DevOps & Automation

CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) is a specific practice within DevOps. DevOps is a broader culture and set of practices that includes CI/CD, infrastructure automation, monitoring, security, and collaboration. CI/CD focuses on automating code integration and deployment, while DevOps encompasses the entire software development lifecycle.

GitHub Actions is best for projects already on GitHub—easy setup, great integration, free for public repos. GitLab CI is excellent if you use GitLab, with built-in container registry. Jenkins is powerful for complex enterprise needs but requires more maintenance. For most modern projects, we recommend GitHub Actions (simple) or GitLab CI (feature-rich). Jenkins for legacy or highly customized needs.

Docker alone is sufficient for small projects and single-server deployments. Kubernetes becomes necessary when you need: auto-scaling, high availability across multiple servers, zero-downtime deployments, or managing many microservices. For startups and small teams, Docker + Docker Compose is often enough. For production-scale apps with traffic spikes, Kubernetes is worth the complexity.

Cloud costs vary widely based on traffic and usage. Small projects: Pricing varies based on complexity. /month (basic EC2/VM with database). Medium projects: Pricing varies based on complexity. /month (Kubernetes cluster, managed services). Large scale: Pricing varies for multi-region deployments. availability). We help optimize costs through right-sizing, reserved instances, and auto-scaling.

Basic CI/CD setup: 1-2 weeks. Standard pipeline with Docker and multi-environment: 3-4 weeks. Advanced Kubernetes with full automation: 6-8 weeks. Enterprise multi-cloud: 8-12 weeks. Timeline depends on existing infrastructure complexity and team availability. We work in phases so you see value quickly.

You own everything. We work within your AWS/Azure/GCP accounts using temporary access. You pay cloud bills directly to providers and retain full control. We provide Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/Ansible) so your entire setup is documented and reproducible. After handover, you can manage it yourself or hire us for ongoing support.

For most teams: Prometheus (metrics) + Grafana (dashboards) is free and powerful. For startups wanting simplicity: Datadog (paid, all-in-one). For logs: ELK Stack (free) or CloudWatch/Azure Monitor (built-in). For application monitoring: New Relic or Datadog APM. We typically start with Prometheus + Grafana for cost-effectiveness and flexibility.

We can do both! Many clients come to us with existing infrastructure running manually (no automation) or with partial automation. We audit current setup, identify improvements, and gradually migrate to proper DevOps practices without breaking existing systems. Migration is often safer than starting from scratch.

DevOps includes security from the start (DevSecOps). We implement: secrets management (HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager), vulnerability scanning in pipelines, infrastructure security hardening, compliance checks (SOC2, HIPAA, GDPR), and audit logging. Security scanning is an add-on, but basic security best practices are included in all packages.

30 days of free support included post-setup. After that, monthly Retainers and ongoing support available on request. pipeline maintenance, dependency updates, infrastructure changes, scaling adjustments, monitoring improvements, and incident response. Major infrastructure changes quoted separately.