Configuration Management In DevOps : Definition, Components and Benefits

Configuration Management in DevOps

Configuration management is becoming an increasingly critical component of a successful technology platform. To be successful in the technology sector, firms must first understand what it will take to achieve their goals. It is the only location where configuration objects are stored. So, what is configuration management in DevOps?

The effective implementation enables management to comprehend the structure and interaction of its information technology components.

A Configuration management (CM) tool assists a firm in enforcing a specific setup value for each item and notifies them of any configuration errors in real-time. Such an approach is a prerequisite for organizations as software developers can know how changing one CI affects others.

By 2022, the DevOps industry is predicted to have grown six times faster than the overall economy. The DevOps online course has been developed in response to the most current industry requirements. The DevOps training provides a holistic approach to the software development process and enables continuous product delivery and deployment.

Components of DevOps Configuration Management

A CM infrastructure comprises numerous components. Managed systems encompass servers, available space, communication, and applications. These are the goals of the configuration system. The aim is to maintain these networks in well-defined states.

A CM solution may also provide a specification of the desired outcome of the systems. The third essential factor of a CM solution is the automation tool, which is necessary to ensure that the system and programs are maintained properly.

The four fundamental needs for configuration management in the DevOps system are identifying, control, auditing, and status accounting. These parameters must be met regardless of the degree to which the CM procedure is automated. All four of these requirements can be met using a CM solution, a toolset, or a mixture of automated and manual operations.

1. Identification

Each software component is labelled to facilitate identification. Additionally, different software components will exist as they develop over time, and each component will have a version number associated with it. The critical component is the ability to identify all items that comprise a deployed item.

When a manufacturer becomes aware of an issue with parking brakes obtained from subcontractors, it needs to take care of all automotive models equipped with that specific parking brake. The same applies to software. You must return to your CM system and identify any affected common components across all OS versions.

2. Control

In the CM platform, the term "control" refers to the process through which proposed modifications to a CI are analyzed and, if authorized, implemented into the program configuration. The objective is to make appropriate decisions and to be aware of the implications of systemic change. These modifications may affect budgets, schedules, and other components. When an issue is detected in a given product, software engineers need to act fast to assess repercussions "repair" may be harmful to one client's version of the product. The CM system control indicates every version where the defective component occurs.

We see the relevance of changing management at operation in CM control. Configuring requirements are almost certain to change completely, and CM control enables this to occur in a controllable environment that does not disrupt interfaces or current infrastructure.

3. Auditing

Like many of the auditing processes, CM auditing evaluates existing models to ensure they meet compliance regulations and data validation.

Auditing a CM system verifies that requested modifications have been performed. Managers can use the audits to verify whether systems design is proceeding properly and under the software's specifications. The CM solution should track changes, versions, and releases for all elements of each system component. With such documentation, auditing is a simple task.

4. Accountability Status 

The auditable data are the reporting and records generated by the status accounting system. Each component of a software configuration that has been approved should be included, and the software components list must represent the transition. This accounting gives the historical data necessary to ascertain what occurred and when during the software project's development. Status accounting allows for the CM auditing requirements. The current accounting system collects a huge amount of information on the workload required throughout the product's lifecycle, including development and maintenance. This information is crucial for the development project leader when estimating new systems based on historical data. The CM can be a crucial part of a project management's metric system.

As DevOps, CM is distributed throughout an organization's operational and developmental divisions. This is deliberate. The complete configuration management necessary for DevOps is composed of the following major components:

• Repository of artifacts – Throughout the development and operational period. It is a database used to store binary files. Also, it can be used to store test results and libraries. While a source code library is intended to store human-readable records, an artifact repository is intended to store machine-readable files.
• Repository of source code - Typically used throughout the development period. A source code repository serves as the main storage location for all code editions. Apart from the code itself, it typically contains test scripts, development scripts, installation scripts, and system settings.

 The data architecture for configuration management - Throughout the development and operational period. The CM Database (CMDB) is a central location for storing information about multiple infrastructure devices, programs, systems, and services. It also serves as an interface between the multiple elements of the CMDB, rather than simply an inventory.

What is the outcome of successful configuration management in DevOps?

A properly constructed and managed system produces predictable results. These results include the infrastructure-as-code and configuration-as-code.

Infrastructure-as-a-Code (IaaC)

It is a word that refers to a piece of code or script that streamlines the process of creating the development platform without manually performing all of the required processes. When we use the term 'environment' in this context, we mean the configuration of all computational services required to build the infrastructure necessary to accomplish DevOps tasks.

Configuration-as-a-Code (CaaC)

As the name implies, a sequence of instructions or scripts specifies configurations inside a specific resource, such as a server or network. These setups are used to ensure the service is made reasonable throughout the deployment process.

Benefits

If you're new to DevOps, you may be wondering what IaaC and CaaC are. A few of the consequences mentioned in this section include:

• Consistency is achieved by automation of the infrastructural environment.
• Human error is minimized from configurations.
• Operations and development work better together.
• Maintains drifting configurations
• Increases the adaptability and scalability of infrastructure
• Each stage is the same for all resources.
• Version control is an unavoidable requirement.

Efficiency and increased agility are natural outcomes when these improvements are applied to an enterprise. DevOps is almost identical with setup control, IaaC, and CaaC.

You can also know the benefits of DevOps to have a better understanding of the methodology. 

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Conclusion

Without automation, developing and implementing large-scale modern infrastructure can be a resource-intensive endeavour that increases risk due to human error. Configuring and managing the resources is an automated process of preserving a specified, reliable computer systems and software state.

DevOps course enables the implementation of continuous integration and process improvement by Agile Development Teams. This enables them to bring things to market more quickly.

Additionally, DevOps enables a product's quality to be improved. The advantage of online DevOps training is how it significantly reduces the time required to reach the market.