DevOps: What, Why, and How

About This Course

Course Title: DevOps: What, Why, and How

Course Number: DO.101

Abstract

DevOps is a cultural shift that aims to leverage agile methodologies for software development. DevOps optimizes the time to deliver product value as a result of the collaboration between developers and operations.  As defined by Jez Humble, author of Continuous Delivery, it is “a cross-disciplinary community of practice dedicated to the study of building, evolving and operating rapidly changing resilient systems at scale.”

This open, online, interactive course will expose learners to the value, opportunity, and insights that DevOps provides.

Intended Audience

This course is appropriate for a blended audience that includes decision influencers, decision makers, line of business professionals, application developers, testers, IT professionals, students, and those generally interested in learning about the impact, challenges, and opportunities that DevOps presents.

Format and Delivery Method

The course will be delivered as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) using the EdCast platform, and available to anyone with internet access.

The course will be conducted over a five-week period, and will require learners to invest approximately two to three hours of work per week. Each week’s content will be made available to learners on a specified date.

Learners will be engaged through a blend of online content in the form of educational videos, recorded whiteboards, documents, and assessments. Learners will also have opportunities to interact with others and learn through group discussions. 

Objectives

By the completion of this course, learners should be able to:

• Define DevOps and its significance and value
• Overview the principles, methodologies, practices, and tools used to accomplish DevOps
• Contrast methodologies common in the development community and describe their application to DevOps
• Critique the practices used when implementing DevOps and the benefits of each
• Categorize tools commonly used to implement DevOps practices

Course Outline

Week 1: Introduction to DevOps

1. Describe the current landscape for application developments

2. Define DevOps

3. Break down the benefits of DevOps

4. Categorize DevOps beneficiaries and participants

5. Describe the principles of DevOps

• Culture

• Parity

• Automation

• Measurement

• Improvement

Week 2: Introduction to DevOps Methodologies

1. Identify methodologies used by organizations implementing DevOps

2. Describe the core principles and practices of each methodology

3. Identify how each methodology can be used with DevOps

4. Compare the strengths and weaknesses of each methodology with DevOps

Week 3: DevOps Practices and Tools – Agile Development and Continuous Integration

1. Overview of DevOps practices and tools used for Agile Development and Continuous Integration

2. Discuss software architectures associated with DevOps

3. Apply Integrated Development Environments (IDE) and frameworks to Agile Development

4. Explain the purpose and importance of Version Control Systems in DevOps

5. Categorize and describe the ways Automation is applied to DevOps

Week 4: DevOps Practices and Tools - Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment

1. Overview DevOps practices and tools used for Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment

2. Discuss how Configuration Management (Infrastructure as Code) applies to DevOps

3. Explain the application of Release Management in DevOps

4. Describe why Metering, Monitoring, and Failure Management are components of DevOps

Week 5: DevOps Deployment Technologies

1. Overview of DevOps Deployment Technologies

2. Discuss how Virtualization and Containerization applies to DevOps practices

3. Identify Cloud Operating Systems and their relationship to virtualization and containerization

4. Leverage tools that apply resources as a service to DevOps problems

5. Apply DevOps to address application development and deployment challenges

Assessments and Grading Criteria

Learners will be graded on weekly assessments, and will have an opportunity to provide ungraded peer reviews.

Reward and Recognition

All learners who receive a cumulative score of 70% or higher on the weekly assessments will receive a certificate of completion. 

Instructors

Kent Bair

Kent Bair is a Senior Manager, Technical Education, within EMC Corporation Education Services, bringing his experience in DevOps to the emerging technology curriculum. Spanning a technical career for 30 years, Kent has spent half as a lead technical resource in startup software businesses. In these small software companies, Kent has worn many hats applying his developer expertise to architecting, developing, testing, and debugging software; and applying his operations expertise with deploying and supporting software to many different applications and solutions.  Kent earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Utica College of Syracuse University, Utica, New York, USA.

Rene Vogt-Lowell

Rene Vogt-Lowell is a Senior Technical Education Consultant within EMC Corporation Education Services, bringing 20 years of experience in application development to the emerging technology curriculum.  Rene has applied both Adobe and open source solutions in the following industries: education, health, entertainment, data warehousing, medical, and automation. He values bi-directional communication whether developing, designing, supporting, or operating applications as a core practice within DevOps. As a strong believer in mentorship, he strives for balance between sharing and receiving knowledge and perspectives through productive co-mentoring relationships. Rene led the development and mentorship of junior developers on more than 20 online science labs, simulations, and mobile learning games by collaborating with systems integrators, instructional designers, graphic designers, game developers, management, faculty, students, and conference participants.

Rene received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from The Ohio State University. Certifications include EMC Proven Cloud Infrastructure and Services Associate, CompTIA Linux+ Certified Professional, and Berklee Modern Musician. Rene combines technology and artistry when creating learning content and he has presented at many national e-Learning conferences.