Learning path · Intermediate
DevOps and the cloud
Where code runs, how changes ship safely, and how you know it all works.
From a single Linux server to containers and Kubernetes: deploying without drama, scaling with demand, and seeing what production is doing.
40 pages4 chaptersabout 1.5 hours of reading
- DevOps & Cloud
- Programming Languages
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Chapter 1Where code runs
- 1LinuxDevOps & Cloud, p. 33Linux is an open-source operating system kernel that powers most servers, cloud platforms, containers, and Android phones, usually packaged as a distribution.
- 2BashProgramming Languages, p. 2Bash is a Unix shell and scripting language, the default on most Linux systems, used both to type commands interactively and to automate tasks with scripts.
- 3Virtual MachineDevOps & Cloud, p. 53A virtual machine is a software-based computer that runs its own operating system on shared physical hardware, isolated from other machines on the same host.
- 4IaaSDevOps & Cloud, p. 27IaaS (infrastructure as a service) is a cloud model where you rent virtual machines, storage and networks on demand and manage the OS and above yourself.
- 5ContainerDevOps & Cloud, p. 12A container is a lightweight, isolated package that bundles an application with its dependencies and runs it on the host's shared operating system kernel.
- 6DockerDevOps & Cloud, p. 17Docker is an open-source platform for packaging an application and everything it needs into a container that runs the same way on any machine.
- 7Docker ComposeDevOps & Cloud, p. 18Docker Compose is a tool for defining and running multi-container applications, such as a web server plus a database, from one YAML file with one command.
- 8Cloud ComputingDevOps & Cloud, p. 10Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of computing resources, such as servers, storage, and databases, over the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing.
- 9AWSDevOps & Cloud, p. 3AWS (Amazon Web Services) is Amazon's cloud platform: more than 200 pay-as-you-go services for servers, storage, databases and much more.
- 10AzureDevOps & Cloud, p. 4Microsoft Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform, offering hundreds of on-demand services such as virtual machines, databases and AI models worldwide.
- 11Google CloudDevOps & Cloud, p. 24Google Cloud is Google's public cloud platform, offering compute, storage, data and AI services on the global infrastructure behind Google's own products.
- 12PaaSDevOps & Cloud, p. 40PaaS (platform as a service) is a cloud model where you deploy your code and the provider runs everything under it: servers, operating systems and scaling.
- 13ServerlessDevOps & Cloud, p. 47Serverless is a cloud model in which the provider runs your code on demand, manages all the servers, scales automatically, and bills only for actual use.
Chapter 2Shipping changes
- 14CI/CDDevOps & Cloud, p. 9CI/CD is a set of automated practices that build, test, and release code changes frequently, so software can be delivered to users quickly and safely.
- 15GitHub ActionsDevOps & Cloud, p. 22GitHub Actions is GitHub's built-in automation platform: YAML workflows in a repo run tests, builds and deployments on events like a push or pull request.
- 16JenkinsDevOps & Cloud, p. 30Jenkins is an open-source automation server that builds, tests and deploys software through pipelines, and one of the oldest and most widely used CI/CD tools.
- 17Environment VariableDevOps & Cloud, p. 20An environment variable is a named value set outside a program, by the operating system or runtime, that the program reads to configure its behavior.
- 18Infrastructure as CodeDevOps & Cloud, p. 29Infrastructure as code is the practice of defining servers, networks, and other infrastructure in version-controlled files that tools apply automatically.
- 19TerraformDevOps & Cloud, p. 52Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool: you describe cloud resources in configuration files, and one command creates or updates them to match.
- 20GitOpsDevOps & Cloud, p. 23GitOps is a way of managing infrastructure and deployments where Git holds the desired state of a system and an automated agent keeps the live system in sync.
- 21Feature FlagDevOps & Cloud, p. 21A feature flag is a switch in code that turns a feature on or off at runtime, letting teams deploy code without releasing it to every user at once.
- 22Blue-Green DeploymentDevOps & Cloud, p. 5Blue-green deployment is a release strategy that uses two identical production environments and moves all traffic from the old version to the new one at once.
- 23Canary DeploymentDevOps & Cloud, p. 6A canary deployment releases a new software version to a small share of users first, checks its health, and then gradually rolls it out to everyone.
- 24RollbackDevOps & Cloud, p. 45A rollback is the process of returning software to a previous, known-good version after a new deployment causes errors, outages, or other unexpected problems.
Chapter 3Running at scale
- 25KubernetesDevOps & Cloud, p. 32Kubernetes is an open-source system that automates deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications across a cluster of machines.
- 26PodDevOps & Cloud, p. 41A pod is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes: one or more containers that share a network address and storage and are scheduled together on one node.
- 27HelmDevOps & Cloud, p. 26Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes: it bundles an app's configuration files into a chart you can install, upgrade and roll back with one command.
- 28Load BalancerDevOps & Cloud, p. 34A load balancer is a server or service that spreads incoming traffic across several backend servers so no single one is overloaded and the app stays available.
- 29Reverse ProxyDevOps & Cloud, p. 44A reverse proxy is a server that sits in front of web servers, accepts client requests on their behalf, and forwards each request to the right backend server.
- 30AutoscalingDevOps & Cloud, p. 2Autoscaling is the automatic adding or removing of computing resources, such as servers or containers, based on demand to keep performance steady and costs low.
- 31CDNDevOps & Cloud, p. 7A CDN is a network of servers spread around the world that stores copies of website content and delivers it to each user from the nearest location.
Chapter 4Knowing it works
- 32ObservabilityDevOps & Cloud, p. 38Observability is the ability to understand what is happening inside a running software system by collecting and analyzing its logs, metrics, and traces.
- 33LoggingDevOps & Cloud, p. 35Logging is the practice of recording timestamped messages about events in a running program, such as errors and requests, so people can investigate them later.
- 34MetricsDevOps & Cloud, p. 36Metrics are numeric measurements of a system collected over time, such as request rate, error rate and CPU usage, used for dashboards, alerts and planning.
- 35PrometheusDevOps & Cloud, p. 43Prometheus is an open-source monitoring system that collects metrics from apps and servers, stores them as time series and alerts when values cross a limit.
- 36GrafanaDevOps & Cloud, p. 25Grafana is an open-source tool for building dashboards that turn metrics, logs and traces from many data sources into live charts and alerts in one place.
- 37Distributed TracingDevOps & Cloud, p. 15Distributed tracing is a technique that follows a single request as it travels through many services, recording how long each step took and where it failed.
- 38SLODevOps & Cloud, p. 51An SLO is a measurable reliability target for a service, such as 99.9% of requests succeeding over 30 days, that tells a team how reliable is reliable enough.
- 39SLADevOps & Cloud, p. 50An SLA (service level agreement) is a provider's commitment to customers about the level of service, such as 99.9% uptime, and what happens if it isn't met.
- 40PostmortemDevOps & Cloud, p. 42A postmortem is a written review after an incident that explains what happened, why it happened, and what the team will change so it doesn't happen again.
Along the way, compare
Pairs on this path that are easy to mix up, side by side.