DevOps-as-a-Service: Scope, Benefits and More

The acronym DevOps stands for Development & Operations together. This process is portrayed as a loop in which one plans, develops, builds, tests, releases, deploys, operates, monitors, and then goes back to plan. Thus, DevOps as a service has many benefits as well as challenges. In DevOps service organizations, DevOps exist as an essential component of digital transformation and Agile transformation initiatives.  

This article summarizes the key aspects of DevOps, such as scope, benefits, etc. In addition, you will also learn what you need to do to start your own DevOps initiative - or to improve your existing initiative. Choose best DevOps certification course to learn more about DaaS dev. 

What is DevOps-as-a-Service?

DevOps as a Service model is a tool that facilitates collaboration between software development and operations teams within an organization. This delivery model connects disparate tools to work together as one unit, covering various aspects of the overall process. The DevOps team uses discrete tools instead of a best-of-breed toolchain, an in-house best-of-breed solution.

The main purpose of DevOps as a service is to ensure tracking of every action carried out in the software delivery process. The system DaaS model also ensures that the organizations follow strategies like continuous delivery (CD) and continuous integration (CI) and successfully achieve the desired outcomes to deliver business value. When a problem gets identified in the production field, this service provides feedback to the developer group.  

Advantages of DevOps-as-a-Service

There are many DevOps as a service advantage that we can find in DevOps. Some of the advantages are: 

• When there arise some problems like lack of internal DevOps expertise or budget to obtain or train employees with those skills, DevOps as a service appeals to the organizations.  
• It also hides the complexity of data flow management on all levels of the toolchain. 
• Without understanding the entire toolchain's work, an individual or team involved with DevOps process can use intuitive interfaces to call on the required tooling.  
• Using DevOps as a Service, a business can adapt more easily to changing markets and bring forth new products and services. 
• The traditional development and deployment processes of DevOps and DevOps as a Service can coexist. 

Disadvantages of DevOps-as-a-Service

With many advantages, it has some disadvantages also. Some of them are as follows:  

• From the software development process to deployment into production, most DevOps toolchains incorporate some CI/CD pipeline and monitoring capability. 
• It may also limit an organization's options when choosing tools and capabilities instead of evaluating and choosing best-of-breed tools integrated internally. 
• There may be fewer tools available to manage DevOps, whether the provider provides their own or those from a partner. 
• It is required to keep the costs under control, so an organization has to monitor its use of services and associated tools. 

DevOps as Service Market

DevOps as a service provider includes these four different varieties of service to curate a toolchain and integrate it in-house: 

1. DevOps Tools Vendor

DevOps tools vendors emerge as a new and innovative approach from household name mainstays to fledgling IT startups. But this tool stands out handily for seasoned industry watchers.  

It is challenging to keep track of the DevOps tools, though DevOps encompasses many technical subcategories. Numerous DevOps vendors have a sheer number in themselves and have the potential to figure out the market and users' buying decisions. 

2. Public Cloud Platform Providers

Being a third-party provider, a public cloud platform provider offers public cloud services such as storage capacities, software, networking, databases, etc., for public use through the internet. As per the report, IT professionals working remotely depend on public cloud platform providers to store/share data for companies and businesses.  

Public cloud platform providers are more flexible and virtually scalable than private cloud providers. Through this public cloud provider, professionals can develop applications at their convenience. Some free public cloud providers are AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, etc. 

3. Systems Integrators

By combining hardware, software, networking, and storage products from multiple vendors, those who build computing systems are known to be the system integrators. A company can adjust cheaper, pre-configured components and commercial off-the-shelf software using a system integrator to meet the business goals. A system integrator is a procurement method as well as a technical activity.   

4. IT Teams

The works of a company consist of more than a single IT team who generally focuses on developing a feature, product component, or an entire project. They follow the ongoing development process, such as in DevOps and others. 

Join DevOps foundation course online to build your career in Daas market.  

DevOps as a Managed Cloud Service

DevOps, as a managed cloud service, helps to move the tools and processes the continuous delivery to a hosted virtual platform. It enables the collaboration of developers, testers, and operations professionals into one silo and automates as much of the deployment process as possible. For moving DevOps to the cloud, here are some of the following popular commercial options: 

A) AWS Tools and Services for DevOps 

A powerful global network has been built by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host the world's most complex IT fields virtually. To migrate DevOps to the cloud, AWS migrates DevOps to the clouds in the fastest and easiest way. It measures the services you use down to milliseconds of computing time by arranging the fiber-linked data centers worldwide and a payment schedule. AWS has its powerful interactive features, but these three particular services feature the core of continuous cloud delivery:

1. AWS CodeBuild  

The AWS CodeBuild service complies with code, runs quality assurance testing automatically, and produces deployment-ready software. It provides security by providing customers with unique encrypted keys. As per the need, CodeBuild offers automatic scaling and growth on demand. It even allows the simultaneous deployment of two different build versions, which again allows comparison testing in the production field. CodeBuild's cost efficiency is particularly important for several organizations.  

Here, no upfront costs are involved, and customers pay only for the milliseconds of compute time required to produce releases. It also integrates seamlessly with other Amazon services for additional power and flexibility without investing in expensive hardware. 

2. AWS CodePipeline 

CodePipeline is taken from the perfect deployment scenario model, which has the help of a slick graphical interface and setting the parameters. As the code changes, no servers must be provisioned and deployed, enabling continuous delivery in its truest sense by automating the entire delivery cycle every time a change is made.  

To fine-tune the control, CodePipeline comprises an extensive library of pre-built plugins that enable you to work with other popular third-party tools like GitHub. One can even design custom plugins if one wants full control over the pipeline process.  

3. AWS CodeDeploy  

CodeDeploy delivers the working package to every instance outlined in your pre-configured parameters once a new build makes it through CodePipeline. This system makes synchronized builds simple and instantly patches or upgrades them at once. Being code agnostic, CodeDeploy easily incorporates common legacy code.  

B) Google Cloud Platform Tools and Services for DevOps 

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) DevOps options are worth considering as the search giant has an unsurpassed global network, user-friendly interfaces, and an ever-growing list of capabilities. In addition to Vishal Studio, Android Studio, Eclipse, Powershell, etc., GCP also supports full cloud development that suits various platforms. Some of the native management tools for the Google cloud environment are:

1. GCP Deployment Manager  

Templates for Deployment Manager offer declarative language options rather than imperative ones. This means instead of tediously listing all of the steps required for a deployment, DevOps teams can tell the Deployment Manager what a final deployment should look like, and GCP will use the necessary tools and processes. A perfect deployment procedure is saved for repeatability and scalable on demand.  

2. GCP Cloud Console  

A GCP cloud console masters all things your desktop has and gives you a quick view of every detail of your DevOps in the cloud. It helps to release management of monitors and manage everything from virtual machines and roll it on Google's native Android iOS. It also helps to take charge of the cloud-based continuous delivery cycle by providing one easy place for collaborative DevOps.  

C) Microsoft Azure Tools and Services for DevOps 

With Azure as a cloud management platform, Microsoft is bringing its potent punch to DevOps as a managed service space. Azure is also an impressive set of innovative and interoperable tools like AWS and Google. It provides Microsoft with the easiest transition to a hybrid or full cloud environment. These are some of Microsoft's important DevOps tools:

1. Azure App Service 

Microsoft's Azure App Service provides endless combinations of options for development, being a trusted platform with partners in every aspect of the IT industry. The DevOps team can create secure, enterprise-quality apps with the help of this Azure app service.  

2. Azure DevTest Labs 

Azure DevTest Labs makes the DevOps team's work easier in the experimental procedure. Getting started with Azure DevOps is as easy as selecting and modifying a template.  

3. Azure Stack  

With the existing data center, Azure Stack is a tool that partially integrates Azure service for the shops that want to move to cloud-based DevOps. By reflecting resources locally, Azure unifies the app development and enables easy collaboration for teams working in a hybrid cloud environment in the cloud itself.  

Conclusion

Development has always been driven by human thinking and needs, regardless of using tools and methods. In this field also, developers usually focus on creating and improving software that is beneficial to the operating infrastructure. And this opens a world of possibilities that continues the evolution and merger of DevOps and cloud-based architecture. For more knowledge and information on DevOps as a service, you can check KnowledgeHut courses to gain in-depth knowledge in DevOps. For certification, enroll yourself in KnowledgeHut’s best courses to learn DevOps program and boost your career growth.