Git & GitHub

Git & GitHub for DevOps and Cloud Engineers

Introduction to Git & GitHub

Git is a distributed version control system (DVCS) that helps developers and engineers track changes in their code, collaborate efficiently, and manage project history. GitHub is a cloud-based platform that hosts Git repositories, providing additional collaboration features like pull requests, issue tracking, and CI/CD integrations.

For DevOps and Cloud Engineers, mastering Git and GitHub is essential for:

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) (Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation)

• CI/CD Pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)

• Collaboration across development and operations teams

• Version control for configuration files, scripts, and deployment manifests

Key Git Concepts

1. Version Control Basics

•  Repository (Repo): A project folder tracked by Git.

•  Commit: A snapshot of changes with a unique hash.

•  Branch: A parallel version of the code (e.g., main, dev, feature-branch).

•  Merge: Combining changes from different branches.

•  Pull Request (PR) / Merge Request (MR): A request to merge changes (used in GitHub/GitLab).

2. Essential Git Commands

# Initialize a new Git repo

git init

# Clone an existing repo

git clone <repo-url>

# Check status of changes

git status

# Stage changes for commit

git add <file>  # or `git add .` for all files

# Commit changes with a message

git commit -m "Description of changes"

# Push changes to a remote repo (GitHub/GitLab)

git push origin <branch-name>

# Pull latest changes from remote

git pull origin <branch-name>

# Create & switch to a new branch

git checkout -b <branch-name>

# Merge a branch into current branch

git merge <branch-name>

GitHub for DevOps & Cloud Workflows

1. Collaboration Features

•  Pull Requests (PRs): Review and discuss code changes before merging.

• Issues: Track bugs, enhancements, and tasks.

• Projects: Kanban-style task management.

• Actions: Automate CI/CD workflows (build, test, deploy).

2. Managing Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

• Store Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes manifests in GitHub.

• Use branch protection rules to enforce code reviews.

• Automate deployments using GitHub Actions.

3. CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Example workflow for deploying a cloud resource (AWS/Azure/GCP):

name: Deploy Terraform

on: [push]

jobs:

  deploy:

runs-on: ubuntu-latest

steps:

   - uses: actions/checkout@v4

   - name: Terraform Apply

     run: |

          terraform init

          terraform plan

          terraform apply -auto-approve

Best Practices for DevOps Engineers

1.     Branching Strategy: Use main for production, dev for staging, and feature branches.

2.    Commit Messages: Follow a convention (e.g., feat:, fix:, chore:).

3.    Git Ignore: Exclude unnecessary files (.terraform/, .env).

4.    Security: Use GitHub Secrets for sensitive data (API keys, passwords).

5.    Code Reviews: Enforce PR reviews before merging.