Day 2 ops in K8s
In shifting "run" and incident management responsibilities to developers, the discussion has focused on so-called day 2 operations in the software lifecycle. Traditionally, day 2 operations focused on the maintenance, monitoring, and optimization of an application post-release. In cloud-native development, however, day 2 comes earlier in the cycle, and developers are increasingly responsible. A microservices architecture demands a faster and more complete feedback loop rather than a linear set of (waterfall-style) stages, which includes operational aspects.
Not only is a developer better placed to understand the big picture of the system at runtime, bringing day 2 operations into the development life cycle earlier facilitates earlier identification of and fixes for problems, mistakes, and errors before rolling out to production.
Automation is a key theme throughout the implementation of day 2 operations, and the topics of reliability, security, and observability plays a key role in developer-managed (Dev) operations (Ops).