The document discusses the essential skills and knowledge required for release engineers in the context of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), emphasizing the importance of reliable and automated release processes. It highlights Google's approach to release engineering, which includes self-service models, high-velocity releases, and hermetic builds to ensure consistency and repeatability. Additionally, it underlines the need for effective policies and procedures in managing source code changes and release deployments.

1. SRE Demystified
Release Management - 1
ganesh@ganeshniyer.com
ganesh.vigneswara@gmail.com,
http://ganeshniyer.com
Dr Ganesh Neelakanta Iyer

2. SRE
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2https://image.slidesharecdn.com/devopssreatgooglescale-190121123035/95/devops-sre-at-google-scale-30-638.jpg?cb=1548074257

3. What should a Release Engineer know?
• Release engineers have a solid (if not expert) understanding of
• Source code management,
• Compilers,
• Build configuration languages,
• Automated build tools,
• Package managers
• Installers
• Their skill set includes deep knowledge of multiple domains:
development, configuration management, test integration, system
administration, and customer support.
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4. Release Engineering and SRE
• Running reliable services requires reliable release
processes
• SREs need to know that the binaries and configurations
they use are built in a reproducible, automated way so
that releases are repeatable and aren’t “unique
snowflakes”
• Changes to any aspect of the release process should be
intentional, rather than accidental
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5. Data-driven Release Engineering
• Tools that report on a host of metrics, such as
• How much time it takes for a code change to be
deployed into production (in other words, release
velocity) and
• Statistics on what features are being used in build
configuration files
• Release engineers define best practices for using our tools
in order to make sure projects are released using
consistent and repeatable methodologies
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6. Google’s Philosophy
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Self-Service Model High Velocity
Hermetic Builds
Enforcement of Policies
and Procedures

7. Self-service model
• In order to work at scale,
teams must be self-sufficient
• Release engineering has
developed best practices and
tools that allow our product
development teams to control
and run their own release
processes
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https://freshdesk.com/self-service

8. High Velocity
• Frequent releases result in
fewer changes between
versions
• This approach makes testing
and troubleshooting easier
8
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076145/mediaviewer/rm4231005696

9. Hermetic Builds
• Build tools must allow us to ensure consistency and
repeatability
• Hermetic builds are insensitive to the libraries and other
software installed on the build machine
• Instead, builds depend on known versions of build tools,
such as compilers, and dependencies, such as libraries
• The build process is self-contained and must not rely on
services that are external to the build environment
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10. Enforcement of Policies and Procedures
• Approving source code changes
• Specifying the actions to be performed during the release
process
• Creating a new release
• Approving the initial integration proposal and subsequent
cherry picks
• Deploying a new release
• Making changes to a project’s build configuration
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11. References
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12. Dr Ganesh Neelakanta Iyer
ganesh@ganeshniyer.com
ganesh.vigneswara@gmail.com