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Deployment Strategies

Rollout Strategies

Dimension Blue-Green Canary Rolling A/B Testing
Description Maintains two identical environments. Traffic is switched from Blue (live) to Green (new) after testing. Best for high-risk apps needing instant rollback. Releases new version to a small user group first to reduce risk. Gradually replaces old version with new one without downtime. Best for general-purpose apps. Splits traffic by user segments to test new features. Focuses more on user behavior than system functionality.
Resource Requirements High (requires duplicating the environment) Moderate (only a portion of resources are duplicated) Low (updates one pod at a time) Moderate to High (similar to Blue-Green or Canary)
Complexity Moderate to High (managing two full environments) Moderate (requires careful monitoring and traffic control) Low (Kubernetes automates much of the process) High (complex criteria for routing and success metrics)
Suitability for Large Apps Very suitable (full testing before public release) Suitable (allows segmental exposure and testing) Suitable (steady update with minimal downtime) Suitable (tests features by user segments)
Speed of Deployment Fast (instant switch once version is ready) Slow (depends on monitoring/results) Moderate (depends on deployment size) Variable (depends on test goals/duration)
Traffic Routing Manual (switch between environments) Automated (gradual traffic shift) Automated (sequential update) Automated and/or Manual (based on user segmentation)
Feedback and Metrics Direct (from full environment) Immediate & continuous (real-time monitoring of changes) Continuous (through the update) Detailed (based on user interactions)
Speed of Rollback High control, immediate (switch back to previous environment) Fast, low-risk (redirect traffic) Slow, complex (sequential revert) Fast to Moderate (depends on traffic control setup)
Repo Management Complexity High (two environments to manage) Moderate (managed within single repo or feature branches) Low (single process) Moderate to High (multiple branches/configurations)
Effort (E2E Time) High (requires full setup and teardown) Moderate to High (monitoring and validation) Moderate (continuous updates) High (extended behavior analysis/testing)
Overall Cost $ High (due to duplicated resources and management) Moderate to High (monitoring + testing phases) Low to Moderate (most efficient) High (testing, multiple configs, longer rollouts)