The different stages in the CI/CD pipeline include:
The Source Stage: This stage is also called the version control stage. It entails the management and storage of source code in an orderly manner. When code is created or updated on the developer's machine, the developer pushes it to a version control system, e.g., Git, to ensure that every update or modification made to the code is tracked properly, which makes it easy to retrieve or be restored.
Team members can work on code separately without disrupting each other or the main code base. When a commit is made to the version control repository, the CI/CD pipeline is triggered.
This stage may also include quality checks and syntax checks to ensure that the code adheres to predefined standards and styles, which include formatting and coding conventions for consistency and readability.
The Build Stage: In this stage, the source code is transformed and executed within a designated environment. This stage is where the system handles transpiling languages, resolving dependencies, building assets, and overall generating files for the application to run. Also, quality checks, such as static code analysis and unit testing, are crucial aspects of the build stage. This is so that issues are detected and addressed promptly.
Testing Stage: During this stage, the application goes through an automated test to ensure that it meets all requirements. Examples of these steps are:
Integration Test: Focuses on validating interactions between different components of the application, ensuring they all work seamlessly.
Functionality Test: This test focuses on the end user perspective or tests the functional aspect of the application, e.g. correctness, reliability, usability, etc.
Performance Test: This test ensures that the application performs well based on certain conditions, e.g. speed, responsiveness, etc.
Security Test: Identifies potential security risks or vulnerabilities within the application.
Deployment Stage: This is the final stage of the CI/CD pipeline. This is where the application is released into the production environment, becoming accessible for end users to utilize. Deployment is dependent on several factors that determine how it is carried out. E.g. application type, deployment environment, technology stack, etc. After deployment, the application is monitored closely to ensure that it’s running smoothly in the production environment. Monitoring tools can be used to track performance and detect anomalies.
Benefits of CI / CD Pipeline
There are several advantages of the CI / CD pipeline for modern software development and they include:
Quality Software: CI/CD pipelines help automate testing, which results in high code quality. Bugs are detected on time during the development process before going to production.
Less Risk: The CI-CD pipeline requires that smaller changes are pushed; this means that when simpler or smaller changes are made, mistakes are easier to spot and fix.
Quick Deployment: Automating software development reduces manual work. The CI/ CD pipeline enables us to ship code changes frequently, which means we can release software to production at a fast pace.
Seamless Collaboration: Team members can work on different parts of a project simultaneously because the CI-CD pipeline will integrate changes seamlessly.
Productivity: CI-CD automates repetitive tasks; therefore, team members can focus on more productive work. Also, time spent on manual testing or debugging is reduced, significantly saving time and effort.
Less Cost: The process of CI-CD reduces the need to perform certain tasks manually, reduces error, and overall saves time and cost. For instance, it reduces costs related to downtime, allowing reliable updates and rollbacks This also gives developers time to focus on more tasks.
Better Code Visibility: The practice of CI/CD pipelines to automate testing has improved visibility across the software development life cycle. Detecting or spotting code issues has become much easier, improving productivity. As code issues are spotted on time, the process of fixing them is sped up, compared to when finding code issues was very challenging.
Customer Experience: Delivering new features and fixing bugs quickly enables us to meet customers' needs and provide better user experiences.
Improved Security: We can integrate security testing and vulnerability testing into the CI / CD pipeline. This would ensure that security issues are identified and addressed timely, reducing the risk of security vulnerability.
Multiple Environment Support: Teams can deploy applications in a variety of environments before deployment to production, reducing the risk of production outages or unplanned disruptions and ensuring software is ready for production use.
There are a lot tools for continuous integration and continuous deployment, some of which include;
Jenkins
GitHub CI
GitLab
Bamboo
Semaphore CI