Background
The client's development team was stuck in a waterfall release model—releases happened infrequently, took weeks to coordinate, and often introduced deployment errors. Manual handoffs, environment drift, and lack of automation created bottlenecks that slowed product delivery.
We partnered with them to design and implement a mature CI/CD solution using Spinnaker, Kubernetes, Artifactory, and Jenkins. The result: the team went from quarterly releases to daily deployments, with reliable, repeatable pipelines and full visibility into the deployment process.
The Challenges
- •Waterfall release model meant infrequent, high-risk deployments
- •Manual build, test, and deploy steps led to errors and inconsistency
- •No unified artifact management—binaries scattered across environments
- •Limited visibility into deployment status and rollback capabilities
“We were shipping once a quarter and holding our breath every time. We knew we had to move faster without sacrificing reliability.”
Our Approach
We designed a 3-phase approach focused on build automation, artifact governance, and deployment orchestration.
Phase 01: Jenkins Pipeline for Build & Test
We set up Jenkins pipelines to automate compilation, unit tests, integration tests, and artifact creation. Every commit triggers a build, and only passing builds produce artifacts.
- •Automated build and test on every commit
- •Parallel job execution for faster feedback
- •Quality gates before artifacts are published
Phase 02: Artifactory for Artifact Management
Artifactory serves as the single source of truth for binaries. All artifacts are versioned, stored, and promoted through staging to production—eliminating environment drift.
- •Single repository for all build artifacts
- •Versioned artifacts with promotion workflows
- •Secure access and audit trail
Phase 03: Spinnaker + Kubernetes for Deployment
Spinnaker orchestrates deployments to Kubernetes clusters with canary and blue/green strategies. Rollouts are gradual, and rollbacks are one-click.
- •Automated deployment to Kubernetes
- •Canary and blue/green deployment strategies
- •One-click rollback on issues
The Results
- •Shift from quarterly waterfall releases to daily deployments
- •Reduced deployment errors through automated, repeatable pipelines
- •Full visibility into build and deployment status
- •Confident, fast rollbacks when needed
“We went from shipping four times a year to shipping every day. The team is more confident, and our customers get fixes and features faster.”
Final Takeaway
Mature CI/CD doesn't require a complete rewrite. With Spinnaker, Kubernetes, Artifactory, and Jenkins—and the right architecture—teams can move from waterfall to daily deployments while keeping reliability high.
Technologies We Use
Modern, proven technologies to build robust applications
Jenkins
Spinnaker
Kubernetes
Artifactory
Docker
