CD, continuous delivery often contrasts with continuous deployment – both aim to automate the deployment process of software.
CD is one of the key practices of DevOps.
CD is a software release approach where teams release software in short cycles, frequently. It enables building, testing, and releasing of software quickly and efficiently, encouraging ‘continuous change’ and feedback-driven culture.
It’s changing the traditional, time-taking method of releasing software and fosters agility and quality as important benchmarks.
Best CD Tools:
- TeamCity
- Octopus Deploy
- CodeShip
- Ansible
- AWA CodeDeploy
- GitLab
- VSTS
Benefits:
- Faster time-to-market
- Customer-centric, feedback-driven changes in the product
- Improved performance and quality
- Increased customer satisfaction
- Improved team collaboration
- Easier, faster issue tracking and fixing
It can be achieved by setting up a CI/CD pipeline that includes integration, build automation, test automation, and continuous deployments.
Disadvantages of CD:
- Lack of skills and culture
- Lack of test automation and appropriate skills
- Different environments can cause unwanted troubles