Navigating the Continuous Delivery Pipeline

A DevOps Approach for Fast and Frequent Deployments

Continuous delivery (CD) is a key component of the DevOps workflow that enables you to make code changes and release new features quickly, effectively, and reliably. The CD pipeline includes six high-level stages, each with corresponding tools and processes that leverage automation to ensure fast feedback. Manual or automated handoffs trigger a new stage or process, and DevOps engineers work collaboratively through the cycle.

1. Development

   Create or update code, ensure it works as expected in the development environment, and submit it for inclusion in the production code base.

   • Write code
   • Write unit tests
   • Review and test the code
   • Push to source control repository
   • Address merge conflicts if necessary
2. Review

   Review and approve the code before it is merged into the production code base.

3. Commit

   Transform the individual source code into the artifacts needed to make up the larger components. Validate with various technologies that the changes build and integrate correctly, are versioned appropriately, and meet quality metrics.

   • Compile code and run unit tests
   • Run integration tests
   • Analyze code to gether metrics
   • Combine and package artifacts to produce larger artifacts/deliverables
   • Publish artifacts and store in a repository

Pipeline Supervisor: This is a continuous integration tool that connects applications ...