Decoupling CI/CD from deployment

• Improved Control and Stability:

  By separating deployment (moving the code to production) from release (making the code available to users), teams can deploy new versions of the software to production without immediately making them visible to everyone

• Reduced Risks:

  If a deployment introduces a bug or issue, you can “un-release” the changes without needing to rollback the entire deployment.

• Faster Feedback Loops:

  You can quickly deploy new code, test it, and provide faster feedback to the development team, leading to faster releases and feature iterations.

• Enhanced Testability:

  You can test code changes in a production-like environment without risking the entire release if something goes wrong.

How to Decouple:

• Use Feature Flags:

  Feature flags allow you to deploy code changes without exposing them to end-users, allowing you to control when and how features are released.

• Targeted Rollouts:

  You can gradually release features to a subset of users (e.g., a canary release) before deploying them to everyone.

• GitOps and Infrastructure as Code:

  Utilizing GitOps principles and Infrastructure as Code helps ensure that your CI/CD and deployment processes are version-controlled and automated, leading to more reliable deployments.

• Event Driven Architecture:

  Using event-driven architecture allows CI to notify the CD pipelines about a code push.

Tools and Techniques

• CI/CD Tools:

  Utilize CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, CircleCI, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or Argo CD to automate the build, test, and deployment processes.

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC):

  Tools like Terraform, Ansible, or Puppet help you automate infrastructure provisioning and configuration, making deployments more reliable and repeatable.

• Containerization:

  Using Docker and Kubernetes enables consistent deployments and allows for easier scaling and rollback.

Notes on “Paved Road”