Configuration Management Best Practices: Practical Methods that Work in the Real World (Rough Cuts)

Description

This is the Rough Cut version of the printed book.

Successfully Implement High-Value Configuration Management Processes in Any Development Environment

As IT systems have grown increasingly complex and mission-critical, effective configuration management (CM) has become critical to an organization’s success. Using CM best practices, IT professionals can systematically manage change, avoiding unexpected problems introduced by changes to hardware, software, or networks. Now, today’s best CM practices have been gathered in one indispensable resource showing you how to implement them throughout any agile or traditional development organization.

Configuration Management Best Practices is practical, easy to understand and apply, and fully reflects the day-to-day realities faced by practitioners. Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs thoroughly address all six “pillars” of CM: source code management, build engineering, environment configuration, change control, release engineering, and deployment. They demonstrate how to implement CM in ways that support software and systems development, meet compliance rules such as SOX and SAS-70, anticipate emerging standards such as IEEE/ISO 12207, and integrate with modern frameworks such as ITIL, COBIT, and CMMI. Coverage includes

• Using CM to meet business objectives, contractual requirements, and compliance rules
• Enhancing quality and productivity through lean processes and “just-in-time” process improvement
• Getting off to a good start in organizations without effective CM
• Implementing a Core CM Best Practices Framework that supports the entire development lifecycle
• Mastering the “people” side of CM: rightsizing processes, overcoming resistance, and understanding
  workplace psychology
• Architecting applications to take full advantage of CM best practices
• Establishing effective IT controls and compliance
• Managing tradeoffs and costs and avoiding expensive pitfalls

Configuration Management Best Practices is the essential resource for everyone concerned with CM: from CTOs and CIOs to development, QA, and project managers and software engineers to analysts, testers, and compliance professionals.

Praise for Configuration Management Best Practices

“Understanding change is critical to any attempt to manage change. Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs’s Configuration Management Best Practices presents fundamental definitions and explanations to help practitioners understand change and its potential impact.”

–Mary Lou A. Hines Fritts, CIO and Vice Provost Academic Programs, University of Missouri-Kansas City

“Few books on software configuration management emphasize the role of people and organizational context in defining and executing an effective SCM process. Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs’s book will give you the information you need not only to manage change effectively but also to manage the transition to a better SCM process.”

–Steve Berczuk, Agile Software Developer, and author of Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration

“Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs succeed handsomely in producing an important book, at a practical and balanced level of detail, for this topic that often ‘

Sample Content

Table of Contents

Preface     xxi

Introduction     xxxiii

PART I THE CORE CM BEST PRACTICES FRAMEWORK     1

Chapter 1 Source Code Management     3

Terminology and Source Code Management     5

Goals of Source Code Management     5

Principles of Source Code Management     6

1.1 Why Is Source Code Management Important?     6

1.2 Where Do I Start?     7

1.3 Source Code Management Core Concepts     9

1.3.1 Creating Baselines and Time Machines     9

1.3.2 Reserved Versus Unreserved Checkouts     10

1.3.3 Sandboxes and Workspaces     11

1.3.4 Variant Management (Branching)     11

1.3.5 Copybranches Versus Deltas     12

1.3.6 How to Handle Bugfixes     12

1.3.7 Streams     14

1.3.8 Merging     15

1.3.9 Changesets     16

1.4 Defect and Requirements Tracking     16

1.5 Managing the Globally Distributed Development Team     17

1.6 Tools Selection     19

1.6.1 Open Source Versus Commercial     21

1.6.2 Product Maturity and Vendor Commitment     21

1.6.3 Extensibility and Open API     22

1.6.4 Don’t Overengineer Your Source Code Management     22

1.7 Recognizing the Cost of Quality (and Total Cost of Ownership)     23

1.7.1 Building Your Source Code Management Budget     24

1.8 Training      24

1.8.1 The “Bob Method” for Training     24

1.9 Defining the Usage Model     25

1.10 Time to Implement and Risks to Success     26

1.11 Establishing Your Support Process     26

1.12 Advanced Features and Empowering Users     27

Conclusion     27

Chapter 2 Build Engineering     29

Goals of Build Engineering     30

Principles of Build Engineering     30

2.1 Why Is Build Engineering Important?     31

2.2 Where Do I Start?     32

2.3 Build Engineering Core Concepts     32

2.3.1 Version IDs or Branding Your Executables     32

2.3.2 Immutable Version IDs     33

2.3.3 Stamping In a Version Label or Tag     33

2.3.4 Managing

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