What Is Centralized CI/CD?
The software development methodology known as centralized CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment) allows for the management of code integration, testing, and deployment through a central platform. A centralized solution streamlines administration, eliminates repetition, and guarantees consistency in the build, test, and deployment processes, making it especially valuable in environments that manage multiple teams or microservices, in contrast to decentralized CI/CD, where various teams or projects keep separate pipelines.
Continuous integration and continuous delivery explain the CI/CD process. When modifications are made to code and then integrated with the primary sets of existing code, this process is called continuous integration (CI). Nevertheless, following the automated builds and test case procedures, the current main branch code has to be of production-ready quality.
Continuous Integration (CI) routinely pushes code changes to a staging environment that replicates the production CD environment as closely as possible. Manual approval can be necessary after confirming that the codes have to be released in the production environment; otherwise, automation can be sufficient. There is just one condition: the code must be available for production at all times. After the changes have been reviewed and approved by the CI/CD process, they are automatically sent into production using continuous deployment.
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Why CI/CD Pipelines Should Be Centralized?
Since there are so many separate services that must be developed, tested, and deployed in a microservices architecture, the operational challenge is increased. Update management, best practice regulation, and service homogeneity become more difficult when each microservice has its own CI/CD pipeline logic.
CI/CD: How To Set It Up In Microservices
Compared to the monolithic structure, the unit codebase will be smaller due to the fact that microservices necessitate decomposing large code structures into manageable, compact ones.
Development, deployment, and shipping must thus begin with these smaller components using microservices best practices. So, if teams insist on using the old-fashioned deployment approach, things get a bit trickier. The CI/CD pipeline, on the other hand, lets teams organize their work from the planning stage to the release stage.
1. Managed CI/CD
Using a third-party provider of CI/CD services is at the heart of the managed or hosted CI/CD service. When it comes to implementing CI/CD, security is just as important as running, developing, and keeping a firm in good shape. However, developers can stay focused on their work when they use an external service for continuous integration and delivery.
Although managed CI/CD seems like a fantastic concept, it does have a few drawbacks. When a company with strict compliance policies shares customer information with third-party providers, for example, it could get into trouble with authorities.
2. Self-Hosted CI/CD
When you go with the self-hosted CI/CD option, you’ll be responsible for creating your own pipeline. You can build your pipeline without depending on third-party services when you use this approach. As an alternative, you tailor the development and administration of your continuous integration and continuous delivery pipeline to the requirements of your application.
Since you aren’t sharing data with third-party services, you lessen the likelihood of encountering regulatory and compliance problems with this approach. Teams, on the other hand, are responsible for maintaining pipeline safety and keeping it operational.
Best Practices For Managing CI/CD In Microservices
Keep the following CI/CD management best practices in mind when you build your application’s continuous integration and delivery pipeline.
1. Security
In the software industry, security is paramount. There is a strong emphasis on security throughout the whole process, from development to getting it delivered. For example, if your CI/CD environment is an external service, it is crucial that you do not share confidential data with it. This is especially true for organizations that are highly compliant, such as financial institutions or health care providers.
One alternative is to use security measures such as 2FA (two-factor authentication) to prevent the disclosure of sensitive information. It is recommended that teams using self-hosted CI/CD services preview changes before releasing them to users. In this way, private information will remain hidden from prying eyes. In order to detect security issues, we also recommend that teams take part in CI/CD security audits.
2. Clean Releases
When making updates to their codebase, most DevOps teams use a version control technology like Git. Using these version control systems, developers can split their codebase into many branches, each of which can be reviewed independently before being merged back into the main codebase. There will be mistakes in releases if there are a lot of unmanaged branches.
Teams can prevent this by making changes every day and maintaining clean branches. Additionally, the timeliness of entries and branches should be respected while merging them. The reason behind this is that an error will be caused if a later version is merged before an earlier one.
3. Testing
It is crucial to test programs before adding them to the CI/CD pipeline. There is a risk of delivering defective items to consumers if new versions are published without proper testing. Additionally, confidential information might get into the wrong hands. Which is why it’s a good idea to do things like A/B testing and beta testing before making it public.
4. CI/CD Monitoring
An important problem for DevOps teams is monitoring the CI/CD pipeline when software is released via the CI/CD pipeline. The reason behind this is that the CI/CD pipeline is not foolproof when it comes to releasing. Other tasks can also fail if we are unable to trace the mistake. Thus, it is critical to incorporate monitoring tools and warning systems to notify when a mistake occurs.
Summing Up
A microservices design that centralizes the logic of the continuous integration and continuous delivery pipeline improves productivity, ensures best practices, and makes maintenance easier.
Teams can achieve both the efficiency of software delivery and the adaptability required by service-specific needs by implementing security regulations, utilizing reusable workflows, and handling environment-specific settings independently. Timely software delivery to end users is a top priority for DevOps teams. Updating users on time might still feel like a lot of effort, even with microservice design. A CI/CD pipeline is used by teams to do this.
This post has covered the basics of microservices, including their definition and how to handle continuous integration and continuous delivery. It isn’t easy to manage CI/CD in microservices. Take security very seriously, no matter whether you choose the self-hosted or external CI/CD provider.
