4.3. Intermediate Level

Intermediate Level for DevOps and Operations

4.3. Intermediate Level: DevOps and Operations - Building Automated Pipelines and Managing Systems!

4.3. Intermediate Level: DevOps and Operations - Building Automated Pipelines and Managing Systems!

Welcome to the Intermediate Level of DevOps and Operations! Congratulations on establishing your DevOps foundation – you’re making great strides in automation! Think of this level as constructing the automated assembly lines and installing the monitoring systems within your DevOps factory, creating efficient workflows and gaining visibility into system health. Here, we’ll take your foundational IaC skills and expand them significantly, dive into Configuration Management in depth, introduce Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, and build your understanding of system monitoring and logging. Get ready to build robust automated software delivery pipelines and become a proficient DevOps Engineer!

Intermediate Level for DevOps and Operations: Orchestrating CI/CD and Gaining System Observability!

Goal of the Intermediate Level: The primary goal of the Intermediate Level is to expand your DevOps skillset to build automated CI/CD pipelines, master Configuration Management, and implement basic monitoring and logging for applications and infrastructure. We want you to be able to:
- Master Advanced Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with Terraform (or CloudFormation): Deepen your IaC skills with a chosen tool (e.g., Terraform or CloudFormation). You’ll learn to manage more complex infrastructure configurations, implement modular IaC code, handle state management effectively, and utilize advanced features of the IaC tool.
- Become Proficient in Configuration Management (CM) with Ansible (or Chef/Puppet): Master a Configuration Management tool (like Ansible, Chef, or Puppet). You’ll learn to automate software installation, configuration management, and ensure consistent configurations across servers using CM tools.
- Design and Implement Basic Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) Pipelines: Learn the principles of CI/CD and gain hands-on experience setting up basic CI/CD pipelines using tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, or GitHub Actions. You’ll automate code building, testing, and deployment processes.
- Implement Basic System Monitoring and Logging: Learn the fundamentals of system monitoring and logging. You’ll implement basic monitoring for infrastructure and applications using tools like Prometheus and Grafana (for monitoring) and ELK/EFK stack (for logging – Elasticsearch, Logstash/Fluentd, Kibana) at an introductory level.
- Enhance Your DevOps Workflow and Collaboration: Improve your DevOps workflow by implementing version control best practices for IaC and CM code, collaborating on DevOps projects using Git, and understanding basic DevOps collaboration workflows.
- Build a Complete CI/CD Pipeline for a Sample Application as a Capstone Project: Apply your IaC, CM, and CI/CD skills to build a complete CI/CD pipeline that automates the build, test, and deployment of a sample application, showcasing your intermediate-level DevOps proficiency!
- Strengthen Your Understanding of DevOps Security (Basic CI/CD Security Considerations): Expand your understanding of DevOps security beyond basic concepts and learn about basic security considerations in CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure automation (secrets management, basic access control – without diving into advanced security yet).
- Prepare for Advanced DevOps Architectures, Cloud-Native Concepts, and Scalability: Build a strong intermediate DevOps skill set that will serve as a solid stepping stone to tackle the advanced DevOps topics, cloud-native architectures, and large-scale system management in the Advanced Level.
Modules within the Intermediate Level: To achieve these goals, we’ll advance through these key modules in the Intermediate Level:
1. 5.1. Advanced Infrastructure as Code (IaC) - Mastering Terraform (or CloudFormation): (IaC mastery deepened!) Dive deep into advanced features of your chosen IaC tool (e.g., Terraform or CloudFormation). Learn to manage complex infrastructure configurations, implement modules and reusable IaC code, handle state management effectively, and utilize advanced provisioning techniques.
2. 5.2. Configuration Management (CM) with Ansible (or Chef/Puppet) - Ensuring Consistency: (CM automation unleashed!) Master a Configuration Management tool (e.g., Ansible, Chef, or Puppet). Learn to write playbooks/recipes/manifests to automate software installation, configure systems, manage services, and ensure consistent configurations across a fleet of servers.
3. 5.3. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) Pipelines - Automating Software Delivery: (CI/CD pipelines in action!) Learn the principles of CI/CD and gain hands-on experience setting up basic CI/CD pipelines using tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, or GitHub Actions. Automate code building, automated testing (basic unit and integration tests in the pipeline), and deployment processes to various environments (e.g., development, staging, production).
4. 5.4. Monitoring and Logging Fundamentals - Gaining Observability: (System visibility!) Learn the fundamentals of system monitoring and logging in a DevOps context. Implement basic monitoring for infrastructure metrics (CPU, memory, network) and application performance metrics using tools like Prometheus and Grafana. Set up basic logging infrastructure using tools like ELK/EFK stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash/Fluentd, Kibana) to collect and analyze application and system logs (at an introductory level).
5. 5.5. Intermediate DevOps Project: CI/CD Pipeline for Application Deployment (Capstone Project - Intermediate Level): (Building a complete delivery pipeline!) Apply your IaC, CM, and CI/CD knowledge to build a complete CI/CD pipeline that automates the build, test, and deployment of a sample application (e.g., a simple web application or API) to a cloud environment or local virtualized environment. This will be your capstone project for the Intermediate Level, showcasing your ability to orchestrate an automated software delivery workflow.
Learning Approach at the Intermediate Level: We’ll build upon the beginner-friendly approach, continuing to increase complexity, encouraging more independent problem-solving, and emphasizing practical tool usage and workflow implementation:
- Building on Beginner DevOps Fundamentals (Advanced Tooling and Workflows): We’ll assume a solid foundation in IaC basics from the Beginner Level and build upon that to master advanced IaC features, implement Configuration Management, and set up CI/CD pipelines.
- Tool-Focused Tutorials and Hands-On Labs for IaC, CM, CI/CD, and Monitoring: You’ll work through tool-specific tutorials and hands-on labs that guide you through using Terraform/CloudFormation for advanced IaC, Ansible/Chef/Puppet for CM, Jenkins/GitLab CI/GitHub Actions for CI/CD, and Prometheus/Grafana/ELK/EFK for monitoring and logging – focusing on practical application and tool mastery.
- CI/CD Pipeline Design and Implementation Exercises: You’ll learn to design basic CI/CD pipelines and implement them in a hands-on manner, understanding the stages of a pipeline, how to integrate testing, and automate deployment steps.
- Configuration Management for Application Deployment and System Configuration: You’ll use Configuration Management tools to automate the deployment of applications, configure server settings consistently, and manage software configurations across your infrastructure.
- Introduction to Monitoring and Logging Dashboards and Basic Alerting: We’ll introduce basic monitoring and logging concepts and guide you through setting up simple dashboards and basic alerting rules using monitoring and logging tools to gain visibility into system health.
- More Complex DevOps Project - Building a Functional CI/CD Pipeline: The capstone project will be more complex, requiring you to design and implement a complete CI/CD pipeline for a sample application, integrating IaC for infrastructure, CM for configuration, CI/CD for automation, and basic monitoring – showcasing your integrated DevOps skills.
- Collaboration and DevOps Workflow Simulations: We’ll encourage collaboration on DevOps projects using Git and simulate basic DevOps workflows, like creating feature branches for infrastructure changes, using pull requests for code reviews in IaC and CM, and working together on setting up CI/CD pipelines.
- Integration of Supplemental Components (Continuing and Expanding): We’ll continue to integrate Supplemental Components at an intermediate level, enriching your DevOps learning experience:
  - Capstone Project (CI/CD Pipeline for Application Deployment): Will be a more demanding and comprehensive project, requiring you to apply all intermediate-level DevOps skills to build a working CI/CD pipeline for a sample application.
  - Assessments (More In-Depth IaC Code Reviews, CM Configuration Reviews, CI/CD Pipeline Design Evaluation, Monitoring Setup Review): Assessments will be more challenging, focusing on evaluating your IaC code quality, CM configuration correctness, CI/CD pipeline design effectiveness, and monitoring setup functionality.
  - Soft Skills Workshops: Will focus on intermediate-level soft skills relevant to DevOps engineering, such as automation planning, documenting DevOps pipelines, communicating DevOps workflows, and collaborating effectively within a DevOps team environment.
  - Guest Lectures/Industry Panels (CI/CD Experts, Configuration Management Specialists, Monitoring and Observability Leaders): Guest lectures and panels will be more specialized, featuring experts in CI/CD methodologies, Configuration Management tools, monitoring and observability platforms, and DevOps pipeline automation, providing deeper insights into these intermediate-level topics.
  - Digital Library: Will expand with resources focused on advanced IaC techniques, Configuration Management guides, CI/CD pipeline documentation, monitoring and logging setup tutorials, and intermediate-level DevOps workflow examples and case studies.
Expected Outcomes for the Intermediate Level: By the end of the Intermediate Level in DevOps and Operations, you should be able to:
- Master advanced Infrastructure as Code (IaC) techniques using a tool like Terraform or CloudFormation.
- Proficiently use a Configuration Management tool (like Ansible, Chef, or Puppet) to automate system configurations.
- Design and implement basic Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines using tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, or GitHub Actions.
- Implement basic system monitoring and logging solutions using tools like Prometheus/Grafana and ELK/EFK stack (at an introductory level).
- Improve your DevOps workflow by using version control effectively and collaborating on DevOps projects with Git.
- Build a complete CI/CD pipeline for a sample application as a capstone project, showcasing your intermediate-level DevOps proficiency.
- Understand basic security considerations in CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure automation.
- Be well-prepared to move on to the Advanced Level of DevOps and Operations and explore advanced architectures, cloud-native DevOps, and large-scale system management!

GPT Prompts for Further Exploration

Explain the overall goals and expected outcomes of an Intermediate Level DevOps learning path. How does it build upon foundational knowledge and prepare learners for advanced topics?
Describe the relationship and dependencies between Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Configuration Management (CM), and Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) in a DevOps workflow.
Compare and contrast the roles of Terraform and Ansible within an intermediate DevOps skillset. In what scenarios is each tool best suited, and how can they be used together?
Explain the importance of implementing basic monitoring and logging at the intermediate DevOps level. What key metrics and logs should be tracked, and why are they essential for system observability?
Discuss the significance of collaboration and version control in managing Infrastructure as Code and Configuration Management configurations within a DevOps team.
Describe a typical CI/CD pipeline at the intermediate level, outlining the key stages and automated processes involved in software delivery.
How does mastering intermediate DevOps skills contribute to improved software delivery speed, reliability, and efficiency in an organization?
Explain the concept of a “DevOps factory” or “automated assembly line” in the context of the Intermediate Level description. How do the different modules contribute to this analogy?
What are some potential challenges learners might face when progressing through an Intermediate Level DevOps curriculum, and how can these challenges be addressed?
How do the skills and knowledge gained at the Intermediate Level prepare DevOps professionals for tackling advanced cloud-native architectures and large-scale system management in the Advanced Level?

National Digital Capacity Library - Sri Lanka

4.3. Intermediate Level