Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CI/CD) are important processes in software development that help teams to integrate, test, and deploy code efficiently. CI/CD processes improve software quality, increase team productivity, and reduce the possibility of errors in production.
Continuous Integration (CI) is the process of integrating code changes into a central repository frequently.
Developers commit changes they make to the software to a central repository, and then run a series of tests to find out whether there are errors before merging them into the repository.
This process is automated, and the goal is to catch errors early and reduce the time spent fixing them.
The stages of CI include code commit, build, test, review, and merge.
After team members commit their changes, the pipeline generates a build of the software, including the changes made to it. Then, a series of tests run on the build to find out if there are errors.
After running the tests, a review takes place by the team lead and other stakeholders to view the changes made to the application and how these changes look. If the changes pass the checks, merging takes place into the repository.
Continuous Delivery (CD) is the next step after CI, and it stages updates for deployments. It ensures that the software update you send to the production environment is ready by conducting further tests and validating the release process. In CD, deployments are manual; you could choose when to deploy your changes.
The stages of CD include release, deployment, operate, and monitor. After team members have added all the expected changes needed, then the pipeline runs further tests on it before making a release and awaiting deployment.
Deployment is manual, and it happens after testing and validation of the release process. In the operate stage, team members operate the application and also inspect all the previous operations for backward compatibility.
The monitoring stage involves monitoring the site to inspect how the application runs on every device and watch out for user complaints.
Continuous Deployment (CD) is an extension of Continuous Delivery where deployment is automatic. After changes pass through tests and merging, they get deployed immediately.
There are several best practices for CI/CD, including having a documented plan, versioning, automation, communication and collaboration, and intermittent deployments.
These practices ensure that the software delivery process is reliable and efficient for your application.
In conclusion, CI/CD processes are important for software development teams to integrate, test, and deploy code efficiently. Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment processes work together to ensure that software is of high quality and that errors are caught early.
By following best practices, teams can build a reliable and efficient software delivery process for their application.
