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Five Ways Certificate Automation Can Help Decrease DevOps Downtime

Updated On October 31, 2023 | by James Wilson

For DevOps to help drive business value, systems must be kept up-to-date and compliant with industry standards. This is because the downtime of it can be highly expensive and leave terrible impacts. This also damages reliability and availability, which further affects the relationship of the enterprise with its clients.

Unfortunately, recovering DevOps manually is time-consuming for the IT department and often leads to errors. Certificate automation can help take care of these tasks quickly and efficiently, freeing your team to focus on other parts of the business.

If you’ve been looking for a certificate lifecycle automation demo and are unsure if it’s the right fit for you, check out these five ways that certificate automation can help decrease DevOps downtime.

Reduces Human Error

Certificate automation can help reduce human error by taking care of tasks quickly and efficiently. This can include installing updates and patches, configuring systems correctly, and using correct commands. Automating these tasks can help ensure that they are done accurately and without mistakes, which can often lead to downtime. Additionally, it can free your team to focus on other parts of the DevOps business, allowing them to be more productive.

Installing updates and patches is one of the most important aspects of keeping systems up-to-date. These can typically be released daily, and manually installing them can be time-consuming. Certificate automation can download, install, and test updates and patches, so your system is always up-to-date, reducing the risk of vulnerabilities and exploits.

Configuring systems correctly is another crucial aspect of keeping them running smoothly. Certificate automation can help by automating tasks such as creating and managing users, groups, and permissions. This can help ensure that your system is configured correctly and reduce the chances of errors.

Using the correct commands is essential for keeping systems running smoothly. Certificate automation can help by providing a library of commands that can be used to automate tasks.

Identifies and Fixes Problems Immediately

Certificate automation can help identify and fix problems immediately by tracking system changes in real-time. This can help you quickly identify when something goes wrong and fix it before it causes downtime. Additionally, certificate automation can provide rapid concern identification through its reporting capabilities. Your DevOps team will be able to identify potential issues before they cause downtime.

Increases Security and Compliance

Certificate automation can help increase security and compliance by automating patch management and system hardening tasks. Having these automated structures in place will help ensure that your system is always up-to-date and reduce vulnerability to attack. Security features can be seen in action by viewing a certificate lifecycle automation demo.

Patch management is the process of keeping systems up-to-date with the latest security patches. Certificate automation can help by routinely downloading, installing, and testing patches to help reduce the risk of vulnerabilities and exploits.

System hardening makes a system more resistant to attack through security measures. Certificate automation can help with tasks such as creating and managing users, groups, and permissions to ensure that your system is appropriately configured and reduce the chances of errors.

Deploys Features and Updates Faster

Certificate automation can help deploy features and updates faster by automating the testing and validation process. Ensuring that updates are adequately tested before deployment reduces the chances of errors.

Certificate automation can provide seamless integration with existing systems by using industry-standard protocols. This simplified process maintains a compatible system that can work effortlessly with all other systems your business uses. Data can also be transferred between these systems seamlessly.

Improves Team Communication

Certificate automation can help improve team communication and collaboration by providing a central repository for all certificates. Shared visibility of this central repository can help reduce confusion and miscommunication.

Additionally, certificate automation can provide a workflow for teams to follow. Keeping every staff member on the same page helps avoid mix-ups and errors. And because these tasks are automated, conflicts between team members are significantly reduced. No one is trying to do the same thing at the same time.

Causes of DevOps Outages

There are several causes behind DevOps outages, which can be eliminated by applying certificate automation. Some of them are as follows: 

• Too much log data is sent together from network devices to a log server.
• Buggy script 
• Notification tools and DNS changes are improperly configured.
• Poor load balancing and configuration rollout.
• Network domino effects from database glitches.
• Ineffective package management in production nodes. 
• Networking appliances like switches and firewalls are facing operating failures.

Practices for Secure Certificate and Key Management in DevOps

Some best practices that are helpful in secure certificates and key management in DevOps are as follows:

• Creating a Catalog

  You can start by creating a comprehensive catalog that includes all e-certificates and keys used within your DevOps ecosystem. It will contain all details about their types, expiry dates, and intended functions and make a base for your management approach.

• Protecting and Making Copies

  You can use encryption technology to keep your certificates and keys safe. Apart from that, make their regular copies and store them in a secure, offline place. This will work as a backup for the original piece. 

• Employing a Certificate Management Solution

  Integrating a certificate and key management solution will help streamline and automate certificate issuance, revocation, and renewal. This further enhances consistency and reduces human errors. 

• Focusing on Expiry Dates and Alerts

  You can set up systems to keep an eye on the expiry dates of your certificates. This will notify you when the date will be close so that you can go for the timely renewal of it.

• Control Access Permission

  You should put strict rules for who can access, change, or use the certificates and keys and should allow only trusted parties.

These practices will authenticate websites over HTTPS and authorize digital transactions. 

Final Thoughts

Implementing certificate automation can help reduce DevOps downtime in several ways. Automating tasks can free your staff to focus on other critical areas of your business. Since you’ll know your system is always up-to-date, you can avoid unnecessary downtime and costly compliance issues. So, if you’re looking for ways to improve your business’ efficiency, trying a certificate lifecycle automation demo is a great place to start.

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