Workflows can be tedious and frustrating, especially for IT operations managers who must track them and confirm they are completed in the right sequence and manner. Add to that the complexity of your IT infrastructure, the significance of DevSecOps processes and, of course, the relentless pressure of a ticking clock.
Throw a critical vulnerability incident into the mix and the stress multiplies.
Situations like these demand that you act quickly—and the actions are endless. From scanning your infrastructure to finding the patch, testing it and then applying it, your actions will determine the consequences. Manually setting and resetting your machines could take hundreds of hours and the probability of finding all that has been affected seems like a distant possibility.
However, wouldn’t it be an ideal solution to automate everything we described above?
If only you could ‘orchestrate’ the correct response…
To understand how workflow orchestration works in DevSecOps, we must first understand the challenges that lie ahead. For instance, DevSecOps tools rely on multiple fragmented tools for its various processes. Lack of integration can lead to pipeline inconsistencies, misconfigurations and the need to perform manual interventions. Complex workflows can lead to delayed changes, long feedback loops and prolonged downtimes. While handling the chaos, operations might tend to forget about security. Poorly integrated security scans and policy enforcement can lead to unforeseen and costly risks. Without automation of DevSecOps workflows, errors and inconsistencies can creep in. As organizations scale and applications grow, workflows must be able to handle more builds, changes and tests while also keeping an eye on resource wastage, delivery times and cost overruns. Added to that workflows often lack rollback mechanisms in case of change deployments.
Effective workflow orchestration is crucial in DevSecOps. It enables the integration of seemingly disjointed tasks that lead to the same objective. The end goal of orchestration is simple: automate the tasks seamlessly to respond to ad hoc requirements or planned activities.
Orchestration is a well-structured approach to managing and securing software development pipelines by integrating security practices seamlessly into the CI/CD pipelines.
So, as a DevSecOps professional, it's crucial to equip an efficient job orchestration tool, whether you're handling an incident or rolling out a change.
Job orchestration is the process of automating and managing the sequence of tasks that make up a workflow. Effective orchestration should handle various scenarios, complexities and dependencies while maintaining smooth execution to improve efficiency, help eliminate redundancies and reduce operational costs.
Orchestration enables the automation, coordination and execution of tasks across CI/CD pipelines, allowing for more secure and efficient software delivery. Key reasons as to why workflow orchestration should be implemented in DevSecOps are:
Orchestration removes manual overhead by automating repetitive tasks such as testing, rollouts, patching, infrastructure provisioning and rollback processes, reducing errors and increasing efficiency.
A well-orchestrated DevSecOps workflow confirms that jobs run in the right sequence and can care for dependencies.
Using an ‘as-code’ methodology with tools like Progress Chef helps maintain consistency across development and production environments.
DevSecOps teams can scale their workflows on-demand across clouds and on-premises environments.
In case of incidents or failures, orchestration enables automated rollbacks that help with quick remediation and lower downtimes.
Orchestration helps in the consolidation of tools and helps solve the problem of fragmented tool integration.
While organizations can opt between specialized orchestration tools or consolidated platforms to streamline workflows, a consolidated platform like the Progress Chef solution often provides better integration across its capabilities and third-party tools.
But while doing so, get these best practices firmly etched into your process.
Employ these best practices in DevSecOps workflows in to orchestrate workflows in commonly occurring scenarios. For instance:
On an unusually busy day, you are hit with a security issue. Instead of manual intervention, you could use platforms like the Chef solution to scan the affected nodes, apply patches in a phased manner, schedule the job per your requirements and view the consolidated report. All jobs are executed one by one with a minimum to no intervention, causing no disruption and extreme efficiency.
You want to keep your fleet running on the latest software versions. However, your IT fleet is complex and vast, with disparate platforms and architecture. Again, the Chef platform can help you upgrade your nodes in a phased manner with well-orchestrated jobs causing no stress to IT operators.
The same play can be replicated in scenarios such as controlled OS upgrades, certificate rotation or even scheduling ad-hoc tasks.
These are some of the many ways in which orchestrating workflows can elevate your DevSecOps game. There are plenty of cases; you can apply these best practices to the scenario that best depicts your challenge.
By following best practices such as defining clear pipelines, adopting an “as-code” approach, integrating security early and using scalable tools, you can optimize your DevSecOps operations and enhance collaboration among DevOps teams. Additionally, maintaining version control and conducting regular security scans further strengthen workflow reliability. Whether you use niche orchestration tools or opt for a unified platform, the right orchestration strategy can significantly improve efficiency while minimizing risks. Ultimately, a well-structured approach to job orchestration drives innovation, agility and long-term success in DevSecOps environments.
To know more about how job orchestration can help you derive benefits in DevSecOps, download this whitepaper.
To know more about how the Chef DevOps platform can cater to your orchestration needs, please visit us here.
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