Starting DevOps Journey: Day 1 Essentials

Manish AcharyaManish Acharya
4 min read

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a culture and practice adopted in organizations to enhance collaboration between development and operations teams. It aims to improve the software development lifecycle by integrating and automating processes.

Key Concepts :

  1. Cultural Shift:

    • DevOps represents a shift in mindset, emphasizing collaboration and communication across teams rather than siloed operations.
  2. Automation:

    • Automation is crucial in DevOps for streamlining processes, ensuring efficiency, and maintaining quality.
  3. Monitoring:

    • Continuous monitoring is essential to identify quality issues and automation failures, allowing for timely responses and improvements.

Importance of SDLC in DevOps Culture

  • Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC): A structured process followed by organizations to design, develop, and test software. Understanding SDLC is crucial for anyone working in the IT industry, whether in startups or multinational corporations (MNCs).

Phases of SDLC

  1. Planning: Define project goals and scope.

  2. Design: Create architecture and design specifications.

  3. Development: Write and compile code.

  4. Testing: Validate the software to ensure it meets requirements.

  5. Deployment: Release the software to users.

  6. Maintenance: Provide ongoing support and updates.

Goals of SDLC

  • The ultimate goal of SDLC is to deliver a high-quality product that meets customer expectations. Proper testing is essential to avoid delivering flawed products.

  • Every organization follows specific standards in the software development process.

  • Understanding SDLC is vital for effective collaboration and successful project delivery in any software-related role.

  • Introduction to Virtual Machines

    Definition: A virtual machine (VM) is a software emulation of a physical computer that runs an operating system and applications just like a physical machine. It allows multiple operating systems to run on a single physical server.

    Key Concepts :

    1. Server Basics:

      • A server is a system that provides resources, data, services, or programs to other computers, known as clients. For example, when you access Google.com, you are using a server that hosts the website.
    2. Hypervisor:

      • A hypervisor is software that creates and manages virtual machines on a physical server. It allows for the logical partitioning of resources without physically breaking the server.

      • Types of Hypervisors:

        • Type 1: Runs directly on the hardware (bare metal).

        • Type 2: Runs on a host operating system.

    3. Logical Partitioning:

      • Instead of using a single physical server, multiple virtual machines can be created on one server, allowing different teams or applications to run independently.

Real-World Analogy

  • Imagine living on a one-acre piece of land. You might have a large house with a garden, but if you only need a small portion of that land, you can think of virtual machines as dividing that land into smaller, manageable sections for different uses.

Advantages of Virtual Machines

  • Resource Efficiency: Multiple VMs can run on a single physical server, maximizing resource usage.

  • Isolation: Each VM operates independently, so issues in one VM do not affect others.

  • Flexibility: VMs can be easily created, modified, or deleted as needed.

Summary

  • Virtual machines are crucial in modern computing, especially in DevOps, as they allow for efficient resource management and isolation of applications. Understanding the role of hypervisors and the concept of logical partitioning is essential for leveraging VMs effectively.

Creating Virtual Machines

Overview

This guide covers the key concepts and practical steps involved in creating virtual machines (VMs) using popular cloud platforms like AWS and Azure.

Key Concepts

What is a Virtual Machine?

  • A Virtual Machine (VM) is a software-based emulation of a physical computer, allowing multiple operating systems to run on a single physical machine.

Evolution of Virtual Machines

  • Understanding the transition from traditional data centers to cloud-based solutions is crucial. Startups previously relied on their own data centers but now utilize platforms like OpenStack, AWS, and Azure for flexibility and scalability.

Creating Virtual Machines

1. Using AWS

  • AWS EC2 Instances: In AWS terminology, a virtual machine is referred to as an EC2 instance.

  • Steps to Create an EC2 Instance:

    1. Log into the AWS Console.

    2. Navigate to the EC2 dashboard.

    3. Click on "Launch Instance" to start the creation process.

    4. Select an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) and instance type.

    5. Configure instance details, add storage, and set security groups.

    6. Review and launch the instance.

2. Using Microsoft Azure

  • Azure Virtual Machines: In Azure, the term remains Virtual Machine.

  • Steps to Create a Virtual Machine in Azure:

    1. Open the Azure Portal.

    2. Click on "Create a resource" and select "Virtual Machine".

    3. Fill in the required specifications (OS, size, region).

    4. Configure networking and management options.

    5. Review the settings and click "Create".

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Written by

Manish Acharya
Manish Acharya