---

name: deployment-automation description: Automate deployments across environments using Helm, Terraform, and ArgoCD. Implement blue-green deployments, canary releases, and rollback strategies.

Deployment Automation

Overview

Establish automated deployment pipelines that safely and reliably move applications across development, staging, and production environments with minimal manual intervention and risk.

When to Use

• Continuous deployment to Kubernetes
• Infrastructure as Code deployment
• Multi-environment promotion
• Blue-green deployment strategies
• Canary release management
• Infrastructure provisioning
• Automated rollback procedures

Implementation Examples

1. Helm Deployment Chart

# helm/Chart.yaml
apiVersion: v2
name: myapp
description: My awesome application
type: application
version: 1.0.0

# helm/values.yaml
replicaCount: 3
image:
  repository: ghcr.io/myorg/myapp
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
  tag: "1.0.0"
service:
  type: ClusterIP
  port: 80
  targetPort: 3000
resources:
  requests:
    memory: "256Mi"
    cpu: "250m"
  limits:
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "500m"
autoscaling:
  enabled: true
  minReplicas: 2
  maxReplicas: 10

2. GitHub Actions Deployment Workflow

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

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      environment:
        description: 'Environment to deploy to'
        required: true
        default: 'staging'
        type: choice
        options:
          - staging
          - production

env:
  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
  IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment:
      name: ${{ github.event.inputs.environment || 'staging' }}
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: read

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Determine target environment
        id: env
        run: |
          if [[ "${{ github.ref }}" == "refs/heads/main" ]]; then
            echo "environment=staging" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          else
            echo "environment=staging" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          fi

      - name: Setup kubectl
        uses: azure/setup-kubectl@v3
        with:
          version: 'latest'

      - name: Configure kubectl
        run: |
          mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
          echo "${{ secrets.KUBE_CONFIG }}" | base64 -d > $HOME/.kube/config
          chmod 600 $HOME/.kube/config

      - name: Deploy with Helm
        run: |
          helm repo add myrepo ${{ secrets.HELM_REPO_URL }}
          helm repo update

          helm upgrade --install myapp myrepo/myapp \
            --namespace ${{ steps.env.outputs.environment }} \
            --create-namespace \
            --values helm/values-${{ steps.env.outputs.environment }}.yaml \
            --set image.tag=${{ github.sha }} \
            --wait \
            --timeout 5m

      - name: Verify deployment
        run: |
          kubectl rollout status deployment/myapp \
            -n ${{ steps.env.outputs.environment }} \
            --timeout=5m

3. ArgoCD Deployment

# argocd/myapp-app.yaml
apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: myapp
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default

  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/myorg/helm-charts
    targetRevision: HEAD
    path: myapp
    helm:
      releaseName: myapp
      values: |
        image:
          tag: v1.0.0

  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: production

  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
    syncOptions:
      - CreateNamespace=true
    retry:
      limit: 5
      backoff:
        duration: 5s
        factor: 2
        maxDuration: 3m

5. Blue-Green Deployment

#!/bin/bash
# Deploy green, run tests, switch traffic
helm upgrade --install myapp-green ./chart --set version=v2.0.0 --wait
kubectl run smoke-test --image=postman/newman --rm -- run tests/smoke.json

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
  kubectl patch service myapp -p '{"spec":{"selector":{"version":"v2.0.0"}}}'
  echo "✅ Traffic switched to green"
else
  helm uninstall myapp-green
  exit 1
fi

Best Practices

✅ DO

• Use Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Helm)
• Implement GitOps workflows
• Use blue-green deployments
• Implement canary releases
• Automate rollback procedures
• Test deployments in staging first
• Use feature flags for gradual rollout
• Monitor deployment health
• Document deployment procedures
• Implement approval gates for production
• Version infrastructure code
• Use environment parity

❌ DON'T

• Deploy directly to production
• Skip testing in staging
• Use manual deployment scripts
• Deploy without rollback plan
• Ignore health checks
• Use hardcoded configuration
• Deploy during critical hours
• Skip pre-deployment validation
• Forget to backup before deploy
• Deploy from local machines

Deployment Checklist

# Pre-deployment verification
- [ ] Run tests in staging
- [ ] Verify database migrations
- [ ] Check infrastructure capacity
- [ ] Review changelog
- [ ] Verify rollback plan
- [ ] Notify stakeholders
- [ ] Monitor error rates
- [ ] Prepare rollback script

Resources

• Helm Documentation
• Terraform Documentation
• ArgoCD Documentation
• Flagger Canary Releases