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What is a CI/CD Pipeline? How can you establish a CI/CD pipeline? How can you automate a CI/CD pipeline? How can AWS support your CI/CD pipeline needs?

What is a CI/CD Pipeline?

Businesses are pressured to cope with software updates, bug fixes, and new innovations in an increasingly competitive application market. Software and operations teams must work cohesively to address user feedback, resolve issues, and deploy updates without compromising business operations. Conventional software development cycles, particularly those based on the sequential waterfall model, struggle to keep up with the pace of modern software delivery. As the software development lifecycle becomes more compact, development teams turn to CI/CD to create precise, high-quality, and more secure code efficiently.

CI/CD stands for continuous integration and continuous delivery. In some cases, CD can also mean continuous deployment.

  • Continuous integration allows multiple developers to work on and merge their code simultaneously without compromising code stability.
  • Continuous delivery is an automated workflow for testing, validating, and preparing software for release upon human approval.
  • Continuous deployment is similar to continuous delivery, except that approval is automated by pre-configured rules.

Together, CI/CD can be implemented as a pipeline that automates all processes that were previously undertaken manually. To gain a better understanding of how the CI/CD pipeline works, refer to the diagram below.

Each stage in the CI/CD pipeline comprises specific activities within the software development process. They feature automated tests to vet the code for quality, vulnerabilities, and other technical issues before software builds are propagated forward. This way, development teams can identify and fix code issues earlier, which saves businesses significant time, resources, and costs.

Setting up a CI/CD pipeline looks straightforward. However, businesses often face challenges when implementing CI/CD workflow, particularly with an on-premise setup. For example, companies experience infrastructure bottlenecks when they need to manage a larger number of applications, tools, and team members. Left unaddressed, developers spend more time fixing the pipeline instead of working on the code itself.

Shifting CI/CD workflows to the AWS cloud enables teams to scale modern software development workloads, communicate changes more effectively, and manage resources more efficiently. For example, Duolingo migrated its CI/CD pipeline to AWS EC2 Mac and implemented advanced autoscaling strategies. As a result, they reduced build time from 50 minutes to just 16 minutes.

How can you establish a CI/CD pipeline?

AWS makes CI/CD implementation more effortless, automated, and secure with managed and automated services. Instead of manually provisioning development tools, servers, and resources, your team can focus on high-value activities, such as responding to user requests and strategizing the software release process.

For a start, you can use AWS CloudFormation to automatically deploy cloud resources, which DevOps teams need to set up a CI/CD pipeline. You start by describing the resources you need in the template or by using pre-built templates. CloudFormation then provisions the resources that, together, form the foundational environment that supports CI/CD. Then, you can implement the CI/CD pipeline stages in the AWS cloud as follows.

Source

The source stage tracks version changes that developers make. Developers copy a version of the original code from the shared central repository to their local machine. Then, they edit, compile, test, and merge the modified code with the repository.

Here’s how your team can make and manage code changes with AWS tools.

Step 1 - Author codes with IDE

A developer can create new code or edit existing code with AWS Cloud9, a cloud-based integrated development environment (IDE) that supports popular programming languages. With Cloud9, you can write, run, and debug source code on a web browser as long as you have access to the internet. Alternatively, if you install a third-party IDE, you can download software development kits (SDKs) to enable writing code in various languages, including Java, Python, and JavaScript. The SDKs allow you to access AWS resources and libraries through the application programming interface (API) from your preferred coding environment.

Step 2 - Commit code to the central repository

Developers utilize third-party tools, such as GitHub, to create private code repositories, manage pull requests, and merge changes. It acts as a version control system, which lets you track changes fellow developers have committed, and revert to a previous functional source code if needed.

Build and test

At the build stage, the code stored in the central repository is sent to a build server. Then, the build server turns the source code and dependencies into a software file called an artifact, which developers can run in subsequent stages. For example, if you’re building a Java program, you will get a JAR or WAR file. Several preliminary tests can be performed at this stage, including unit and static code analysis.

  • Unit tests ensure that individual software functions produce the correct results. 
  • Static code analysis checks the source code to identify bugs, security vulnerabilities, and adherence to coding standards.

If the code fails any tests, developers revert it to the previous state and resolve the issues.

Conventionally, software teams need to set up their own build servers to package their applications. Additionally, they’ll need to manually write test scripts, validate them, and monitor the outcomes through repeated iterations. Now, they can use AWS CodeBuild to accelerate the CI/CD build workflow. It lets your team automate builds and test software as they make changes. It locates the source code from the specified repository and runs the build script you’ve configured.

AWS CodeBuild automatically scales its compute capacity to match your build workloads. This way, you don’t have to wait for previous builds to complete before starting a new one. Software teams can identify code issues early on and resolve them before they become complex.

For example, if you’re building a Node.js project, you can integrate the Jasmine or Jest testing framework with AWS CodeBuild. These frameworks enable you to easily write test cases, specify expected outcomes, and validate them during build runs. 

The test stage comes immediately after building. It’s designed to subject the application to more rigorous testing, allowing software teams to enhance code quality, performance, security, and other key aspects. With a CI/CD pipeline, testing is automated and extends to several areas.

  • Integration tests ensure that all services and third-party components the application uses are interacting correctly with each other.
  • Functional tests provide a comprehensive assessment of the application from the end-user’s perspective.
  • Security tests probe the application for possible security risks and vulnerabilities.
  • Performance tests ensure the application remains responsive and functional in the event of extreme or unexpected conditions, such as a sudden traffic spike.

Again, the application must pass all the specified tests before it can be moved to the next stage.

Staging

Staging allows you to perform final checks on the application before releasing it to end users. At this stage, software teams deploy the application in an environment that mimics real-world implementations. Often, they use mock data and enroll a group of end users to test the application with the goal of catching undetected issues before release.

For example, you’ve updated an application and you want to check how it behaves with user interactions. Deploying it in the staging environment helps you assess software performance without disrupting business operations. After fulfilling all test conditions, software teams deploy the application to the production environment, which makes it accessible to end users.

Cross-environment deployment can be challenging, particularly if teams do so manually. AWS CodeDeploy can simplify application deployment efforts. It automates application deployment to various environments. You can view deployment activities, track changes, and roll back to a previous version if needed. It also bridges the gap between staging and production. For example, you can use the exact deployment instructions you use for staging for a production release.

Production

Production is the live environment where real users access your application. After modifying, testing, and validating changes, software teams release the updated application in the production environment. While the move marks the end of the CI/CD pipeline, efforts to ensure the application meets performance, security, and business requirements continue. Therefore, you’ll need to continuously monitor the application as it operates in production.

Amazon CloudWatch is a service that provides development and operations teams visibility on applications they deploy on AWS, on-premise, or other cloud environments. It automatically collects and visualizes operational data, allowing you to better understand how your application performs in real-world conditions. Additionally, you can set alerts and be notified of events that require prompt attention from your teams.  

How can you automate a CI/CD pipeline?

Streamlining CI/CD tools from different providers can be challenging, particularly if it involves extensive manual setups. However, with AWS CodePipeline, you can automate, scale, and accelerate the entire code release process while maintaining flexibility.

AWS CodePipeline allows you to model a CI/CD workflow with a graphical user interface. You can easily integrate AWS services into your pipeline or connect to existing tools and resources you use. For example, if you want to use Jenkins as a build server, you can integrate it with AWS CodePipeline.

Below, we summarize the steps to do so.

  1. Install Jenkins and the AWS CodePipeline plugin for Jenkins.
  2. Then, set access permission with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) for Jenkins. This allows Jenkins to use authorized credentials to interact with AWS CodePipeline.
  3. Log in to the AWS CodePipeline console and create a custom pipeline.
  4. Connect the pipeline to a shared source code repository, such as GitHub.
  5. Then, add a build stage and select Jenkins as the build server.
  6. Add any necessary test stages, including required test actions and build triggers.
  7. Next, connect the deploy stage to AWS CodeDeploy or another deployment service. 

How can AWS support your CI/CD pipeline needs?

A CI/CD pipeline enables businesses to produce, test, and release application updates more quickly without compromising software quality and security. Software development teams modify code, merge changes, automate tests, schedule deployment, and more with automated CI/CD tools. However, some teams face challenges in scaling CI/CD workflows due to infrastructural, resource, and process limitations.

AWS provides a suite of cloud-based solutions to create, streamline, and scale your CI/CD pipeline.

  • AWS CloudFormation provisions resources that CI/CD tools run on.
  • AWS Cloud9 allows developers to write, run, and debug code from their browser.
  • AWS CodeBuild allows you to compile, test, and pack your application without managing your own build servers.
  • AWS CodeDeploy automates deployment on any environment, including on-premise and AWS instances.
  • AWS CodePipeline lets you model the entire CI/CD workflow, from source to live production environment.
  • AWS CloudWatch allows operational teams to continuously monitor, log and analyze deployed applications.

If you need further assistance setting up a CI/CD pipeline, please contact Amazon Professional Services.