How can you manage configuration and environment variables in your continuous delivery pipeline?

IMO configuration is how application or services interact and configured CI/CD pipeline. Helm package manager is one of the ways through which variables like database connections, api keys, feature flags or environment names can be easily configured and controlled in a controlled environment.

This is very easy to understand. SIMILARITIES: One should be very clear that Both are ways of passing information to a program. DEFINITION: Environment variables: Key-value pairs that are easy to change between deploys without changing any code. Configuration Variables: Generally defined in files that store data related to the application or the deployment environment. COMPARISION: Configuration files are more readable, manageable, and flexible than environment variables, but they may require more security and maintenance.

Configuration variables are parameters that define the behavior of software components such as database connection strings or feature toggles. These variables allow for flexibility and adaptability without altering code. Environment variables, on the other hand, define the operational context in which an application runs, encompassing settings for servers, databases & services. Both types of variables are crucial for achieving consistency across different stages of the pipeline, ensuring that applications behave consistently in various environments. Utilizing this enables teams to manage & modify settings efficiently, promoting agility, scalability & the seamless deployment of software across different environments & stages of development.

Think of configuration and environment variables in continuous delivery like the settings on your phone. They help your app run smoothly whether you're just tinkering with it, testing it out, or launching it for real use. By using these variables, you're not stuck with one-size-fits-all settings. Instead, you can tweak things to work just right in different situations, like development or production. It's like having the flexibility to switch your phone from silent mode in a meeting to loud when you're at home. This way, you avoid messing things up with hard-coded settings that don't fit everywhere.

In the world of API, anything and everything should be secure and that’s where we use cloud based key data store to generate keys, rotate it and configure it in our application. Management is more or less done by cloud managed platforms, we just need to know and set few configurations used to store and rotate keys as per the policy.

Environment variables are crucial for managing configurations that vary between environments, such as development, staging, and production. This approach enables the separation of configurations from code, which is essential for maintaining both security and flexibility. Store environment-specific settings in configuration files. You can manage these using Docker Compose, and Kubernetes Secrets and ConfigMaps to mount them to the application based on the environment. Utilize Helm charts to template configuration files in Kubernetes deployments. This method allows for easy adjustment of configurations by changing values in the Helm charts. Configuration injections should be an integral part of the deployment process.