Beginner Topics
1. Introduction to CI/CD Concepts
o What is CI/CD?
Definitions of Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and
Continuous Deployment
Key differences between CI, CD, and DevOps
Benefits of implementing CI/CD pipelines
o Understanding DevOps and Automation:
Overview of the DevOps culture and practices
Importance of automation in software development and delivery
o Basic CI/CD Workflow:
Source code management
Building the application
Testing and deployment
o Introduction to CI/CD Tools:
Overview of popular CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitLab CI, Travis CI,
CircleCI, etc.)
Choosing the right tool for your environment
2. Version Control Systems
o Introduction to Git:
Basic Git commands (clone, commit, push, pull, branch, merge)
Git branching strategies (GitFlow, Feature Branching, Trunk-based
Development)
Working with GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket
o Using Git in CI/CD Pipelines:
Automating code checkout and repository setup in CI pipelines
Integrating version control with CI/CD tools
3. CI/CD Tools Setup
o Jenkins Setup (or another tool, depending on preference):
Installing and configuring Jenkins
Introduction to Jenkins jobs, pipelines, and plugins
o Other CI/CD Tools:
Setting up GitLab CI, CircleCI, or Travis CI for building pipelines
Understanding how different tools handle pipelines
o Basic Pipeline Creation:
Creating a simple pipeline to build, test, and deploy an application
Understanding build triggers (manual vs automatic on push or pull
request)
Intermediate Topics
1. Pipeline as Code
o Declarative Pipelines:
Writing declarative pipeline scripts using Jenkinsfile, .gitlab-ci.yml
for GitLab, or CircleCI config files
Creating stages, steps, and jobs in pipelines
Managing multi-branch pipelines for different environments
(development, testing, production)
o Scripted Pipelines:
Understanding the difference between declarative and scripted
pipelines (Jenkins)
Writing and managing scripted pipelines for custom workflows
o Parallel Execution:
Running multiple jobs or stages in parallel to speed up the pipeline
2. Build Automation Tools
o Maven/Gradle/Ant for Java:
Automating builds using Maven or Gradle for Java projects
Understanding how these tools integrate into CI/CD pipelines
o npm for JavaScript:
Automating JavaScript builds and dependencies using npm
Creating pipelines for Node.js and frontend applications
o Docker Integration:
Introduction to Docker containers and images
Building and pushing Docker images in the CI pipeline
Using Docker for environment consistency across CI and production
Docker Compose for managing multi-container applications
3. Continuous Testing in CI/CD
o Unit Testing in Pipelines:
Automating unit tests in the CI/CD process
Running tests as part of the build step
Common testing tools (JUnit, NUnit, pytest, Jest, etc.)
o Integration Testing:
Running integration tests in a CI/CD environment
Mocking services or databases for integration tests
o Code Coverage:
Integrating code coverage tools (JaCoCo, Cobertura) into the pipeline
Enforcing quality gates for code coverage
o Static Code Analysis:
Integrating static code analysis tools like SonarQube to maintain code
quality
Configuring pipelines to fail on specific code quality issues
4. Continuous Deployment (CD)
o Automating Deployments:
Deploying applications automatically to development, testing, and
production environments
Tools for deployment automation (Kubernetes, AWS CodeDeploy,
Ansible)
o Feature Flagging:
Using feature flags for safer deployments
Gradual rollout of features using CI/CD pipelines
o Blue-Green & Canary Deployments:
Implementing safe deployment strategies to minimize downtime
Automating traffic routing during deployments
o Rolling Back Deployments:
Implementing rollback mechanisms for failed deployments
Advanced Topics
1. Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
o Introduction to IaC:
Understanding Infrastructure as Code and its role in CI/CD
o Terraform:
Writing Terraform scripts to define cloud infrastructure
Using Terraform with CI/CD pipelines to provision and manage
infrastructure
o AWS CloudFormation:
Automating AWS infrastructure with CloudFormation templates
Integrating CloudFormation with CI/CD tools
o Configuration Management:
Automating infrastructure configuration using tools like Ansible,
Puppet, or Chef
2. Kubernetes for CI/CD
o Introduction to Kubernetes:
Understanding Kubernetes for container orchestration
Basic Kubernetes objects (Pods, Services, Deployments, etc.)
o CI/CD with Kubernetes:
Building and deploying containerized applications to Kubernetes
clusters
Automating deployments using Kubernetes manifests and Helm charts
Configuring pipelines to deploy to Kubernetes clusters
o Service Mesh (Istio/Linkerd):
Managing microservices in Kubernetes with service mesh
Automating deployments with traffic routing in a service mesh
3. Advanced Pipeline Topics
o Pipeline Caching:
Using caching in pipelines to speed up builds (e.g., Maven
dependencies, npm packages)
o Secrets Management:
Handling sensitive information (API keys, credentials) in CI/CD
pipelines
Using vaults or secret management tools (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, AWS
Secrets Manager)
o Pipeline Notifications:
Integrating notifications (Slack, Email, etc.) to get alerts on pipeline
status
o Multi-Environment Pipelines:
Implementing pipelines to handle multiple environments (dev, staging,
prod) with approval gates
4. Security and Compliance
o Security in CI/CD:
Integrating security checks into pipelines (Static Application Security
Testing - SAST)
Using tools like OWASP ZAP, AquaSec, or Snyk for vulnerability
scanning
o Compliance in CI/CD:
Ensuring compliance with industry standards (e.g., GDPR, SOC2) in
pipelines
Audit trails and traceability using CI/CD tools
5. Advanced Monitoring and Observability
o CI/CD Monitoring:
Monitoring pipelines for failures and bottlenecks
Tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and ELK Stack for pipeline
observability
o Application Monitoring:
Implementing logging and monitoring for deployed applications
Monitoring the performance and stability of apps after deployment
Proficiency Topics (Optional but Useful)
1. CI/CD with Cloud Providers
o AWS CI/CD Tools:
Using AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy for building
CI/CD pipelines
o Azure DevOps:
Implementing CI/CD pipelines using Azure Pipelines
Integrating Azure Repos, Pipelines, and Kubernetes Services
o Google Cloud Build:
Setting up pipelines with Google Cloud Build for GCP environments
2. Containerization and Microservices in CI/CD
o Microservices Pipelines:
Automating testing and deployments for microservice architectures
Handling inter-service dependencies in pipelines
o Docker Swarm/Compose:
Building pipelines with Docker Swarm or Docker Compose for
microservices
o Microservices Communication Testing:
Testing microservices communication as part of the pipeline
3. CI/CD Best Practices
o Optimizing pipeline performance
o Minimizing build times by parallelizing jobs
o Enforcing pull request reviews and small, atomic commits
o Continuous feedback loops to ensure fast recovery and iterations
Hands-On Projects
1. Build and Deploy Web Application
o Build a complete CI/CD pipeline to automate the testing, building, and
deployment of a web application (e.g., React/Angular + Node.js)
o Use Docker to containerize the application and deploy it to a cloud
environment
2. CI/CD with Kubernetes
o Set up a CI/CD pipeline to deploy a containerized application to a Kubernetes
cluster
o Implement Blue-Green or Canary deployment strategy
3. End-to-End Automation with Terraform
o Write a pipeline that provisions infrastructure using Terraform and deploys an
application on it
o Manage the lifecycle of both infrastructure and application within the pipeline
