Head First GitOps in 5 minutes

Introduction

GitOps is a software development and delivery methodology that aims to bring the benefits of version control and continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) to infrastructure and operations. It uses Git as the source of truth for infrastructure and application configuration, and relies on Git-based workflows to manage and deploy changes to infrastructure and applications.

In a GitOps workflow, infrastructure and application configuration is stored in version control, typically in a Git repository. Changes to infrastructure and applications are made by committing changes to this repository, and are automatically deployed to the target environment by a continuous delivery pipeline. This allows for a clear and auditable history of changes, and makes it easy to roll back changes if necessary.

One of the key benefits of GitOps is the ability to automate the deployment and management of infrastructure and applications. By using Git as the source of truth for configuration, it is possible to set up automated pipelines that deploy changes to infrastructure and applications as soon as they are committed to the repository. This can significantly reduce the time and effort required to deploy changes, and can help to ensure that changes are deployed consistently and reliably.

GitOps also promotes collaboration and transparency, as all changes to infrastructure and applications are recorded in version control and are visible to all team members. This makes it easy for team members to review and collaborate on changes, and can help to ensure that changes are properly tested and reviewed before they are deployed to production.

To implement GitOps, it is necessary to have a continuous delivery pipeline in place that can automatically deploy changes to infrastructure and applications as they are committed to the repository. This pipeline should be configured to perform tests and checks to ensure that changes are safe to deploy, and should be set up to roll back changes if necessary.

In summary, GitOps is a software development and delivery methodology that uses Git as the source of truth for infrastructure and application configuration, and relies on Git-based workflows to manage and deploy changes. It allows for the automation of the deployment and management of infrastructure and applications, and promotes collaboration and transparency. By implementing GitOps, teams can significantly reduce the time and effort required to deploy changes, and can improve the reliability and consistency of their deployments.

Basic principles

• Declarative
• Versioned and Immutable
• Pulled Automatically
• Continuously Reconciled

Key aspects

• Standard workflow
• Enhanced Security
• Visibility and Audit
• Multi-cluster consistency

CI-CD pipeline

1. Build
2. Test
3. Security Checks
4. Release
5. Deploy Stage
6. Deploy Prod

GitOps loops

Depoly -> Monitor -> Detect drift -> Take action -> Depoly

reference

• GitOps Cookbook (Natale Vinto and Alex Soto Bueno)
• GitOps and Kubernetes (Billy Yuen, Alexander Matyushentsev, Todd Ekenstam and Jesse Suen)