The pace of software innovation continues accelerating while customer expectations on quality are rising. Addressing these dual pressures requires streamlining releases through automation to shrink cycles from code to customer value.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides purpose-built capabilities for enabling continuous delivery (CD) pipelines on cloud infrastructure tailored for efficiency, speed and reliability.
This guide explores the AWS services stack for release automation including:
- Adopting Infrastructure as Code
- Setting Up Git-based Repositories
- Automating Builds and Tests
- Standardizing Deployments
- Canary and Blue/Green Techniques
- Monitoring Pipeline Health
- Linking to Ticketing Systems
- Securing Delivery Processes
- Reviewing Core AWS Offerings
- FAQs on Continuous Delivery
Let’s examine how AWS empowers enterprises to achieve release velocity nirvana.
Adopting Infrastructure as Code
Treating infrastructure configurations, policies and permissions as disposable artifacts managed through code is pivotal for CD efficiency. IaC options include:
CloudFormation: Orchestrate full AWS technology stacks through JSON or YAML templates to achieve consistent, version controlled environments.
AWS CDK: Define cloud native applications infrastructure through familiar languages for higher developer productivity.
Terraform: Codify and provision infrastructure across cloud platforms using declarative definitions to standardize deployments.
Setting Up Git-based Repositories
Centralized source version control facilitates collaboration across teams:
CodeCommit: Fully managed, scalable private Git repositories hosted on AWS to natively integrate with other services.
GitHub/Bitbucket: Host public/private Git repos on these popular platforms and connect to AWS workflows.
Automating Builds and Tests
CodeBuild fully automates tasks like:
● Compiling source code
● Running unit tests
● Producing deployment artifacts
● Integrating with CI/CD systems
● Scaling on demand to shorten build times
Standardizing Deployments
Consistently push applications across environments through automation:
CodeDeploy: Orchestrate deployments on EC2 or serverless backends like Lambda. Handles traffic shifting for blue/green technique.
OpsWorks: Alternative to CodeDeploy for workloads needing configuration management through Chef/Puppet.
Canary and Blue/Green Techniques
Safely validate changes with subset of traffic before full rollout:
● Canary: Route a percentage of traffic to new version to test changes
● Blue/Green: Shift traffic across identical production environments
CodeDeploy automates these workflows across AWS.
Monitoring Pipeline Health
Get end to end visibility across integration and delivery workflows spanning code commit to production monitoring:
CodePipeline: Visually model release processes then track status of runs including failure notifications.
CloudWatch: Monitor key metrics across pipeline stages like build durations, test pass %, deployment times etc.
Linking to Ticketing Systems
Connect CD systems into broader ticketing workflows for traceability:
Jira: Popular choice for issue and project tracking. Integrates tightly with AWS services.
ServiceNow: IT ticketing system with out of the box and custom integrations with CI/CD tools.
Securing Delivery Processes
Shift security left by scanning infrastructure as code definitions, embedding secrets management, enforcing policy guardrails, automating vulnerability management and mandating approvals throughout pipelines.
Reviewing Core AWS Offerings
Beyond essential CD building blocks, additional capabilities for consideration:
AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry: Observe, measure and troubleshoot distributed applications via contextual metrics.
Step Functions: Coordinate components of distributed apps as visual workflows with error handling baked in.
Elastic Container Service: Run and scale containerized applications while abstracting cluster management complexities.
FAQs on Continuous Delivery
Answering common queries around release automation:
How can I get started without disrupting existing pipelines?
Start small by first modeling manual processes through CodePipeline before injecting automation into specific stages incrementally where needed.
What are some key open source tools for AWS CD?
Jenkins, Spinnaker and Tekton all have great integration with AWS services. Choose based on team skills, release process complexity and need for cross cloud portability.
How to make the business case for investing in CD?
Quantify current cycle times, failure rates and costs of quality plus demonstrate opportunities to boost velocity, customer satisfaction and engineer productivity through data-driven models.
Conclusion
As consumer expectations shorten and competitive intensity increases, software innovation cycles must accelerate sustainably. AWS empowers enterprises to achieve release velocity nirvana through purpose built automation capabilities augmenting organizational transformation.
Adopting these techniques unlocks the door for empowering developers through cloud native CI/CD while improving resilience and reliability for the business. The future will belong to those who can continually deliver value faster through the software lever.
