patternMinor
Does full automation still provide a better ROI at small scales?
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fullprovideautomationbetterroismalldoesstillscales
Problem
Obviously, Automated configuration management and deployment makes sense at large scales when you need to manage hundreds of servers and you need those servers to be identically configured to a consistent standard.
However, in situations where systems are small and need only 2, 3 or 4 servers, it can often be faster in build time to simply stand up a first instance and clone subsequent instances - changing IP addresses and hostnames by hand.
The theoretical advantage to automated deployment and configuration management is that code can be deployed faster, tested faster and services are provided more reliably by automating out the problem of human error. Future upgrades of the underlying OS (eg, CentOS 6 -> CentOS 7) are better/faster and in the long run the above benefits outweigh the initial larger investment of programmatically automating deployments using a configuration management system?
Are there any real-world non-anecdotal studies and data-points to back each of the above claimed benefits to small shops with very low numbers of servers to manage?
However, in situations where systems are small and need only 2, 3 or 4 servers, it can often be faster in build time to simply stand up a first instance and clone subsequent instances - changing IP addresses and hostnames by hand.
The theoretical advantage to automated deployment and configuration management is that code can be deployed faster, tested faster and services are provided more reliably by automating out the problem of human error. Future upgrades of the underlying OS (eg, CentOS 6 -> CentOS 7) are better/faster and in the long run the above benefits outweigh the initial larger investment of programmatically automating deployments using a configuration management system?
Are there any real-world non-anecdotal studies and data-points to back each of the above claimed benefits to small shops with very low numbers of servers to manage?
Solution
There is definite value in automating manual tasks and placing systems under configuration management that is done using code, not using paper and human intervention.
One huge benefit is the reduction in the amount of rework. You can consider any problem caused by a human mistake in repeating the same sequence a case of rework. As well as any bug that needs to be fixed more than once.
Rework is costly, and there has been some research done to quantify its cost. You can read about it in this whitepaper - https://devops-research.com/roi/
The same whitepaper also quantifies the cost of failure for services/systems, and the slowness to resolve failure. All of which are greatly reduced by having a robust automated process that prevents human mistakes from ending up in production systems.
The topic of automating manual tasks has been also investigated in the State of DevOps Report that has been issued every year since 2013. Most of these are available at https://devops-research.com/research.html as well (with the exception of 2013). In every report it was mentioned as the biggest driver for excellence in high-performing organizations of all sizes. There are plenty of reasons and explanations that can be used as proof for your case.
One huge benefit is the reduction in the amount of rework. You can consider any problem caused by a human mistake in repeating the same sequence a case of rework. As well as any bug that needs to be fixed more than once.
Rework is costly, and there has been some research done to quantify its cost. You can read about it in this whitepaper - https://devops-research.com/roi/
The same whitepaper also quantifies the cost of failure for services/systems, and the slowness to resolve failure. All of which are greatly reduced by having a robust automated process that prevents human mistakes from ending up in production systems.
The topic of automating manual tasks has been also investigated in the State of DevOps Report that has been issued every year since 2013. Most of these are available at https://devops-research.com/research.html as well (with the exception of 2013). In every report it was mentioned as the biggest driver for excellence in high-performing organizations of all sizes. There are plenty of reasons and explanations that can be used as proof for your case.
Context
StackExchange DevOps Q#1364, answer score: 8
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