The DevOps methodology integrates development and operations so that system changes can get rolled out quickly without causing unplanned downtime. Industrial organizations that successfully implement DevOps will have a strong advantage, but knowing how to get started can be a real challenge.

2. Co-Presenter
Speakers
Kent Melville
Sales Engineering
Manager,
Inductive Automation
Mark French
Director of
Operations,
Sepasoft
Ryan Crownover
Integration Manager,
Vertech

3. • Unlimited licensing model
• Cross-platform compatibility
• Based on IT-standard technologies
• Scalable server-client architecture
• Web-based & web-managed
• Web-deployed designer & clients
• Modular configurability
• Rapid development & deployment
Ignition: Industrial Application Platform
One Universal Platform for HMI, SCADA, MES & IIoT:

4. Agenda
• Introduction to Ignition
• Why DevOps?
• Story: The Problem and The Solution
• Live Demo
• Conclusion
• Audience Q&A

5. Legacy Approaches
● Waterfall
● Agile without Operations testing and feedback
● These approaches can provide good outcomes,
but typically at higher cost, reduced feature-
sets, and longer delivery times.
Why DevOps?

6. Development and Operations Together - DevOps
● Personnel
○ Involving Operations in Testing
○ Environment replicating production
● Technical
○ Scripting/automating the chain of code handling from
development through production monitoring
Why DevOps?

7. Currently a hot topic in software engineering
● Process approach driven by end-user needs
● Logical next step from agile development approach
● Results in a more stable software environment
while delivering features needed by end-users
Why DevOps?

8. The Ignition Platform can support and thrive within a DevOps framework.
● Flexibility of the Ignition platform, such as integrating
directly with Git, and the variety of host systems,
allows integration with DevOps tools and modeling
of production environments in a DevOps framework.
Why DevOps?

9. Change Management
● Provides a framework for deploying code through test to production
○ First by isolating development and test from production
○ Documenting movement of code between environments
○ Providing review opportunities between each environment
to ensure change management policies
Why Use DevOps Practices?

10. Rigorous Testing of Deployment Procedures
● Deployment is a common failure point
○ “It worked in test”
● A specific scenario can be tested repeatedly until
stakeholders have assurance production
deployment will be successful
● Ensure proper deployment procedures (such as
backups) are performed every time
Why Use DevOps Practices?

11. Ideal to work with a Certified Integration Partner
● Integrators have skill set with DevOps tools
● Leverage the experience from several projects
● Typically shorter-term projects
Why Use DevOps Practices?

12. Developer “Dave” is tasked with improving their existing Ignition solution.
● He is asked to create a new screen to allow the user to create manual alerts
that will send SMS messages to a specified roster.
Story: The Problem 1

13. ● Dave builds, tests, and deploys the new Alarm Notification Pipeline with an
accompanying alert view and updated navigation.
● He sends out a test message to a small roster and heads home for the day.
Story: The Problem 2

14. ● Dave wakes up the next morning to chaos. The production line is down and
the SCADA screen needed to reset the faults has disappeared!
Story: The Problem 3

15. ● Unfortunately, this story is very common in our industry and the solutions are
not always this simple. The bug could have easily caused any of the following
worse outcomes:
○ Producing non-conforming product that goes unnoticed for hours or even days.
○ Preventing critical sensor measurements from being recorded that are necessary for product
certification.
○ Sending erroneous data to the ERP that is still valid, causing wildly incorrect financials.
Story: The Problem 4

16. DevOps changes everything:
● Just one of the following DevOps practices would have prevented this situation:
○ Only releasing/modifying code to production through a controlled process.
○ Having a library of regression testing to be executed in a Test or Staging environment.
○ Properly implemented version control.
Story: The Solution

17. Demo

18. What did we just see?
● Multiple Environments
○ Dev - The only place you make changes (the only place you open the designer).
○ Test - A safe place to see how your changes affect the whole system.
○ Staging - A final validation as close to the production environment as possible.
○ Production - A system that is not touched outside of the controlled process.
● Source Control
○ Integrated version control allows for easy visibility of changes
● Deployment Processes
○ DevOps tools give you a standard way to migrate changes between environments.
○ Self-Documenting Pipelines provide simplified traceability.
○ Eliminates the manual steps prone to user error (project exports, gateway backups, etc.).
○ Minimizes downtime and operational risk.
Recap

19. Conclusion
In turn, this allows for:
● Flexible priorities
● Rapid turnaround times
● Coordination of multiple developers
● Minimum downtime risk
● Minimum operational risk
DevOps provides the structure for:
● Multiple Environments (Tiers)
● Source Control
● Isolated Development
● Deployment Processes
● Continuous Integration
● Delivery (CI/CD)

20. Ready for the Next Step?
Schedule a free design consultation with
Vertech:
http://www.calendly.com/vertech/devops

22. Join us for the 2021 Ignition Community Conference
on September 21 & 22!
● Keynote
● Developer Panel
● Discover Gallery
● Build-A-Thon
● Community Sessions
● Industry & Integrator Panels
● Interactive video chat platform
● Register for free at: icc.inductiveautomation.com