From development to deployment: How devops automation tools can help?

We’ve all been there. You’re stuck on a project that is taking forever because of all the tedious, manual tasks involved. Just think of all the time you could save if you could automate those repetitive, monotonous tasks! Well, good news – with DevOps automation tools, you can! 

DevOps automation tools are essential for improving workflows and speeding up the process of getting new features and products to market. But with so many options, it can be hard to know which ones are the best for your business.

Let’s look at some of the best devops automation tools out there and how they can help streamline your workflow. 

What is DevOps? 

DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). When done correctly, DevOps can lead to faster delivery of new features, higher quality code, the reduced time it takes to fix problems, and increased customer satisfaction. 

DevOps automates and monitors the software development process so that developers can focus on writing code and ops can focus on deploying and managing applications. 

How does DevOps work? 

DevOps automates the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes. Automation makes it possible to deploy code or make changes to infrastructure quickly, safely, and reliably. Monitoring ensures that the system is always up and running smoothly. 

“If you ask me, being a DevOps is someone who already knows the Dev or Ops part of the job and is gluing them together, using the knowledge and automation tools to accomplish their tasks” Mario Brlić, our DevOps Engineer.

What are DevOps automation tools?

DevOps is a set of practices emphasizing communication and collaboration between software developers and operations professionals. The goal is to improve software releases’ speed, quality, and security.

DevOps automation tools play a critical role in this process. They help automate the tasks necessary to get an app from development to production. This can include anything from setting up test environments to deploying new code.

You can achieve improved release velocity and quality by incorporating automation into your workflow. Let’s take a closer look at some of the best DevOps automation tools available today.

What are the main benefits of DevOps? 

There are many benefits to using DevOps, including:

• Automation: One of the most important aspects of DevOps is automation. Automation helps to speed up processes and eliminate human error. Common automated tasks in a DevOps environment include code testing, deployments, and infrastructure provisioning. 

• Faster delivery of features: Automation makes it possible to deploy code more quickly. This means that new features can be released faster, which gives your business a competitive advantage. 

• Improved quality: You can quickly identify and fix problems by automating testing and monitoring processes. This leads to improved quality and fewer service disruptions. 

• Greater agility: Because DevOps enables you to deploy code quickly, you can respond more rapidly to market changes or customer needs. This agility gives your business a significant advantage over competitors stuck in slow, manual processes. 

• Increased efficiency: By automating repetitive tasks, you can free up time for developers and ops teams to focus on more strategic tasks. This leads to increased efficiency and productivity across the organization. 

• Improved collaboration: DevOps requires close collaboration between dev and ops teams. For this collaboration to be effective, it’s essential to have a shared understanding of goals and objectives. Furthermore, team members should feel comfortable openly sharing ideas, feedback, and concerns with one another to promote a culture of continuous improvement. 

Why are DevOps automation tools important?

DevOps is all about speeding up the software development process and improving collaboration. And automation tools are a critical part of the equation. Here’s why:

DevOps automation tools help to automate the process of setting up and managing workflows. This means you can spend less time on redundant or time-consuming tasks and more time developing new features or fixing bugs.

For DevOps to be successful, there must be clear and concise communication between the Development and Operations teams. This communication should happen throughout the entire product life cycle—from ideation all the way through to delivery and post-launch monitoring.

Automating tasks such as deployments and provisioning creates an environment where everyone works from the same playbook. This leads to fewer misunderstandings and less wasted time. 

Finally, automation tools can help to optimize your infrastructure. By automating load balancing and performance monitoring tasks, you can ensure that your systems are running at peak efficiency.

Which tools are best for DevOps?

You know that feeling when you’re slogging through a task and can’t finish it? That’s where DevOps automation tools can come in handy.

When you automate your workflows, you’re freeing your time to focus on more important things. And not only that, but you’re also ensuring that your tasks are executed consistently and error-free.

If you’re in the business of software development, then you know that devops automation tools are essential for streamlining your workflow. But with so many options on the market, it can be tough to know which ones are worth your time and money.

6 of the best and our favorite devops automation tools available today

Puppet

Puppet is a configuration management tool that helps you automate the provisioning and managing of your infrastructure. It is agentless, meaning it does not require an agent installed on your servers. Puppet uses declarative language to define your infrastructure’s desired state, which will then enforce that state. It’s perfect for teams who need to manage large, complex deployments.

Chef

Chef is another configuration management tool that helps you automate the provisioning and management of your infrastructure. It uses a Ruby-based DSL (domain-specific language) to define your infrastructure as code. Like Puppet, Chef is also agentless. It’s a great option for teams who want more control over their infrastructure.

Ansible

Ansible is a simple yet powerful configuration management and orchestration tool. It is particularly useful for automating server provisioning and configuration management tasks. With Ansible, you can easily define and manage complex server deployments using simple YAML files. Ansible is perfect for teams who want to get up and running quickly with minimal hassle. 

Gitlab CI/CD

Gitlab CI/CD is a continuous/integration and delivery platform that helps you automate your software development workflow. It integrates with Gitlab.com, or self-hosted GitLab instancesGitlab CI/CD can be used to build, test, and deploy software projects automatically. This tool is perfect for teams who want to ship quality software quickly and efficiently.

Jenkins

Jenkins is a popular open-source continuous integration tool that helps developers automate their build process. This tool allows developers to easily create an automated build pipeline that includes static code analysis, unit testing, and packaging tasks. Jenkins also makes it easy to monitor your builds and get alerts when something goes wrong. It’s perfect for teams who want to scale their CI/CD pipeline. 

Terraform

Terraform is a tool for provisioning and managing cloud infrastructure. It supports many cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Terraform uses HCL (HashiCorp Configuration Language) to define your infrastructure as code. It’s perfect for teams who want to manage their infrastructure as code.

​​All of these tools automate various tasks that are essential to the DevOps workflow. They help reduce the time and effort required to set up and configure cloud infrastructure and software deployments. And they make the DevOps process more efficient and reliable.

What does a successful DevOps engineer or team look like? 

A successful DevOps engineer or team possesses a unique combination of technical and soft skills. A successful DevOps engineer or team has a deep understanding of both development and operations. They also have experience with automation tools and monitoring systems.

On the technical side, they should have experience with various coding languages and automation tools like Puppet or Chef. They should also be familiar with cloud computing platforms like AWS or Azure. 

On the soft skills side, they should be excellent communicators and problem-solvers who can work well under pressure. DevOps engineers should also be collaborative team players who always look for ways to improve processes. If you want to build a successful DevOps team, keep these qualities in mind!