practices, organizations can achieve greater efficiency and agility in their software development lifecycle.
Overview of AWS Services for DevOps
AWS provides a wide range of services tailored to support DevOps practices, such as AWS CodePipeline for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), AWS CodeBuild for automating build processes and AWS CloudFormation for infrastructure as code. Leveraging these services can help organizations automate and streamline their DevOps workflows in AWS.
How DevOps Works in AWS
DevOps in AWS involves using various AWS services to automate software development and deployment processes. The key components of DevOps in AWS include:
CodeCommit: A source control service that enables you to host secure and scalable Git repositories.
CodeBuild: A fully managed build service that compiles source code, runs tests and produces software packages.
CodePipeline: A continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) service that automates the release process for your applications.
Jenkins: Jenkins is a tool that helps developers automate their work when building, testing and deploying software. It can be used to make these processes more efficient and consistent, saving time and reducing errors. By integrating Jenkins with other tools and services, like those offered by AWS, developers can create automated workflows that make their work even easier.
How to Connect GitLab to Jenkins?
Create a GitLab Repository:Create a new repository in GitLab to host your project's source code.
Install jenkins:
Start Jenkins
Install Jenkins Plugins:
Install the necessary plugins in Jenkins to integrate with GitLab. You may need plugins like GitLab Plugin, Pipeline and AWS CodePipeline.
Create a Jenkins Job:
Create a new Jenkins job that pulls the code from your GitLab repository and performs the necessary build, test and deployment tasks.
To create a new Jenkins job, first, navigate to the Jenkins homepage. Then, locate and click on the "New Item" option in the left sidebar. This will allow you to set up a new job for your project in a few simple steps.
Next, you'll need to enter a name for your job or item. After entering the name, select the type of project you are working on. This could be a freestyle project, a pipeline, or any other type supported by Jenkins. Once you've selected the project type, click on the "OK" or "Create" button to proceed.
In the description section, provide a brief overview of your project, including its purpose, goals and any other relevant information. This description will help team members understand the project's context and objectives.
After that, in the source code management section, select Git as the version control system. Enter the URL of your Git repository where the project code is hosted. If credentials are required to access the repository, make sure to provide them to Jenkins. These credentials should have been created previously and should have the necessary permissions to access the repository.
Next, select the branch of your Git repository where your code is pushed. This is the branch that Jenkins will monitor for changes and trigger builds accordingly. You can also choose a repository browser, which is optional, to view the repository's contents directly from Jenkins. However, you can set this to auto if you prefer.
After configuring these settings, click on the "Apply" button to save your changes and then click on the "Save" button to complete the process. This will create the Jenkins job and set it up to build your project based on the selected branch and repository settings.
Now that you've created the Jenkins job, navigate to the job page and locate the "Build Now" button. Clicking on this button will trigger Jenkins to start the build process for your project. Jenkins will fetch the latest code from the selected branch, compile it (if necessary), run tests and generate any artifacts as configured in your project's build settings. This process helps ensure that your project is up-to-date and functioning correctly.
what is aws cloudformation
AWS CloudFormation is an AWS service that uses template files to automate the setup of AWS resources.
It can also be described as Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tool and a cloud automation solution because it can automate the setup and deployment of various Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offerings on the AWS CloudFormation supports virtually every service that runs in AWS. (A full list of supported services is available here.)
⦿ Infrastructure as code (IaC)
It is the ability to provision and support your computing infrastructure using code instead of manual processes and settings.
You can use CloudFormation to automate the configuration of workloads that run on the most popular AWS services, like the EC2 compute service, the S3 storage service and the IAM service for configuring access control.
you can use CloudFormation templates to describe the resources you need.These templates are written in JSON or YAML format and can include things like Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon RDS databases, security groups and more.
In general, if a service runs on AWS, it is a safe bet that you can use CloudFormation to automate its configuration and deployment.
It is worth noting that CloudFormation is not the only way to configure and deploy services on AWS. You can handle these processes manually using the AWS command-line interface, API, or Web console.
There are three concepts you need to be aware of when using CloudFormation and these concepts are fundamental to how it works:
⦿ Template-
A template is a declarative way of defining your resources as a yaml or json file.
JSON:
yaml:
This template can then be used to deploy the resources either using the console or CLI.
⦿ Stack-
hen you deploy a template like the example we had above, it creates both resources (EIP and EC2) as a stack. These resources are created as a unit; therefore, any update or deletion of resources will be applied to the stack. You can use a single template to create multiple stacks as long as there are no naming conflicts.
⦿ Nested stack-
nested stack is a way to create a stack within another stack. This allows you to break down a complex infrastructure into smaller, more manageable stacks, making it easier to organize and maintain your resources.
When you use a nested stack, you create a parent stack that includes one or more nested stack resources. Each nested stack resource references a separate CloudFormation template that defines its own set of resources. When you create or update the parent stack, AWS CloudFormation automatically creates, updates, or deletes the resources in the nested stacks according to the template.
⦿ Change Set-
When a stack needs to be updated, you can simply run an update on the stack and let AWS take care of replacing the necessary resources. Change Set takes that further and gives you the ability to see the impact of the changes you are applying before they are actually applied. In the terraform world this would be equivalent to terraform plan.
Conclusion:
DevOps in AWS involves using a combination of AWS services, such as CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodePipeline, Jenkins and CloudFormation, to automate software development and deployment processes. By connecting GitLab to Jenkins using CloudFormation and running a YAML script on Jenkins, you can streamline your software development and deployment workflows, enabling faster and more reliable releases of your applications.
