Let’s go back in time to an age where there were no SRE or DevOps teams. That was a time in history when security, development, and operations teams worked in silos. Communication and collaboration were unheard of among these teams. The effects were disastrous and spanned the gamut from failed security and delays in deployment, to disgruntled customers, employees, and C-level executives. Fast forward to today, when team effort is taken seriously. DevOps and SRE are not buzzwords, but actual systems that place importance on communication and collaboration.

In an article by Forbes, cloud system infrastructure services are expected to grow from a mere $44 billion in 2019 to a mindblowing $81 billion by 2022! With a growing number of companies moving to, and sticking with, cloud systems, it’s time for them to figure out whether they require SRE or DevOps.

What is SRE?

Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is an approach centered around the system engineer in infrastructure, and is usually applied in a production environment.

Site Reliability Engineers are development-focused engineers who solve operational, scale, and reliability issues.

Teams of SRE are the brains behind how code is deployed, configured, and monitored, as well as the availability, latency, change management, emergency response, and capacity management of services in production.

And, what’s DevOps?

The synchronization of development and operations teams is better known as DevOps. DevOps is a system that IT teams employ to help teams in development and operations with their processes. It allows for streamlined processes in software development lifecycles. We’ve covered DevOps in another blog post.

SRE vs. DevOps: Is there a winner?

A Gartner report predicts that by 2024, more than 45% of IT spending on infrastructure related services will move  from on-premises solutions to the cloud. Companies looking to make the switch to the cloud will need to employ solutions that are in sync with their end goals and current needs.

Both SRE and DevOps are completely different approaches to IT. In this post, we are not comparing the two on the basis of similarities and what makes one better than the other. Rather, we can point out key differences.

SRE is an approach that requires the skills of site reliability engineers. These SRE personnel are generally part of the development team, and also have a working knowledge of operations. This allows them to eliminate communication gaps and redundancies in processes.  DevOps works to create faster and better software development lifecycles.

Fundamental differences

1. Reallocation of resources

SRE delegates tasks normally carried out by operations teams to engineers, or ops teams, who utilize automation and the software needed to solve problems and manage systems. DevOps is a standard system to facilitate software lifecycle by removing bottlenecks.

2. Go big, or go small

Solving for scalability is one of SRE’s assets. SRE makes it easier for IT department to manage vast systems by using code. This is an option that is easily scalable and works in the long run for system admins managing up to thousands of systems.

3. SRE vs. DevOps: Key focus

While the end goal for both approaches is to improve processes, ultimately resulting in higher profits, the focus for SRE and DevOps teams is vastly different.

DevOps teams look at creating faster and efficient software development pipelines. On the other hand, SRE is committed to merging the skills of both development and operations teams. This is handy when DevOps teams are understaffed, or need a team member with the unique skills required for specific processes.

4. Talk to me

As we mentioned above, communication is key, and what SRE aspires to foster. Better communication is not just about talking it out. It’s about putting ideas across to improve and streamline key processes. This creates better workflows that may cover aspects like improved efficiency, heavier security measures, or ways to implement SOPs to increase transparency.

5. Automate everything

Automation is key to eliminating human error, while freeing up time and resources. SRE and DevOps celebrate automation equally. Automating processes, software development and overall IT management results in less time, money, and resources allocated to manual tasks.

Companies will need to decide whether they need SRE or DevOps by assessing their goals and what needs they must address at the moment. IT departments can leverage SRE or DevOps in cloud technology by getting in touch with Aspire Systems to optimize the best systems for their needs.

Abstract

In the SRE vs. DevOps conversation, which comes out on top? Surprisingly enough, these are both vastly different approaches to software development lifecycles. While their essence is the same, in improving communication and collaboration, that’s as far as the similarities go.

SRE refers to teams of site reliability engineers who wear both development and operations hats. These skilled engineers can be valuable assets to DevOps teams. In SRE, teams work to improve efficiency and manage the overall health of workflows and development environments.

On the other hand, DevOps is a convergence of development and operations teams. By employing DevOps, IT departments and companies can speed up processes while improving efficiency. SRE does them one better, where SRE engineers can stand in for members on DevOps teams.

 

Recommended Blogs:

5 Ways to Successfully Move to DevOps

7 Ways to Measure DevOps Success

5 ways AWS enhances DevSecOps throughout the SDLC

The How’s and Why’s of Securing AWS Cloud with DevSecOps