Continuous Integration, Deployment and Testing in DevOps Environment

Abstract: Context. Owing to a multitude of factors like rapid changes in technology, market needs, and business competitiveness, software companies these days are facing pressure to deliver software rapidly and on a frequent basis. For frequent and faster delivery, companies should be lean and agile in all phases of the software development life cycle. An approach called DevOps, which is based on agile principles has come into play. DevOps bridges the gap between development and operations teams and facilitates faster product delivery. The DevOps phenomenon has gained a wide popularity in the past few years, and several companies are adopting DevOps to leverage its perceived benefits. However, the organizations may face several challenges while adopting DevOps. There is a need to obtain a clear understanding of how DevOps functions in an organization. Objectives. The main aim of this study is to provide a clear understanding about how DevOps works in an organization to researchers and software practitioners. The objectives of the study are to identify the benefits of implementing DevOps in organizations where agile development is in practice, the challenges faced by organizations during DevOps adoption, to identify the solutions/ mitigation strategies, to overcome the challenges,the DevOps practices, and the problems faced by DevOps teams during continuous integration, deployment and testing. Methods. A mixed methods approach having both qualitative and quantitative research methods is used to accomplish the research objectives.A Systematic Literature Review is conducted to identify the benefits and challenges of DevOps adoption, and the DevOps practices. Interviews are conducted to further validate the SLR findings, and identify the solutions to overcome DevOps adoption challenges, and the DevOps practices. The SLR and interview results are mapped, and a survey questionnaire is designed.The survey is conducted to validate the qualitative data, and to identify the other benefits and challenges of DevOps adoption, solutions to overcome the challenges, DevOps practices, and the problems faced by DevOps teams during continuous integration, deployment and testing. Results. 31 primary studies relevant to the research are identified for conducting the SLR. After analysing the primary studies, an initial list of the benefits and challenges of DevOps adoption, and the DevOps practices is obtained. Based on the SLR findings, a semi-structured interview questionnaire is designed, and interviews are conducted. The interview data is thematically coded, and a list of the benefits, challenges of DevOps adoption and solutions to overcome them, DevOps practices, and problems faced by DevOps teams is obtained. The survey responses are statistically analysed, and a final list of the benefits of adopting DevOps, the adoption challenges and solutions to overcome them, DevOps practices and problems faced by DevOps teams is obtained. Conclusions. Using the mixed methods approach, a final list of the benefits of adopting DevOps, DevOps adoption challenges, solutions to overcome the challenges, practices of DevOps, and the problems faced by DevOps teams during continuous integration, deployment and testing is obtained. The list is clearly elucidated in the document. The final list can aid researchers and software practitioners in obtaining a better understanding regarding the functioning and adoption of DevOps. Also, it has been observed that there is a need for more empirical research in this domain.