they’re shiny. they’re new. and they’re what devops...

They’reshiny.They’renew.Andthey’rewhatDevOpsisallabout!ThecooltoolsetsthatenablesuchamazingITperformancecallouttous:“Downloadme!Installme!I’llmakeyourIT-lifegreat!”Butdon’tfallfortheirSirenSong!

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WhileitistruethatDevOpsmaturityrequiresagoodtoolset,itisalsotruethatDevOpsismuch,muchmorethanjustimplemenLngtools.DevOpsisaboutpeople,anditisabouttheprocessesweuse.DevOpsoMenrequiresustorethinkthearchitectureofoursystemsandservices,evenhowourorganizaLonisstructured.AndDevOpswillinevitablyraiseculturalchallengesthatnotoolscanaddress.So,whilewe“automateeverythingwecan”,wemusttakecareabouthowalloftheseshinynewtoolswillworkwiththerealiLesofthepeople,processes,architectures,organizaLon,andcultureofourITshop.Let’stakealookatsomeexamples.

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WhatcanbemoreobviousthanusingPuppetorCheftoautomateconfiguraLonofourservers?Butwhowillusethesetools,andwhatwilltheyusethemtoconfigure?Theserverteam?Thenetworkgroup?Back-endsupport?Desktopteam?HowaboutDatabaseAdministraLon?OrourApplicaLonteams?Maybealloftheabove?Ifso,who’sresponsibleforwhat?And(especiallywherethereareoverlaps–e.g.ourStorageAreaNetworkorapplicaLonservers)howwillalloftheseteamscooperateandcollaborate?HowwillthoseconfiguraLonsbedefinedandstandardized?Whoisallowedtodowhat,andwhen?OrganizaLonalsiloscomplicatethesesortsofimplementaLons,soifyourshopisorganizedthatway(andmostare),thenbeforeanytooldecisionsaremade,you’llneedtoreachacrosssiloboundaries,iniLatecollaboraLon,andworktogethertofigureouthowtogetstarted,andhowtoconLnuethatcollaboraLonoverthelonghaul.What?Youdon’tgetalongwithsomeofthosefolks?Thenthere’ssomeevenmoreorganizaLonalmendingthatyouneedtoaddressbeforeyoucangetstarted.

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Jenkinsisoneofthecoolesttools!Andascreamin’fastdeploymentpipelineiswhatweallwant.Butwhodeploysstufftoday?Theanswerislikelytodependonwhatstuffyou’rethinkingof.(ApplicaLons?ServerconfiguraLons?OSPatches?Mobileapps?Firewallchanges?)Andregardlessofwhatyouwanttodeploy,“who”islikelytobeavarietyofpeoplefromdifferentspecialtygroups.Anddon’tforgettheChangeControlBoard(CCB)!NothinggoesoutwithouttheChangeManager’sOK.Yourcurrentdeploymentprocessprobablyinvolvesanalysis,approvals,signoffs,andthenacLvitybylotsofdifferentpeople.AnyautomaLonweputintoplacewillaffecteveryoneofthoseplayersandhowallofthosedifferentgroupsinteract.EverychangewemakewillrequirenegoLaLonsamongalloftheseplayerstoensurethatthealloftherisksaresufficientlyaddressedandtheflowthruthedeploymentprocessisindeedopLmized.Thiswillresultinsignificantchangestopeople’sacLviLesandresponsibiliLes.Thosewithmorepowerarelikelytoresistrelinquishingcontrol,andthosewithseriousconcernsarelikelytobequiteconservaLveinwhattheywillagreeto.

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WhileautomatedtesLngtoolsarenotnew,theirusewillexpandasyouembraceDevOps.IndeedyourdeploymentpipelinecannotbeopLmizedwithoutsignificantautomatedtesLng.WhoisresponsiblefortestautomaLoninyourshoptoday?Thetestteam?Asub-groupofyourteatteam?Ormaybenoone,becausealltesLngismanual?IfyourshophasneverusedtestautomaLon,acompletechangeinthinkingmuststartatthetop.TheholdersofthepursestringsmustunderstandboththevalueandthenecessityofinvesLnginthetools(andthetrainingpeoplewillneedinordertousethem).TheymustalsoembracetheideathatbuildingsomethingisnotcompleteunLlwehavealsobuilttheautomatedteststhatareneededtoverifyit.Beyondthat,addingtestautomaLontothemixmeansaddingtoourtechnicalcontributors’responsibiliLes.ThisaffectstheirjobdescripLons(whichimpactontheperformanceappraisalprocess),aswellastheirself-percepLon,andquiteessenLally,meanstheymustaltertheirworkhabits.IfyoualreadyhavetestautomaLonprofessionals,youwillfindthattheywillneedtoshareresponsibilityforwriLngautomatedtestswithothers.ThiswillmeansignificantchangestotheirjobresponsibiliLes,expectaLons,andworkpaeernsas

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SecuritymustbeaprimeconsideraLonineverythingweimplement.Ontheonehand,automaLngourdeploymentpipelinewillyieldlielevalueifwehavetostopattheSecurityGateattheendoftheprocess,whereourworkisrouLnelykickedbackforrework.Sowewillneedtocollaboratewithoursecurityteamtoweavesecuritychecksinthroughoutthedeploymentpipeline.WiththelimitednumberofsecurityprofessionalsmostITshopshave,findingtheLmeforthiscollaboraLoncanbeachallenge.Butthebiggerimpactis(likesomeoftheitemsdiscussedabove)thewayitwillchangepeople’sjobs(makingsecuritypartofeveryone’sjob)andthewaysinwhichthesecurityteaminteractswitheveryoneelse.TheotherbigimpactissecuringalloftheautomaLonweputintoplace.Whenspecialistsdidthingsbyhand,securitywasn’tabigissue(aslongaswetrustedthosespecialists).ButwhenanyonecanpushabueonorcheckinaconfiguraLonfile,andwhenallofoursystemcredenLalshavetobemadeavailabletoourtools,securingthesethingsbecomescrucial.ConsidertheexposureifahackerbrokeintoouroperaLonandgainedcontroloverourdeploymentpipeline,orchangedtheconfiguraLonofourfirewallorserverstoopendoors,orharvestedrootpasswordsfromourrepository.YIKES!Thisisanother

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SmallbatchsizebecomesafocuswhenyouareimplemenLnganyofthesetools.DoingworkinlargebatchestaxestheautomaLonmakingismuchlessefficient,andimpedingtheflowofourwork.TheAgilemethodshavealreadytaughtusaboutthis.Webreakprojectrequirementsdownintoalargenumberofverysmalldeliverables(Stories),andthenbuildtheminsmallbatches(afewStoriesineachshortSprint).ThemostefficientandeffecLvewaytouseanyofourDevOpstoolsandpracLcesistoapplythisconceptnotjusttodevelopingsoMware,buttoeverythingwedo.•  ApplicaLonArchitecture:MovingfromlargemonolithicapplicaLonstoServiceOriented

Architecture(SOA)orMicroservicesmeansthatweareworkingwithmanysmallparts,whichmakesourdeploymentpipelinemoreefficientandsimplifiesautomatedtesLng.

•  Projects:ShiMingfromlargeprojectstoaseriesofsmallerupdatessimplifiestheflowandthetesLngevenmore.SomeITshopsaremovingawayfromaprojectorientaLonaltogether,focusinginsteadonmakingincrementalchangestoservicesorapplicaLons(aproductorientaLon).Eitherway,thatisacompletereformoftheorganizaLon’sapproachtochangethatreachesallthewayuptoseniormanagementwhereprojectsareapprovedandfundingisallocated.

•  OrganizaLonstructure:MostDevOpsorganizaLonsmovetoacross-funcLonalteamstructure(usingAgileself-organizaLonteamprinciples)whichmeansthatspecialistsarenolongersegregatedalongspecialtylines,butareinsteadworkingshoulder-to-shoulderwithothersofdifferentspecialLes.AndsomeareabandoningfuncLonalteamsaltogether

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Yes,DevOpsisaboutthetools,butitisaboutmuchmorethanjustthetools.TherearemanyotherthingswehavetopayaeenLontoaswechooseourtoolsandfigureouthowtousethem.ThereisnosubsLtuteforgejngstarted…withsomegoodguidance.AgoodstarLngpointforlearningisASPE’sDevOpsImplementa7onBootCamp,orourIntroduc7ontoDevOpsCourse,orforseniormanagersourDevOpsExecu7veWorkshop.hep://aspetraining.com/subjects/devops-training-coursesAMeryou’vewrappedyoumindaroundthebigpictureandhaveaplanformovingforwardwiththetoolsandtheotherelements,thenyouwillwanttocomebackforourtooltraining(e.g.Puppet,Chef,Jenkins,Docker,Git),andourtechnicalpracLcestraining(e.g.CI/CDWorkshop,TestAutomaLon,Test-DrivenDevelopment).ThatwillgiveyouagoodstartonyourDevOpsJourney.

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