Our client had a unique challenge, a highly complex and resource intensive Windows platform application which required specific and customizable platform features to be deployed for their internal product development teams and external customers.
The growth goals of the business were dependent on the ability to deploy any number of platforms of various shapes and sizes at very short notice.
Utilizing public cloud services and DevOps technologies and principles, we were able to design a solution which took the laborious task of building and configuring server platforms and automated it completely by pre-building cloud images. Hashicorp’s Packer plays a key role in cloud image production and testing.
Cloud images are built regularly, receiving the latest OS security updates as distributed by the vendor. Upon this base layer, custom configuration and software can be loaded which lays dormant in the image until it’s instantiated into a new system.
The instantiation or “deployment” process takes user input and launches the image into various configurations. This results in a server image which is then ready for software deployment.
Deploying software consistently and repeatably are fundamental DevOps principles. Ansible plays a key role in helping store configuration and scripts in a single repository which can be applied to many systems yielding the same desired end state.
Combining legacy software deployment patterns with modern DevOps approaches utilizing the velocity and flexibility available available in the cloud has allowed our client to deploy production grade systems many times quicker. This has given internal and external customers the confidence to build more, deploy more and do it all faster upon a reliable platform.