Do you want to keep up with the latest developments in DevOps? If so, you’ll want to read this post, which covers seven recent developments in the field of DevOps. We cover everything from how Docker containers are revolutionizing hosting to how application monitoring is becoming more widely used. Calmr approach to devops is one among many best software development practices.
1. Docker Revolutionizing Hosting & Cloud Services
Docker is a tool that enables you to package an application and its dependencies into a virtual container that can run on any Linux server. By using containers, you can easily move your applications from one environment to another, such as from your laptop to production environments. Containers are being used for cloud services as well. When creating a containerized version of your service, a base operating system is required – CentOS or Ubuntu, for example – which forms the lowest layer in your stack.
2. Application Monitoring Services
There are many services available for monitoring applications and application performance. The two most important ones are New Relic and Packetbeat. They can both be used to monitor your application’s performance as well as to prevent downtime, and they provide a wealth of data that can help you make high-level decisions about how to operate your application. For example, Packetbeat provides insight into the number of requests being sent and the average response time of your service.
3. New Relic and other Monitoring Tools
The best way to learn what monitoring tools are available – is to try them out. Make sure you understand how the tools work and how each one can help you improve your application. The first step in that process is to understand exactly which metrics you would like to know about. The next thing you should do is search for categories of metrics that might be of interest to you, such as performance, API latency, and so on. Searching for metric categorizations gives you a better chance of finding precisely what it is that you’re after.
4. Application Server Monitoring
If an application server monitoring service is not part of your Monitoring Stack, consider adding it as soon as possible. It’s an essential ingredient in a successful monitoring strategy, especially if you want to do away with the time-consuming process of monitoring each individual application using a variety of tools.
Even if you don’t use an entire stack, it is still wise to start by finding a suitable monitoring service for your application server, since that will save you from having to install and configure a lot of different tools. From there, you can easily add additional services to fit the needs of your overall strategy.
5. Monitoring Tools For API Performance
When it comes to API performance, there are a number of tools that you can use, including New Relic and APM. The former is a time-consuming undertaking since it requires that you track the entire API performance of your service. But APM is a suite of three services that can be integrated into your monitoring stack. It provides an automated response time so you can immediately identify problems and take action to resolve them in short order.
6. Reliable Application Deployment Practices
The process of deploying an application or updating its version is often problematic, especially when the new code doesn’t function as well as expected or if bugs appear in the new build. This can be a dangerous situation for live sites. In such cases, it would be far better to be able to roll back the new version and deploy the older one again – particularly if the new version is causing errors for your customers. The two most frequently used approaches are blue-green deployments and canary deployments.
7. Devops Tools, Processes and Deployment Strategies
Depending on your situation, there are different tools and different processes that you can use to increase reliability in DevOps practices; however, they will all have some things in common in regard to deployment strategy. For example, using a deployment strategy that regularly updates production environments with data from testing environments ensures that your production environment is closely analogous to your testing environment. Because the deployment is performed to mirror environments, it reduces the customer-facing risk of deploying new versions of your application.
Final Thoughts:
There are many ways in which you can monitor your DevOps practices, whether you employ a full stack or choose to use only certain services. It’s important to ensure that you have the right tools for the job and that you have a strategy in place so that your monitoring doesn’t become an overwhelming burden. As I mentioned earlier, it’s best to start out by choosing one tool and seeing how well it works for you.
