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Introduction to NiFi CI/CD

CI/CD stands for Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CD). It is a set of modern practices in software development aimed at delivering code changes more frequently, reliably, and with fewer errors.

In the NiFi world, a given use case or flow may be a combination of three things:

  • The JSON flow definition that represents the NiFi Flow for the use case
  • (optional) One or many custom components packaged and deployed as NAR files
  • (optional) A set of parameters and/or configuration assets that are required for running the flow

Obviously, CI/CD also applies to NiFi Flows which can be considered as code changes to be tested and delivered more frequently, reliably, and with fewer errors.

With that in mind, here is a breakdown of the concepts in the NiFi world:

Continuous Integration (CI):​

  • Automated Testing: Developers frequently commit the changes made on their flows into a shared repository. Each commit may trigger an automated build and testing process to catch issues early.
  • Early Detection of Bugs: Since flow changes are integrated continuously, errors can be identified and fixed quickly, reducing the risk of bugs building up in long development cycles.
  • Collaboration: CI encourages collaboration by ensuring that new changes integrate seamlessly with the existing codebase.

Continuous Delivery (CD):​

  • Automated Deployment Preparation: After CI builds and tests, CD automates the process of preparing the changes for production. This doesn't mean deploying immediately, but making sure the changes can be deployed at any time.
  • Frequent and Reliable Releases: With CD, flows are always in a deployable state, allowing teams to release small, incremental updates regularly rather than large, infrequent ones.

Continuous Deployment (also CD):​

  • Automated Deployment to Production: This is the next step after Continuous Delivery. Changes are automatically deployed to production without human intervention, ensuring a fast and reliable release process.
  • Fast Feedback: It provides immediate feedback to developers about how their changes perform in the live environment, helping to detect issues early.

Benefits of CI/CD:​

  1. Faster Development Cycles: By automating testing and deployment, teams can release features more quickly.
  2. Improved Code Quality: Regular automated testing ensures that only stable and well-tested code is deployed.
  3. Reduced Manual Errors: Automation minimizes the chances of human error during the build, test, and deployment phases.

In short, CI/CD helps teams to deliver high-quality software at a faster pace while reducing the risk of introducing bugs or breaking the codebase.

In the next sections, we will deep dive into each topic outlined above and delve into the details of how all of this can be approached in the NiFi world.