What Should You Know about Mainframe DevOps?
When it comes to the most widely implemented culture in IT
industries,
DevOps surely tops the
list. The collaborative approach of DevOps for minimizing the
software development lifecycle is the foremost reason behind its
popularity. When it comes to understanding DevOps, the majority
of the concepts are based on Windows and UNIX, leaving behind
mainstream software development. With that in mind, this article
covers all the aspects of
Mainframe DevOps including its benefits,
challenges, tools, and strategies.
Why do Organizations Need DevOps for Mainframe?
Before making any significant decision for an organization, it
is essential to understand the ways how it will influence its
overall functioning. Understanding the different effects it will
provide to the organization will allow the experts to take all
the right measures and ensure that the decision is worth the
efforts. Below explained are some of the reasons why
organizations need DevOps for Mainframe.
- Large Scale Transaction Processing:
The present enterprises focus on large-scale transactions
which is why a need for a system that could handle the huge
amount of transactions is preferred. DevOps for Mainframe is
capable of handling thousands of transactions per second.
Sectors like banking, finance, and governments rely heavily on
large transaction processing, making this an excellent system
for such domains.
- Manage TBs of Data:
In the present times, data is a significant factor for the
efficient functioning of an organization. A system capable of
managing a large amount of data is always the primary choice
of enterprises. DevOps Mainframe can manage TBs of data in a
database with ease. Moreover, it can handle large bandwidth
communication as well.
- Access Several Resources:
Undeniably, organizations will have legions of users and
applications programs. One of the biggest reasons why
enterprises should consider the mainframe is that it supports
thousands of apps and users programs at the same time. In
addition, it can provide access to several different resources
simultaneously.
Challenges Faced while Implementing Mainframe DevOps
Implementing DevOps in Mainframe is not a smooth journey.
Instead, it comes with certain challenges which need to be
addressed. With that in mind, here are all the major hindrances
that occur while implementing DevOps in Mainframe.
-
Working on Existing Applications:
DevOps is all about creating new applications. However,
creating new applications is not something that occurs very
often on the mainframe. Here, the experts have to work on the
existing applications available on the mainframe. Mainframe
applications have existed for a long period of time and the
longer a particular app exists, the harder it becomes to
implement DevOps. The reason behind this is that the app
created years ago must have numerous modifications along with
connections with several other apps. Having existed for years,
these changes may not even be documented, making it even more
complex for the experts to work on.
-
Lack of Automation:
Automation is an additional and highly effective feature of
DevOps. The biggest challenge faced in performing DevOps in
Mainframe is the lack of automation. Due to this factor,
testing and quality, and assurance become ineffective and
slow. The lack of automation also makes it highly complex to
fix production issues.
-
Process and Cultural Issues:
As mentioned above, the mainframe comes with fragile
integration of tools. However, it leads to poor visibility,
extensibility, and scalability. In addition, this
implementation leads to a cultural barrier in the organization
that results in limited collaboration. A heavy-handed control
of the development environment is another cultural issue that
comes with this task.
Strategies to Implement DevOps in Mainframe:
Implementing DevOps in Mainframe is a complex task and experts
need to create and follow certain strategies. Now that you have
understood the benefits and challenges that this task comes
with, it is time to put some light on the implementation
strategies.
-
Automate and Testing:The foremost step in
implementing DevOps in Mainframe is using automating and
testing. Commence by adopting and testing everything by using
continuous integration build approach with preferably
automated self-validating test skills. Make sure to look at
the possibilities based on the present current codebase,
create complicated code test setups, validate core code
functionalities, and refactor the codebase to enhance
testability.
-
Plan, Make, and Track Versions: No matter
what the task is, planning is something that makes it easier
and allows the person to tackle unexpected errors. While
implementing DevOps on Mainframe, the key next part is to
plan, make and track versions along with defining a pipeline
of tasks. Start by unifying the mainframe application asset
change management so that you could make orchestration easier.
Organizations have thousands of paths due to which managing
separate systems and missing assets and information is
rampant.
DevOps practices should
force linkages automation and standardized packaging to
complete this step.
-
Automate Deployment: Automation is a major
functionality of DevOps and the deployment in DevOps mainframe
should include automation as well. Make sure to document
standardized environments, drive cloud provisioning of
isolated mainframe images, and applications based on
standards. Furthermore, it is essential to automate
instruments and audits. Standardizing existing topologies,
automating the deployment of the entire system, and creating a
standardized environment for the deployment are also pivotal.
-
Optimize Orchestration:
Optimizing orchestration is another strategic step used in
implementing DevOps on Mainframe. It includes dependency
virtualization and test data conditioning. In order to achieve
this task, you can create targeted small subsets faster and
efficiently as compared to cloning. It will enhance
development efficiency widely. When you create the right-sized
target test environment, you are saving a lot of storage costs
and increasing the testing speed too. Summarizing it, the
right strategy is to automate, test, track, plan, audit, and
optimize as much as possible. Without a doubt, implementing
DevOps on Mainframe is a complicated task, but these
strategies can make this implementation a bit less complex.
What type of tools are required to Implement MainFrame DevOps?
When it comes to DevOps Mainframe, the experts recommend
performing this in a phased manner rather than doing it in one
go. Start by leveraging existing tools or products to your
mainframe environment to implement the CI/CD services. This
approach is the most cost-effective as well as least intrusive.
Once you understand the strategies, it is time to pick the
best-suited tools as per your mainframe landscape. The
below-mentioned are the various types of tools that you need to
implement DevOps in Mainframe.
-
Collaboration and Planning Tools:
DevOps is all about collaboration between two different teams
for a common goal. You continually should collaborate with the
mainframe teams across the platform during the entire DevOps
lifecycle. The foremost category of tool that you require is
surely the collaboration and planning tool. These tools allow
the mainframe and distributed teams to discuss and plan the
architectural approach for several projects, document the
approaches, and offer the necessary feedback.
-
Source Code Management Tools: In DevOps
culture, several people work on a single program at the same
time as the motive of this culture is to reduce software
delivery lifecycle. When DevOps is implemented on Mainframe,
the mainframe team needs a source code management tool that
supports post-build activities, faster changes, and
simultaneous development. Moreover, it should be open so that
it can be linked to the DevOps toolchain and integrated with
open-source DevOps tools for better efficiency.
-
Analysis Tools:
Analyzing the data is another key element of DevOps.
Considering that fact, using analysis tools seems justified
and they form the foundation of DevOps on the key assets.
Understanding the code rapidly to plan changes, handle the
backlog, and impact analysis is essential on the mainframe.
Such tools enable you to improve the core assets like code,
configuration, documentation, database, or website and manage
them as one source, allowing you to build the rest of the
program whenever required.
-
Build Tools:
DevOps motive is to aid in building software faster. Build
tools help in making the program ready for testing and
deployment to production faster and effectively. In addition,
build tools provide visibility into any occurrence on the
mainframe, allowing anyone to run and monitor deploy without
any specialized knowledge on mainframe technologies.
-
Automated Testing Tools:
Human intervention is the primary reason for mistakes while
testing as it leaves scope for negligence and reduces the
efficiency of the program. Furthermore, DevOps is incompatible
with manual testing. Using automated testing tools eradicate
this issue by testing the code quality after the build. As
these tools are accurate and quick in providing feedback, the
software delivery process is quicker than before.
-
Continuous Deployment Tools:
Continuous deployment is another term associated with DevOps
and CD tools are also essential in the DevOps mainframe as
well. These tools are needed in closed frequencies in an
effective DevOps environment as application deployment is
reliable, predictable, and quick. This CD ensures that the
applications can be released to production whenever required
while minimizing the risk as much as possible. Once the
mainframe code development becomes faster, it is necessary to
link it with the distributed components delivery. All these
components rely on each other, making their coordinated
deployment necessary. Getting a single place to manage these
deployments even when their platforms are different is vital.
XL deployment and release allow the user to automate and
standardize complex deployment in a legacy environment.
-
Continuous Integration Tools:
Continuous integration is a pivotal part of DevOps that
ensures continuous feedback. Using CI tools provides an
immediate feedback look by orchestrating build and testing
tasks. Also, these tools allow the teams to merge developed
code several times a day, and attain feedback from quality,
security, and automated tools which ensures quality.
-
Monitoring Tools:
DevOps is entirely a continuous process that does not end at
releasing the code. Instead, it keeps on going where the
engineers will monitor the code to ensure that it is working
perfectly and without any issues. Monitoring tools keep an eye
on the releases, eradicating your additional efforts, and
enhancing their responsiveness.
How to Pick the Right Tools For MainFrame DevOps?:
Now that you have understood the various types of tools, it is
time to know about the factors that will help in picking the
right tools for DevOps Mainframe.
- Effective Features of the Tool:
One of the first things that you should consider before
picking the tool is its effective features. Look at the tool
from the technical perspective and determine whether it will
support other tools or not. Moreover, ensure that the tool is
flexible, integrates with other tools, and comes with the
features that are necessary to get the job done.
- Does not Disrupt Existing Projects:
Some tools come with a major limitation that they disrupt the
existing projects whenever teams switch to new tools. The
DevOps Mainframe tool that you pick should not come with any
such limitation and ensure that it does not affect any
existing user or project. However, even if it does, the impact
should be as minimal as possible, or else it could lead to
hefty expenses for the organization.
- Existing Users of the Tool:
The next thing to consider about the tool is its popularity or
existing number of users. A highly popular tool means that
more people are likely to know about the tool and have basic
to advance knowledge about its functionality. Having an
unpopular tool means that you have to train your existing team
about the tool. In addition, any new member in the team has to
be trained so that they can work on the tool. With that in
mind, it is best to pick the popular tool with a herculean
user base.
Conclusion
The article explained all about Mainframe DevOps and the key
considerations to make before implementing DevOps in Mainframe.
Without a doubt, the entire process is complicated and
expensive. However, the right approach and methods will ensure
that you accomplish this task effectively.
