Learning Resources
Cloud Deployment and CI/CD are the combined product of Semester 9. This page points at the prior modules you should revisit first, followed by a short list of validated external URLs to consult when a specific decision needs a reference.
Canonical Book Backbone
Use these canonical book routes when you need book-backed reinforcement for deployment, runtime, and release discipline:
- GitHub Actions in Action for workflow structure, automation boundaries, and CI/CD mechanics.
- Design Patterns for Cloud-Native Applications for deployment topology and cloud-native runtime tradeoffs.
- Building Secure and Reliable Systems for delivery safety, operational resilience, and release-risk thinking.
- Pro Git for release tagging, branch strategy, and change-history hygiene.
Source Stack
| Source | Role | How to use it in this module |
|---|---|---|
| S9 M01: Cloud Platform Fundamentals | Primary (cloud picking) | Revisit shared-responsibility framing before you commit to a platform |
| S9 M02: Infrastructure as Code | Primary (Terraform scope) | Revisit state, backend, and module composition before scaffolding your root |
| S9 M03: Container Orchestration | Selective (if you go container-based) | Revisit only if your topology choice is Kubernetes-shaped; otherwise skip |
| S9 M04: CI/CD Pipelines and Release Engineering | Primary (pipeline, release) | Revisit workflow anatomy, release-notes discipline, and rollback patterns |
| S9 M05: Cloud Security and Observability | Primary (OIDC, secrets, smoke) | Revisit secrets management and least-privilege for the deploy role |
| S8 M04: Scale, Reliability, Performance | Support | Revisit MTTR, zero-downtime patterns, and the cost of extra moving parts |
Resource Map by Cluster
Cluster 1: A Minimal Deployable Capstone
| Need | Best cross-semester reference | External reference |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud platform picking | S9 M01: Cloud Platform Fundamentals | GitHub Actions documentation -- confirm deploy paths exist for any candidate platform |
| Topology sizing | S8 M04: Scale, Reliability, Performance | DORA software delivery performance metrics -- understand that smaller, frequent deploys outperform large ones |
| Environment budget | S9 M04: CI/CD Pipelines and Release Engineering | DORA metrics guide -- deployment frequency depends on cheap, reliable envs |
Cluster 2: Capstone IaC
| Need | Best cross-semester reference | External reference |
|---|---|---|
| Terraform state and backend | S9 M02: Infrastructure as Code | Terraform: State -- authoritative definition of what state is |
| Module composition | S9 M02: Infrastructure as Code | Terraform: State -- the state file is the boundary that modules share |
| Secrets without sprawl | S9 M05: Cloud Security and Observability | Configuring OIDC in AWS (GitHub Docs) -- deploy role reads secrets over OIDC, not via stored keys |
Cluster 3: Capstone Pipeline
| Need | Best cross-semester reference | External reference |
|---|---|---|
| Workflow anatomy | S9 M04: CI/CD Pipelines and Release Engineering | GitHub Actions documentation -- triggers, permissions:, environment: |
| OIDC to cloud | S9 M05: Cloud Security and Observability | Configuring OIDC in AWS (GitHub Docs) |
| Preview environments | S9 M03: Container Orchestration | Preview Environments action (GitHub Marketplace) |
Cluster 4: Safe Release
| Need | Best cross-semester reference | External reference |
|---|---|---|
| Rollback criteria and timer | S8 M04: Scale, Reliability, Performance | DORA metrics guide -- time-to-restore-service is a first-class capability |
| Expand-contract migration | S9 M02: Infrastructure as Code | Expand and Contract -- Tim Wellhausen -- canonical pattern write-up |
| Feature flags | S9 M04: CI/CD Pipelines and Release Engineering | Martin Fowler: Feature Flag |
Cluster 5: Evidence of a Deployed System
| Need | Best cross-semester reference | External reference |
|---|---|---|
| Smoke tests in prod | S9 M05: Cloud Security and Observability | Google SRE: Testing for Reliability |
| Release notes | S9 M04: CI/CD Pipelines and Release Engineering | DORA metrics guide -- deploys are logged, not remembered |
| Runbook discipline | S9 M04: CI/CD Pipelines and Release Engineering | Google SRE: Testing for Reliability -- runbook "verify" section is the production-probe surface |
Use Rules
- If you are stuck on a concept, go to the S9 or S8 module listed above first. Those are the texts you already read this degree.
- If you are stuck on an operational question (what does this field do, what is the exact setting), open the external URL from the concept page.
- Do not binge documentation. Open one URL for one question.
- If rereading does not fix the problem, stop and write the smallest version of the question you cannot answer. Paste it into your mistake log. Only then open another page.