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Deployment Best Practices

Comprehensive guidelines for deploying applications safely and efficiently.

Overview​

Deployment best practices ensure reliable, secure, and efficient application releases with minimal downtime and risk.

Purpose: Safe and efficient deployments
Owner: DevOps & Development Teams

Core Deployment Principles​

Deployment Fundamentals​

  1. Automate Everything: Automated deployments reduce errors
  2. Test Thoroughly: Test before deploying
  3. Deploy Incrementally: Gradual rollouts reduce risk
  4. Monitor Continuously: Watch for issues
  5. Rollback Ready: Always have rollback plan
  6. Document Everything: Clear deployment documentation

Pre-Deployment​

Preparation Checklist​

Code Ready:

  • All tests passing
  • Code reviewed
  • No known bugs
  • Dependencies updated
  • Security scanned

Environment Ready:

  • Staging tested
  • Database migrations ready
  • Environment variables set
  • SSL certificates valid
  • DNS configured

Team Ready:

  • Deployment plan reviewed
  • Team notified
  • Rollback plan ready
  • Monitoring configured
  • Support team briefed

Deployment Strategies​

Blue-Green Deployment​

Process:

  1. Deploy to green environment
  2. Test green environment
  3. Switch traffic to green
  4. Keep blue as backup

Advantages:

  • Zero downtime
  • Easy rollback
  • Full testing before switch

Canary Deployment​

Process:

  1. Deploy to small subset (5-10%)
  2. Monitor metrics
  3. Gradually increase traffic
  4. Full rollout if successful

Advantages:

  • Reduced risk
  • Early issue detection
  • Gradual rollout

Rolling Deployment​

Process:

  1. Deploy to one server
  2. Test and monitor
  3. Deploy to next server
  4. Repeat until complete

Advantages:

  • No downtime
  • Gradual rollout
  • Resource efficient

Deployment Process​

Step 1: Pre-Deployment​

Final Checks:

# Run tests
npm test

# Build application
npm run build

# Security scan
npm audit

# Lint code
npm run lint

Backup:

  • Database backup
  • Code backup
  • Configuration backup
  • Media files backup

Step 2: Database Migrations​

Migration Best Practices:

  • Test migrations on staging
  • Backward compatible
  • Rollback scripts ready
  • Backup before migration

Example:

# Backup database
pg_dump database > backup.sql

# Run migrations
npm run migrate

# Verify migrations
npm run migrate:status

Step 3: Application Deployment​

Deployment Steps:

# 1. Pull latest code
git pull origin main

# 2. Install dependencies
npm ci --production

# 3. Build application
npm run build

# 4. Run migrations
npm run migrate

# 5. Restart application
pm2 restart app

# 6. Verify deployment
curl https://yourapp.com/health

Step 4: Post-Deployment​

Verification:

  • Application running
  • Health checks passing
  • Key features working
  • No errors in logs
  • Monitoring active

Monitoring:

  • Error rates
  • Response times
  • CPU/Memory usage
  • Database performance
  • User activity

Environment Management​

Environment Types​

Development:

  • Local development
  • Frequent changes
  • Debug enabled
  • Test data

Staging:

  • Production-like
  • Pre-release testing
  • Real-like data
  • Performance testing

Production:

  • Live environment
  • Optimized
  • Monitored
  • Backed up

Environment Variables​

Best Practices:

  • Never commit secrets
  • Use environment files
  • Different per environment
  • Document all variables

Example (.env):

# Application
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=3000

# Database
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_NAME=myapp
DB_USER=dbuser
DB_PASS=securepassword

# API Keys
API_KEY=your_api_key
SECRET_KEY=your_secret_key

CI/CD Pipeline​

Continuous Integration​

CI Pipeline:

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test
      - name: Run linter
        run: npm run lint
      - name: Security audit
        run: npm audit

Continuous Deployment​

CD Pipeline:

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

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Deploy to production
        run: |
          npm ci
          npm run build
          npm run deploy

Rollback Procedures​

When to Rollback​

Rollback If:

  • Critical bugs discovered
  • Performance degradation
  • Security issues
  • Data corruption
  • User-facing errors

Rollback Process​

Quick Rollback:

# 1. Switch to previous version
git checkout previous-tag

# 2. Rebuild
npm run build

# 3. Restart
pm2 restart app

# 4. Verify
curl https://yourapp.com/health

Database Rollback:

# Restore database backup
pg_restore -d database backup.sql

# Or run rollback migrations
npm run migrate:rollback

Monitoring & Alerts​

Key Metrics​

Application Metrics:

  • Response time
  • Error rate
  • Request rate
  • Success rate

Infrastructure Metrics:

  • CPU usage
  • Memory usage
  • Disk space
  • Network traffic

Business Metrics:

  • Active users
  • Conversions
  • Revenue
  • Key features usage

Alert Configuration​

Critical Alerts:

  • Application down
  • Error rate > 5%
  • Response time > 3s
  • Database down

Warning Alerts:

  • CPU > 80%
  • Memory > 80%
  • Disk space < 20%
  • Error rate > 1%

Security Best Practices​

Deployment Security​

Secure Deployments:

  • Use SSH keys
  • Encrypt secrets
  • Limit access
  • Audit deployments
  • Scan for vulnerabilities

Secret Management:

  • Use secret managers
  • Rotate secrets regularly
  • Never commit secrets
  • Encrypt at rest
  • Limit access

Deployment Checklist​

Pre-Deployment:

  • All tests passing
  • Code reviewed
  • Staging tested
  • Backup completed
  • Team notified
  • Rollback plan ready

Deployment:

  • Deploy to staging first
  • Run migrations
  • Deploy application
  • Verify deployment
  • Monitor metrics

Post-Deployment:

  • Health checks passing
  • No errors in logs
  • Key features working
  • Monitoring active
  • Team notified
  • Documentation updated

Common Issues​

Issue 1: Deployment Fails​

Solutions:

  • Check logs
  • Verify dependencies
  • Check permissions
  • Verify configuration

Issue 2: Application Won't Start​

Solutions:

  • Check environment variables
  • Verify database connection
  • Check port availability
  • Review error logs

Issue 3: Performance Degradation​

Solutions:

  • Check resource usage
  • Review recent changes
  • Monitor database
  • Check external services

Tools & Resources​

Deployment Tools:

  • GitHub Actions
  • GitLab CI/CD
  • Jenkins
  • CircleCI

Monitoring:

  • New Relic
  • Datadog
  • Sentry
  • LogRocket

Infrastructure:

  • AWS
  • Google Cloud
  • Azure
  • DigitalOcean

Last Updated: January 2026
Version: 1.0
Owner: ARUKZ DIGITAL DevOps Team

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