Cloud Services Operating Model

CLOUD SERVICES
OPERATING MODEL
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
Cloud Services Operating Model
© Copyright 2021 Dell Inc. Page i

Table of Contents
Cloud Services Operating Model .............................................................................. 2

Cloud Services Operating Model .......................................................................................... 3
Traditional IT Versus Digital IT ................................................................................. 4

Traditional IT Vs Digital IT .................................................................................................... 5
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 6
Comparing Traditional and Digital IT .................................................................................... 7
IT Operations ....................................................................................................................... 8
Public Cloud Provider Experience ........................................................................................ 9
Build Like a Public Cloud Provider ..................................................................................... 10
Cloud Adoption Philosophy ................................................................................................ 12
Knowledge Check .................................................................................................... 13

Check Your Knowledge...................................................................................................... 14
Operations ................................................................................................................ 15
Operations ......................................................................................................................... 16
CloudOps: Overview and Vision......................................................................................... 17
Organizational Challenges ................................................................................................. 18
CloudOps Characteristics .................................................................................................. 19
Multi-Cloud Operating Model ............................................................................................. 20
Agile................................................................................................................................... 22
Manifesto for Agile Application Development ..................................................................... 23
Traditional Organization vs Agile Organization ................................................................... 24
DevOps .............................................................................................................................. 26
DevOps Process ................................................................................................................ 28
DevOps Key Benefits ......................................................................................................... 30
DevOps: CI/CD Pipeline..................................................................................................... 32
CI/CD Insight ..................................................................................................................... 33
CI/CD Implementation Stages ............................................................................................ 34
CI/CD Benefits ................................................................................................................... 35
Page ii © Copyright 2021 Dell Inc.

CI/CD Tools ....................................................................................................................... 37
DevOps Case Study .......................................................................................................... 39
Agile Service Lifecycle Management.................................................................................. 43
DevOps Engineer Responsibilities ..................................................................................... 44
Agile Team Roles and Responsibilities .............................................................................. 45
Knowledge Check .................................................................................................... 46

Product Development .............................................................................................. 48

Product Development ........................................................................................................ 49
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 50
Dimensions of Product Development ................................................................................. 51
Significance of Product Development................................................................................. 52
Operational Performance Metrics ....................................................................................... 53
Product Development: Example Transformational Program ............................................... 54
Example: Product Development Persona ........................................................................... 55
Platform Developer Toolkit ................................................................................................. 56
Tools: APIs, Scripting Languages, and SDKs .................................................................... 59
Knowledge Check .................................................................................................... 61

Lab - Jenkins ............................................................................................................ 63

Jenkins Lab Demonstration ................................................................................................ 64
Infrastructure as Code ............................................................................................. 65

Infrastructure as Code ....................................................................................................... 66
Infrastructure as Code Definition ........................................................................................ 67
Characteristics of IaC......................................................................................................... 68
Pipelines ............................................................................................................................ 69
Business Goals .................................................................................................................. 70
Technical Goals ................................................................................................................. 71
Advantages ........................................................................................................................ 72
© Copyright 2021 Dell Inc. Page iii

Define Everything as Code ................................................................................................ 73
Code Repository ................................................................................................................ 75
What Can Be Automated? ................................................................................................. 78
Different Approaches with Similar Technical Outcomes ..................................................... 80
Subtle Differences Between IaC and Automation ............................................................... 81
How to Determine Progress ............................................................................................... 82
IaC Example - Automated Configuration ............................................................................ 86
IaC Example: VM Template ............................................................................................... 88
IaC Example - Bank ........................................................................................................... 89
IaC Examples with Measurable Results ............................................................................. 90
Review of Key Practices .................................................................................................... 91
Concepts in Practice - Dell Technologies ........................................................................... 92
Knowledge Check .................................................................................................... 93

Lab - Ansible ............................................................................................................ 95

Ansible Lab Demonstration ................................................................................................ 96
Value Stream Mapping............................................................................................. 97

Value Stream Mapping ...................................................................................................... 98
VSM Overview ................................................................................................................... 99
How Important is Value Stream Mapping ......................................................................... 100
VSM Key Benefits ............................................................................................................ 101
Brief History of VSM......................................................................................................... 102
Digital Workflows Are Modern Factory Lines .................................................................... 103
Purpose of VSM ............................................................................................................... 104
VSM Steps ....................................................................................................................... 105
VSM as a Bridge .............................................................................................................. 107
VSM Simple Example ...................................................................................................... 108
VSM Metrics .................................................................................................................... 109
AS-IS Example ................................................................................................................ 110
TO-BE Example ............................................................................................................... 111
Typical VSM Analysis Outcomes ..................................................................................... 112
Page iv © Copyright 2021 Dell Inc.

Real Outcomes ................................................................................................................ 113
Getting Started................................................................................................................. 114
Leveraging VSM .............................................................................................................. 115
Metrics-Only Value Stream Maps ..................................................................................... 116
Limitations of VSM ........................................................................................................... 117
VSM Lab Exercise .................................................................................................. 118

VSM Exercise 1 ............................................................................................................... 119
VSM Exercise 2 ............................................................................................................... 120
Knowledge Check .................................................................................................. 121

Check Your Knowledge.................................................................................................... 122
Proven Professional Certification ..................................................................................... 123
You Have Completed This eLearning............................................................................... 124
Appendix ............................................................................................... 125
© Copyright 2021 Dell Inc. Page v

© Copyright 2021 Dell Inc. Page 1

Page 2 © Copyright 2021 Dell Inc.


Traditional IT Versus Digital IT

Traditional IT Vs Digital IT

Introduction
Organizations have different approaches or options for their IT transformation

journey to the cloud. To understand what must be done for a cloud operating
model, review these options and also the lessons that are learned from both
approaches.
Traditional Cloud Journey Modern Cloud Journey Lessons Learned
Click here to view the video Click here to view the video
about a traditional cloud about a modern cloud Click here to view the video
approach. approach. about IT transformation
lessons learned.

Comparing Traditional and Digital IT
The goal is to operate like a cloud provider, so first consider the differences
between traditional IT and Digital IT. For the requirements of a new cloud operating
model, Digital IT is well suited to support it.
Features Traditional IT Digital IT
Technology Legacy Virtual IaaS PaaS/CaaS
Operations Construct Consume
Ticket driven, Service level Services Driven (API, UI, CLI),

agreements Service level objectives
Change Expert-driven manual Standards-based automation

Management processes and orchestration
Issue SWAT Team with manual fixes Managed code with

Resolution to production development lifecycle
Developer Tickets, queues, and mandates Portals, APIs, and pull systems
Experience (push)
Business Disaster focused; manual and Resiliency-focused;

Resiliency often untested planned/routine repave/rotate
Security and Reactive and isolated; audit and Proactive and integrated; trust
Compliance approve but verify

IT Operations
A new cloud operating model should incorporate the expectations of IT operations.

The bolded items are examples of possible new requirements or expectations for
many organizations.
On-demand, Managed Relevant Rapid Metering and

Self-service Platform Catalog Elasticity Telemetry
 Consistent  Maintain  Right tools  Multi-  Data

resource and tenancy
 Reliable  Reporting
s resources  Multi-
 Standards-  Chargeback
 Maintain  Integrated cloud/Hy
based
software services brid-  Information
 Convenient cloud radiator
 Auditabl  Reusable
and fast
e  Demand-  AIOps
 Composabl
 Configurabl based
 Secure e  Chatbot
e
 Dynamic
 Resilient  Portal and
 Ubiquitous resource
APIs
 Governe allocatio
d  Service n
focused
 Self-
healing  Role-based

Public Cloud Provider Experience
Consider what the experience is like when using a public cloud provider:
 Painless operations
 No tickets
 No review boards
 No delays
 No procurement
 Always works
 Ease of use
 Configurable by code
 API driven
 Integrated tooling
 Subscription models

Build Like a Public Cloud Provider
The goal is to build self-service like a public cloud provider.
Resilient infrastructure is used to support an orchestration pipeline for

development, testing, staging, and production. Constant, iterative changes are
made and published. End users use a portal or console to access services
available from the cloud service provider or services from third parties through a
marketplace.
The amount of work needed to develop a cloud operating model depends on where
an organization is in their cloud maturity.
Click each tab to view details.
Sample structure
End User(s) Developer(s)
Call
Marketplace via Publish Code Dev Check-In
API
Pipeline Orchestrator
Dev Stage QA Stage UAT Stage Prod Stage
Provisional Virtual Provisional Virtual Provisional Virtual Provisional Virtual

Machine Machine Machine Machine
Machine Machine Machine Machine

Configuration Configuration Configuration Configuration
Test Test Test Test
Platform
With example technologies
Listed are examples of technologies that could be used in an on-premise cloud

environment.


Cloud Adoption Philosophy
The diagram provides a good philosophical approach for a long-term cloud

strategy. How can this be achieved using the best cloud operating model? It is time
to find out.

Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check

Knowledge Check
Check Your Knowledge
1. Identify the characteristics of digital IT. (Select all that apply)

a. Ticket driven operations
b. Standards-based automation and orchestration
c. Expert-driven manual processes
d. Proactive and integrated security
e. Disaster focused and untested business resiliency

Operations
Operations

Operations
Operations

Operations
CloudOps: Overview and Vision
 Consists of an evolving set of best practices based on the DevOps Principles.

 Allows modern and legacy applications and their platforms to operate at the
speed of business, regardless if they are on a public cloud or private cloud.
 Utilizes the DevOps principals of continuous integration and continuous
deployment (CI/CD) to achieve high availability in a public cloud.
 Enables the production of applications in a computing environment where the
visibility across applications is limited.
The following considerations lead the current CloudOps state to future vision:
Current State Future Vision
Public cloud and private data centers Code is new language of IT defining,
are built and managed by pipelines managing, and governing features and
that are modeled after software functions, infrastructure, configurations,
development best practices (SDLC). integrations, quality, and policy.
This codebase creates a platform and The platform and ecosystem reflect
ecosystem that is focused on velocity processes (“flow”) and enable people to
through quality. create more value, more quickly, at a lower
total cost.

Operations
Organizational Challenges
The following are the major challenges that organizations would have to
accomplish for better IT performance:
 Agile IT processes - Organizations need their IT processes to be agile in order

to make them adaptive to the dynamic needs of the business.
 Application maintenance and updating - Due to complex and expensive
application development, everyday legacy applications are maintained while
new applications are developed and released into production.
 Cross-functional teams - Each activity is typically managed by teams of
people from different IT organizations, using manual processes and a wide
variety of technologies. As a result, mistakes are often made, which further
slows the process that affect the overall performance of IT.

Operations
CloudOps Characteristics
There are following characteristics of CloudOps:

 Policy driven1
 Abstraction of management and infrastructure2
 Automated provisioning3
Click each characteristic to learn more.
1Establish the practices to create the policies that set the users and applications
access limitations including in public cloud based on their needs. It ensures the
ROI while application utilizes cloud resources.
2Decouples the management from the infrastructure layer so that all cloud
application instances can be managed through a single interface.
3 Dynamically automates resource provisioning including, for application instance

requirements.

Operations
Multi-Cloud Operating Model
Click each block to learn more.
3 4
1: The integration of all these components should be automated in some sort of

framework. The framework should have automated deployment and testing,
automated standards and compliance, and automated deployment of services. This
should all be done through some sort of CI/CD pipelines.
2: To understand the operating model, start with the product development needs
and demands for various groups within the business. This may require adding new
features to existing applications or adding new applications. What does the
business need in order to perform this quickly and reliability?
3: Allow an organization to develop the architecture to support applications and to

define the security requirements. They also establish a portfolio of available options
for the applications, and define a cost structure for them.

Operations
4: When an organization starts to build the environment, they need to ensure that
the applications are adhering to proper standards and compliance. The goal is to
automate everything.
5: Everything is being built on top of a platform, so platform reliability engineers

(also known as site reliability engineers) are needed. SREs implement the platform
where the new and modified applications are pushed to.
6: Finally, as a new services lifecycle is integrated into operations, full monitoring

and management must be incorporated. The platforms that the applications will run
on, including possible public cloud providers, need to be determined.

Operations
Agile
 A collaborative approach to
product development which is
iterative in nature that produces
high-quality, timely, and cost-
effective software
 Facilitates building software fast,
updating fast, and rolling back
fast where needed; changing
requirements during the build are
not a problem.

Operations
Manifesto for Agile Application Development

Operations
Traditional Organization vs Agile Organization
The following table explores the differences between traditional and agile
organization concerning various areas.
Area Traditional Organization Agile Organization
Technology  Infrastructure teams  Enable developers with

perform many manual self-service tools to
activities. configure and control
infrastructure on their
 Provisioned highly
own.
customized infrastructure
on request.  Provides standard
infrastructure service
offerings with automated
delivery.
Processes  Perform repetitive tasks  Streamline repetitive

such as application tasks through
deployment manually. automation.
 Provides rigid sequenced  Cross-functional teams
processes, with handoffs are responsible for end-
among specialist groups. to-end delivery of service
offerings.
Organization and  Teams are technology  Build well-defined

Skills specific. infrastructure service
offerings across
 Group of resources with
integrated cross-
specialized skill sets
functional teams
focused on operations and
administration.  Infrastructure
professionals are there
with sophisticated
development skills.

Operations
Collaboration with  Developers are not  Enable developers with

application accountable for application self-service automation
development code after it is put into tools to manage
production. application issues and
operations directly.
 No self-service tools for
infrastructure requests. The  Application development
requests that are submitted and operations
as tickets. responsibilities are more
integrated.

Operations
DevOps
A collaborative culture and philosophy between technical teams, often derived from
modern software development methods.
Need of DevOps
 Collaboration4
4DevOps enables the development and even the mitigation of issues at any stage
of application development life cycle through better collaboration between
operations and application development.

Operations
 Agility5
 Risks6
Click each need to learn more
5DevOps helps ensure in efficient application development pipeline including

getting to the testing phase much quicker than existing operations.
6 There is always a risk of the new application version working in test but ultimately
falling in production.

Operations
DevOps Process
Click each process term to learn more.
1: The goal of application delivery process is to deliver applications more quickly

and easily. It enables the application development process as continuous flow that
incorporates planning, development, testing, deployment, and operations.
2: DevOps infrastructure automation services help to build a robust environment.

DevOps infrastructure automation process includes:
 Scaling and computing servers

 Configuration and automated provisioning
 Building secure and self-healing environments
 Automated deployment using tools like Puppet and Ansible
3: Orchestration service helps to streamline and optimize frequently occurring

processes which can support a DevOps approach. It helps the IT team to achieve
rapid applications deployment.
It can be used to automate IT processes such as:

 Cloud orchestration

Operations
 Server provisioning
 Incident management
 Database management

Operations
DevOps Key Benefits
 Helps to align application development and IT operational teams using agile

techniques such as sprints, continuous integration, and continuous deployment
in SDLC process.
 Helps IT deliver and update applications faster while making improvement
across the ITIL Operations Model including change control, release
management, and governance
DevOps major key benefits are as follows:
Breaking Down Silos for the Future
 DevOps enables realigning the development, test, and operational

organizations from existing silos to create an integrated team.
 With leadership, sponsorship and alignment in place, this can be achieved

incrementally over time.
 As these groups coalesce into one team, operations employees learn how
applications are built, and developers and QA staff learn how applications
run in production.
 This requires process and sometimes organizational changes to drive
significant increases in productivity and efficiency.
Following are the considerations that are involved in risk planning:
 Assess assets with realistic valuations.
 Create a risk profile.
 Establish a risk threshold.
 Develop policies for risk response and mitigation.
 Ensure that public cloud service provider solutions protect the integrity, privacy,
and security of corporate data.

Operations
Shorter Development Cycles
The agility of organizational SDLC process can be assess by focusing on two

important factors:
 How long it takes to develop your software

 Streamline test and release management
DevOps service can reduce application release cycles from weeks to days or even
hours, dramatically improving time-to-market for application delivery.
Testing
 Most organizations struggle with the execution of quality assurance in a

measured, structured, and consistent way.
 DevOps can solve much of this inefficiency using more frequent testing cycles
and platform-driven automation that reduces human error.
 DevOps makes it quick as code is validated through automated functional tests
as part of the deployment process itself.
Release Management
DevOps redefines release management processes by:

 Reducing time-to-market for software delivery by automating the release
management process
 Enhancing team productivity and lowered cost through lifecycle automation,
standardization, and developer self-service
 Improving software quality with automated testing and use of “fail fast”
processes
 Achieving higher infrastructure utilization and flexibility by delivering on-demand
resources
 Following a roll-forward and roll-back approach where even if code is deployed,
it can be restored to a previous version

Operations
DevOps: CI/CD Pipeline
Pipelines:
 Automate the building, testing, and deployment of applications in order to
bridges the gap between development and IT operational teams.
 Optimize the CI/CD development model to build an effective pipeline to
automate build, integration, and testing process.
 Implements continuous deployment where CI/CD pipeline run application
changes and the builds that are successful. Then these builds get deployed
directly to production environments.

Operations
CI/CD Insight
Continuous Integration (CI) - Unlike a traditional approach, CI enables

developers to integrate new code into a shared repository. They usually perform
the process as a part of their daily development routine. This involves building new
code in isolation and integrating it into the root repository at project lifecycle ends.
Continuous Delivery (CD)- Automate the application pushes to delivery

environments. It enables the users to get all the changes takes place at their end in
a sustainable manner.

Operations
CI/CD Implementation Stages
Stage 1: Commit  Integrate the new codes and features with the base code.
 Check the code quality through feedback system.
 Example: Jenkins provides set of tools and interfaces that
automate the complete development cycle.
Stage 2: Build  Application is compiled where developers push the code

artifacts to the registry.
 Example: Docker tool enables the creation of servers that
helps in deploying artifacts in the registry so that it can be
used for testing.
Stage 3: Test  Code testing takes place where automation helps to save
time and effort. It includes two deployments:
 Alpha deployment- Performance of new builds and

their interactions gets checked and validated.
 Beta deployment- Perform double-check if the
application correctly works through manual testing.
Step 4:  Finally, application gets ready to go live confirming that

Deployment and build has tested thoroughly in different scenarios.
Release  Application is all set to be deployed and released in the
production for end-user environment.

Operations
CI/CD Benefits
 The goal of any application development is to get developed rapidly and reach
to its potential customers quickly with expected performance.
 This can be accomplished by implementing CI/CD that strengthen the
application development by reducing the risks in each build. It also helps the
end-product to reach the customer quickly.
 Here are the major CI/CD benefits:

Operations
 Fast feedback on build7

 Greater visibility8
 Early issue detection9
Click each benefit to learn more.
7 Helps to check and validate the quality of code proactively to reduce any flow
issues at any later development stages
8 Issues with new build and test results can be easily analyzed with a CI/CD setup.
This transparency enables developers to minimize application development
interruptions.
9Conducts various automated testing to identify issue at early stages; these

automated tests help to minimize last-minute troubleshooting issues.

Operations
CI/CD Tools
 Support multiple plug-ins such as Jenkins that provide user interface,

administration, code, and build management and support cross-platforms
integration.
 Allows setting environment variables and configuring masking variables such as
account keys and passwords
 Provides dashboard enabling monitoring and reporting operations to alert
developers with information about failures
The following table describes representative CI/CD tools and some features for
public cloud and on-premise:
Features Public Cloud On-Premise
Hosting services GitLab10, AWS GitLab, Jenkins

CodePipeline
Cost Low-cost setup High-cost setup
Data Security Limited control Better control
Data Management Convenient and Cost Cost extensive

effective
Organizational need For large projects For small projects
Flexibility Rigid Can be extended
10 Web-based DevOps lifecycle tool for version control.

Operations
Configuration and Limited Few limitations

architectures

Operations
DevOps Case Study
Dell EMC Storage Integration with DevOps
Scroll to view all the options.
Overview
 Infrastructure automation is at the core of delivering efficiency and simplicity for

IT operations.
 An easy-to-consume delivery of IT services enables agile DevOps processes,
accelerates time-to-market, and delivers unique and differentiated digital
experiences to the customers.
 The other tabs provide examples of Dell EMC storage integrations with some of
the most popular DevOps and automation platforms.
Ansible Plugins
 Delivers a powerful, yet simple automation engine that ends manual, time-
consuming repetitive tasks and frees up IT teams for more strategic work.

Operations
 Dell EMC is developing a collection of storage modules to automate storage

administration, provisioning, and consumption for a growing list of storage
platforms.
 Its modules enable the operations teams to rapidly provision storage
infrastructure with accuracy to respond to the fast-paced needs of
application developers.
 Some Ansible examples are: PowerStore Ansible plugin, PowerScale Ansible
Plugin, and Dell EMC unity XT Ansible plug-in.
VMware vRealize Orchestrator Plugins
 VMware vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) is an IT process automation tool that

allows automated management and operational tasks across both VMware and
third-party applications.
 Dell EMC Storage Workflows for vRO augment the capabilities of VMware’s
vRealize Orchestrator solution. This is done by providing access to storage
array-specific management workflows, such as storage administration,
provisioning, and consumption.
 Some vRO plug-in examples are: PowerMax vRO plug-in, PowerStore vRO
plug-in, and PowerScale vRO plug-in.

Operations
Container Storage Interface Plugins
 Container technologies can increase speed, efficiency, and portability of

application deployment. However, stateful applications require persistent
storage which has a lifecycle that is independent of the pod that uses it.
 Container Storage Interface is a standardized API for container orchestration
platforms (COs) to talk to storage plugins for persistent storage.
 Dell EMC is building CSI plugins for a growing list of storage platforms to enable
new and legacy applications to be deployed in a containerized environment.
 Some CSI plug-in examples are: PowerMax CSI plug-in, PowerScale CSI plug-
in, and PowerFlex CSI plug-in.

Operations

Operations
Agile Service Lifecycle Management
 Provides the holistic environment for the design, test, and automated
deployment of services
 Enables the service providers to deliver services effectively by minimizing
delivery complexities
 Provides end-to-end lifecycle of services in order to enable automated
operations

Operations
DevOps Engineer Responsibilities
Responsibilities of a DevOps engineer are:
 Cloud deployment and management

 CI/CD management
 Writing specifications and documentation for the server-side features
 Performance assessment and monitoring
 Infrastructure management

Operations
Agile Team Roles and Responsibilities
The following table describes the roles and responsibilities of a Agile team for cloud
application development.
Roles Responsibilities
Product Owner  Stakeholder management

 Release management
 Scrum backlog management
Team Lead/Scrum Master/Product  Requirements and planning

Owner  Collaborate with stakeholders to find
required resources
 Facilitating collaboration among team
for smooth application development
 Help product owners for effective
backlog planning
Development Team  Develops the product for end-users as

 Product designer per client requirements
 Programmer  Share the project progress status with

peers and scrum master
 Tester
 Ensures transparency in the
 UX specialist
development process and proactively
implement updates as per product
owner feedback

Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check

Knowledge Check
1. What is a characteristic of an Agile organization?

a. Standard infrastructure service offerings with automated delivery
b. Rigid sequenced processes with hands-offs amount specialists' groups
c. Manually perform repetitive tasks such as application deployment
d. Technology-specific teams to build highly customized service offerings

Product Development
Product Development

Product Development
Product Development

Product Development
Introduction
 Organizations are required to follow an integrated approach towards product-

based cloud application development to adopt cloud services operating model.
 Product-based development helps organizations for continual improvements
during cloud application development.
 DevOps and Agile that help to align IT objectives with engineering efforts;
organization must focus on two dimensions such as Technology and process
and automation.
The product development structure below depicts the components of integrated

product-based development approach.
Platform
APIs
Developer Engineer Scientist

Environment
Catalog
CODE CONFIG LIBRARY DATA MODEL

Tool Catalog
Data Catalog
Version Control
BUILD TEST DEPLOY TRAIN

Model Catalog
DEVELOPMENT AUTOMATION
DEV TEST STAGE

Product Development
Dimensions of Product Development
Technology - Embraces the organizational structure by helping to accomplish IT

goals and enables smooth functioning of cloud services. Two vertical technologies
include:
1. Application Program Interface (API)11

2. Cloud, Microservices, and Containers12
Process and automation - Involves the two methodologies which organizations

can follow to produce applications and services.
1. DevOps
2. Agile
11API-based architecture provides an optimized framework that enables building

robust applications or software products.
12It enables on-demand scalability that is needed by organizations as per their

product vision, plan, and priorities.

Product Development
Significance of Product Development
Product development enables bridging the IT experience gap and helps in creating
a purpose-built cloud that supports ongoing development and innovation.

Product Development
Operational Performance Metrics
Establishes transparency across the product development cross-functional teams,

including the service development teams.
DEV TEST STAGE

IDEA/TASK RUN
Logs & event data
Release frequency Process cycle time Recovery time Failure rate
Count of deployments over Elapsed time of a single Time from outage/issue to Count of failed deployments over
time iteration restored service all attempts

Product Development
Product Development: Example Transformational Program
 Involves four different phases to ensure optimize product delivery

 Includes management and adoption of activities to implement the product
 Enables incremental expansion of features and iterative development
The figure below depicts the overall transformational program for product
development.

Product Development
Example: Product Development Persona
A product developer helps an organization better understand their employees and

needs.
Responsibilities  Builds new features Day in the life  5 touchpoints

and functions throughout the day
to understand
 Collaborates with
workstyle
colleagues
 Maintains
applications
Traits  Works with Capability  Real-time

distributed teams needs communication
 IP management is  Collaborative work
critical  Reusable services
 Work can be highly and libraries
disruptive  Technology training
Needs and  On-demand self- Technology  Developer platform

challenges service access to tools  Collaboration/Work
infrastructure hub
resources, software
packages, and  Integrated tooling
tooling
To deliver a developer experience, the operations team should have a multi-cloud

strategy, a developer, and operations approach such as Agile, tools and practices,
plus a consumption model in-place.

Product Development
Platform Developer Toolkit
 Distributed deployment
 Redundant deployment
 Mirrored, meshed, and handover topologies
Multi-cloud Design
 Availability pattern
 Automated deployment
 Code-based configurations
 Cyber protection
 Data replication
Resilient Architecture
 Infrastructure-as-code
 Version control
 Application interface
 Automated test frameworks
Reusable Automation

Product Development
 Service maintenance
 Enterprise architecture
 Cloud business model
 Planning and prioritization
 Reporting
Service Management
 Infrastructure-as-a-Service
 App Platform-as-a-Service
 Data Platform-as-a-Service
 Packages solutions
 Development and test environments
Composite Services
 Consistent interface
 Role-based portals
 Security-trimmed features
 Multi-channel delivery
 Integrated tooling
Consumer-grade Portal

Product Development
 Event-driven architecture
 AI/ML analytics
 Detection scanning
 Rule-based
Proactive Monitoring
 Collaborative operations
 Distributed ownership
 Agile-based methodologies
 Software engineering practices
CloudOps/Site Reliability

Product Development
Tools: APIs, Scripting Languages, and SDKs
Click each icon to explore.
1:
 Representational State Transfer (REST)

 Web-based application programming Interface
 Is accessible, language independent
 Easily integrated with existing tools
2: Scripting language that has the ability to deploy applications virtually on any
platform such as cloud.
 Makes application development easy

 Enables to develop interpreted and versatile code
 Utilizes rich set of libraries including storage REST APIs
3: A task automation and configuration management framework that consists of

command-line shell and scripting language
 CLI for Windows

 Object based-easy and powerful
 Structured and readable

Product Development
 Extensive tab completion

 Work like scripting language
4: An open-source tool used for software provisioning, configuration management,

and application-deployment
5: A modern workflow automation platform that simplifies and automates complex

data center infrastructure tasks
vRealize Orchestrator delivers:

 Extensibility
 Agility
 Consistent remediation of issues
6:
 A standard for exposing arbitrary block and file storage systems to

containerized workloads on Container Orchestration Systems (COs), such as
Kubernetes
 Enables storage providers to write and deploy plugins, exposing new storage
systems in Kubernetes without ever having to touch the core Kubernetes code

Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check

Knowledge Check
1. Match the product development tool with its respective description
A. Ansible B CLI on steroids for Windows
B. PowerShell
C. vRealize
Orchestrator
D. K8s-CSI

Lab - Jenkins
Lab - Jenkins

Lab - Jenkins
Jenkins Lab Demonstration
Click here to view a Jenkins lab demonstration.

Infrastructure as Code


Infrastructure as Code Definition
Infrastructure as code (IaC) is using software engineering

practices for the process of managing and provisioning
data center components (bare metal, virtual machines,
containers, so on) through declarative code rather than
manual configurations or configuration tools (GUIs).
A simpler description: IaC is "Anything as a Service" powered by processes,

toolkits, and platforms designed for Day 2 operations.
IaC provides more than traditional automation practices.

Characteristics of IaC
 Implies that software development lifecycle practices, such as plan, design,

build, test, deploy, and validate, are applied to infrastructure-related
components
 Programmatically provisions and configures all required infrastructure
components from source control repositories using templates, scripts, policies,
and so on
 Treats infrastructure configuration, such as the good desired state, as code so it
is easy to reproduce
 Delivers immutable infrastructure using pipelines where infrastructure resources
are reconstructed from a code repository, data backups, and compute
resources
Click here for thoughts from a cloud expert.

Pipelines
One of the features that identifies IaC code is that it has pipelines to help with
automatic configuration of infrastructure.
Pipelines are also one of the aspects that differentiate IaC from traditional
automation. Shown is an example:

Business Goals
The following are important IT business goals of IaC:

 Create an environment where IT is no longer the inhibitor to business value
thereby, allowing the business to operate more efficiently.
 Spend time on value added activities like adding new services for the business,
thereby decreasing cost of activities over time.
 Deploy infrastructure that is secure, compliance, resilient and performant.
However, IT must be removed from the business of manually provisioning
servers and infrastructure for end-users, thereby increasing agility for the
business.

Technical Goals
The following are important technical goals of IaC:

 Reduce the time, effort, and risk when infrastructure changes are needed.
 Establish common tools and processes across development, operations, and
all stakeholders.
 Provide a consistent provisioning environment between all phases in the
application lifecycle.
 Define repeatable patterns that are reused by different applications.
 Eliminate configuration drift between environments for the same infrastructure
and applications.
 Ensure that documentation is in source code control.
 Focus on making small updates as part of continuous improvement over time.
 Apply rigor of testing, compliance, and policy to infrastructure configurations as
part of pipelines.

Advantages
 Patching, upgrades, and rollbacks can be more easily implemented through

simple automation pipelines.
 The goal is “one-click” deployment wherever possible.
 New requirements, configurations, and services can simply and easily be added
to the solution through the creation of new pipelines.
 Process change can be more easily catered for by leveraging declarative state
tools and techniques as opposed to changing multiple procedural scripts.
 Configuration drift and repeatability across environments can be more easily
achieved by:
 Leveraging declarative state tools and techniques

 Using CI/CD tools to detect change
 Establishing pipelines to automate the testing and deployment of any
synchronization changes required to achieve a known and consistent good
state

Define Everything as Code
Agile and DevOps are driving the automation of everything. An important IaC
practice is to start thinking that almost every IT activity can be defined as code.
This is referred to as Everything as Code and has been described as having three
benefits (source13):
 Reusability
 When infrastructure is defined or represented as code, identical instances
can be provisioned.
 All code should be simple and allow for scaling for any number of instances.
 Components of code can be the building blocks for larger pieces of
automation.
 Consistency
 Using the same templates, scripts, and policies allow for instances to be
created the same way every time
 Manage all infrastructure through a central version-controlled repository to
help prevent configuration drift
 Allows for predictable behavior no matter what the pipeline (development,
testing, production, and so on)
 Transparency
 Central code repositories allow others to see and access the code
13Infrastructure as Code: Dynamic Systems for the Cloud Age, second edition by
Kief Morris: O'Reilly Media Inc.

 Code that is easy to read, such as text files, helps with troubleshooting and
compliance.

Code Repository
"You cannot improve what you do not centralize, share, and audit"
The ability to centralize artifacts plus track and audit changes through code is an
essential second step towards implementing CloudOps.
Code Repository
A code repository provides a centralized point for change visibility and encourages
sharing.
Other Types of Code
Code repositories are not just for typical code; it can apply to many types of
documentation. Using a code repository for everything helps standardize the way
operations in infrastructure organizations work. It also provides a common
approach with developers.

Version Control
Everything flows from source version control.
Orchestration
A central repository helps to orchestrate and streamline change management.

Visibility
A central repository provides work visibility, prioritization, and provides a feedback

loop.

What Can Be Automated?
Listed are examples of what can be automated using code. The first tab shows the
categories, and the second tab shows the same categories that are matched with
their "as a Service" designation. The third tab shows example technologies that
match each category.
Category
Virtual machines Deployment tools
Container tools Configurations
File, block, and object storage Testing framework

services
Backup tools Compliance tools
Security tools Database instances
Network tools and utilities Security scanning
Performance Monitoring tools
Category + as a Service
Virtual machines Servers as Code Deployment tools Continuous

Integration
Container tools Containers as Configurations Configuration as

Code Code
File, block, and Storage as Code Testing framework Testing as Code

object storage
services

Backup tools Backup as Code Compliance tools Compliance as

Code
Security tools Security as Code Database instances Database as Code
Network tools Network as Code Security scanning Security as Code

and utilities
Performance Performance as Monitoring tools Monitoring as

Code Code
Examples technologies

Different Approaches with Similar Technical Outcomes
Although automation through traditional scripting is a different approach than

Infrastructure-as-code, the technical outcomes are similar.
Both will support being able to provide on-demand IT services, but IaC provides
rigor around it that is more software development oriented rather than strict
automation. The rigor also impacts the development process. Incremental changes
may be pushed out to business units every week or two as opposed to quarterly or
yearly.
Traditional Infrastructure-as- DevOps

Scripting Code
Platform Same for both IaC plus

application
People No change; New skills and processes and
existing skillset practices; SME automation
and Coach support
Process Existing process Reengineering

optimized using process using
automation CI/CD pipelines
Tools Same for both
Configurations Procedural script Code and data
Objective Cost reduction Resiliency and

agility

Subtle Differences Between IaC and Automation
Infrastructure Traditional
as Code Automation
Automated, full-stack deployment of

infrastructure and applications
Source-controlled infrastructure, packages, and

repeatable patterns
Software development practices applied to

infrastructure build and operate procedures
including automated testing
Infrastructure self-monitors system

configurations
Infrastructure self-heals to known-good state or

version
Declarative syntax for coding

How to Determine Progress
In an IaC model, how can organizations determine if progress is being made?

Listed are some suggestions.
Pipelines
Ensure that pipelines deliver infrastructure rather than people having to do it; this
requires plenty of automation.
Feedback
Feedback loops must exist to ensure that any necessary issues, changes, updates
are known as soon as possible, and iterative improvements can be made.

Source Control
To prevent configuration drift, changes should never be made by logging into

environments. All changes should be done through source control in a central
repository.

All Together
Doing these helps ensure that progress is being made.
Testing and Validation
Having testing and validation in place for all infrastructure is essential. Even minor
changes should go through automated testing and validation so, if any issues are
encountered, rollback can occur.
Start with checklists or audit; includes investigation and fixing of issues and
validating or fingerprinting code for servers, storage, and network components.
Measurement
Measurement and reporting must be in place and visible to everyone; automatic

measurements can help facilitate self-healing.
Different people need to see various dashboards and measurement data to

determine up and down trends over time.


IaC Example - Automated Configuration
A simple Infrastructure as Code example demonstrating repeatable, consistent

automated configuration which depends on a desired, good state.
Declare
Declare desired state in readable code, otherwise known as declarative code,

rather than using imperative code.
Work
Work from a known good state.

Manage
Manage to a known good state.
All Together
From a desired state to a known state:

IaC Example: VM Template
The following is an example of using IaC pipelines for one VM template.

IaC Example - Bank
An international bank needed help with addressing the amount of time IT

employees spent on manual tasks. Dell's IaC approach helped to address some of
their common Day 2 challenges and significantly reduced their manual time.
End User(s)
Marketplace
Operations Team
Self-service,
public cloud
One-click-
experience platform-stack-
Pipeline Orchestrator
deployment
Automated
Provisional Virtual Machine Testing
Version Control
Machine Configuration
Storage & Compute as One month of manual work cut

a service down to 40 mins
Click here for more details.

IaC Examples with Measurable Results
Shown are some examples from various industries demonstrated measurable

results.
Multinational Telco Onboarded 600 developers 208x more deployments

and implemented an
automated pipeline that
improved developer
productivity by eight times.
Regional Power Utility Simulated and tested 106x more agile

network configurations
during a failover in hours
rather than in weeks.
Medical Device Deployed a scalable 2604x more resilient

Manufacturer platform to support
application and data
innovation; accelerated
release frequency
Global Insurance 90% improvement in 7x more success

Company change failure rate
combined with 50%
improvement in test
coverage

Review of Key Practices
The following is a review of the key practices for Infrastructure as Code

deployments:
 Use version control for all your code.
 Use CI/CD pipelines to detect any changes in that code and trigger a pipeline
for deployment.
 Ensure that pipeline uses automated tests before deployment.
 Use declarative code and tools instead of imperative code to define and
implement the change.

Concepts in Practice - Dell Technologies
Many Dell Technologies products offer self-service capabilities that can be

automated with IaC.
The following shows the detailed benefits of Dell's IaC architecture.

Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check

Knowledge Check
1. Which component of IaC helps with automatic configuration of infrastructure

a. Pipelines
b. Code repository
c. Version control
d. Source control

Lab - Ansible
Lab - Ansible

Lab - Ansible
Ansible Lab Demonstration
Click here to view an Ansible lab demonstration.

Value Stream Mapping


VSM Overview
Value Stream Mapping (VSM)

 A Lean-Management technique that provides the framework for consistent and
unbiased analysis of processes within an organization
 Helps to visualize and communicate improved potential
 Establishes a foundation for process growth and evolution by informing SMART
transformation initiatives
 Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Timely

How Important is Value Stream Mapping
Consider this from Gartner:
"By 2023, 70% of organizations will use value stream mapping

management to improve flow in the DevOps pipeline, leading to faster
delivery of customer value"
Source: Market Guide for DevOps Value Stream Management Platforms,
Gartner 2021

VSM Key Benefits
Four key benefits of Value Stream Mapping are listed in the table.
Comprehensive  VSMs are centered around the creation of business value.

 This all-encompassing scope ensures that every activity or
step is evaluated for transformation opportunities.
 For example: Challenging whether we need to continue

doing certain activities based on whether they impact or
influence the business value being created.
Cross-  All stakeholders define success the same, regardless of

Functional organizational, or personal perspective.
 Transformation opportunities are focused on the areas
where the team, as a whole, can positively affect business
outcomes.
Customer-  VSMs reflect the flow of value delivery as the downstream

focused “customer” experiences it.
 As opposed to having an internal focus that can be
prominent in tactical process capture exercises.
Measured  VSM natively embeds critical metrics within the process flow.
 This allows us to compare transformation outcomes over
time against a published baseline.
 For example: Benchmarking with an "AS-IS" baseline,

and measuring the results and impact of transformation
over time.

Brief History of VSM
 Value Stream Mapping originated alongside Lean's rise in popularity in the

1980s.
 The fundamentals are what made the Toyota Production System a
manufacturing sensation; although, at that time, the term VSM was not present.
 Toyota had a technique that is called “Material and Information Flow” mapping.
It was intended to help identify and address challenges in the flow of these
elements through a production line.
 This mapping formed the basis of what VSM has become. This was never
taught widely beyond Toyota until the Lean Enterprise Institute took the M&I
Flow model and coined the term “value stream”.
 By the 1990s, the VSM process became well known in the US. Its popularity
started to outgrow manufacturing and eventually spread into knowledge work
industries such as software development, IT operations, marketing, and many
others.

Digital Workflows Are Modern Factory Lines
 VSM helps to analyze the current state series of events that take a product or
service from inception through delivery to the customer.
 VSM clearly supports the identification and measurement of improvements and
optimizations in manufacturing practices. It also has parallels in the domain of
Digital Workflows (for example: People interacting with each other, technology,
and data to produce business outcomes).
 Consider the metaphorical “factory” of a digital workflow to be all the
technology, people, process, organizational and cultural elements involved
in creating, assembling, and delivering data and information outcomes.
 Within this “factory” there may exist many assembly lines, such as
“processes” and “subprocesses”, consuming inputs and producing outputs.
 Holistically, these processes produce the value that is delivered to the
customer; for example: Documents, reports, decision-making, or other
outcomes that generate revenue for the enterprise.
 With the right lens of analysis, clear and specific opportunities can be identified
to improve a digital workflow.

Purpose of VSM
 The ultimate goal is to understand how business value is created in a process

and to drive actions that improve the process.
 Examples: Becoming faster, more efficient, enabling higher throughput, and
so on
 Each process step within a VSM is evaluated in the context of whether it leads
to improved value for the customer (a step is Value-Added).
 To be Value-Added (VA), a process step must meet one or more of the
following criteria:
 The step transforms the item toward completion (something changes).
 The step is done right the first time (not a rework step).
 The customer cares, or would pay, for the step to be done.
 Any steps in the process that do not meet the above criteria should be
considered Non Value-Added (NVA), and may be candidates for
improvement/transformation.

VSM Steps
Macro-level
VSMs put processes or steps in a macro-level context.
Value
Value may be defined holistically or in phases.


VSM as a Bridge
VSMs bridge organizational, and system boundaries to visualize cross-functional

value creation.
Note: VSMs may be scoped around “Intermediate Value” delivery as long as there
is clear macro-level context that is established for the Business Value being
created.

VSM Simple Example

VSM Metrics
 VSM natively provides process measurement by capturing the duration of

process steps and the time between them.
 AS-IS and TO-BE VSMs produce meaningful business metrics that help to
communicate transformation opportunities and outcomes.

AS-IS Example
 This simple AS-IS VSM diagram depicts the Concept to Production flow of a
typical story-level work item for an application development team. Key
Information Flow is also displayed across the bottom.
 The diagram also identifies five high-level workflow stages, a total End-to-End
(E2E) Duration of more than 15 weeks, and a current state process efficiency of
20%.

TO-BE Example
This simple TO-BE VSM diagram:

 Depicts a post-transformation Concept to Production flow of a typical story-level
work item for an application.
 Shortens the Value Creation flow to a 4w 1d E2E Duration with 31% efficiency
by:
 Establishing shared outcomes and increasing stakeholder accountability

 Streamlining the business approval processes for new features
 Introducing automation and process improvements, including preapproved
standard changes
 Parallelizing testing activities to reduce time lost to hand-offs, coordination

Typical VSM Analysis Outcomes

Real Outcomes
The table contains measurable examples of real transformation outcomes that

were achieved through projects that leverage VSM analysis.
Multinational Telco Onboarded 600 developers 208x more deployments

and implemented an
automated pipeline that
improved developer
productivity by eight times
Regional Power Utility Simulate and test network 106x more agile
configurations during a
failover in hours rather than
in weeks
Medical Device Deployed a scalable 2604x more resilient

Manufacturer platform to support
application and data
innovation; accelerated
release frequency
Global Insurance 90% improvement in 7x more success

Company change failure rate
combined with 50%
improvement in test
coverage

Getting Started
How to get started with Value Stream Maps

 Pick an existing process.
 Gather all the individuals who are responsible for the process and those who
perform it.
 Walk the flow from beginning to end, gathering the details on how it actually
works and not how we think it works.
 Collect the various activities on sticky notes on a wall, including:
 Lead Time (LT) - the time before the activity kicks off (also referred to as
Total End-to-End Duration)
 Value-Added (VA) Time - the time it takes to do the activity (also referred to
as Processing Time)
Calculate Total Value-Added Time

Calculate Total Lead Time (also called Total Time)
Cycle Time = Total Value-Added Time + Total Lead Time
Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) = Total Value-Added Time / Total Lead
Time
Cycle Time = Total Value Added Time + Total Lead Time

Leveraging VSM
Use VSM outcomes to drive transformation and measure it.

Metrics-Only Value Stream Maps
 In cases where there are many workflows to be analyzed, it may be easier and
faster to apply a simplified approach for metrics-only Value Stream Mapping.
 Often referred to as “VSM Lite”, where visual workflows are traded off for a
more rapid approach
 The recommended approach to VSM Lite Analysis is:
1. Identify candidate workflows for analysis and prioritize based on

impact/importance.
2. Perform Current State metrics collection using simple tools like MS Excel.
3. Quantitatively compare workflow efficiencies and wastes.
4. Inform transformation backlog with improvement activities.

Limitations of VSM
There are limitations to Value Stream Mapping which should be considered prior to
selecting this technique. The tabs describe examples of when value stream
mapping may not be the right technique to use.
One-Time Only or Infrequent Processes
 When processes are rarely executed, there may be a lot of unknowns about
average task duration or even the tasks themselves, which make generating a
VSM hard and the results less significant.
 The business case to transform these sporadically executed processes is also
less compelling.
Highly Variable Processes
 While VSM does provide tools for dealing with process variances, such as
cases where a sub-process or repeated step occurs only a certain percentage
of the time, this begins to lose significance if an entire process is variable.
 Where possible, generalizations may be used to reduce variance, but this
should be discussed/agreed in advance to ensure that it does not make the
metrics of a VSM questionable.
When Costs Outweigh the Benefits
 Usually even a quick and simple VSM can provide helpful information, but in
cases where a process is already highly optimized or the level of effort to
generate a VSM is very high, it may not be worth it.
 Always keep in mind that the goal of VSM is to inform process improvements,
not just to produce a pretty picture.
 Be willing to use a different approach if the situation calls for it.

VSM Lab Exercise
VSM Lab Exercise

VSM Lab Exercise
VSM Exercise 1
The Online Course Contains an Interaction Here.
[Detailed description of the Interaction for Guides]

VSM Lab Exercise
VSM Exercise 2
The Online Course Contains an Interaction Here.
[Detailed description of the Interaction for Guides]

Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check

Knowledge Check
1. Which technique provides the framework for consistent and unbiased analysis
of processes within an organization?
a. Value stream mapping
b. AIOps
c. Infrastructure as Code
d. DevOps

Knowledge Check
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Knowledge Check
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Go to the next eLearning or assessment, if applicable.

Appendix

Appendix
Thoughts From a Cloud Expert - IaC
I pose the question, “I script therefore I Infrastructure-as-Code?” If Infrastructure-

as-Code were really that simple, we would already have started utilizing DevOps
and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) long ago. However, since DevOps and IaC are
complicated tools, it is imperative to take proper measures to achieve a truly
successful result.
Automation is a critical component for cloud platforms, continuous delivery, and

IaC/DevOps operating models, but merely implementing automation will not deliver
the results or transformation that is promised by IaC literature, success stories, and
conference sessions.
Traditional automation helps in Day 1 provisioning, but it is not resilient over the
long term, adding cost and complexity to Day 2 operations. And, while scripting is a
little faster, it does not significantly impact failure rates or recovery time.
If IaC is not just writing code to create infrastructure, what is it doing? How is it
different? It includes processes like the infrastructure development lifecycle (the
practice of building automation in a development and test environment before
publishing or pushing into production), and practices such as version control for the
management of code and binaries that are needed to compose your
infrastructure.IaC, however, is more than just practices and processes; it is also an
architectural paradigm that is built for change and measured by resiliency, two core
principles of chaos engineering.

Appendix
-Bart D., Cloud Expert, Dell Technologies

Appendix
Thoughts From a Cloud Expert - Pipelines

Engineering pipelines are automated workflows that manage
changes to infrastructure resources and services. Changes
consist of things like patches, upgrades, scale request,
configurations, and more.
As changes are created, the automated pipeline shepherds

these changes through the testing, packaging, and deploying
required for that resource or service published for general consumption by end-
users, developers, customers, and the like.
Integrated into this pipeline are a series of automated test tools that are connected
via APIs that verify and validate the technical soundness and purpose fitness of
each change.
Like software development, infrastructure pipelines consist of multiple quality gates,

such as DEV, TEST, STAGE, and PROD. Each gate is designed to boost
confidence that the change is good, safe, and performant.
Bart D., Cloud Expert, Dell Technologies

Appendix
Thoughts From a Cloud Expert - IaC Automation

While the automation of provisioning with Infrastructure as
Code (IaC) and pipelines is clear, many organizations to date
have relied primarily on stand-alone automation tools and
one-off scripting. While this approach certainly is an
improvement over manual workflows and processes, IaC
provides far more than traditional automation practices.
IaC automates full-stack deployment of infrastructure and apps; it offers source-

controlled infrastructure and packages. It introduces software development
practices that are applied to infrastructure build and operate procedures;
infrastructure self-monitors system configurations and infrastructure self-heals to
known-good state or version.-Scott B., Digital Transformation, Dell Technologies
Scott B., Cloud Expert, Dell Technologies

Appendix
IaC Bank Example

The Dell team followed certain principles which resulted in some important
advantages.
Goals
The goals were to have:

 Data analytics platform based on Hadoop
 Multiple Hadoop clusters on demand
 Different sizes and flavors
 Full integration
 Disaster recovery
Solution
The solution included:

 Hadoop in VMs and clusters in an hour
 Automated provisioning
 Fully integrated with the bank's infrastructure
 Each cluster isolated in security context and network
 Data isolation
 Disaster recovery
An IaC approach was the foundation to support this.
IaC Benefits
This IaC pipeline for big data infrastructure had the following benefits:
 What used to take one month of manual work was decreased to 40 minutes.
 Deploy, configure and test a full platform infrastructure stack in one click.

Appendix
 Deployments are reproducible across multiple environments (development,

staging, production).
 Security is baked-in (SSL certificates, credentials management).
 Documentation and test reporting are now automated.
 Pipeline components are contained in one single VM template.
Principles
The following principles were established and followed:

 Use version control for all automation code and configuration.
 Use CI/CD tools to detect any changes in that code and trigger a CI//CD
pipeline for deployment.
 Ensure CI/CD pipeline uses automated tests before deployment.
 Use declarative code and tools instead of imperative code to define and
implement the change.
Advantages
The following are additional advantages:

 Patching, upgrades, rollbacks can be more easily implemented through simple
automation pipelines.
 The goal is one-click deployment whenever possible.
 New requirements, configurations and services can be easily added to the
solution through the creation of new pipelines.
 Process change can be more easily handled by leveraging declarative state
tools and techniques as opposed to changing multiple procedural scripts.
 Configuration drift and repeatability across environments can be more easily
achieved by leveraging:
 Declarative state tools and techniques

 CI/CD tools to detect changes
 Pipelines to automate the testing and deployment of any synchronization
changes required to achieve a known and consistent good state

Appendix
Thoughts From a Cloud Expert - VSM

A Value Stream is the sequence of activities that are required
to design, product, and deliver a good or service to a
customer.
Value Stream Maps offer a holistic view of how work flows

through the entire system. They provide an effective means
to establish a strategic direction for making improvements.
Without a Value Stream Map, when trying to implement CloudOps it is too easy to
jump into the weeds and design microlevel improvements before the entire work
system (the macro picture) is fully understood. That leads to sub optimization of the
end to end flow.
Don D., Cloud Expert, Dell Technologies

Appendix
Thoughts From a Cloud Expert - VSM and Dell

Dell Technologies recommends that enterprises create a
Value Stream of the complete feature delivery process, all the
way out to production. This helps every stakeholder
understand where value is being created for the business,
and provides a natural lens to identify, define, and act on
improvement opportunities.
During this exercise, it’s helpful to describe both the AS-IS baseline (which may be
achieved through exercises like maturity assessments and Value Stream Mapping),
and the desired TO-BE future state.
This further strengthens the transformational vision by informing specific focus

areas for change in the flow of business value.
Casey W., Cloud Expert, Dell Technologies


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