GitOps Best Practices: Orchestrating Continuous Delivery with Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
From my perspective, GitOps has completely changed how to achieve flawless Continuous Delivery. The infrastructure as code (IaC) approach of the GitOps methodology has revolutionised the software delivery process.
Through the utilisation of version control systems, particularly Git, GitOps revolutionises the way teams deploy and manage applications and infrastructure. Declarative infrastructure management principles and the “everything as code” tenet are closely related to GitOps. This means that in addition to storing, versioning, and managing application code, infrastructure configurations, policies, and automation scripts are also stored in Git repositories.
The core tenet of the GitOps methodology is a single source of truth. Teams that manage all configuration and deployment specifications in a single Git repository establish an authoritative source of information that ensures consistency and eliminates differences between environments. This centralised approach makes it easier for team members to coordinate and collaborate, regardless of where they are located.
GitOps promotes declarative infrastructure management, which builds on this concept. Teams that use declarative configuration files instead of imperative commands for manual infrastructure provisioning and configuration specify the desired state of their systems. These files serve as blueprints, outlining the resources, dependencies, and desired behaviors of the intended configuration. They are often written in formats such as YAML. Infrastructure provisioning becomes reliable, consistent, and efficient with this method.
GitOps easily integrates with Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, the foundation of modern software delivery practices, to automate the deployment process. By automating deployments from Git repositories in response to code or configuration changes, GitOps optimizes the delivery process by decreasing manual intervention and expediting time to market. Moreover, in production settings, the ease of rolling back to previous states ensures resilience and reliability.
Throughout the software delivery lifecycle, GitOps offers two key benefits: accountability and transparency. Utilising Git’s built-in features, like branching, pull requests, and code reviews, teams can establish robust governance mechanisms that enhance code quality and reduce the likelihood of introducing breaking changes.
Furthermore, with the increasing adoption of cloud-native architectures and microservices-based applications by enterprises, the auditing of complex distributed system management at scale becomes increasingly important. In this regard, on-premises infrastructure, cloud platforms, and Kubernetes clusters are just a few instances of the heterogeneous environments that GitOps excels at managing with its singular methodology. Teams can focus on rapidly generating business value through experimentation and development by removing the inherent complexity of infrastructure provisioning by utilising GitOps.
GitOps signifies a paradigm change in the way we approach software delivery by empowering teams to embrace agility, scalability, and reliability in equal measure. By treating infrastructure like code and leveraging Git’s collaborative features, organisations can improve the efficiency, resilience, and innovation of their DevOps processes.
About the Writer:
David Daniel is an adept Cloud and DevOps Engineer boasting five years of extensive industry experience. He demonstrates proficiency in leveraging Software-Defined Networking (SDN) solutions to optimise network resource management and configuration processes. His strategic implementation of SDN controllers has effectively eradicated the necessity for manual hardware configuration, resulting in heightened operational efficiency and enhanced agility within the organization.
