book

Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery

by Yevgeniy Brikman

May 2025

Intermediate to advanced

552 pages

14h 57m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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Why I Wrote This BookThe Impact of World-Class Software DeliveryWhere DevOps Came FromWatch Out for SnakesWho Should Read This BookWhat You’ll Find in This BookWhat You Won’t Find in This BookOpen Source Code ExamplesOpinionated Code ExamplesYou Have to Get Your Hands DirtyUsing Code ExamplesConventions Used in This BookO’Reilly Online LearningHow to Contact UsAcknowledgments
Example: Deploy the Sample App LocallyDeploying an App on a ServerOn-Prem and Cloud HostingExample: Deploy an App via PaaS (Render)Example: Deploy an App via IaaS (AWS)Comparing Deployment OptionsOn Prem Versus the CloudIaaS Versus PaaSThe Evolution of DevOpsAdopting DevOps PracticesConclusion
The Benefits of IaCAd Hoc ScriptsExample: Deploy an EC2 Instance by Using a Bash ScriptHow Ad Hoc Scripts Stack UpConfiguration Management ToolsExample: Deploy an EC2 Instance by Using AnsibleExample: Configure a Server by Using AnsibleHow Configuration Management Tools Stack UpServer Templating ToolsExample: Create a VM Image by Using PackerHow Server Templating Tools Stack UpProvisioning ToolsExample: Deploy an EC2 Instance by Using OpenTofuExample: Update and Destroy Infrastructure by Using OpenTofuExample: Deploy an EC2 Instance by Using an OpenTofu ModuleExample: Deploy an EC2 Instance by Using an OpenTofu Registry ModuleHow Provisioning Tools Stack UpUsing Multiple IaC Tools TogetherProvisioning Plus Configuration ManagementProvisioning Plus Server TemplatingProvisioning Plus Server Templating Plus OrchestrationAdopting IaCConclusion
An Introduction to OrchestrationServer OrchestrationExample: Deploy an App Securely and Reliably by Using AnsibleExample: Deploy a Load Balancer by Using Ansible and nginxExample: Roll Out Updates with AnsibleVM OrchestrationExample: Build a VM Image by Using PackerExample: Deploy a VM Image in an Auto Scaling Group by Using OpenTofuExample: Deploy an Application Load Balancer by Using OpenTofuExample: Roll Out Updates with OpenTofu and Auto Scaling GroupsContainer OrchestrationExample: A Crash Course on DockerExample: Create a Docker Image for a Node.js AppExample: Deploy a Dockerized App with KubernetesExample: Deploy a Load Balancer with KubernetesExample: Roll Out Updates with KubernetesExample: Deploy a Kubernetes Cluster in AWS by Using EKSExample: Push a Docker Image to ECRExample: Deploy a Dockerized App into an EKS ClusterServerless OrchestrationExample: Deploy a Serverless Function with AWS LambdaExample: Create a Lambda Function URLExample: Roll Out Updates with AWS LambdaComparing Orchestration OptionsConclusion
Version ControlExample: Turn Your Code into a Git RepoExample: Store Your Code in GitHubVersion-Control RecommendationsBuild SystemExample: Configure Your Build by Using npmDependency ManagementExample: Add Dependencies in npmAutomated TestingExample: Add Automated Tests for the Node.js AppExample: Add Automated Tests for the OpenTofu CodeTesting RecommendationsConclusion
Continuous IntegrationDealing with Merge ConflictsPreventing Breakages with Self-Testing BuildsMaking Large ChangesExample: Run Automated Tests for Apps in GitHub ActionsMachine User Credentials and Automatically Provisioned CredentialsExample: Configure OIDC with AWS and GitHub ActionsExample: Run Automated Tests for Infrastructure in GitHub ActionsContinuous DeliveryDeployment StrategiesDeployment PipelinesDeployment Pipeline RecommendationsConclusion
Breaking Up Your DeploymentsWhy Deploy Across Multiple EnvironmentsHow to Set Up Multiple EnvironmentsChallenges with Multiple EnvironmentsExample: Set Up Multiple AWS AccountsBreaking Up Your CodebaseWhy Break Up Your CodebaseHow to Break Up Your CodebaseChallenges with Breaking Up Your CodebaseExample: Deploy Microservices in KubernetesConclusion
Public NetworkingPublic IP AddressesDomain Name SystemExample: Register and Configure a Domain Name in Amazon Route 53Private NetworkingPhysical Private NetworksVirtual Private NetworksAccessing Private NetworksCastle-and-Moat ModelZero Trust ArchitectureSSHRDPVPNService Communication in Private NetworksService DiscoveryService Communication ProtocolService MeshExample: Istio Service Mesh with Kubernetes MicroservicesConclusion
Cryptography PrimerEncryptionHashingSecure StorageSecrets ManagementEncryption at RestSecure CommunicationTransport Layer SecurityExample: HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt and AWS Secrets ManagerEnd-to-End EncryptionConclusion
Local Storage: Hard DrivesPrimary Data Store: Relational DatabasesReading and Writing DataACID TransactionsSchemas and ConstraintsExample: PostgreSQL, Lambda, and Schema MigrationsCaching: Key-Value Stores and CDNsKey-Value StoresCDNsFile Storage: File Servers and Object StoresFile ServersObject StoresExample: Serving Files with S3 and CloudFrontSemistructured Data and Search: Document StoresReading and Writing DataACID TransactionsSchemas and ConstraintsAnalytics: Columnar DatabasesColumnar Database BasicsAnalytics Use CasesAsynchronous Processing: Queues and StreamsMessage QueuesEvent StreamsScalability and AvailabilityRelational DatabasesNoSQL and NewSQL DatabasesDistributed SystemsBackup and RecoveryBackup StrategiesBackup RecommendationsExample: Backups and Read Replicas with PostgreSQLConclusion

LogsLog LevelsLog FormattingStructured LoggingLog Files and RotationLog AggregationMetricsTypes of MetricsUsing MetricsExample: Metrics in CloudWatchEventsObservabilityTracingTesting in ProductionAlertsTriggersNotificationsOn CallIncident ResponseExample: Alerts in CloudWatchConclusion
InfrastructurelessGenerative AISecure by DefaultPlatform EngineeringThe Future of Infrastructure CodeConclusion

Content preview from Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery

Chapter 11. The Future of DevOps and Software Delivery

It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.

Niels Bohr

In all the previous parts of this book, you learned about the current state of DevOps and software delivery. In this chapter, I’m sharing my thoughts on what the future might look like. Trying to predict the future is usually a bad idea. If you get it wrong—and you almost always get it wrong—you look like a fool. If you get it right, everyone says that any fool could’ve seen it coming. That said, I thought it would be fun to conclude this book by exploring the following emerging trends:

Infrastructureless
Generative AI
Secure by default
Platform engineering
The future of infrastructure code

Let’s start with infrastructureless.

Infrastructureless

Much of the history of software is one of gradually moving to higher and higher levels of abstraction. For example, here’s a brief, very incomplete, and mostly wrong glimpse at how programming languages have evolved (with a hat tip to James Iry):

Machine code → Assembly → FORTRAN → C → C++ → Java → Scala → Flix → ???

At each step in this evolutionary process, programming languages have generally gotten further and further away from the details of the underlying computer architecture, which has meant giving up some control in exchange for not having to worry about entire classes of problems at all. For every C programmer complaining that Java doesn’t let them do memory management the way they ...