DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). It aims to shorten the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality. DevOps is complementary with Agile software development; several DevOps aspects came from Agile methodology.

As DevOps is intended to be a cross-functional mode of working; those who practice the methodology use different sets of tools—referred to as “toolchains“—rather than a single one. These toolchains are expected to fit into one or more of the following categories, reflective of key aspects of the development and delivery process:

• Coding – code development and review, source code management tools, code merging.
• Building – continuous integration tools, build status.
• Testing – continuous testing tools that provide quick and timely feedback on business risks.
• Packaging – artifact repository, application pre-deployment staging.
• Releasing – change management, release approvals, release automation.
• Configuring – infrastructure configuration and management, infrastructure as code tools.
• Monitoring – applications performance monitoring, end-user experience.

DevOps offers transparency, agility in development and operations. Organizations use it for different reasons. The main reasons include:

• Significant reduction in time that takes from a software to be conceived until its available.
• Reduction lead time between fixes in the software.
• Lower rate of failure of new releases.
• Improvement in the frequency of deployment.
• Faster recovery time.