GitOps vs DevOps: What’s the different?
GitOps vs DevOps: What’s the different?
Both GitOps and DevOps are rapidly becoming the most popular method for teams working on development. DevOps culture is a shift from traditional tech and software development, which follows a linear path from ideation and concept to the launch stage, encourages collaboration and quick feedback instead of working in isolation or silos. In this article, we will take an in-depth look at the GitOps instead of the DevOps method to help you determine whether GitOps is the right choice for your development software project.
The explanation of the DevOps and GitOps functions is beyond the topic of this article. However, we’ll give you an overview of both.
What is DevOps?
DevOps is a word that combines the terms “Development” and “Operation” instead of keeping them distinct.
DevOps originates from Agile methodology and is a method of working that permits more collaboration between the teams working on software development and operations and streamlined feedback loops. Constant communication between stakeholders, developers and users, and continual enhancement and deployment.
DevOps essentially allows software and app developers to launch updated products or new versions quickly. This is done by employing various techniques and tools, for example, breaking up projects into smaller pieces or phases and using platforms to handle aspects like change control and continuous deployment. Because of the numerous benefits, modern businesses are usually pleased to seek external assistance in the form of consultants in DevOps.
What is GitOps?
GitOps is a DevOps branch that grew out of best practices for creating continuous deployment for cloud native apps. Developers often use git to log changes to source code and files, enabling teams to communicate and coordinate their activities effectively and produce clean source code.
GitOps approach enables developers and project managers to use Git as a single source of truth and command center for system architecture management. It allows several developers and teams to generate, edit, remove, and change source code without generating mayhem.
GitOps assists developers in validating code using Git pull requests and automates the deployment of complex infrastructure modifications.
GitOps is gaining popularity due to its effectiveness and ability to maintain cleaner, more accurate code. However, GitOps and DevOps do not necessarily go hand-in-hand; a DevOps culture may exist without GitOps, but not vice versa.
GitOps vs. DevOps – What’s the different?
As indicated in the preceding section, GitOps is a subset of DevOps; therefore, comparing GitOps to DevOps isn’t fair. However, sure engineers may gain more from a DevOps approach without the GitOps methodology, while others may benefit more from GitOps. The project’s demands and goals determine the optimum option.
To help you see the difference and decide whether GitOps is right for you, we’ve created a quick-reference table that compares GitOps with DevOps side by side.
| DevOps | GitOps | |
| Basic definition | An agile methodology that enables continuous improvement and deployment (CI/CD) | The methodology that enables improved management and provisioning of infrastructure and deployment |
| Main goals | Lowering the error rate, removing silos in the team, reducing cost efforts, and more | Speed, accuracy, clean code, increase productivity |
| Tools and resources | All mentioned in the GitOps section relate to DevOps as well | Cloud configuration tools, supply chain management tools, ERP, Infrastructure tools, CI/CD pipelines |
| Accuracy | Not so focused on the precision of code | Highly focused on accuracy and clean code |
| Flexibility and adaptability | Open and less rigid | Less open and rigid/strict |
What is GitOps Methodology?
The fundamental outline of the GitOps flow or pipeline can be described as the following:
- Write code
- Configure Version control
- Automate testing
- Create an image repository
- Deploy app
- Use Kubernetes or other container orchestration platforms.
Each phase of the GitOps pipeline includes DevOps best practices to guarantee successful collaboration, version control, compliance, automation, and CI/CD tools. In a word, GitOps enables teams to install and manage system infrastructure automatically.
A widespread misperception is that GitOps consists solely of Kubernetes. GitOps technique typically employs Kubernetes since it can be used as cloud-native code instead of a separate declarative tool. GitOps entails the creation of single-source-of-truth assertions in Git, which are automatically deployed using Kubernetes.
The infrastructure settings of each cluster are separate with this method, allowing for simple rollbacks and restoration. ‘Git revert’ can revert the application to its previous state. Using an SSH key, developers may impose security features such as code authorship and provenance assurances.
After declaring a state in Git and implementing a version control system, you may set it such that any changes made by a team member are automatically transferred to your system without the need for cluster credentials. This big benefit of GitOps is that keeping things separate and safe saves time.
Kubernetes will manage a variety of app development-related difficulties, such as node or pod failure. In addition, software agents can be employed to check the correctness and notify the team of issues, such as divergence and Git disputes.
Main Benefits of GitOps
Implementing a DevOps culture and utilizing GitOps may provide app developers and project teams with several benefits:
Enhanced Productivity: Implementing a GitOps version control system and feedback loop will decrease the average deployment time. Using the GitOps approach and continuous deployment enables development teams to ship up to 100 times as many changes per day as normal, which reduces total development time by two or three times.
Easier Compliance & Enhanced Stability: Using Git to manage a cluster allows you to keep track of all changes with an audit trail and log, facilitating compliance and enhancing stability.
More Reliable: Git’s ability to reverse and roll back applications allows you to duplicate older versions and maintain a more reliable system. Additionally, eliminating system architecture is simplified and made more trustworthy.
Enhanced Consistency: GitOps enables a collaborative and unified approach to app development, infrastructure setup, and Kubernetes modifications. In other words, the whole development team adheres to a CI/CD process that is kept together by Git pull requests and code that is repeatable on Git.
Less Training Required : Due to the familiarity with Git tools, new engineers may become more productive and require less training. Instead of weeks, they will be able to carry code and execute certain system activities within days.
Git is a single source of truth that is supported by security assurances. In addition, it employs robust encryption to ensure that modifications are monitored securely, with authorship and provenance evidence.
Summary
GitOps is a practical approach connected to DevOps. It enables app developers to be more efficient, produces more dependable and consistent products, and manages current cloud infrastructure.
GitOps approach is characterized by constructing a solid version control system using Git and using declarative tools such as Kubernetes to handle infrastructure provisioning.
Contact our expert if you’re interested in learning more about how GitOps procedures might benefit your software development team or company.