Essential Guide
ALM best practices for advanced DevOps organizations
Transitioning from Agile practices to DevOps requires ALM best practices, with new consideration of deployment and hosting infrastructure. This guide addresses these concerns and offers advice for progressive IT teams.
Introduction
Modern, DevOps-enabled application lifecycle management means supervising software applications well beyond initial development, and requires involvement from developers and product owners as well as the IT operations, platform and infrastructure staff. DevOps organizations see this wide-ranging team of people develop, implement and then further tune software to fit additional and changing needs over time.
ALM best practices begin with understanding the needs of the software project -- while also understanding that these needs may be somewhat nebulous. Then, the team must determine the best architecture and underlying resources, deployment method, update schedule, technologies for monitoring application performance and more. These articles delve into the heart of the subject and offer in-depth analyses and evaluation advice for application hosting, management and monitoring technologies.
1Get the application reqs right-
ALM best practices from the start
The ALM process changes with the move from Agile to DevOps. What started as a system narrowly concentrated on feature reqs morphs into one that considers system reqs as well. Whether gathering requirements or planning the software build, development teams will feel DevOps introduce a shift in ALM best practices.
Elicitation techniques for better software reqs
Software application requirements are the engine driving ALM. Because Agile projects are not explicitly phased, the process of elicitation needs a light reformat. Continue Reading
System reqs and feature reqs meld for DevOps ALM
Under a DevOps methodology, the team must know how a feature will affect the entire system and what modifications will accommodate it. The transition from Agile to DevOps brings infrastructure and other teams into planning. Continue Reading
Build this application: Top down, or bottom up?
A new software build begs the question of where to start: from end-user experience, working down to the components -- or from the capacity of components up toward UX. Continue Reading
Buy it or build it: Choose a software development plan
When there's a need for new software, it can be purchased in pieces and adapted, or built in totality in-house. The choice relies upon budget and available time, as well as some less-obvious but important factors. Continue Reading
Application reqs, budget equally important in PaaS selection
Most cloud services offer essentially the same thing, but with different app platforms. Choosing the right platform as a service for a project requires research with both the service costs and application in mind. Continue Reading
2Why a hosting platform matters-
The host with the most
Several decisions around ALM relate to where an application will reside. The hosting resources for an application affect risk tolerance, uptime and management, among other factors. Delve into the issues around application hosting on cloud services verses on-premises servers, migration decisions and how to host legacy applications.
Where to host a business application -- in the cloud or on premises?
Four knowledgeable perspectives come together to weigh the pros and cons of cloud and on-premises application hosting. Continue Reading
What is cloud hosting worth to you?
New applications may cost less to host on the cloud, while the cost for an existing application rises due to rehoming it on cloud resources. Before transitioning, be sure to weigh the worth of rearchitecting the software, the workflow and more. Continue Reading
Virtualize and conquer app support, management
Hosting all applications on the same virtualization platform ensures consistent error logs and data backups, replication processes and security compliance. It can significantly increase the efficiency of IT departments, with these tangible benefits. Continue Reading
Important considerations for IaaS and PaaS decisions
Some providers make a sharp distinction between infrastructure and platform as a service offerings, whereas others tend to blend them. So, what's the most cost-effective and efficient option? Continue Reading
Avoid app failure and exorbitant costs with a cloud migration plan
A successful app migration to the cloud requires a thought-out plan, including a proof-of-concept pilot, among other steps. Continue Reading
Is migrating to entirely event-driven applications feasible?
Event-driven apps practically cannot waste resources, by nature, but that doesn't make them the best fit for everything. Existing apps will need a full rewrite and reimagining -- provided the app can be translated to begin with. Continue Reading
3Speaking of ALM-
Terminology for better ALM discussions
Improving one's knowledge about ALM is about more than just weighing the pros and cons of Agile and DevOps, or of the cloud. It's equally important to understand all the terminology being tossed around, to be sure that no nuance is lost. These are some key terms to brush up on.
4App delivery and deployment-
Deployment choices for resilient, reliable apps
Deploying applications takes a dedicated testing space, but where? Consider on-premises servers or one of a small collection of cloud options, including the use of multiple clouds simultaneously. There are benefits and drawbacks to each choice for testing, as well as for staging and deployment of complex applications.
Turn to the cloud for development of on-premises apps
The cloud does not have to be an all-or-nothing scenario. For an app that's remaining on premises, consider going to a public cloud provider for the development phase -- being sure to take into account its subsequent real-world environment. Continue Reading
Cloud staging environments simulate production
To ensure a new application functions as-expected upon deployment, create a temporary production environment -- a staging area -- on a cloud platform. Continue Reading
Keep the app deployment process simple and malleable
While no two deployments are identical, an easily followed and flexible process goes a long way to ensure that application deployment and support teams know what to do and how to do it. Continue Reading
Update applications without downtime: tips for a smooth transition
The scale and nature of a given application sways the decision on how to roll out updates. To make this process as smooth and bug-free as possible, try these advanced rollout strategies. Continue Reading
Navigate the multicloud landscape for microservices
Microservices and multicloud -- two trends in modern IT -- seem made for each other. When using multiple clouds, carefully plan out the location and purpose of each microservice to protect against inefficiency, security risks, and unnecessary cost. Continue Reading
Addressing IT resiliency without new hardware
Critical applications demand high IT hardware and software resiliency. While traditional hardware clusters are a tried-and-true method, resiliency can be strengthened without making that major investment. Continue Reading
5Watch over any app-
All eyes on the application
Once an application is deployed and active, the DevOps team must monitor it to catch bugs, resource starvation and other problems before they affect users. This requires not only the right tools for the type of application and deployment, but also a suitable methodology. The best course of action possible requires ALM best practices and savvy tool choices.
Reimagine the IT department to increase app reliability
Boosting IT reliability starts by opening up the process to users for self-service tests, and asking both developers and operations to share support responsibilities. Continue Reading
IT ops analytics made easy through big data
Analytics makes IT more efficient. When an application outputs more monitoring data than any IT team could hope to sift through, big data analytics sweeps in to do the heavy lifting. Continue Reading
Full-stack monitoring options open to IT pros
IT professionals looking for a single-vendor monitoring suite have several options at their fingertips, and with Datadog and CA Technologies entering into APM, IT shops' options are only expanding. Continue Reading
A revolution in IT tools for container monitoring
The advent of microservices and containers shook up established ALM best practices and sent organizations seeking new methods of monitoring. This is where specialized container monitoring tools come into play. Continue Reading
Systems management tools ease the burden of monitoring
IT professionals know that no monitoring tool functions unilaterally and instead amass a collection of tools. Enter integrated system management software to aggregate the data from these tools into digestible output. Continue Reading
Get ready for BizDevOps and digital performance management
BizDevOps and DPM create a situational awareness system for IT -- bringing business management and developers together for better application performance. What does this mean? Probably a reimagining of developmental culture. Continue Reading
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