In this chapter, we introduced the CD process starting from the idea, and discussed the prerequisites, to end up with tools that are used in the rest of this book. The key takeaway from this chapter is as follows: the delivery process currently used in most companies has significant shortcomings and can be improved using modern automation tools. The CD approach provides a number of benefits, of which the most significant ones are fast delivery, fast feedback cycle, and low-risk releases. The CD pipeline consists of three stages: CI, automated acceptance testing, and configuration management. Introducing CD usually requires a change in the organization's culture and structure. The most important tools in the context of CD are Docker, Jenkins, and Ansible.
In the next chapter, we'll introduce Docker and show you how to build a dockerized application.
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