CD - Making it work with Windows and .NET

Co-Presented with Matthew Skelton (http://twitter.com/matthewpskelton).

Video: https://vimeo.com/157086224/

The technologies and approaches for Continuous Delivery are essentially identical across different operating systems, but some things need special treatment for Windows and .NET. When Jez Humble and Dave Farley published their groundbreaking book 'Continuous Delivery' in 2010, many of the tools described were either nonexistent on the Windows platform or did not support the rich automation capabilities they do now.

This talk aims to encourage many more teams working with Windows and .NET to adopt Continuous Delivery by sharing real-world success stories of organisations using Windows and .NET for Continuous Delivery; the speakers share their first-hand experience in different organisations and also explore some case studies from the new O'Reilly eBook 'Continuous Delivery with Windows and .NET'.

Given at London CD Meetup 23rd February 2016:
http://www.meetup.com/London-Continuous-Delivery/events/226590567/

Transcript

1. CDwithWindows.net
   Continuous Delivery
   making it work with Windows and .NET
   Chris O’Dell and Matthew Skelton
   

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2. CDwithWindows.net
   why a special focus for .NET?
   some case studies
   recommendations
   (download the book!)
   

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3. CDwithWindows.net
   Continuous Delivery
   with Windows and .NET
   Chris O’Dell and Matthew Skelton
   O’Reilly, February 2016
   FREE via CDwithWindows.net
   

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4. CDwithWindows.net
   Chris O’Dell
   .NET wunderkind
   @ChrisAnnODell
   who
   Matthew Skelton
   grouchy build monkey
   @matthewpskelton
   

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5. CDwithWindows.net
   Why a special focus for .NET?
   

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6. CDwithWindows.net
   Windows/.NET around 2010
   ● No native Package Management
   ● Very limited automation
   ● Point and click configuration
   ● Monolithic configuration (SCCM etc.)
   

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7. CDwithWindows.net
   

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8. CDwithWindows.net
   Windows/.NET in 2016
   ● PowerShell APIs for all MS products
   ● NuGet, Chocolatey, OneGet, …
   ● 1st-class Git experience on Windows
   ● Native Windows/.NET support in Chef,
   Puppet, Ansible + DSC
   

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9. CDwithWindows.net
   

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10. CDwithWindows.net
    Some case studies
    

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11. CDwithWindows.net
    

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15. CDwithWindows.net
    

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16. CDwithWindows.net
    Soundbites from
    ● Focus on flow
    ● Avoid complex branching strategies
    ● Aim to push work out to consumers asap
    ● Favour fast recovery
    

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17. CDwithWindows.net
    CDwithWindows.net
    

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18. CDwithWindows.net
    

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19. CDwithWindows.net
    

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20. CDwithWindows.net
    

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22. CDwithWindows.net
    

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23. CDwithWindows.net
    

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24. CDwithWindows.net
    Takeaways from
    ● Collect metrics from your live systems
    ● Make them effective for issue resolution
    ● Too much unstructured data can be blinding
    ● Help your future selves pinpoint issues quickly and
    easily
    ● Continually review and revise effectiveness of
    existing dashboards
    

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25. CDwithWindows.net
    

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26. CDwithWindows.net
    Thanks: Owain Perry
    

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27. CDwithWindows.net
    Parting gifts from
    ● Git on Windows works very well
    ● Chef on Windows works very well
    ● GoCD on Windows works very well
    ● Github + TeamCity + GoCD == awesomeness
    ● At web scale, SaaS logging tools cost $$$, so
    invest in internal ELK at the right time
    

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28. CDwithWindows.net
    

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31. CDwithWindows.net
    Discoveries from
    ● Installation experience is a feature
    ● Chocolatey is still a bit ropey for client-facing
    systems (use MSIs)
    ● Split the codebase along domain boundaries
    ● Detect configuration drift
    ● Add metrics and logging somehow
    

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32. CDwithWindows.net
    Recommendations
    

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33. CDwithWindows.net
    Recommendations
    ● Focus on continual flow of changes
    ● Collect effective metrics from live
    systems
    ● Branch code with caution!
    

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34. CDwithWindows.net
    

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35. CDwithWindows.net
    Recommendations
    ● Use Git (not Svn / TFVC)
    ● Immutable infra with Windows 40GB
    VMs is difficult (impossible?)
    

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36. CDwithWindows.net
    

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37. CDwithWindows.net
    Recommendations
    ● Use NuGet for internal dependencies
    ● Use a proper artifact repository:
    Artifactory, Nexus, …
    ● Solution (.sln) / Project (.csproj)
    structure affects buildability - restructure
    

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38. CDwithWindows.net
    

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39. CDwithWindows.net
    Recommendations
    ● Automate DB changes: Redgate /
    Fluent / Flyway …
    ● DB ownership gets tricky: Dev vs DBA
    ● Patch mgt: test in upstream envs
    

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40. CDwithWindows.net
    

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41. CDwithWindows.net
    Recommendations
    ● Devolved AD administration with
    automated domain join/leave
    ● Detect config drift: UpGuard / ...
    ● Make friends with Linux for best tooling!
    

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42. CDwithWindows.net
    

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43. CDwithWindows.net
    Continuous
    Delivery with
    Windows and .NET
    is completely
    possible in 2016
    

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44. CDwithWindows.net
    Continuous Delivery
    with Windows and .NET
    Chris O’Dell and Matthew Skelton
    O’Reilly, February 2016
    FREE via CDwithWindows.net
    

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45. CDwithWindows.net
    thanks
    Dave Farley for the Foreword
    O’Reilly Editors:
    Brian Anderson and Kristen Brown
    Case Studies:
    ● Andy Lole at Carnect
    ● Paul Shannon at 7digital
    ● Steve Elliott at LateRooms.com
    ● Peter Mounce at JUST EAT
    ● Owain Perry at JustGiving
    ● John Esser and Russ Barnet at
    Ancestry.com
    

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