Software Deployment Checklist

Software deployment is a number of steps in a plan that should be performed to run the software. All these actions are interrelated and cannot be excluded from the process. Releasing a project is not possible without these steps. Deploying software is a whole process that is required for a project to run smoothly. Deploying a project for the first time can be both highly anticipated and intimidating. Novice teams are afraid to miss something, so their product may have many bugs at its final stages. As a result, the customer will be unhappy with the product. According to Alpacked, following these steps will help you avoid mistakes or a crash. In this article, you can find an up-to-date software deployment checklist. By following it step by step, you will be able to successfully launch your project.

Let's look at three main stages and what needs to be checked in each of them

Server check → Set up the testing environment

Firstly, the obvious step is to notify everyone of when the software will be released. Developers, operators, and the deployment team should be aware of the software release. However, simply notifying is not enough. It is also important to implement interaction and communication between the team, so that the deployment process is a smooth one. Teamwork is one of the characteristics of DevOps. This methodology implies a culture of interaction between different departments. For example, departments such as development, QA and operations.

The next step is collecting code. It might seem like this is pretty obvious too. However, you should ensure that the update being released is actually correct.

You need to get correct and clean code for the upcoming release. Depending on how you implement it, you might find it within the correct fork of the code repository.

Another important stage of the work is checking the server. You need to make sure that the server you use for the code uploading is running smoothly and in cohesion with the code.

This method depends on the server settings, test environment and configurations. For the accuracy of the preliminary tests, you need to make sure that the staging environment is correctly set-up. Make a copy of the production server. Then make your changes and update the test server.

Deploy the update to the testing environment → Run code tests → Review

Before running the crucial tests, ensure you also have KPIs. It is necessary to have the form of key metrics which measure the correctness of software operation. Key metrics vary from project to project. There are simple metrics like, the site load time, server CPU, or database performance. Plus, there could be more specific, individual metrics. For example, how long does it take to execute a certain section of the code, how many orders occur over a period of time, and how many requests are processed? Keeping track of KPIs is very important.

At this point, you need to test the updates in a staging environment. The source code should also be loaded into the testing environment. Now, it’s time to run tests. They can be either manual or automated. A combination of manual and automated tests is ideal. Furthermore, you will be able to draw conclusions from the test results. Experience has shown that it is important to detect if any vulnerabilities have been discovered. Advice - keep track of all inaccuracies in detail and write bug reports. Review your testing and notify developers. Note user stories if there were minor issues.

Copy update to the production environment → Get approval → Test the server

After the tests have been performed, you can safely copy the update to the production environment. Before activating an update, evaluate if DevOps scripts are needed. If they are still needed, then it is worth completing them at this stage.

Scripts are usually needed when deploying large updates. Finally, you need to get approval for deployment from the team lead.

When it comes to the initial deployment, you need to consider what to do in case of a rollback. Additionally, if this is not the first deployment, then it is safe enough to just temporarily return to the previous stable version. Subsequently, you should activate it while programmers fix errors in the new version.

The final step is to test the server for errors after making any changes. This step is very important. It’s better for the team to find the error first, and not the client. If you find a critical bug, you should think about rolling back the server. If all the previous steps have been carefully followed, then you will not need to roll back the server.

To conclude, there are many factors that affect software deployment success. But the main idea is the ability to automate processes that cut the difficulties in work and in the successful release of updates. Effective teams create scripts of build processes or automation of some processes. As a result, they have great success and customer acceptance. Controlling the state of the application is another important aspect. Monitoring tools are simply irreplaceable things now. They can also be used to track improvements in the project. How the performance indicators have changed, or how the user side has improved. All of these factors are super important for the business’s operations. Indeed, this is a very multifaceted process, so it is very important to have a checklist on hand to help you not miss key steps.