DevOps platforms are central to modern software delivery. They allow development and operations (together, “DevOps”) teams to collaborate effectively, automate routine tasks, and improve software release cycles. By providing a platform where (traditionally) siloed software development teams can communicate and interact, DevOps platforms aim to shorten the system development lifecycle and provide continuous delivery of high-quality software.
DevOps platforms allow for the automation of key processes throughout the software development lifecycle including integration, testing, deployment, and infrastructure management. This not only results in faster delivery, but also minimizes potential errors and discrepancies that may arise through manual workflows. Ultimately, these platforms can optimize and streamline processes.
DevOps platforms tend to integrate multiple features and tools such as source code management, continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, monitoring, feedback loops, and collaboration features. Some platforms are more developer-centric, focusing on providing a rich environment for coding, testing, and deploying applications, while others might emphasize infrastructure as code, scaling, and operational aspects.
For developers, a DevOps platform can assist with creating a more streamlined workflow through integrating tools that cover everything from writing code to monitoring performance and production. For operational teams, a DevOps platform means improved insight into the development process as well as the ability to catch and resolve issues faster. This ultimately ensures high uptime and optimal performance.
Given the crucial role of DevOps in modern software development and the range of tools and solutions on the market, choosing the right platform can be overwhelming. Each platform has its strengths, targeting different needs, scales, and organizational structures. This guide will explore the top enterprise DevOps platforms available today. We will highlight key features, and consider the ease of integration, scalability, and performance metrics.
AWS DevOps facilitates the hassle-free management and setup of infrastructure, smooth deployment of application code, automation of software release procedures, and careful monitoring of application and infrastructure performance. The platform enhances an organization’s capacity to distribute applications and services, meaning that they can continually enhance products to ensure their products are innovative and agile. AWS DevOps allows you to automate routine tasks and procedures (such as deployment and configuration management), thereby improving workflow efficiency. AWS DevOps addresses security concerns through integration of AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM); this gives admins granular control over resource accessibility and user permissions.
AWS DevOps is a fully managed service that requires no additional software installation. The platform helps to alleviate the burden of infrastructure operation and setup, thereby allowing you to concentrate on your principal product. AWS facilitates the modelling and provisioning of resources, giving you valuable knowledge before you run into difficulties. The platform is designed to suit organizations of all sizes needs, through simplification of the provisioning, configuration, and scaling procedures. AWS uses a pay-as-you-go pricing structure, making the solution an economical and efficient solution to meet your business objectives.
Azure DevOps Server, formerly known as Team Foundation Server (TFS), consolidates a comprehensive set of collaborative tools designed to facilitate the software development processes for teams of all sizes. Hosted on-premises, Azure DevOps Server seamlessly integrates with your existing IDE or editor, empowering effective collaboration across cross-functional teams working on multiple projects. Azure DevOps Server is comprised of a powerful suite of features that make it a valuable tool in the modern software development environment.
Azure DevOps Server has a host of tools to help streamline and optimize DevOps workflows and processes. Azure Boards, for example, offers agile planning tools equipped with configurable Kanban boards, as well as effective traceability and reporting facilities. Azure Pipelines facilitate CI/CD for any platform, supporting parallel runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and can even facilitate container deployment to Kubernetes or individual hosts. Azure Artifacts emerge as a universal package repository, simplifying package sharing across various CI/CD pipelines, making it both scalable and straightforward. In addition to this, GitHub Advanced Security integrates application security testing seamlessly into the developer workflow, enhancing productivity without compromising on security.
Datadog is a unified platform that facilitates several DevOps processes with an emphasis on observability, collaboration, and data-sharing. The platform is designed to offer accurate and timely feedback on operational shifts, thereby enhancing the speed of development and adaptability to market trends. With DataDog, teams can monitor crucial aspects of the DevOps cycle such as application performance data, infrastructure capacity, and business KPIs. The platform also integrates effortlessly with various communication tools, making the sharing of real-time graphs, dashboards, and logs straightforward.
Datadog provides automation capabilities to accelerate development cycles and reduce manual errors. The auto-discovery tool and monitoring-as-code integrations assist in the automatic configuration of monitoring checks, complementing configuration management and deployment tools effectively. The platform also provides insights into the performance and health of other essential tools within the DevOps toolchain. This ensures that systems like CI/CD, configuration management tools, and orchestration platforms are functioning optimally.
GitHub aims to improve collaboration and security for enterprises through streamlining the software development processes. The platform takes a comprehensive approach to building and managing software. GitHub Enterprise prioritizes secure application development by integrating robust security measures throughout the development flow. Developers can anticipate and address security issues promptly with feedback and insights gained across the development cycle. By addressing security concerns at the code level, you can ensure that security is factored into the heart of your software. To assist with this, GitHub offers in-depth security reviews within the workflow, highlighting high-priority, exploitable issues, allowing you to respond precisely and effectively.
GitHub Enterprise provides effective workflow automation as well as the ability to create custom queries for pinpointing new security concerns. The platform can then deliver detailed insights into vulnerabilities and dependencies based on unique security impact analysis. The platform supports a broad range of coding languages including Node.js, Python, and Java. GitHub’s versatile functionality extends to hosting runners for major operating systems and offering matrix workflows to test across different operating systems and runtime versions simultaneously. With GitHub, enterprises can scale secure automation easily, ensuring consistency and traceability from source to deployment.
GitLab is a robust platform that is designed to streamline the DevOps lifecycle through a singular application interface that integrates multiple functionalities and tools. This helps to make the process of software development more streamlined and efficient. Using GitLab, teams can put simplicity and efficiency at the heart of their software delivery toolchain. One way to achieve this is through eliminating the need for plugins and facilitating smoother integrations. Ultimately, this allows development teams to focus on their primary objective of developing and delivering effective software.
GitLab integrates source control management and continuous integration within a single application, encouraging streamlined code reviews and collaboration. It offers built-in security and compliance protocols, ensuring early-phase security testing and out-of-the-box security functionalities such as code and dependency scanning. The platform also makes software distribution to any environment or cloud simple and flexible. GitLab ensures end-to-end visibility and insights across the entire DevSecOps lifecycle, assisting teams in pinpointing areas for improvement. One of GitLab’s stand out features is its commitment to transparency and collaborative growth. This is evidenced by its open-source structure which invites contributions from anyone.
Everything You Need To Know About DevOps Platforms (FAQs)
What Are DevOps Platforms?
DevOps platforms (short for DEVelopment and OPerationS) provide a range of tools to assist software development teams as they create new (and upgrade existing) applications and services. The platforms tend to incorporate multiple features to optimize processes, streamline workflows, and, ultimately, make the software development process more efficient. The main aim of DevOps platforms and processes is to remove barriers between siloed teams, in order to improve efficiency within the software development process.
DevOps platforms have different features and capabilities to address different issues across the DevOps lifecycle for specific users and tasks. These capabilities often cover the creation, testing, and release of software, ensuring that each stage is efficient and streamlined. Many solutions also feed information back to developers, allowing them to foresee problems and address them at the most fundamental (code) level.
DevOps tools help teams to:
- Reduce repetitive tasks through optimization and automation
- Increase collaboration between teams
- Set up and maintain efficient workflows
- Reduce manual/human error through analysis and reporting
How Do DevOps Platforms Work?
DevOps platforms work by removing barriers by connecting siloed teams, thereby streamlining operations, and optimizing processes. Improving communication and collaboration (through a single platform) is one of the key ways that DevOps platforms improve user experience. They also use effective data logging and analysis to provide targeted and specific insights. Beyond this, DevOps platforms address each stage of the workflow cycle.
The DevOps workflow typically consists of:
- Planning – ensuring that there is a clear idea behind the development.
- Building – actual construction of the code and software.
- Testing – ensuring that the code is robust and achieves what it intends to.
- Deploying – sending the software to the production environment that it has been designed for.
- Monitoring and logging – gaining ongoing data on key software metrics and usage.
As well as integrating multiple tools and capabilities, DevOps platforms act as a centralized tool for multiple stakeholders to have input on new development. These stakeholders include security teams, testers, product managers, product designers, finance, legal, and marketing teams.
What Features Should You Look For In DevOps Platforms?
As DevOps platforms are designed to be used by multiple different users in different job roles, their feature sets can be complicated and highly specific. In this next section, we’ll explore some of the key features to look for when selecting a DevOps platform. In each case, we’ll explain why it is such an important feature to have. This is not an exhaustive list of all possible features, but some of the most useful that you should consider when selecting a solution.
- Continuous Code Delivery – Where you have large teams working together on a single platform, it is helpful to continually merge code to ensure the application is running overall. While developers can still work on their own project areas, there is always a complete product available for testing.
- Continuous Observability – Again, where large teams are concerned, ensuring there is sufficient visibility gives you greater knowledge and ability to respond. This can allow you to roll out changes more effectively, ensuring that response times are reduced and that areas are not overlooked.
- AI Analysis – While not all DevOps platforms will include this capability, AI analysis can drastically improve performance and effectiveness. AI analysis helps improve the way that you monitor your environment and code; this means that you can be alerted to risks and errors efficiently and accurately. Ultimately, this gives you the knowledge that you need to work productively.
When selecting a DevOps tool, you should also consider details specific to your organization and way of working. This includes the type of project (what your aims and outputs are), the size of your team (how many users will need to collaborate), and whether your environment is cloud-based, on-premises, or hybrid. Again, this is not an exhaustive list of questions, but a starting point.
