With DevOps picking up momentum as a practice over the last few years, most companies are switching to this culture. DevOps is all about automating mundane tasks with the help of different tools.
Before we move on to the actual list of the best DevOps tools, we need to understand the stages in DevOps, which include:
Although there are several OEM or open-source options available for DevOps engineers, it is hard to find a tool that integrates all the stages mentioned above. You need to try different tools and their functionality before you pick the right combination to reach your personal goals.
To help you get started, here is a list of 7 DevOps tools that you must try out:
Git
When you are talking about DevOps automation tools for the build and code stage, Git is one of the most popular choices. While automation is important for DevOps, collaboration forms an even bigger part. With Git, it is easier for members of the team to keep track of each other’s work and progress together.
You have a host of features like check-in, merging, branches, labels etc. You have better version control features with Git as well. In order to integrate your current workflow, using a service like GitHub helps you push your existing work easily.
Why DevOps Engineers Need This Tool
- The branching workflow feature allows you to change the codebase without affecting the master branch.
- Each developer gets a unique local repository with a full history of commits.
- Source Code Management tools like GitHub can be used to pull requests and collaborate with the team easily.
Selenium
Selenium is one of the best free, open-source DevOps testing tools. It helps you develop scripts automatically to test web applications in different conditions. The best feature is parallel test execution that makes testing easier across the team. You can expand the functionality of DevOps tools like Selenium with a third party solution like Jenkins, TestNG, Junit and Lambda Test.
Why DevOps Engineers Need This Tool
- It is highly extensible and flexible.
- It requires lesser hardware in comparison to other DevOps testing tools.
- The community-based features help you get support from testers across the globe.
eG Enterprise
Among the DevOps monitoring tools, eG Enterprise is highly recommended. Monitoring allows for better software development and deployment. Through the DevOps lifecycle, the team gets an idea of the impact that a code will have in both production and pre-production environments.
Application performance can be tracked in real-time as this is a continuous monitoring tool. So every time you make a change in the code, you can immediately monitor the impact on performance.
Why DevOps Engineers Need This Tool
- The distribution transaction tracking tool allows you to monitor the cause of any slow transactions.
- With continuous monitoring and delivery, you can identify any bugs in the early stages easily.
- You get converged visibility of various applications and the IT infrastructure that they are supported on.
- You also get alerts about user experience in real-time.
- You may enable proactive incident management using the synthetic monitoring feature.
Jenkins
Jenkins covers three important stages in the DevOps methodology including building, testing and deployment of software. It helps you use the power of automation to speed up movement across the pipeline. For this reason, it has become one of the most widely used tools with over 300,000 installations the world over.
Jenkins is 100% free. The fact that it uses a Java script also gives you the advantage of portability. Normally, Jenkins is used as a standalone tool that has a built-in servlet application called Jetty.
Why DevOps Engineers Need This Tool:
- It contains several plug-ins that make it extensible.
- You do not have to wait for nightly builds. The CI server of Jenkins allows you to pull every commit that you develop.
- Fixing bugs is easier as you only have to check corresponding commits and fix them as you go ahead. This saves a lot of time.
Chef
Chef is among the most popular configuration management tools in DevOps. It is used to simplify and automate deployment. You can also repair and update your application infrastructures easily with this tool. By avoiding manual changes in the script, you also enjoy the best orchestration through the DevOps lifecycle. This ensures easy code delivery and release.
There are three components- the server, nodes and the workstation:
- The server helps you store all the details of the infrastructure.
- The workstation pushes the configuration onto the infrastructure using cookbooks or recipes.
- Each node is a simple device that is configured using this tool.
Why DevOps Engineers Need This Tool
- One of the most important features of Chef is that it treats the infrastructure as code. This means that you can use customizable policies in your deployment infrastructure.
- You get API support from AWS, Rackspace and Azure which makes it easy to extend your configuration management to a cloud-based system.
Docker
Docker gives you the features of deployment tools as well as DevOps security tools. You also have a host of agile operations for cloud and legacy applications. Docker has gained popularity among DevOps tools because it packages dependencies. It uses different containers to package each application with all the dependencies and elements. Then the whole container is treated as an individual package.
In addition to this, Docker also comes with a reliable and automated supply chain to save time. It is compatible with Google Cloud and AWS and is useful for existing and new applications.
Why DevOps Engineers Need This Tool:
- Docker makes distributed development easier.
- Since all the applications are segregated into containers, security improves.
- The containers are also easy to transfer.
- Dockers make sure that every stage of your DevOps methodology has the same development environment.
- The DevOps and the IT ops teams can use the same images in both the staging and production stages for easy creation and deployment. This makes collaboration easier.
Kubernetes
Among the DevOps automation tools, Kubernetes is one of the most useful ones as it has a role to play in every step of the DevOps process. You can automate deployment, scaling, management, networking and create container-based applications with this tool. Although it is one of the most popular DevOps deployment tools, it also allows continuous integration and delivery.
Why DevOps Engineers Need This Tool
- It ensures complete deployment automation.
- Container creation is also automated on nodes that are useful in both cloud and hybrid environments. This makes your development environment very flexible, based on the requirements of the business.
- It is useful in auto-scaling, canary deployments and rolling updates.
Why Have We Chosen These Tools?
To successfully apply the DevOps methodology to your business, you need to select tools based on your specific requirements. The 7 tools that we have mentioned above are among the basic requirements of this process. Of course, you can look for other options from AWS, Azure DevOps Tools and other services to suit your requirements.
The tools mentioned above have some features that we consider vital to make the transition into DevOps:
- They are easy to integrate into your existing workflow.
- Each tool is beneficial in a different stage of the DevOps lifecycle.
- They are flexible and easy to extend based on the demands of your business.
- They are compatible with third-party hosts and servers.
- All the tools mentioned above help you save time.
- They are affordable and easy to use.
How To Stay Updated With DevOps Software
As the demand for DevOps tools increases, you will find a plethora of new tools being introduced regularly. As a DevOps engineer, you must stay ahead and make sure that you use tools with the best and latest features to help your organization.
- There are several websites like devops.com or sdtimes.com that give you updates about new technology. They also host webinars regularly to help you learn how to use these tools.
- YouTube channels like the DevOps Toolkit can be highly beneficial to you.
- You also have channels focused on DevOps Azure tools or AWS that help you learn and improve your DevOps methodology
- Some platforms like GitHub give you a curated list of the best DevOps tools and practices that you can learn from.
- The periodic table of DevOps tools is a great resource for you to begin with. This table helps you identify the best tools across the DevOps lifecycle.
- You also have traditional resources like newspapers and journals that carry important news and updates about DevOps technology.
If you want to reduce the time spent on learning about new tools and updates, get in touch with BitCot. We help you hire the best and most experienced engineers. We also help you choose the right tools based on the DevOps culture that you want to integrate into your organization.
We stay in sync with all the latest trends and best practices in DevOps. This helps us create a perfect plan for your organization to not only improve automation but also gear up for growth with easy scalability.
