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What is a DevOps Toolchain?

Blog: Good eLearning

DevOps is an approach to optimizing software pipelines. Its focus on automation, continuous integration, and continuous delivery help to drive efficiency and reliability. At the same time, DevOps also enhances collaboration between teams, removes siloed thinking, and ensures that everyone is responsible for and attentive to the value of end products.

There are several elements and tools involved in DevOps, with one of the most prominent being ‘DevOps Toolchains’. So what exactly are they? How do they work? And why are they used?

What is a toolchain?

In IT, a ‘toolchain’ is a set of programming tools used collectively to perform complex software development processes or create software products.

This is largely a matter of automation and convenience. It makes sense to replace manual processes with something more efficient and reliable. Moreover, the Digital Age has seen the development of numerous tools aimed at optimizing efficiency in this way.

What is a ‘DevOps toolchain’ and why do they matter?

A ‘DevOps toolchain’ combines tools within a DevOps culture. These could be used for software delivery, development, management, and so on. They will be applied throughout the system development life cycle to simplify the process of creating software products and make pipelines more manageable.

Toolchains are fundamental to the mentality of DevOps, especially considering just how many tools and pieces of software can go into a DevOps environment. Each is used to solve a particular problem, and teams will constantly be looking out for new ways to perform tasks more effectively.

Toolchains can be applied to several areas in DevOps, including:

Issue tracking – Usually, all teams will use the same issue tracking tool. This creates a greater level of transparency that helps DevOps engineers resolve problems quickly.
Source control – DevOps cultures require centralized storage for teams to access documentation, code, data, files, and so on. Source control tools should also allow teams to create their own branches.
Planning – In any business that uses DevOps, employees, clients, and stakeholders should all be working towards common goals. Planning tools help to guarantee this level of strategic transparency.
Collaboration – DevOps-style collaboration doesn’t usually happen automatically. Tools are used to enhance communication, testing, development, and product coordination, ensuring work gets done even if teams are working remotely or across different time zones.
Monitoring – DevOps teams will regularly monitor tools and services to ensure they are performing optimally. This also helps to guarantee potential issues are found as quickly as possible.
Binary repositories – Repository management tools are used to bridge the gap for code between developers and the product environment. Repositories will typically contain elements like metadata, code, and binary software artefacts.
Continuous integration – Code will usually be developed in sprints by various teams before being integrated together. This can create problems that may not have been spotted when each piece was tested in isolation. Luckily, continuous integration tools can highlight errors before they turn into problems for users.
Configuration management – These tools are used to automatically configure and update systems, helping teams to manage infrastructure as code and avoid configuration drifts.
Database management – Application development requires effective data management. Database management software simply eases the process, allowing employees to access what they need regardless of a project’s size.
Development – One of the biggest benefits of DevOps is how it allows applications to be deployed more frequently and reliably. Deployment tools help get releases to the market much more quickly.
Automated testing – Before integrated code can be passed on to the build stage, it needs to be tested. Tools here help to shorten feedback loops, letting teams pass on code more quickly.

What are the benefits of using DevOps toolchains?

DevOps toolchains offer several advantages to businesses:

Time – Toolchains help staff complete essential tasks far more quickly. This frees up time for them to work on building and developing new products, as well as testing new innovations.
Quality – Toolchains empower teams to resolve potential defects more quickly, allowing them to focus on improving the overall quality of their products.
Incident control – Toolchains are far more reliable than manual processes when it comes to problem-solving. Issues are highlighted quickly and automatically, allowing teams to respond ASAP. This can also allow teams to repair issues that previously would’ve taken too much time away from other work.
Deployment – Toolchains can be used to automate most if not all of the service development life cycle. Once standardized, this kind of system leads to highly frequent and Agile delivery.

What study DevOps with Good e-Learning?

Good e-Learning is an award-winning online training provider, as well as a Trusted Education Partner for the DevOps Institute. We work with highly experienced DevOps engineers to deliver courses that combine solid exam preparation with unique insight, fully equipping candidates to succeed in applying their training.

Our courses come with a variety of online training assets, including instructor-led videos, free downloadable whitepapers, knowledge checks, and practice exams. Our support team is fully qualified to answer questions on DevOps course content and can also provide both free exam vouchers and free resits via Exam Pledge. Candidates can access our courses from any device thanks to the free Go.Learn app – and our team can even create bespoke LMS systems perfectly crafted to the training needs of individual businesses.

Want to find out more? Visit the Good e-Learning website, or contact a member of our team today!