Integration of Operations and Development is a powerful new approach to software development. It can be difficult to choose the right best DevOps tools for your team if you are new to DevOps or trying to improve your existing processes.
This list will help you make informed decisions about which tools should be included in your stack. Continue reading to learn about the 15 best DevOps Tools, including automated build tools and application Performance Monitoring Platforms.
What are DevOps tools?
“DevOps Tools” refers to all platforms, tools, and servers used in a new software life cycle (SLDC), a model called DevOps. DevOps is a collection of practices that combine the operations and development phases of the lifecycle and manage them together as one workflow.
DevOps tools cover the entire lifecycle of software development, from code reviews to version control to deployment and tracking. DevOps’s main goals are to facilitate frequent software releases, automate as many tasks as possible, improve speed and scalability, and make it easier for developers to do so. An error monitoring tool like Raygun is the final component of your DevOps strategy. It will give you complete visibility and control over how your code is performing.
You may need multiple DevOps tools depending on your business needs. They can communicate with each other via integrations, extensions automation APIs, or other means.
Also read: Agile vs DevOps : What is The Similarities & Differences
The best DevOps tools for 2021
We will start with the DevOps stage, and then move on to the operations stage.
You should be aware that these DevOps tools can overlap in functionality. Sometimes you can perform the exact same action with different tools and can use them in multiple combinations within your DevOps stack.
Source code management and build tools
Your DevOps lifecycle begins with the creation, storage, analysis, and review of your source code. Source code management involves tasks like version control, issue tracking, and code review.
1. Git: open-source distributed version control system
Git , one of the most widely used DevOps tools in the industry, is. It is a distributed SCM tool (source code management), that is loved by remote teams as well as open-source contributors. Git lets you track your development progress. Git allows you to save multiple versions of your source code, and then return to the previous version if necessary. You can also create different branches and merge features when you’re ready.
Git defaults to a command-line tool. However, you can download the GUI client which allows you to manage your source code using a user-friendly interface. A lot of source code editors, such as Visual StudioCode, also include a Git editor tool.
You need to host Git source code in repositories so that your team can pull their work from them. The most popular Github, Gitlab, and Bitbucket are currently the top three online Git repository hosting services. These platforms allow you to host public and private repositories, track and discuss issues, as well as manage releases. These platforms also offer additional DevOps capabilities, including code review and auditing, collaboration tools, and continuous development and security functions.
2. Jira: Issue and project tracking platform
Jira, a popular platform for project management and issue tracking, is Jira. Atlassian is a well-known IT company that has developed many highly sought-after software tools such as Confluence and Trello. Jira is available as a SaaS and on-premise.
This is the way most developers think about Jira today. It was originally created to track bugs. The user-friendly interface makes it easy to view the current status of your projects, pull requests and create branches, manage dependencies, release and visualize progress.
Jira’s project management capabilities were added to the platform later. They complement the bug tracking capabilities. Jira is focused on Agile software development (i.e. It comes with Scrum boards and Kanban boards, which are two competing implementations for Agile software development, roadmaps, and advanced reporting tools.
Jira has an advanced automation engine that allows you to create automation rules with a simple drag-and-drop interface. You can automate Jira tasks and connect to Bitbucket or GitHub, as well as Microsoft Teams, to include them in your automation workflows.
3. SonarQube: Automated code review tool
SonarQube supports 27 programming languages and is an open-source code reviewing tool (see repo). It is ideal for analyzing the source code of multiple languages written applications. This tool automatically checks your code against thousands of static analysis rules, allowing you to keep your focus on quality and security throughout the development process.
SonarQube’s most distinctive feature is its quality gates. SonarQube evaluates your source code for bugs and vulnerabilities, code smells, and coverage and determines whether it is ready for public release. Quality gates can also be used to quickly analyze pull requests and decide whether or not to merge them.
SonarQube not only analyzes code health but also highlights new issues. It also provides useful visualizations that give insight into your overall codebase. It can be used on-premises or in the cloud. It integrates with many DevOps tools such as GitHub, GitLab and Jenkins, Azure Pipelines, and Bitbucket. SonarQube can be set up in a very simple way.
SonarQube is a DevSecOps tool that helps to improve security through continuous code inspection.
4. Gradle: Multi-language build automation tool
A reliable build tool is essential for your DevOps stack. While Apache Ant and Maven were the dominant markets for many years, Gradle has seen steady growth in its popularity since its debut in 2009. Gradle supports many programming languages including Java, C++, and Python. You can also use popular IDEs (Integrated Development Environments), such as Netbeans and Eclipse. Google also selected Gradle to be the official build tool of Android Studio.
Maven and Ant use XML to configure, but Gradle uses a Groovy DSL (domain-specific language) to describe builds. To allow developers to create their own build scripts in Kotlin, the Gradle team released a Kotlin based DSL. Gradle supports many repository formats, including Maven-compatible artifact repositories. This will make dependency management easy if you are familiar with Maven. Gradle can also import Ant builds.
Gradle lets you use incremental builds to check for changes in inputs or outputs since the last run. This feature reduces compile time by up to 100 percent compared to Maven, according to Gradle performance measurements. This performance improvement is partly due to incrementality and partly Gradle’s build cache (background process). The build cache reuses task inputs while Gradle Daemon stores build information in hot memory between builds.
Containerization platforms
A containerization is a light form of virtualization. It bundles the source code and dependencies of an application into a container image that can then be deployed to other environments.
5. Docker: Open-source containerization platform
Docker is the most popular container platform since its inception in 2013. It continues to improve. It is widely considered one of the most important DevOps tools. Docker is the technology that has made containerization a rage in the tech industry. It makes distributed development possible and automates the deployment process. It separates applications into containers that can be moved across different environments. This makes them more portable and secure. Docker apps are OS- and platform-independent. Docker containers can be used instead of virtual machines like VirtualBox.
Docker makes it easy to manage dependencies. All dependencies can be packaged within an app’s container and shipped as an individual unit. You can then run the app on any platform or machine without any hassle.
Docker can be integrated with Jenkins, Bamboo (see them both below). You can improve your DevOps workflow by using it with one of these CI / CD server. Docker is widely used in cloud computing. All major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, offer Docker support. Docker is a great tool for cloud migration planning.
6. Kubernetes: Automated container-orchestration platform
Kubernetes a container orchestration platform takes container management to the next stage. It was started by two Google engineers who were looking for a way to manage containers on a large scale. Kubernetes can be used with Docker and any other alternatives to group containers into logical units.
If you only have a handful of containers, you may not require a container orchestration platform. It’s the next step if you need to scale your resources and reach a certain level in complexity. Kubernetes makes it possible to automate managing hundreds of thousands of containers.
Kubernetes makes it easy to deploy containerized applications to multiple machines. Kubernetes can automate the scheduling and distribution of containers across a cluster of computers.
Kubernetes clusters are composed of one master node and many worker nodes. The master node executes your pre-defined rules and distributes the containers to worker nodes. Kubernetes monitors all activity to avoid mishaps. It will, for instance, notice if a worker node goes down and redistribute containers accordingly.
CI/CD and deployment tools
Continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment are the two main components of CI/CD. Continuous integration is software development that combines the work of all developers on the same project. Continuous delivery ensures reliable releases.
These two practices are combined in DevOps culture to allow teams to release software reliably and often.
7. Jenkins: Open-source automated CI/CD server
Jenkins has been a popular DevOps tool. An Open-source CI/CD server, allows you to automate different stages of your delivery process. Jenkins’ popularity can be attributed to its large plugin community. It integrates with nearly all DevOps tools including Puppet, Octopus Deploy, and Docker.
Jenkins allows you to customize and set up your CI/CD pipeline. Jenkins runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux so it’s simple to get started. You can easily install it with Docker. A web interface allows you to set up and configure the Jenkins server. You can install plugins to make it easier or build your own configuration.
Jenkins makes it easy to quickly develop and deploy new code. You can also track the success of each stage of your pipeline. It can be used as a CI/CD server that only serves the development side, or it can also serve as a full CI/CD solution that manages your deployment workflow.
Also read: The What and Why of Project Quality Control Management
8. Bamboo: Commercial automated CI/CD server
Bamboo, Atlassian’s CI/CD solution, has many features similar to Jenkins. Both of these popular DevOps tools allow you to automate the delivery process, from builds to deployment. Bamboo is not open-source. Jenkins, however, is. Is it worth paying extra for proprietary software instead of a free one? It all depends on your goals and budget.
Bamboo comes with many pre-built functions that can be set up in Jenkins. Bamboo uses fewer plugins than Jenkins (1,800+). You don’t really need many plugins to use Bamboo. It does everything you need.
Bamboo integrates seamlessly with other Atlassian products like Jira or Bitbucket. Access to integrated Mercurial and Git branching workflows, and test environments are also available. Bamboo is a great way to save time and reduce configuration. Bamboo also has a simpler UI, with tooltips and auto-completion.
9. Octopus Deploy: Automated deployment and release management tool
OctopusDeploy allows you to automate your deployment process across multiple environments and releases. This tool allows you to automate the deployment process across multiple environments, releases, and can also be used with CI/CD servers like Bamboo or Jenkins to trigger an Octopus deploy after each build. Octopus creates a new version and deploys it in different environments (testing, development, production, etc.).
Octopus Deploy allows you to package your application in a ZIP, JAR/WAR, or NuGet format. Octopus can automatically run your deployment process, but Octopus also has an extensive deploy library with almost 500 templates for common deployment workflows.
Octopus Deploy can be used to deploy your application directly to multiple cloud services. You can also use ‘runbooks’ to automate common emergencies such as site restoration and failover. Runbooks contain all necessary permissions that each element of your infrastructure requires, so even non-technical staff members can use them.
Octopus Deploy, a deployment management tool like Octopus Deploy, is recommended for complex deployments that involve multiple environments (called “deployment targets” by Octopus).
Configuration management tools
By automating maintenance, configuration, and orchestration of your entire infrastructure, configuration management tools can speed up deployment.
10. Puppet Enterprise: A platform-independent configuration management platform
Puppet Enterprise allows you to manage your configuration across multiple platforms. You can manage your infrastructure using code. It automates infrastructure management so you can release software faster and more securely. Puppet provides developers with a free-of-charge tool for smaller projects.
Puppet Enterprise may be a good choice if you have a large infrastructure.
- Real-time reports
- Access control based on role
- Management of nodes
Puppet Enterprise allows you to manage multiple resources and teams. It automatically recognizes the relationships in your infrastructure. It can deal with dependencies and handle failures intelligently. It skips any dependent configurations when it encounters a failing configuration. Puppet integrates with many DevOps tools and has over 6,700 modules.
11. Ansible: A YAML-based configuration management tool
Ansible, an open-source configuration management software sponsored by Red Hat, is. It’s functionally similar to DevOps automation software on the deployment end of the CI/CD pipeline such as Puppet (see above), and chef. It can be used to automate deployment and configure your infrastructure. It is simpler and easier to use than other DevOps tools. Ansible follows an infrastructure as code (IAC) approach similar to Puppet. It uses the super-simple YAML syntax (Yet Another Markup Language). Ansible allows you to define tasks in YAML while Puppet uses its own declarative language.
Ansible’s agentless architecture is another feature that is often mentioned. Ansible is an easy and secure solution to configuration management automation. Ansible has multiple modules, similar to Puppet.
This post by Red Hat Blog explains how Ansible can be used to provision an environment and deploy applications within a Jenkins pipeline.
Cloud DevOps tools
It’s now possible to run your entire DevOps infrastructure in the cloud using managed DevOps solutions from cloud service providers.
12. Azure DevOps Services: Microsoft’s cloud-based integrated DevOps tool
Azure DevOps, formerly Visual Studio Team System (VSTS), is Microsoft’s integrated DevOps platform. You can manage all aspects of your DevOps process from one interface. While Azure DevOps Services is a cloud DevOps tool that you can use as a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) application, Azure DevOps Server is the on-premises version of the same tool that you can self-host in your own data center.
Microsoft’s DevOps toolkit is a set of tools that each address a different part of your development process. Azure Boards assists with project planning, Azure Pipeline is a CI/CD tool, Azure Repos contains cloud-hosted Git Repos and Azure Test Plans is a testing toolkit. Azure Artifacts lets you manage, create, and deploy packages.
You don’t need to use all of the tools in Azure DevOps Services. However, you can subscribe to each one separately. You can also find additional Azure DevOps features in the Visual Studio Marketplace. These include integrations, analytics, and crash reporting.
13. AWS DevOps: Amazon’s cloud-based DevOps toolkit
AWS DevOps, which is part of Amazon Web Services, is a set of integrated DevOps tools that allow you to manage your entire software development lifecycle. AWS can be used in the cloud but you can also use AWS Outposts to install any component of AWS infrastructure on your in-house server.
Unlike Azure DevOps Services, which is a PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service), AWS is an IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) solution — so it’s tightly linked to the underlying infrastructure. You can’t deploy packages to Azure DevOps Services from another infrastructure like AWS. You can only deploy to AWS DevOps infrastructures such as EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud), or S3 (Simple Storage Service)
AWS DevOps Toolkit contains a CI/CD tool called AWS CodePipeline and a fully managed build tool called AWS CodeBuild. AWS CodeDeploy is a deployment automation tool that automates deployments, AWS CodeStar is a DevOps project manager platform, and AWS CodeStar is a DevOps project control platform. AWS DevOps may be the best DevOps platform available for Amazon Web Services users, current and future.
Also read: Top 10 Amazing Agile Project Management Tools
Monitoring and error reporting platforms
Monitoring your infrastructure and application in real-time is the last stage of DevOps. This allows you to react quickly when something goes wrong.
14. Raygun: Error monitoring and crash reporting platform
Raygun provides real-time insight into your mobile and web applications’ performance. The DevOps software allows you to diagnose and track down the source code, function, or API call that caused the issue. Raygun comes with an Application Performance Monitoring tool that allows you to monitor application performance and automatically identify your top priority issues.
Raygun APM is a great tool to make the most of other DevOps tools. You are always informed about any problems. Raygun APM automatically links errors back into the source code and brings together Development and Operations, providing one source for truth for the entire team.
15. Nagios: Infrastructure monitoring system
Nagios, one of the most widely used open-source DevOps monitoring software, is. It allows you to monitor your infrastructure and find and fix issues. Nagios allows you to keep track of outages, events, and failures.
Nagios graphs and reports can be used to keep track of trends. You can also forecast outages and identify security threats. Nagios is a rich plugin community that allows you to monitor infrastructure. There are many DevOps tools available.
Nagios provides four open-source monitoring options: Nagios Core, Nagios XI, Nagios Log Server, Nagios XI, and Nagios Fusion. These tools allow you to search log data and create alerts about possible threats.
Nagios is a completely free tool. You will need to set it up yourself. You can also opt for one of their support plans to have access to the knowledge and assistance of the Nagios staff.
Which DevOps tools are right for your team?
It takes some experimentation and testing to find the best DevOps tools for you. Open-source tools are more difficult to set up and configure. However, most commercial DevOps software comes with free trials which allow you to evaluate and test them. The decision is ultimately up to you and your resources. Although the selection and implementation of your toolkit may take some time, you will reap the benefits of a more coherent development workflow once it is in place.
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