Deployment

Overview

Procedure for planning and executing reliable software deployments

Steps

Step 1: Pre-deployment preparation

Prepare for deployment before making any changes:

1. Verify artifact is tested and approved
2. Review changes being deployed (commits, migrations)
3. Check deployment prerequisites (dependencies, config)
4. Verify target environment is healthy
5. Confirm rollback procedure and verify it works
6. Notify stakeholders of deployment
7. Ensure team availability for monitoring

Step 2: Create deployment checkpoint

Establish a known-good state to roll back to:

1. Record current running version
2. Backup relevant data if needed
3. Save current configuration state
4. Verify backup/checkpoint is complete
5. Document checkpoint location and restore procedure

Step 3: Execute deployment

Deploy the artifact to target environment:

1. Initiate deployment (manual trigger or CI/CD)
2. Monitor deployment progress
3. Watch for errors or warnings
4. Wait for deployment to complete
5. Verify all instances updated
6. Execute database migrations if needed

Step 4: Run smoke tests

Verify basic functionality immediately after deployment:

1. Run automated smoke test suite
2. Verify critical endpoints respond
3. Check database connectivity
4. Verify external integrations work
5. Confirm key user flows function
6. Check application logs for errors

Step 5: Gradual traffic migration

Route traffic to new version progressively:

1. Start with small percentage (canary) or instant switch (blue-green)
2. Monitor error rates and latency
3. Check business metrics (conversions, etc.)
4. Gradually increase traffic to new version
5. Continue monitoring at each stage
6. Complete migration when confident

Step 6: Post-deployment verification

Comprehensive verification that deployment is successful:

1. Run full integration test suite
2. Verify all features function correctly
3. Check performance metrics against baseline
4. Review error rates and alerts
5. Confirm monitoring and alerting is active
6. Verify rollback capability still works

Step 7: Finalize or rollback

Complete deployment or execute rollback: If successful:

1. Mark deployment as complete
2. Update deployment records
3. Clean up old version (if blue-green)
4. Notify stakeholders of success
5. Archive deployment artifacts If issues:
6. Execute rollback procedure
7. Verify rollback successful
8. Notify stakeholders of rollback
9. Document issues for investigation
10. Plan remediation

When to Use

• Setting up CI/CD pipeline for a project
• Planning deployment strategy for new application
• Preparing to release new features to production
• Improving existing deployment process
• Implementing deployment automation
• Planning rollback procedures
• Deploying to multiple environments
• Managing production releases

Verification

• Deployment artifact matches what was tested
• All smoke tests pass
• Error rates within acceptable thresholds
• Performance metrics stable
• Rollback capability verified
• Stakeholders notified of outcome
• Deployment documented

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