Steady Integration/Steady Supply (CI/CD) software program – which means options that groups use to construct, check and deploy purposes – has come a great distance over the previous decade. Whereas organizations as soon as cobbled collectively CI/CD pipelines utilizing disparate open supply instruments, they now have a plethora of end-to-end, vendor-supported enterprise CI/CD platforms that they will use as an alternative. As a result of these options supply all the things groups must ship software program, they’re easier to deploy and handle.
But, whereas there are clear advantages to adopting an enterprise CI/CD platform, migrating to 1 might be tough. It poses a variety of challenges, comparable to the danger of CI/CD pipeline downtime and safety and compliance challenges.
That’s why companies migrating to newer CI/CD options ought to strategy the method with an in depth, step-by-step plan. Right here’s a have a look at the challenges to navigate, together with tips about the right way to make CI/CD migration as clean as potential.
To floor the dialogue, I’ll give attention to migrating to GitHub Enterprise, a CI/CD platform from GitHub, the software program growth platform now owned by Microsoft. GitHub Enterprise is the choice that I’m seeing an increasing number of companies select in my work serving to firms to modernize their IT and software program supply practices.
Challenges to GitHub Enterprise migration
As a complete CI/CD platform that’s out there as a totally hosted answer, GitHub Enterprise is comparatively straightforward to make use of when you’ve migrated to it. The problem, although, is getting your code into the platform, together with making the method adjustments mandatory to start utilizing the answer rather than a legacy CI/CD suite.
Specifically, anticipate to face challenges that embody:
- Software supply delays: A drawn-out, time-consuming migration course of interprets to downtime for CI/CD operations – which signifies that your builders received’t be capable of push out utility updates. This could finally hurt the enterprise as a result of customers aren’t receiving function enhancements whereas your CI/CD pipelines are in transition.
- Efficiency dangers: Failure to decide on the suitable GitHub Enterprise deployment technique, and to configure the answer in an optimum means, might decelerate CI/CD efficiency and scale back developer productiveness on account of points like inadequate infrastructure assets for constructing and testing purposes.
- Coaching necessities: Expert software program builders can usually study to make use of a brand new CI/CD platform simply sufficient, however there may be nonetheless an upskilling requirement. It’s necessary to not overlook the necessity to present builders with time to study GitHub Enterprise (or whichever answer you’re migrating to).
- Safety and compliance: To mitigate dangers just like the injection of malicious code into your purposes, it’s important to implement entry controls through the migration course of that forestall unauthorized customers from accessing the brand new CI/CD platform.
Finest practices for a clean GitHub Enterprise migration
The excellent news is that with the suitable strategy, migrating to GitHub Enterprise or the same CI/CD platform doesn’t must be risk-prone. The next finest practices will help to streamline the method.
1. Select the suitable internet hosting choice
Like many CI/CD platforms, GitHub Enterprise is accessible in two fundamental varieties: A completely managed, cloud-based choice and a model that customers can set up and handle utilizing their very own infrastructure.
Basically, the totally managed answer tends to be the higher alternative as a result of it considerably reduces setup and upkeep effort on the a part of customers. Nevertheless, the self-hosted choice could also be higher for organizations that want better management over their CI/CD setting. This tends to be very true for companies in verticals like finance and insurance coverage, the place safety and compliance mandates could also be simpler to satisfy when the group runs CI/CD software program by itself infrastructure (and subsequently has better management over how delicate information is managed and secured).
2. Configured granular entry insurance policies
Like most trendy CI/CD suites, GitHub Enterprise gives entry management options that companies can use to find out who can do what inside CI/CD instruments. For instance, you may give some builders read-only entry to supply code, whereas permitting others to switch it. GitHub Enterprise additionally helps environment-based entry settings, which means you possibly can configure totally different ranges of entry for a similar customers throughout dev/check and manufacturing environments.
As a finest apply, reap the benefits of these granular entry management choices by assigning totally different entry rights to every group that makes use of your CI/CD platform. For instance, you may need an admin group whose privileges lengthen to altering the configuration of GitHub Enterprise, whereas one other group that merely makes use of the platform has a lesser degree of entry.
3. Use OpenID Hook up with combine with cloud environments
GitHub Enterprise presents an id administration choice that leverages OpenID Join (OIDC) to combine with third-party cloud environments.
Once you reap the benefits of this function, you possibly can robotically run workflows (like utility builds) on public cloud infrastructure with out having to retailer cloud entry credentials as long-lived GitHub secrets and techniques, which presents a considerable safety threat. As well as, this strategy robotically creates a log of GitHub workflows and motion executions, which you should utilize for audit and monitoring functions.
4. Leverage single sign-on
One other method to streamline the migration into GitHub Enterprise is to combine the platform with whichever single sign-on (SSO) supplier (like Microsoft Entra or Lively Listing) your corporation already makes use of. Ideally, you’ll additionally allow multi-factor authentication (MFA) via your SSO answer so as to add one other layer of safety.
This strategy eliminates the necessity to handle GitHub Enterprise entry credentials individually out of your present accounts. It additionally reduces the burden positioned in your IT group through the migration as a result of as an alternative of getting to “reinvent the wheel,” they will merely use a sign-on answer that already exists.
5. Doc widespread duties
To ease the educational curve for builders as they migrate to GitHub Enterprise, doc widespread duties – comparable to the right way to migrate code from native repositories or one other CI/CD platform into GitHub Enterprise.
That is one other tactic that eliminates the necessity to your group to reinvent the wheel repeatedly; as an alternative of forcing every engineer to determine the right way to migrate on their very own, everybody can observe a prescribed plan.
6. Publish workflow patterns
Going a step additional, take into account as nicely publishing detailed steps on the right way to use key options in GitHub Enterprise which can be more likely to be necessary for all your groups. For instance, you possibly can element the right way to create pull requests or construct Docker photos within the platform, or the right way to execute Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) deployments.
Right here once more, this technique reduces the educational curve and helps get your group up and operating on the brand new platform as shortly as potential.
7. Automate widespread workflows utilizing GitHub Actions
Going even additional, you possibly can create totally automated workflows for widespread duties utilizing GitHub Actions, a function that allows you to set off automated operations throughout varied components of your CI/CD pipeline. As an illustration, you possibly can robotically set off an utility construct after code has been checked in, or robotically start testing after the construct is full.
Extremely advanced workflows which will fluctuate between tasks or groups will not be nice candidates for this sort of automation, however core routines might be totally automated, making it even simpler to your group to start utilizing the brand new platform.