Release Pipelines

Learning objectives#

• Model environments in a pipeline
• Promote one artifact through stages
• Add approvals and checks
• Keep configuration out of the artifact

Explanation#

Environments (dev, staging, production) have their own configuration, secrets and protection rules.

Promotion deploys the same artifact to staging, runs smoke tests, then to production after approval.

GitHub Environments support required reviewers, wait timers and environment-specific secrets.

Release notes can be generated from merged pull requests and tags.

Code example: Staging then production with approval#

1name: release
2on: { push: { tags: ['v*'] } }
3

4jobs:
5  staging:
6    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
7    environment: staging
8    steps:
9      - run: ./deploy.sh staging ${{ github.ref_name }}
10      - run: curl --fail --retry 5 https://staging.techiebabaji.com/health
11

12  production:
13    needs: staging
14    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
15    environment: production        # required reviewers configured in repo settings
16    steps:
17      - run: ./deploy.sh production ${{ github.ref_name }}
18      - run: gh release create ${{ github.ref_name }} --generate-notes
19        env: { GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} }

Pushing tag v1.4.0 deploys to staging, checks health, waits for an approver, deploys the same version to production and publishes release notes.

This example is illustrative. Copy or download it and run it in your own environment; the expected output is shown above.

Step-by-step explanation#

1. A version tag starts the release.
2. Staging deploys and is smoke-tested.
3. needs: makes production wait for staging.
4. The production environment requires approval before running.

Real-world use case#

Common mistakes#

Best practices#

• Environment-scoped secrets
• Smoke tests after each deployment
• Approvals for production
• Automatic release notes

Remember this#

Practice exercise#

1b:
2  needs: a

Mini quiz#

Want more? Practise all DevOps MCQs · DevOps interview questions

Related topics#

My notes#

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