The DevOps lifecycle is based on communication, cooperation, and speed.
And choosing the appropriate tools for the task is an essential component of any DevOps workflow. All stages of the DevOps workflow can be completed using DevOps tools, and many of them include tool connections to facilitate handoffs between stages.
DevOps tools enhance knowledge exchange and communication among distributed team members. By automating repetitive processes and offering fresh workflow ideas, they help boost the team’s productivity in terms of speed and size. Given the rapid speed of the DevOps lifecycle, security in particular can be automated and enforced more effectively. The routine tests that tools perform to enforce coding standards prior to the commit of new code assist developers maintain consistency.
For a DevOps team to create a sustainable cadence and retain oversight based on their goals and best practises, these advantages are essential.
The phases of the DevOps lifecycle and their areas of focus have been used to categorise the top DevOps tools currently on the market.
Tools for DevOps
1. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft introduced Teams, an all-inclusive company communication platform, in 2017. The tool enables video and chat conferencing amongst DevOps teams.
Additional features include:
- Groups and channels for contacting more recipients
- Direct communication for more individualised communications amongst teams
- Document storage in SharePoint
- Connections to additional productivity tools
2. Slack
Salesforce just acquired Slack, a platform for workplace communication via instant chat. For information sharing among team members, Slack offers a variety of chat options for people, groups, and channels with user-based permissions.
Additional features include:
- Apps for desktop and mobile devices to improve accessibility
- Group messaging and channels for communicating with entire teams
- Individual messaging for communication
- Zoom and Google Calendar integrations
3. Zoom
Launched by Zoom Video Communications in 2012, Zoom is a platform for video conferencing communications. To keep your team updated, it provides online meeting, webinar, and virtual event features that each support various user counts and presentation formats.
Additional features include:
- Screen sharing for interactive tutorials and problem solving
- Team updates and daily standup meetings
- Features for virtual events and webinars for larger audiences
- Zoom Chat for cross-platform, immediate communication
4. GitHub
The source code for your products can be stored on GitHub, a platform and software repository based on Git. It was introduced in 2008, and Microsoft bought it in 2018.
Additional features include:
- Assistance with 200+ coding languages
- User-based permissions and reviews to prevent unauthorised changes to the source code
- Project documentation and a user-specific wiki
- Issue boards that support the Scrum and Kanban approaches
5. GitLab
GitLab, which launched in 2014, is a different Git-based software repository and version control platform for hosting and managing source code.
Additional features include:
- Task lists, descriptions, and issue management cards included into the project management system
- Dynamic testing and security scans
- The free plan includes features for continuous integration.
- Support for Auto DevOps function in the free plan
6. Bitbucket
In order to preserve and safeguard software source code, Bitbucket was developed as a version control platform and code repository. Bitbucket is owned by Atlassian and supports Git.
Additional features include:
- Bitbucket Pipelines, a tool that depicts the progression of projects via the various DevOps lifecycle stages.
- Integration with Jira and Asana for improved platform-wide view of project status
- There are countless private repositories
- Use of plugins available from the Atlassian marketplace
7. Test.ai
Test.ai is an suite of testing tools designed to automate the testing process so that developers can spend less time creating and maintaining scripts.
Additional features include:
- Without human input, AI-powered bots create tests.
- Test every application feature before deployment to ensure that it is fully functional.
- Scalable test across tens of thousands of virtual computers or applications
- Visual dashboard for examination of test findings
8. Selenium
Selenium is an automated website application testing tool for various web browser settings (i.e. Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer). The tool supports parallel test execution, allowing for concurrent use of the application by multiple tests, speeding up the testing process.
Additional features include:
- Simple to use
- Model different browsers and device kinds (e.g. desktop, laptop, mobile, tablet)
- Create test cases and automate them using the Selenium scripting language.
- An open-source approach enables you to review the tool’s source code for complete visibility.
9. Docker
With a lightweight container as opposed to dedicated servers, which require more resources, Docker is a testing tool designed to replicate real-world situations.
Additional features include:
- Isolated containers that allow different Docker environments to run simultaneously without interfering with one another
- Scalability and efficiency of lightweight source code are improved with a focus on lowering overhead.
- Reusable data volumes for simulations across environments
10. Jira
Jira is a bug-fixing tool that can be used during the deployment process. Additionally, the tool provides project management across the whole DevOps lifecycle, enabling your team to track tasks and report progress on a single dashboard. Owned by Atlassian, it launched in 2002.
Additional features include:
- Connections to the remaining Atlassian products (i.e. Opsgenie, Confluence, Bitbucket)
- Greater accessibility through integrations with additional developer tools
- Individualized processes to meet the demands of various teams and projects
- Project performance measurement to evaluate against goals and determine where additional resources are required
11. Jenkins
Jenkins is an continuous integration (CI) tool that streamlines the updating procedure matter of the environment your “live” application is deployed in by pushing the most recent code to all instances of it.
Additional features include:
- Simple configuration and installation
- An open-source approach enables you to review the tool’s source code for complete visibility.
- Several plugins to expand its powers and reach
- Compatible with many operating systems (i.e. Windows, Mac OS, Linux)
12. Octopus Launch
An automated server called Octopus Deploy can deploy your team’s application to many environments. The tool allows for customisation to meet the objectives of your project and enables user-based rights to restrict access.
Additional features include:
- Runbooks to automate recurring tasks and urgent ones
- Instead of thousands of deployments pipelines for each local app, there is only one deployment pipeline for all clients/customers.
- Model environments release management for development, staging, and production
- Variable management to share passwords, API keys, and other vital data for efficient deployments while ensuring that only the right users have access
13. Splunk
Splunk is a security monitoring tool that assesses system performance and looks for faults and risks to let your team respond to systems more quickly. The company was founded in 2003.
Additional features include:
- Instant alerts
- Automation and orchestration to enable quick reactions to threats discovered
- Scalability to examine massive data volumes
- Strong redundancy to guarantee availability
14. Nagios
Nagios is a security monitoring tool that checks for status changes and detects intrusions across systems, servers, storage, and networks. It’s an open-source tool that was launched in 2002 and is now being developed by a team of skilled developers.
Additional features include:
- Instant alerts
- Dashboard for application status visualisation and performance statistics
- Custom alert criteria so you can identify and fix problems before they become outages
- Plugins that increase functionality
15. AppDynamics
An observability platform called AppDynamics tracks performance throughout your entire application stack. The business was established in 2008, and Cisco purchased it in 2017.
Additional features include:
- Specialized monitoring for infrastructure problems with cloud providers
- Specialized monitoring for Kubernetes and Docker container tools
- Extensions and additional languages supported for expanded functionality
Developing Your Capabilities to Use DevOps Tools
You can see thats there are many tools available to meet the requirements of your DevOps team. This post should serve as a starting point as you limit down possibilities and delve more into each product. However, choosing the ideal tool will rely on your unique use case, budget, and tech stack.
