Steady Integration/Steady Supply (CI/CD) software program – that means options that groups use to construct, take a look at and deploy functions – 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 a substitute. As a result of these options supply every little thing groups have to ship software program, they’re less complicated to deploy and handle.
But, whereas there are clear advantages to adopting an enterprise CI/CD platform, migrating to 1 could be tough. It poses a variety of challenges, corresponding 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 take a look at the challenges to navigate, together with tips about the way to make CI/CD migration as easy as doable.
To floor the dialogue, I’ll give attention to migrating to GitHub Enterprise, a CI/CD platform from GitHub, the software program improvement 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 corporations to modernize their IT and software program supply practices.
Challenges to GitHub Enterprise migration
As a complete CI/CD platform that’s obtainable as a completely hosted answer, GitHub Enterprise is comparatively simple 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 obligatory to start utilizing the answer instead of a legacy CI/CD suite.
Specifically, count on to face challenges that embody:
- Utility supply delays: A drawn-out, time-consuming migration course of interprets to downtime for CI/CD operations – which implies that your builders gained’t be capable to push out software updates. This could finally hurt the enterprise as a result of customers aren’t receiving characteristic enhancements whereas your CI/CD pipelines are in transition.
- Efficiency dangers: Failure to decide on the appropriate GitHub Enterprise deployment technique, and to configure the answer in an optimum approach, may decelerate CI/CD efficiency and scale back developer productiveness on account of points like inadequate infrastructure sources for constructing and testing functions.
- 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 essential to not overlook the necessity to present builders with time to study GitHub Enterprise (or whichever answer you might be migrating to).
- Safety and compliance: To mitigate dangers just like the injection of malicious code into your functions, it’s essential to implement entry controls throughout the migration course of that stop unauthorized customers from accessing the brand new CI/CD platform.
Greatest practices for a easy GitHub Enterprise migration
The excellent news is that with the appropriate strategy, migrating to GitHub Enterprise or an identical CI/CD platform doesn’t must be risk-prone. The next greatest practices may help to streamline the method.
1. Select the appropriate internet hosting possibility
Like many CI/CD platforms, GitHub Enterprise is obtainable in two primary varieties: A completely managed, cloud-based possibility and a model that customers can set up and handle utilizing their very own infrastructure.
Generally, 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. Nonetheless, the self-hosted possibility could also be higher for organizations that want higher management over their CI/CD surroundings. 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 fulfill when the group runs CI/CD software program by itself infrastructure (and due to this fact has higher management over how delicate knowledge 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 can provide some builders read-only entry to supply code, whereas permitting others to change it. GitHub Enterprise additionally helps environment-based entry settings, that means you possibly can configure totally different ranges of entry for a similar customers throughout dev/take a look at and manufacturing environments.
As a greatest 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 might need an admin group whose privileges prolong to altering the configuration of GitHub Enterprise, whereas one other group that merely makes use of the platform has a lesser stage of entry.
3. Use OpenID Connect with combine with cloud environments
GitHub Enterprise gives an identification administration possibility that leverages OpenID Join (OIDC) to combine with third-party cloud environments.
Whenever you reap the benefits of this characteristic, you possibly can robotically run workflows (like software 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 option 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) by 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 current accounts. It additionally reduces the burden positioned in your IT group throughout the migration as a result of as a substitute 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 – corresponding to the 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 a substitute of forcing every engineer to determine the way to migrate on their very own, everybody can comply with a prescribed plan.
6. Publish workflow patterns
Going a step additional, contemplate as effectively publishing detailed steps on the way to use key options in GitHub Enterprise which might be prone to be essential for your whole groups. For instance, you possibly can element the way to create pull requests or construct Docker photographs within the platform, or the 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 working on the brand new platform as shortly as doable.
7. Automate widespread workflows utilizing GitHub Actions
Going even additional, you possibly can create totally automated workflows for widespread duties utilizing GitHub Actions, a characteristic that permits you to set off automated operations throughout numerous components of your CI/CD pipeline. As an example, you possibly can robotically set off an software construct after code has been checked in, or robotically start testing after the construct is full.
Extremely advanced workflows that will fluctuate between tasks or groups aren’t nice candidates for this kind of automation, however core routines could be totally automated, making it even simpler to your group to start utilizing the brand new platform.
