Deployment Strategies: Blue-Green and Canary Deployments
Deploying application updates without downtime is essential for a seamless user experience. While basic Kubernetes deployment strategies like Rolling Updates and Recreate are effective for many applications, advanced strategies such as Blue-Green and Canary Deployments take it a step further. These strategies offer refined control over testing and traffic distribution, minimizing risk and enabling smooth transitions.
In this blog, we’ll dive into Blue-Green and Canary Deployments, how to implement them, and when to use them.
Blue-Green Deployment
Blue-Green Deployment allows you to run two versions of your application simultaneously — the “blue” (current) version and the “green” (new) version. This strategy is ideal when you want to test the new version thoroughly before switching traffic over.
- Overview: The green deployment is introduced alongside the blue, with all traffic initially directed to the blue version.
- Testing: With both versions active, you can test the green deployment in real-world conditions without affecting users.
- Traffic Switching: Once validated, you simply redirect traffic from blue to green by updating the service configuration.
