Blue-green vs. progressive delivery: Choosing a deployment strategy
Blue-green deployment is a software release strategy where two identical production environments, blue and green, are maintained simultaneously, with one serving live traffic while the other is updated with new code. Progressive delivery, on the other hand, is a set of practices that allow for the gradual release of new features or updates to a subset of users before rolling them out to the entire user base. Both blue-green and progressive delivery aim to reduce the risk associated with deploying new code by allowing for easy rollback in case of issues, but blue-green deployment involves swapping entire environments while progressive delivery focuses on gradually rolling out changes to users.
About the blue-green deployment strategy
Blue-green deployment is a software deployment strategy where two identical production environments, blue and green, are maintained simultaneously. This allows for seamless updates and rollbacks without downtime, as traffic can be switched between the two environments.
In this strategy, updates are first deployed to the green environment while the blue environment continues to handle production traffic. Once the green environment is verified to be functioning correctly, traffic is switched to it, making it the new production environment. This approach minimizes risk and ensures a smooth deployment process.
Advantages of the blue-green deployment strategy
- Reduced downtime: Blue-green deployment allows for seamless updates without any downtime, as the new version is deployed alongside the existing version.
- Easy rollback: If any issues arise with the new version, it is simple to switch back to the previous version by directing traffic back to the blue environment.
Disadvantages of the blue-green deployment strategy
- Increased resource usage: Running two identical environments simultaneously can lead to higher resource usage and increased costs.
- Complexity: Managing two separate environments can add complexity to the deployment process and require additional monitoring and maintenance.
About the progressive delivery deployment strategy
Progressive delivery is a deployment strategy in software development that involves gradually rolling out new features or updates to a small subset of users before making them available to everyone. This allows developers to test the changes in a real-world environment and gather feedback before fully releasing them.
By using progressive delivery, developers can mitigate the risk of introducing bugs or issues that could impact all users at once. It also allows for more controlled and efficient deployment of updates, ensuring a smoother transition for users and minimizing disruption to the overall system.
Advantages of the progressive delivery deployment strategy
- Allows for gradual release of new features to a subset of users, reducing the impact of potential bugs or issues.
- Enables teams to gather feedback from real users in a controlled environment before rolling out changes to the entire user base.
Disadvantages of the progressive delivery deployment strategy
- Requires additional planning and coordination to manage different stages of deployment.
- May result in increased complexity in the deployment process, especially for larger projects with multiple features being released simultaneously.
Choosing between blue-green and progressive delivery strategies
| Blue-Green Deployment | Progressive Delivery | |
|---|---|---|
| Reliability | Provides high reliability by having two identical production environments and switching between them. | Offers high reliability by gradually rolling out changes to a small subset of users before full deployment. |
| Cost | Can be more costly due to the need for duplicate infrastructure for both blue and green environments. | Generally more cost-effective as it allows for smaller, incremental updates without the need for duplicate environments. |
| Complexity | Can be more complex to set up and manage due to the need for synchronized blue and green environments. | Can be simpler to implement and maintain as changes are rolled out gradually and can be easily monitored and controlled. |
| Speed | Deployment speed can be slower as it involves switching between two environments during deployment. | Deployment speed can be faster as changes are released incrementally and can be quickly rolled back if issues arise. |
The Unleash approach to feature flags
Feature flags enable development teams to manage features in a dynamic, flexible, and controlled manner.
Unleash is a secure, enterprise feature management platform available as open source or as monthly service. Choose your preferred deployment and get started in minutes.
