“The global DevOps market will surpass $25.5 billion in 2028,” predicts Report Linker, a software company.
Amid the growth, mastering the DevOps pipeline, a set of tools and automated processes used by software engineers to compile, build, and deploy code, is important.
Diana Kutsa, a DevOps engineer at an IT firm, BMC Software, knows how to customize and optimize this set of tools for success. Diana’s career has revolved around making the DevOps pipeline as efficient as possible using open-source tools like Terraform, Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes. Her hands-on experience sheds light on how these tools can be tailored to meet the unique needs of an organization while ensuring reliability and scalability.
Leveraging the Flexibility of Open-Source Tools
In DevOps, open-source tools have proved to be the most useful, as closed-source solutions usually do not provide the flexibility and level of customization that can be made with many free or paid platforms. These tools provide a base for Diana where she can build upon and scale workflows across complex environments, she says, adding that the adaptability of open-source solutions is crucial for long-term success.
“Open-source tools allow us to innovate at scale. We can really tailor them to suit our own purposes, so less waiting around and fewer issues,” as Diana puts it. She uses Terraform and Kubernetes, and she has been able to build a much more efficient deployment pipeline. It takes just a few minutes to deploy new apps across different cloud providers now, she reveals.
Automating with Jenkins and Docker
Automation is one of the main aspects of any DevOps pipeline that drives efficiency. Tools like Jenkins and Docker have become the go-to solutions for continuous integration and deployment. Diana has used Jenkins at BMC Software to do many tasks that used to take a lot of manual work.
“Jenkins lets us automate most of the repetitive tasks in the pipeline, so we can focus on solving real problems rather than getting bogged down in manual processes,” she notes. “It has significantly improved our productivity.”
This efficiency is further improved by the use of Jenkins and Docker, which allow for the easy deployment of containerized applications across various environments. Docker ensures that applications run consistently, whether in development, testing, or production.
“Docker’s ability to ensure that our applications are portable and can be deployed anywhere has been a game changer,” according to Diana. “It removes the ‘works on my machine’ problem, which makes our pipeline rock solid and highly scalable.”
Scaling with Kubernetes in Multi-Cloud Environments
Jenkins and Docker make automation easy, but Kubernetes adds some more orchestration power. Kubernetes provides scalability and resilience, which are very important in large-scale applications, especially in modern infrastructures. Diana has always relied on Kubernetes when it comes to dealing with complex systems that have thousands of containers spread across multi-cloud environments.
“Kubernetes has this amazing power to orchestrate containerized applications,” she explains. “What I really appreciate about it is how it handles load balancing and automatic failover—it’s built to handle these things so we don’t have to.”
But managing Kubernetes over different cloud providers adds its own complexity. They all have their own quirks, though, so it is hard to keep things similar between environments. Diana and her team have remedied this by using Helm and Fluent Bit for package management and centralized logging, respectively, which allows for much better observability and makes operations run a lot more smoothly.
“Juggling Kubernetes across a multi-cloud environment is often difficult,” she points out. “Every cloud provider is so unique, and to get all of them to work together in harmony takes a lot of understanding of both the platform itself and the providers.”
Infrastructure as Code: Terraform as the Backbone
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has changed the way teams deploy and manage cloud resources, and Terraform has been a key component of Diana’s DevOps approach. Terraform allows her to write infrastructure configurations that are version-controlled and reusable so her team can ensure consistency across clouds.
“The really cool thing about Terraform is that it enables us to manage infrastructure just like any other part of the codebase,” she discloses. “We have our entire infrastructure coded out, versioned, and replicated across teams. It’s consistent, repeatable, and, more importantly, scalable.”
For companies that work in multi-cloud environments, being able to deploy the same configuration on AWS, Azure, or GCP is priceless. Terraform makes it easy because Diana’s team can make minor changes to configurations and know that their deployments will still be secure and compliant.
Overcoming Challenges and Pushing Innovation
Although these tools make DevOps a great workplace, it is not without problems. Diana needs to balance stability and innovation to navigate the rapid changes in technology and the complexities of multi-cloud environments. All DevOps engineers know the struggle of keeping up with the new tools and methodologies yet keeping production stable.
“Things change so fast in the world of DevOps. New tools and updates come out all the time, and staying current can feel like a full-time job in itself,” she explains. “But for me, that’s part of the excitement—finding ways to innovate while maintaining stability in production is like solving a puzzle.”
Diana’s ability to innovate while maintaining production stability speaks to her adaptability and problem-solving skills. She is always trying out new tools and tweaking processes so that her team is as flexible as possible when it comes to changes in technology.
Mastering the DevOps pipeline is a journey that requires both technical know-how and the ability to adapt to new tools and environments. For Diana, open-source solutions such as Terraform, Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes have been essential in creating a pipeline that is efficient, scalable, and resilient. At BMC Software, she has been able to automate and orchestrate her team’s processes and has driven innovation through Infrastructure as Code.
“The tools themselves are powerful, but they’re just that—tools. It is truly how we use them, how we incorporate them into our workflows, and how we build upon them that sets us apart,” she concludes. “This is really about creating something that will last, something that will stand the test of time.”
