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9 CI/CD Setup

Overview​

Setting up a CI/CD pipeline is the foundation of modern software delivery.
The setup involves choosing tools, configuring environments, integrating source control, and automating workflows to ensure faster, consistent, and reliable deployments.

This section provides a step-by-step guide to setting up a CI/CD pipeline, from infrastructure preparation to pipeline configuration.

1. Prerequisites​

Before setting up CI/CD, ensure the following:

  • Source Code Management (SCM):

    • Git-based repository (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure Repos).
    • Branching strategy in place (e.g., GitFlow, Trunk-Based Development).

  • Infrastructure:

    • Cloud provider (AWS, Azure, GCP) or on-premise servers.
    • Container platform (Docker, Kubernetes) if needed.

  • Tools Installed:

    • CI/CD system (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI, or Azure DevOps).
    • Build tools (Maven, Gradle, npm, pip).
    • Testing frameworks (JUnit, PyTest, Jest, Selenium, Cypress).
    • Deployment tools (Helm, Ansible, Terraform).

2. Setup Steps​

Step 1: Configure Source Control​

  • Create a Git repository for your project.
  • Define branching rules (e.g., main branch protected, PRs required).
  • Enable hooks for automated CI/CD triggers on push or merge.

Step 2: Provision Environments​

  • Development: Local dev machines or sandbox environments.
  • Staging/Test: Pre-production environment mirroring production.
  • Production: Customer-facing live environment.

Use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) (Terraform, Ansible, Pulumi) to ensure environments are repeatable and consistent.

Step 3: Select a CI/CD Tool​

  • Cloud-native: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Bitbucket Pipelines, Azure DevOps.
  • Self-hosted: Jenkins, TeamCity, Bamboo.
  • Container-native: ArgoCD, Tekton, Spinnaker.

Criteria for selection:

  • Team expertise.
  • Ecosystem compatibility.
  • Security and compliance needs.
  • Cost considerations.

Step 4: Define the Pipeline​

A pipeline usually includes:

  1. Code Checkout – Clone source code from repository.
  2. Build – Compile and package code.
  3. Test – Run unit, integration, and security tests.
  4. Artifact Management – Store build outputs in an artifact repository (Nexus, Artifactory, GitHub Packages).
  5. Deploy – Push artifacts to environments (staging, then production).
  6. Monitor – Track performance, errors, and logs.

Step 5: Configure Pipeline File​

Each CI/CD tool uses a pipeline configuration file stored in the repository:

  • Jenkins: Jenkinsfile
  • GitHub Actions: .github/workflows/ci.yml
  • GitLab CI: .gitlab-ci.yml
  • CircleCI: .circleci/config.yml
  • Azure Pipelines: azure-pipelines.yml

Example (GitHub Actions):

name: CI Pipeline
on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ "main" ]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Set up Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: "18"

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm install

      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test

      - name: Build application
        run: npm run build