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Improvements in services such as CI/CD technology and microtechnology have increased considerably in the site environment. Therefore, knowing the types of deployment is crucial, as they allow efficient changes in the way the application will be presented to the end user.
This term comes from the English which means “to deploy” and understanding its functionality is the secret of success in programming. With that in mind, we prepared this post to detail what deploy is, the main types and which model to use in specific situations. Come on?
After all, what is Deployment?
The term deploy means application on the air and can be made available in a development, test and production environment. It is crucial in the planning of the website, software and applications in cPanel as it allows its full functionality without errors for end users, being a very common task for programmers, especially with structured ones (DevOps).
So when a site goes through the testing phase to get ready to go live, it goes through that process. Likewise when it needs to go through some improvement and update process with the source code. In addition, understanding the main destinations of a deploy helps for a better application and, succinctly, they comprise:
- development: first application ecosystem in which the deploy extends. Gives the programmer complete freedom to create and encompass trial and error;
- staging/test: testing area to assess whether the environment can be made available by the team for more advanced applications. Also called an approval environment, it may only be available on the company’s intranet;
- production: last step in which the entire testing process has already been carried out and faults corrected. This phase refers to putting the “hands on” for the site to be live and ready for use.
In short, in addition to these three main points about the destination of the types of deploy, for the implementation, this process goes through four steps: the infrastructure, the website domain, the hosting environment and optimization so that everything goes as planned.
What are the main types of deployment?
The fact is that the number of implementation strategies is increasing and every developer looking for a successful career needs to know the three main types of deployment and how they are applied. And it will be about them that we will speak now.
blue-green
The Blue-Green deploy works with a kind of two identical infrastructure environments, as a kind of mirror, and there is a load balancer which directs the traffic to the desired environment. That way, you can test the new environment while the old one is still up and running.
Thus, change is more practical, with zero downtime and better project management. One of its main advantages is the possibility of uploading a new version only when the new model is in perfect condition. Migration is carried out smoothly, as it is carefully prepared from the start.
However, the downside is related to expenses — it will take twice as much investment and infrastructure for this deployment to work properly.
canary
Canary is a type of deploy that provides the new version in production, however, it releases the new version only in small groups, that is, access is released gradually. Thus, the old version continues to work in the new environment, gradually releasing access to new users to evaluate the behavior.
With this model it is possible to know the right time to make a new version available to everyone and thus have better project management. One of the main advantages is the possibility of performing isolated tests and closely monitoring the effects of the transition according to the user experience, because if there are failures, you can quickly perform the correction.
However, the disadvantages that we can mention are that, as the release is carried out gradually, the completion time will be quite extensive. And, depending on the size of the infrastructure, the cost can be even higher.
rolling
This type of deployment is one of the simplest to develop websites, being considered the standard model and suitable for all types of orchestration. This model consists of uploading the new services in a new version, that is, replacing the old version of the service, being a process that will happen gradually.
Therefore, the old version will be deactivated when the new model is 100% functional — what programmers call turning the switch. The main advantages of this deployment is that its migration becomes less noticeable and cautious, happening gradually. However, its disadvantage is that it needs to manage both versions simultaneously, which increases the level of complexity.
Which type of deploy to use for each situation?
Choosing the type of deployment in a company will depend on the type of criticality of each situation. For example, if the company is very large, with several sectors in full swing, it becomes dangerous to make the change at once. Rolling, for example, would not be the best indication since it does not allow the application’s behavior with users to be evaluated.
Therefore, in large environments, it is recommended to use Blue-Green, because the fact that it provides two simultaneous platforms allows an ideal balance and the release is only done when you are sure that everything is working correctly.
In case of smaller environments and with less criticality, Canary is the best indication for providing less probability of having failures. However, it is a type of deployment that takes a little more time.
As you can see, understanding the types of deploy is something practical and simple, however, the challenge is in putting them into practice. This is because the choice must be linked to your strategy, observation of the application environment and, therefore, there is no better model for your choice and everything must be planned millimetrically.
Now that you know what the main types of deployment are, it will be easier to apply them in your website migration steps. Oh! To help your friends not to get confused in these models, also share on social networks!
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