Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) vs. DevOps: What's ... - Leapwork

In essence, the main difference between Site Reliability Engineering and DevOps is that SRE is more practical, and DevOps is more philosophical. Site ... 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MariaHomann AutomationExpert SiteReliabilityEngineering(SRE)isatermthathasgainedalotoftractioninrecentyears.Learnwhatitis,howit’sdifferentfromDevOps,andhowyoucanuseitasapartofyoursoftwaredevelopmentstrategy.Everytimeanewconceptemergesinsoftwaredevelopment,itspikesaninterestandprovokesthequestion:Howisthisdifferentfromwhatwe’realreadydoing?Andcanwedothingsbetterifwefollowtheseprinciples? SREisnodifferent.Inthisblogpost,we’lltakealookatSiteReliabilityEngineeringvsDevOps,andthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthetwo.Ifyou’reinterestedinlearningwhatittakestoimplementSRE,joinourwebinaronthistopicandlearnhowCreditSuissehavetransitionedtowardsanSREculturebyacceleratingautomationandempoweringpeoplewithself-servicetools. WhatisSiteReliabilityEngineering(SRE)? SREstandsforSiteReliabilityEngineeringorSiteReliabilityEngineer.It’sasetofpracticesandculture,aswellasajobrole.ThetermwascoinedbyGoogle,andiscommonlyconsideredaslightlyevolvedversionofDevOps.PerhapsbecausethefounderofGoogle'sSiteReliabilityTeam,BenTreynor,saidthatSREis"whathappenswhenasoftwareengineeristaskedwithwhatusedtobecalledoperations,”whichcouldalsobesaidaboutDevOps.Butwhatdoesthatactuallymean?Itmeansthat,asaSiteReliabilityEngineer,it’syourjobtoaligntwodifferent,sometimescontradicting,initiatives:togetcodedevelopedandshippedfastandtoensurethatthecodeishighlyreliable.Inotherwords,theSREdealswithcontrastingendeavorssuchasstabilityandagility,qualityandspeed,proactivityandreactivity,pre-productionandpost-production,andinnovationandoperation.SREsdothisbyspendingequalamountsoftimeondevelopmentandoperations.Theymustensurethatnon-functional,operationalrequirementssuchasperformance,security,availability,andmaintainabilityaremetinproductdesignanddevelopment.Theymustalsoconsistentlythinkautomationintotheequationinordertooptimizethesoftwaredevelopmentpipeline. WhatisDevOps? DevOpsis,likeSRE,asetofpracticesandaculture,aswellasajobrole.ThemindsetbehindDevOpsisthatifyoubuildsoftware,youalsoownit.Byremovingthisdivisionbetweenresponsibilities,itbecomeseasiertoensurethatsoftwarekeepsahighlevelofqualityfromdevelopmenttoreleaseandthatitmoveswithspeedandagilitythroughtheDevOpspipeline. Relatedreading:20DevOpsTestingToolsTobetterunderstandwhatDevOpsis,we’llbreaktheconceptdownintofivecoreprinciples: 1.Breakdownsilos AcoreroleofDevOpsistobreakdownbarriersbetweenteamsordepartmentsandencouragecommunicationandcollaborationforimproveddevelopmentpipelines.DevOpspersonnelhaveuniqueinsightintothefullpipelineandbringtogetherknowledgefromthedevelopmentandoperationssidessothatdeveloperscangainmoreinsightintooperationsandviceversa. 2.Acceptfailure,andfailfast Softwarefailssometimes.That’swhywetest.Soinsteadofpretendingthatthisdoesn’thappen,DevOpsaimtofindmethodstomitigaterisk,andtoensurethatthesamemistakesdon’thappentwice.ThisisoneofthereasonswhytestautomationiscoretoDevOps-becauseithelpsfindthosemistakes,andtofindthemearlyinthereleasecycle,wheretheyarecheapertofix. 3.Introducechangegradually Insteadofdeployinglargechangestoproduction,theideawithDevOpsistodeploysmaller,incrementalchanges,andtodosomorefrequently.Thismakesiteasiertoreviewchanges,controlanybugsthatmayoccurasaresult,andtorollbackthosechangeswhenneeded. 4.Leveragetoolsandautomation Inordertomakefrequentreleasespossible,andtoensureahighlevelofqualitywithinthosereleases,optimizationofthereleasepipelineiscritical.It’stheroleoftheDevOpstobuildthereleasepipelinewithtoolssuchasautomation,whichincreasespeedandaccuracywhileminimizingriskofhumanerror.Automationremovesunnecessarymanualworkthatisrepetitiveanderror-prone,andallowsformuchquickerfeedbackloops.Withoutautomation,it’ssimplynotpossibletodeliveratthepacerequiredintoday’ssoftwareproduction,andautomationshouldthereforebeconsideredaprerequisiteforsuccessfulDevOpspractices. 5.Measureeverything Outcomesaredifficulttodefineifyoucan’tmeasurethem.DevOpsmustusedataandmetricstounderstandtheoutcomesoftheinitiativestaken,suchasutilizingautomationforefficiencygains.LearnmoreaboutDevOpsinourblogpostandwhitepaper:WhatisDevOps? SohowisSREdifferentfromDevOps? Truthbetold,therearen’tmanydifferencesbetweenthetwoconcepts.Theybothbuildonthesameprinciples.AsopposedtowaterfallandDevOps,SREandDevOpsaren’tcompetingmethods.Rather,SREandDevOpsaretwosidesofthesamecoinwithasharedpurpose-tobreakdownorganizationalbarrierstodeliverbettersoftware,faster.However,ifyouthinkofDevOpsastheunderlyingphilosophy,youcouldsaythatSREastheprescriptivewayofaccomplishingthatphilosophy-atleastthat’showGooglehavedefineditthemselves.Bothconceptscameintoexistencearoundthesametime,andbothfromthesameneed-tobringthemindsetandknowledgefromdevelopmentintooperationsandtobringtheneedforstabilityandreliability(hencethename)fromoperationsbacktodevelopment.Inessence,themaindifferencebetweenSiteReliabilityEngineeringandDevOpsisthatSREismorepractical,andDevOpsismorephilosophical. SiteReliabilityEngineeringvsDevOps-aside-by-sidecomparison: DevOps SiteReliabilityEngineering(SRE) Breakdownorganizationalsilos Shareownershipofproductacrossteams Acceptfailureandfailfast Closelyexaminefailuresinordertoensurethattheydon’thappentwice,andplanforfailurebyincorporatingfailurecostsintothebudget Introducechangegradually Pushchangesoutinsmallscale,andcarefullytestbeforeafull-blownrelease Leveragetoolsandautomation Consistentlylookforautomationopportunitiesandtrytoimplementtoolsthatcanoptimizeprocessesandremovemanualwork Measureeverything Defineandmeasurekeyperformanceindicatorstotrackprogressandhealthofsystems   ReadytolearnmoreaboutSREandhowyoucanuseautomationstrategicallyasapartofyourSREpractices?Joinourwebinar:HowCreditSuissehavetransitionedtowardsanSREculturebyacceleratingautomationandempoweringpeoplewithself-servicetools. Relatedcontent WhatisaTestAutomationStrategy? Withincreasingagreementthatautomatingthetestingprocessisagoodidea,there’sonethingthat’sforsure:there’s... ReadMore WhyDoesDevOpsRecommendShift-LeftTestingPrinciples? Smallerbudgetsandapushforfasterdeliverieshavefueledtheneedforbetterapproachestodevelopmentandtesting.... ReadMore TheKeytoContinuousTestinginDevOps Ifyou’reworkingwithDevOps,there’sagoodchancethatyou’llknowaboutcontinuoustesting.Inthisblogpostwetak... ReadMore Stayaheadofthecurvewiththelatestinsightsintesting,QA,andautomation. Signuptoourbi-weeklynewsletter. Contact LeapworkApSEsplanaden8C,1263CopenhagenK,Denmark [email protected]+4535251414 Solutions Features DevOps RegressionTesting FunctionalUITesting Salesforce SAP AgileTransformation BankingandFinance Resources LearningCenter KnowledgeBase Documentation FindaPartner Pricing BookaDemo StartTrial Company Aboutus Ourcustomers Companynews Careers Blog Legal LogintoAccount LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Youtube ©2022,Leapwork.Allrightsreserved LinkedIn Twitter