Getting Started with DevOps: Complete Guide

Since there are a lot of tools and terms to master, getting started in DevOps can be challenging.

We've compiled a list of 11 useful and practical resources to help you quickly get up to speed.ere are many benefits of using an end-to-end DevOps platform, we're focusing here on two major gains: visibility and actionability.

DevOps beginners need to understand core principles, development practices, and essential tools for navigating the software development lifecycle. Many tools and terms require mastering, making initial learning challenging.

If you're new to a DevOps team or consider yourself a DevOps beginner, we have a guide that will help you get off the ground.

This guide demystifies DevOps by outlining its core principles, development practices, and the online resources and DevOps tools crucial for navigating the software development lifecycle in DevOps environments.

The guide also features an example of how DevOps is changing the game for one large financial investment bank. And it offers information on how working in DevOps can affect your career.

Beginning your DevOps journey requires understanding DevOps practices and the development methodologies they entail. Whether initiating a role within a DevOps environment or aspiring to enter the field, foundational knowledge is essential.

Here we walk you through how to take the first steps on this exciting new path.

In a DevOps platform, users are better able to communicate, plan work, and collaborate by using epics and issues.

What are Epics?

Epics are an overview of a project, idea, or workflow. Issues are used to organize and list out what needs to be done to complete the larger goal, to track tasks and work status, or work on code implementations.

For instance, if managers want an overview of how multiple projects, programs, or products are progressing, they can get that kind of visibility by checking an epic, which will give them a high-level rollup view of what is being worked on, what has been completed, and what is on schedule or delayed.

What are Issues?

Users can call up an epic to quickly see what's been accomplished and what is still under way, and then they can dig deeper into sub-epics and related issues for more information. Issues offer details about implementation of specific goals, trace collaboration on that topic, and show which parts of the initiative team members are taking on.

Users also can see whether due dates have been met or have passed. Issues can be used to reassign pieces of work, give updates, make comments or suggestions, and see how the nuts and bolts are being created and moved around.

Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) are the cornerstones of DevOps. CI/CD automates the process of integrating code changes and delivering them to production environments.

Continuous integration and continuous delivery (known as CI/CD) are the cornerstones of DevOps. Here's what you need to know about CI/CD for beginners. And here's a video tutorial that will help you, too.

What is continuous integration?

Continuous integration automatically merges code changes from multiple developers into a shared repository. Automated tests run with each integration to catch issues early.

What is continuous delivery?

Continuous delivery automates the release process so code can be deployed to production at any time. This enables frequent, reliable releases with minimal manual intervention.

Git is a source code management system helping programmers work collaboratively. Whatever software you develop and whichever languages you use, Git is fundamental to DevOps workflows.

Git tracks changes to code, enables multiple developers to work simultaneously, and maintains complete history of all modifications.

Whatever software you develop and whichever languages you use, you'll soon run into Git, a source code management system that helps programmers work collaboratively. Brendan O'Leary walks you through what you need to know.

GitOps is an important operational framework in DevOps, giving you a way to take best practices, like version control, compliance methodologies and CI/CD, and apply them to infrastructure automation and application deployment.

To understand even more about GitOps and what it can do for your DevOps team, check out this webcast of a panel discussion with pros from Weaveworks, HashiCorp, Red Hat, and GitLab talking about the future of infrastructure automation.

GitOps treats infrastructure configuration as code stored in Git repositories. Changes to infrastructure follow the same review and approval processes as application code.

DevSecOps integrates security into the DevOps lifecycle. This approach to culture, automation, and platform design makes security a shared responsibility among everyone on the team.

The practice of DevSecOps - or development, security, and operations - focuses on integrating security into the DevOps lifecycle. It's an approach to culture, automation, and platform design that makes it a shared responsibility, among everyone on the team, to create code with security in mind.

By factoring in security this way, it increases efficiency and deployment speed, while also preventing, catching and solving bugs and compliance issues before code goes into production.

For more information on DevSecOps, check out these three best practices for implementing better DevSecOps. And for information on why developer-first security is important, here's more guidance for you.

Want to know more about how to shift left? This webcast will help you understand how to make it happen.

Elite DevOps teams differ significantly from low performers in deployment speed, efficiency, and corporate agility. Several practices distinguish high-performing teams.

There are several things you, and your teammates, can do to make your DevOps team elite performers. There's a big difference between being an elite performer and low performers, affecting your speed to deployment, efficiency and your corporate agility.

Elite teams automate repetitive tasks, maintain continuous integration practices, and deploy frequently with confidence. They measure performance and continuously improve processes.

Focus on automation, collaboration, and measurement. Reduce manual processes, improve communication between team members, and track metrics to identify improvement opportunities.

If you're looking to figure out how to unify efforts between projects and DevOps teams, and to share specialized knowledge and guidance, you need to learn about documentation. This blog will walk you through what documentation is all about and what it can do for your DevOps efforts.

New DevOps practitioners should master these foundational concepts:

• Version control: Managing code changes with Git
• CI/CD: Automating integration and deployment
• Infrastructure as code: Managing infrastructure through configuration files
• Monitoring: Observing system health and performance
• Collaboration: Working effectively across development and operations

DevOps requires familiarity with several tool categories:

• Source control: Git repositories for code management
• CI/CD platforms: Automation for building, testing, and deploying
• Container platforms: Docker and Kubernetes for application packaging
• Monitoring tools: Observability for production systems
• Project management: Epics, issues, and boards for tracking work