Deployment Flow

Tutorial 3 of 4

Tutorial: Deployment Flow

1. Introduction

Goal of the Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will learn the basics of deploying a website, specifically one built with HTML. We will also explore how to automate the deployment process using a Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline.

What You Will Learn

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:
- Understand the basics of deployment.
- Set up and configure a CI/CD pipeline.
- Automate the deployment of an HTML website.

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge in:
- HTML
- Git
- Familiarity with CI/CD concepts

2. Step-by-Step Guide

Deployment in web development refers to the process of making a website or web application available to users. This process typically involves several stages: development, testing, staging, and production.

A CI/CD pipeline can automate these stages, leading to more efficient and reliable deployments. It does this by automatically building, testing, and deploying your code whenever you push changes to your repository.

Let's break down the steps:

Step 1: Write your website's HTML code and save it in a .html file. Commit and push this file to your Git repository.

Step 2: Set up a CI/CD pipeline. Many services offer this like Jenkins, Travis CI, and GitHub Actions. For this tutorial, we'll use GitHub Actions due to its integration with GitHub.

Step 3: In your repository, create a new file under .github/workflows, e.g., deploy.yml. This file will define your CI/CD pipeline.

Step 4: Define the pipeline in the deploy.yml. This involves specifying when the pipeline should run, what it should do (build, test, deploy), and where it should deploy to.

Tips: Always test your code thoroughly before deploying, and ensure your deployment target (server, hosting service, etc.) is properly configured.

3. Code Examples

Example 1: Basic HTML Code

<!-- index.html -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>My HTML Website</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to My Website</h1>
    <p>This is a simple HTML website.</p>
</body>
</html>

Example 2: CI/CD Pipeline using GitHub Actions

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deployment

on: [push]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
      uses: jamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action@4.1.1
      with:
        branch: gh-pages
        folder: .

This pipeline runs whenever you push code to your repository. It deploys your code to GitHub Pages, a hosting service provided by GitHub.

4. Summary

In this tutorial, we've learned the basics of deployment and how to automate this process using a CI/CD pipeline. We've also seen how to deploy an HTML website to GitHub Pages.

Next Steps

To further your learning, you might want to explore:
- Different CI/CD services like Jenkins and Travis CI.
- Deploying to different hosting services.
- Deploying more complex applications.

Additional Resources

5. Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Create a basic HTML website and deploy it to GitHub Pages.

Exercise 2: Set up a CI/CD pipeline that deploys your website whenever you push changes to the 'main' branch of your repository.

Tips: Use the GitHub Actions documentation to learn more about setting up CI/CD pipelines. Always remember to test your website and your pipeline thoroughly before deploying.