Types of Artifacts in DevOps
Artifacts can be divided into types based on their nature, function, and phase in the DevOps lifecycle.
Build Artifacts
Build artifacts are the outcome of the build process for a software application or system(by-products of the coding and build process). These are also referred to as code artifacts.
Usually, a build artifact contains all the files and dependencies needed to run the application. The largest category of artifacts produced directly by software engineers is often comprised of build artifacts.
Depending on the sort of application being produced, the artifact's contents may vary, although they frequently consist of compiled code, libraries, documentation, and configuration files.
Deployment Artifacts
Deployment artifacts are one of the critical artifacts in DevOps. Typically, deployment artifacts take the form of a publicly available system. They stand for the system's deployment-ready output that has been packed and versioned.
The continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) methods used in the DevOps process rely heavily on deployment artifacts. Depending on the tech stack, the development process, and the type of application being deployed, different deployment artifact types may be used. This applies to distributions in any format, such as deb, exes, tar.gz (single binaries), rpm, MSI, image, etc.
Database Artifacts
Database-related parts or components employed as integral components of the DevOps process are called "database artifacts." The consistency of the database schema and data throughout the various phases depends on database artifacts.
The continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) methods used in the DevOps process are implemented easily using automated database artifacts.
Pipeline Artifacts
The temporary and final outputs created during the various steps of the CI/CD pipeline are known as pipeline artifacts. Any build output that exists just on your pipeline, such as an ephemeral file, bundle, or other build output, are pipeline artifacts. The DevOps process's consistency and dependability greatly depend on pipeline artifacts.
These are generally present in almost every DevOps platform as a technique to improve pipeline code coherence. It acts as a bridge to fix the gap between a CI and CD within the same pipeline. Because of faster upload and download times, pipeline artifacts are preferable to build artifacts. However, they can only be used with YAML pipelines.
Security Artifacts
To improve the security of software apps, specific parts or components are produced and employed as security artefacts. The DevOps process greatly depends on these artefacts. These artefacts include log files, event logs, system logs, network traffic captures, timestamps, registry entries, and other data.
These are crucial for putting secure development processes into practice. It ensures that security is incorporated into the software development lifecycle at every level. Cyber security experts can delve a little deeper using security artefacts to determine the purpose of the cybercriminal.
Importance of Artifacts
Some of the critical roles of Artifacts in DevOps are as follows:
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It provides a complete overview of the functionality of the system.
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It enables future replication of the same build and deployment.
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Each person working on a project will have access to the same dependencies, codebase, and configurations thanks to the use of artifacts.
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It improves the reliability of the system and enhances the testing process.
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It reduces manual involvement and the chance of deployment errors.
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Security artifacts take care of the security standards if the system.
- It optimises the performance of the overall system.
Artifacts Management Tools
DevOps communities employ a lot of well-known artifact management solutions. Artifacts are stored, arranged, and distributed using tools for artifact management. It minimises the time needed to get dependencies from a public location. Some of the famous artifacts management tools are as follows:
Amazon S3
Artifact management can be done using Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), a cloud-based object storage service. It is an object storage service that keeps data in buckets as objects. A file and any information that describes the file are also considered objects. Build artefacts, backups, and other files are frequently stored on it.
JFrog Artifactory
You can control the flow of your artifacts from development to deployment with the help of the JFrog Platform's end-to-end pipeline. A global artifact repository management that supports a number of package formats, including Gradle, Maven, Docker, npm etc.
It is a popular DevOps solution for hosting, maintaining, and distributing artifacts.
Apache Archiva
The Apache Software Foundation's Apache Archiva manages the build artifact repositories. It also serves as a proxy. It is a scalable repository management tool that aids in maintaining a private or corporate build artefact repository.
IBM UrbanCode
Integrating apps and databases into different environments is managed and automated using UrbanCode Deploy. It is an artifact management and deployment DevOps release automation tool. It aids in ensuring that just suitable content is delivered at the proper timeframe. It facilitates cost reduction, improves time to market, and lowers risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you mean by artifacts?
Artifacts in DevOps are by-products produced during the complete process of software development. For easy access by team members engaged in the development and deployment processes, artifacts should be stored in an artifact repository.
What is an artifact repository?
Build artifacts created during various DevOps phases are stored in an artifact repository. It is also known as "artifact manager." The system is a centralised repository for managing and storing software artifacts. It makes artifacts accessible for testing, staging, and production settings.
What distinguishes a package from an artifact?
Packages are a single archive file with a specific format. In contrast, artifacts are a collection of outputs produced throughout the development and deployment process. Artifact might include packages along with other files.
Conclusion
In this article, we extensively discussed Artifacts in DevOps. They provide a link across various DevOps lifecycle phases, making moving code and configurations from a single setup to another easier.
We hope this article helps you. To read more about artifacts, you can visit more articles.
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