CI/CD and the Cloud-Native Development Pipeline

Cloud-native architectures are designed to take advantage of the elasticity and scalability of the cloud, allowing organizations to quickly and easily deploy and scale their applications. However, elastic and scalable applications require a development process that is as agile as the cloud—and traditional pipeline processes simply aren’t capable of keeping up.

With the increasing emphasis on the pace of innovation in the development of next-generation applications built using microservices and containers and running on platforms like Kubernetes, organizations are looking for ways to eliminate manual and recursive steps that can impede progress. One solution to this problem is the adoption of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices that introduce automation and collaboration to break down the inefficiencies baked into traditional methods.

The Land Before CI/CD

In the traditional development pipeline, different teams often worked in silos, with discrete steps and handoffs between teams. Developers would push their code to the build team, who would then build it and pass it on to the security team for checks. If any issues were found, the code would be sent back to the developers for remediation.

This staged process often led to delays and inefficiencies, as well as a lack of collaboration and understanding between teams. For example, the security team may not have a clear understanding of the developers’ goals and constraints, leading to unrealistic or unhelpful feedback. Similarly, developers may not fully understand the security team’s concerns and priorities, leading to frustration and delays. With development and security teams basically speaking different languages, everyone involved ultimately ended up wasting time and delaying the deployment process.

Enter Automation

CI/CD practices help to address traditional pipeline issues by bringing teams together and automating many of the manual steps in the development process. With CI/CD, developers can push their code to a version control system, where it is built and automatically checked for any issues. If any issues are found, they can be addressed quickly. With security being integrated into the pipeline during the build process, teams can identify weaknesses earlier and develop a more secure final product. This additional testing ensures that the application is not only working as expected but that it’s also secure.

If the code is secure, it can be automatically deployed to production without the need for manual handoffs and checks. This not only saves time and eliminates potential bottlenecks, but it also fosters collaboration and understanding between teams. Security teams are now a core part of the process. They can provide real-time feedback and guidance to developers, while developers can incorporate security best practices into their code from the start. This ultimately allows for faster, more frequent deployments, increasing the speed and agility of the development process.

Adjusting Roles for Success

The adoption of CI/CD practices is particularly important for organizations using cloud-native architectures, building microservices-based applications and containerization and leveraging platforms like Kubernetes or another container orchestration solution. Using CI/CD in these development environments allows cloud-native developers to quickly and efficiently deploy their applications to the cloud. It also changes the roles and expectations within development teams.

As an example, DevSecOps teams are now expected to have a deeper understanding of the development process and the ability to implement security as code as part of the build pipeline. Developers, on the other hand, are expected to work more closely with security teams and prioritize addressing any issues identified. The DevOps team often takes on the role of automation manager, overseeing the entire process from code to production. By breaking down silos, teams can learn to speak the same language and find new opportunities for speed, efficiency and security.

These changes radically improve the development process, enabling teams to focus on adding new features and improving the application rather than dealing with issues related to deployment.

All in the Design

As organizations seek to incorporate processes that can keep up with the speed and flexibility of cloud-native architectures, it is imperative that they start with development. By automating manual steps and involving security teams earlier in the process, organizations can increase their efficiency and deploy high-quality, secure applications multiple times per day rather than the once or twice per week that may be possible with the traditional development pipeline.

The adoption of CI/CD practices not only leads to better outcomes but also creates smarter, more agile teams that can work cross-functionally. Though it may require a period of adjustment, evolving developer and security roles benefit the individuals, the deployments, and the organization, making CI/CD a no-brainer for future-minded enterprises.

Amit Gupta

Amit Gupta is Chief Product Officer at Tigera, where he is responsible for the strategy and vision of Tigera’s products and leads the delivery of the company’s roadmap. Amit is a hands-on product executive with expertise in building software products and services across various domains including cloud security, cloud-native applications, and public and private cloud infrastructure.

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