Abstract
The adoption of DevOps practices has become increasingly popular in recent years due to the need for faster and more efficient software development processes. This is particularly important in the context of digital transformation, where organisations need to deliver software faster to meet changing customer needs and stay competitive. However, the adoption of DevOps practices can be challenging, particularly in large organisations with complex software systems. Using open source tools can help address some of these challenges by providing a range of benefits including automation, collaboration, portability, and customisation. The study investigated how open source tools can help facilitate and improve DevOps practices in software development.
The theoretical framework was guided by the technology acceptance model (TAM), continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) software development practice. The methodology adopted for this study was a qualitative approach to shed light on how open source software may help with DevOps procedures. The target population for the study consisted of professionals involved in DevOps practices. Purposive sampling was used to select 12 participants. An interview guide was used in the data collection process. The findings revealed that modern software development approaches use DevOps practices. The findings emphasise the ongoing adaptation and integration of DevOps approaches to improve operational efficiency and reduce time-to-market. DevOps adoption is hindered by cultural changes in organisations. Forsgren et al. (2018) agree that organisational culture hinders DevOps deployment. The research found several open source technologies for DevOps, such as pipeline automation, continuous integration, real-time monitoring, and configuration management.
Participants praise the technologies of Docker, Kubernetes, and Ansible for improving DevOps procedures since these allow for process customisation and optimisation, which are crucial for DevOps success. The versatility of these technologies lets companies customise DevOps to match operational needs. The benefits that were highlighted are cost-effectiveness, community creativity, and tool integration and customisation. These benefits come with drawbacks, such as the requirement for extensive in-house knowledge, security risks, and a lack of solid, quick assistance, which can slow problem resolution. Despite these drawbacks, open source technologies' cost and innovation advantages exceed them. The findings show that open source DevOps technologies increase operational efficiency, deployment cycles, and product quality.
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The interviews showed that open source tools increase deployment frequency and decrease change lead times.
The open source paradigm promotes continual improvement and quick invention which are essential for current software development agility. It is recommended that organisations should phase in open source DevOps solutions to reduce the risks of adopting any new technology. Incremental integration helps uncover possible concerns in smaller, controllable areas rather than causing broad disruption in the case of failure. One of the key implications of this study was the recognition that open source technologies have become an integral part of the DevOps ecosystem.