Pipelines automate real-time testing and reporting on isolated changes in a larger code base and the integration of separate code branches into a primary branch. They can also quickly find errors in a code base, generate software, automate testing of their builds, prepare code for deployment, and finally deploy code to bare metal, virtual machines, containers, and cloud servers. This article explains What is Jenkins and its importance in implementing CI/CD workflows. Jenkins is a Java-based open source continuous integration (CI)/continuous delivery (CD) and deployment automation software DevOps tool. It’s used to create pipelines, which are CI/CD workflows.
Importance of implementing CI/CD workflows
Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) is a best practice for DevOps teams. It is also considered to be a best practise in the agile methodology. Software development teams may concentrate on addressing business needs while maintaining code quality and software security thanks to continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) automation.
CI/CD automates releasing, integrating, and deploying software while eliminating the stumbling obstacles that have traditionally existed. It contributes to the greater objective of agile methodology, which is to expedite the software development lifecycle. It contributes to the DevOps strategy, which is to synchronize development and operations teams as much as possible.
Enterprises can use CI/CD to ship software quickly and efficiently. CI/CD allows for a more efficient process for getting products to market faster than ever before, continuously releasing code into production, and ensuring a constant flow of new features and bug fixes via the most efficient delivery mechanism. But, returning to the article’s primary point, let’s define the scenarios in which a CI/CD pipeline is most beneficial.
It goes beyond the realm of automated testing
Quality assurance engineers write, conduct, and automate various tests that inform development teams whether a software build succeeds or fails using automated testing frameworks. They include functionality tests written at the end of each sprint and then integrated into an application-wide regression test. As you can see, this extends well beyond the tests outlined above, but it serves as a quick and efficient option for automated procedures.
It automates changes to a variety of environments
Continuous delivery is the process of sending apps to delivery environments. Software developers usually have many development and testing environments to test and review program upgrades. Additional steps may involve data management, data storage, and program and library updates on a more complicated CD. After choosing a CI/CD tool, software developers should verify that all environment parameters are kept outside of the app after choosing a CI/CD tool. At the time of deployment, CI/CD tools assist in defining, concealing, and configuring these variables for the target environment.
It enables frequent code deployment
CI/CD pipelines are designed for businesses who want to update their apps frequently and need a reliable delivery solution. The extra labor to organize builds, run tests, and automate deployments is the production process for disseminating code changes. It lets a team focus on the process of improving apps rather than the technical details of moving them to computing environments once it has been established. As a result, now that automation is in place, developers may be able to push updates more frequently.
It makes it possible to achieve continuous improvement
The Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline is a never-ending build, test, and deployment cycle. Developers may quickly respond to criticism and upgrade code after testing by implementing the use of software testing tools. However, everyone on the team is capable of making code changes and quickly resolving any difficulties that may emerge. Because this cycle can continue indefinitely, developers can improve the starting code in the most efficient way feasible.
It reduces the amount of time required for deployment
CI/CD pipelines accelerate the time to market for new product features, resulting in happier customers and less development effort. CI/CD pipelines enable a large increase in total delivery speed, which increases an organization’s competitive advantage. Automation can be used by continuous delivery and development teams to speed up the development lifecycle.
Final Thoughts
Process automation is a must if you want to get the most out of your work. CI/CD workflow is a viable option for developers that like to spend their time on creative work rather than mundane tasks. Furthermore, CI/CD workflow allows teams to respond quickly to and repair errors, expedite the testing process using software testing tools, and improve user experience.
