The Planning phase supports software development planning, which includes configuration management planning, change management planning, project management planning, system design, software design, test planning, and security planning.

The Development phase supports the development activities that convert requirements into source code. The source code includes application code, test scripts, Infrastructure as Code, Security as Code, DevSecOps workflow scripts, etc.

The Build Phase performs the tasks of building and packaging applications, services, and microservices into artifacts. It also includes generating application documentation, copying files like libraries or icons to the appropriate locations, and creating a distributable file such as a zip file.

In the release and deliver phase, the software artifacts are digitally signed to verify that they have passed build, all tests, and security scans. They are then delivered to the artifact repository. The content of the artifacts depends on the application. It may include, but is not limited to, container images, VM images, binary executables (such as jar, war, and ear files), test results, security scan results, and Infrastructure as Code deployment scripts.

In the Deployment Phase, the two major deployment options include virtual machines and software containers.

In a Virtual Machine Deployment, the virtualization manager manages the virtual compute, storage, and network resources.

In a Container Deployment, the container manages the configuration tasks, such as instantiation, scaling, monitoring, and rolling updates.

The Operation phase involves system scaling, load balancing, and backup. Load balancing monitors resource consumption and demand, and then distributes the workloads across the system resources. Scaling helps dynamic resource allocation based on demand.
Application deployment must have proper load balancing and scaling policies configured. During runtime, the management layer will continuously monitor the resources.