GitOps

GitOps, in short, is the Infrastructure as Code done right. It is a way of implementing Continous Deployment for cloud-native applications. It focuses on a developer-centric experience when operating infrastructure by using tools developers are already familiar with, including Git and the CI/CD tools.

When talking about developer-centric experience, it isn’t only about writing and storing code in version control. It also involves everything considered best practice in the code writing procedure, i.e., no-direct commit to the main branch, code review requirement, continuous test, etc.

The Benefits

Applying GitOps will give you the following benefits:

  • Transparency: The Pull Request and Code Review practice offers transparency over any changes that will be done to the infrastructure via the codes
  • Security: Access to the deployment environment can only be limited to the tool. Although everyone can make changes to the code, it is only the deployment tool responsible for connecting to the target environment.
  • Quality: All changes should pass the code review and automated tests. It will ensure the high quality of the code.
  • Consistency: GitOps ensure consistency over deployment to multiple environments and minimize human error.

Push vs. Pull Models

There are two ways of implementing the GitOps deployment strategy: the Push and Pull models.

In the Push model, the deployment is done by the external party to the deployment environment, e.g., CI/CD tool. It is the tool that we have already familiar with, like Jenkins, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, etc.

In the Pull model, the deployment is initiated from inside the deployment environment, e.g., by an installed agent. The agent monitors and compares the desired state described in the code with the actual state in the deployment environment. The agent will apply the changes as necessary if the state changes are found.

Whenever possible, the Pull model is preferred over the Push model. It is considered more secure because any secrets will not leave the deployment environment.

vs. DevOps

DevOps is all about the cultural change in an organization to remove silos between the Dev team and the Ops team. GitOps, on the other side, is a technique for implementing Continuous Deployment. Although DevOps and GitOps share principles like automation and self-serviced infrastructure, comparing them don’t really make sense. That being said, those shared principles certainly make it easier to adopt a GitOps workflow when you are already actively employing DevOps techniques.

Tech News

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