CI/CD Implementation for an E-commerce Platform and an Enterprise Web Application.
Challenge
Significant deployment challenges arose for both an e-commerce platform and an enterprise web application:
Extended Deployment Time: Deployments took 15-20 minutes, leading to significant application downtime.
Operational Downtime: During deployments, the application was non-functional, affecting user experience.
Solution
Backend CI/CD Process.
To address the backend challenges, we implemented a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions. Developers push code to designated branches, triggering a GitHub action defined by a YAML file. This action builds a Docker image from the code, which is then pushed to the Azure Container Registry (ACR). A webhook from ACR triggers the deployment of the updated Docker image to Azure Webapps, ensuring that the latest code changes are automatically live and verifiable.
Frontend CI/CD Process.
For the Dashboard of the E-commerce Platform:
The frontend application is deployed on Azure Static Web Apps.
A CI/CD pipeline utilizing GitHub Actions was established. When developers push code to the relevant branch, a GitHub Action defined by a YAML file is triggered.
This pipeline builds the frontend application and deploys it directly to Azure Static Web Apps, leveraging its built-in CI/CD capabilities for hosting static web applications.
For the Shopping Site/ Enterprise Web Application:
The frontend application is hosted on Vercel, chosen for its superior performance compared to other cloud service providers.
Vercel, being a cloud partner of the company that developed Next.js, automatically picks up the latest changes on push and deploys them, ensuring efficient and rapid updates.
Benefits
Reduced Deployment Time: From 15 - 20 minutes to 2 - 3 minutes (85% - 90% reduction).
Minimized Downtime: Application downtime during deployment was drastically reduced, enhancing user experience.
Enhanced Stability: Shifted the React.js on Azure and Next.js on Vercel for frontend ensuring stable and efficient deployments.
Resource Efficiency: Automated processes eliminated the need for dedicated deployment resources.
Increased Deployment Frequency: Enabled frequent and reliable deployments on each code push, improving development agility.
Implementing this CI/CD solution streamlined the development and deployment processes for both the e-commerce platform and the enterprise web application, ensuring rapid, reliable, and scalable updates with minimal downtime.