SRE — How to Manage Multi-Environment Configuration in Continuous Delivery

Previously, we discussed code configuration and application configuration in software. The biggest difference between the two lies in whether they are environment-specific. This brings us to the most complex issue in the continuous delivery process: environment configuration management — or more precisely, application configuration management across different environments.

Multiple Environments

Let’s first provide a brief overview of environments from the perspective of their lifecycle, which mainly includes:

• Development Environment: Primarily used during or after application or software development. Developers perform unit testing, integration testing, and basic business functionality validation on the code they implement.
• Integration Environment: After developers complete the code and pass self-validation, the application is deployed to this environment. Testers then ensure that the business functionality works and that the entire business process flows correctly.
• Pre-Production Environment: This environment is used to validate the application with real production-like data but without handling any live traffic. It’s a crucial step before the final release.
• Beta Environment…