Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
DevOps is a prominent topic for enhancing corporate efficiency in any industry.
Every day, more businesses strive to use this disruptive approach in their operations.
Continuous integration to continuous delivery is DevOps’ main aim. As a result, development and operational processes become more efficient and resource-friendly.
Companies can save money while generating higher-quality software for customers or internal users.
We’ll cover the fundamentals of DevOps, its lifecycle, and the list of best open-source DevOps tools for 2022 in this article.
What is DevOps?
DevOps is neither a product nor a tool.
DevOps is a method and a balanced organizational strategy for increasing development and operations, cooperation, and communication.
Redesigning and finding new methods to deliver products quicker and more reliably for a faster time-to-market, enhanced manageability, more operational efficiency, and more time to focus on your core company goals.
DevOps tools also allow teams to automate most software development activities such as build, dispute resolution, dependency management, and deployment, among others, reducing human labor.
Nonetheless, DevOps is more than just a collaborative culture and software development automation these days. It combines cutting-edge technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), the internet of things (IoT), and cloud computing.
What is DevOps Lifecycle?
The DevOps lifecycle is made up of phases that include continuous software development, integration, testing, deployment, and monitoring.
To get the full benefits of the DevOps technique, you’ll need a professional DevOps lifecycle.
To produce, test, consume and evolve software products, the DevOps strategy emphasizes continuous innovation, agility, and scalability.
It encourages a culture of experimentation, feedback, and lifelong learning to continually improve goods, services, and processes.
However, in order to execute DevOps, a thorough grasp of the various stages of the DevOps lifecycle is required.
Developers must be completely aware of all steps of the DevOps lifecycle to produce better outcomes.
If they aren’t, the entire development process can become time-consuming and difficult.
Components of Lifecycle
1. Continuous Development(CD)
Software planning and coding are both parts of continuous development.
The entire development process is divided into smaller development cycles here. This method allows the DevOps team to speed up the whole software development process.
This phase is critical for mapping the vision for the whole development cycle and ensuring that developers are completely aware of project requirements.
As a result, the team begins to visualize its eventual goal.
Planning does not require using DevOps technologies; however, numerous version control systems are used to manage code.
Source code maintenance is the term for this type of code maintenance.
2. Continuous Integration(CI)
The testing step of the DevOps lifecycle follows, in which the created code is examined for defects and mistakes that may have crept into the code.
This is where quality analysis (QA) comes in handy for ensuring that the generated software is usable.
The QA process must be completed successfully in order to determine whether the software fits the client’s requirements.
3. Continuous Deployment
Continuous deployment (CD) guarantees that products are deployed smoothly and without impacting the performance of the application.
During this step, it is critical to verify that the code is deployed precisely on all accessible servers.
This technique eliminates the need for planned releases and speeds up the feedback system, allowing developers to respond to concerns faster and more accurately.
4. Continuous Monitoring
Monitoring a software product’s performance is critical for determining the overall efficacy of the product’s output.
During this step, crucial information about the built app is processed.
Developers can find broad trends and gray areas in the program that require more attention through constant monitoring.
Continuous monitoring is an operational phase whose goal is to improve the software application’s overall efficiency.
Furthermore, it keeps track of the app’s performance. As a result, it’s one of the most important stages in the DevOps lifecycle.
5. Continuous Feedback
Information acquired from the client’s end is referred to as feedback.
Continuous feedback is necessary for determining and analyzing the application’s final conclusion.
It establishes the tone for enhancing the current version and launching a new version in response to stakeholder feedback.
Only by assessing the results of software operations can the whole process of app development be enhanced.
6. Continuous Operations
The final level of the DevOps lifecycle is the simplest to comprehend.
Continuity is at the core of all DevOps operations, allowing developers to automate release procedures, spot errors promptly, and create better versions of software products.
Continuity is essential for avoiding detours and other unnecessary steps that stymie growth.
Best Open-Source DevOps Tools in 2022
1. Git
In a development era marked by dynamism and cooperation, Git is undoubtedly the greatest and most extensively used version control technology.
Version control gives developers a way to keep track of all the changes and updates in their code so that if something goes wrong, they can easily revert to and utilize prior versions of the code, and Git is the best for a variety of reasons.
Github, Gitlab, and Bitbucket are now the most popular online Git repo hosting services.
These systems let you host both public and private repositories, monitor and discuss bugs, and manage releases.
Pros
- With a simple interface, push/pull procedures are faster, and developers can fetch and write pull requests without switching.
- They are free and open-source, which means we can readily get the source code and modify it. They are capable of handling larger tasks with ease.
- Git is a good distributed model since each developer receives their own private repository with a complete history of commits, making it faster than other VCs.
- Branching and merging capabilities are simple (and inexpensive), and data integrity is maintained.
- They have improved network performance and disk usage, and they conceive of their data as a series of snapshots.
Cons
- GIT calls for a large number of branches in order to allow developers to work on several projects at the same time.
- It doesn’t work with Windows or maintain a track of empty folders.
- Sub-trees are not available for checkout in GIT. For each project, a centralized service would need to be set up for several package repositories.
- GIT requires technical knowledge and is slower on Windows.
- They do not give access control mechanisms in the case of a security breach.
Pricing
It’s free to use for everyone.
2. Jenkins
Jenkins is a DevOps tool for tracking the progress of repeated tasks.
It’s one of the greatest software deployment solutions, making it easier to incorporate project modifications by immediately identifying difficulties.
It expands the automation scale. It comes with 400 plugins to help you develop and test nearly any project.
Jenkins is low-maintenance and comes with a built-in GUI interface for simple updates.
It’s a Java-based software that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX. It enables continuous integration and delivery.
It’s simple to set up and configure using the web interface.
Pros
- There is no need for developers to be concerned about money because it is provided for free. It works on any platform.
- It simplifies the transition from CLI to GUI.
- Many languages, such as Java, Python, and others, are supported.
- The developer community is quite supportive of Jenkins.
- It helps project management with reliable data.
- The Jenkins mistakes are extremely simple to locate. The problem can be quickly identified and fixed by the developer.
Cons
- When you have a lot of jobs to run, managing the Jenkins dashboard becomes difficult.
- The update procedure is problematic for many plug-ins.
- The declarative pipeline syntax is incompatible with all plug-ins.
- You are responsible for maintaining your infrastructure on your own.
Pricing
It’s free to use for everyone.
3. Docker
Docker is a DevOps toolkit.
It enables DevOps teams to create, deploy, and manage distributed applications.
Users can use this tool to build apps out of components and collaborate on them.
CaaS Platform is up and running, with orchestration built-in. Image management is made simple with a private registry for storing, managing, and configuring image caches.
Containerized software to avoid conflicts and improve security. You don’t have to worry about managing dependencies using Docker.
You can bundle all dependencies in the app’s container and ship it as a standalone unit.
The software can then be executed on any system or platform without any problems.
Pros
- The first benefit of Dockers is the return on investment. The answer is only better if it can drive down expenses while increasing profits, especially for large, established organizations that need to produce consistent income over the long term.
- By giving us total control over traffic flow and administration, Docker ensures that applications operating in containers are entirely segregated and separated from a security standpoint.
- It has the ability to reduce deployment time to seconds. It’s because it can construct a container for any process and doesn’t even boot an operating system.
Cons
- When a container goes down, it requires a backup and recovery plan. While we have numerous solutions for this, they are not yet automated or scalable.
- Docker containers have less overhead than virtual computers, but they are not zero overhead. Even without utilizing containers or virtual machines, we can attain genuine bare-metal performance by running an application directly on a bare-metal server. Containers, on the other hand, do not run at bare-metal rates.
- A large number of feature requests are currently being worked on, including container self-registration and self-inspections, file transfer from the host to the container, and many others.
Pricing
It’s personal plan is free for everyone. It also offers three premium plans which are listed below:
- Pros: $5/month(billed annually) or $7/month(billed monthly).
- Team: $7/user/month(billed annually) or $9/user/month(billed monthly).
- Business: $21/user/month. For more details, you have to contact the sales.
4. Ansible
Red Hat is the sponsor of Ansible, an open-source configuration management tool.
It’s ideal for setting up your company’s infrastructure as well as automating some deployment activities.
It’s noted for its user-friendly interface and agentless design.
Ansible is a lightweight and safe DevOps solution for creating your management automation since it has an agentless design, which means no agents/daemons or automated bots operate in the background.
It also comes with various modification and integration modules for use with other DevOps tools. In a regular Jenkins pipeline, you can quickly deploy Ansible code.
Pros
- Python was used to create Ansible. It’s a programming language that’s more commonly used for scripting and administration. Python libraries are also included by default in most Linux systems.
- Ansible’s most acclaimed feature is its simplicity. It is backed up with simple and straightforward documentation that allows developers to quickly grasp Ansible’s workflow and logic.
- Ansible configuration files are written in YAML, which is a better fit for configuration management and automation than alternative formats like JSON.
Cons
- Ansible, unlike other automation tools, does not have a state notion. It simply does a succession of tasks before failing, completing, or encountering a problem.
- Ansible support both Linux/Unix and Windows nodes. Ansible’s efforts to fully support Windows are still in the early stages.
- What began as a command-line-only tool grew into Ansible Tower, a web management UI, with the help of AWX. Ansible Tower, on the other hand, falls short of the capabilities of a command-line interface.
Pricing
It’s free to use for everyone.
5. Kubernetes
Kubernetes is a container orchestration technology that elevates container management to a new level.
Two Google engineers who wanted to develop a way to manage containers at scale established it.
Kubernetes works nicely with Docker or any of its equivalents to help you organize your containers into logical entities.
If you merely have a few containers, you might not require a container orchestration platform.
However, it is the next natural step once you reach a certain degree of complexity and need to scale your resources.
Kubernetes enables you to automate the process of managing hundreds or thousands of containers.
You don’t have to bind your containerized programs to a single machine using Kubernetes.
Instead, you can deploy to a cluster of machines, with Kubernetes taking care of container distribution and scheduling throughout the entire cluster.
Pros
- For managing Docker images, Kubernetes is a fantastic solution. It provides a lot of useful capabilities for managing containers.
- Almost every cloud platform supports it. AWS, GCP, and Azure are three of the most popular cloud computing platforms.
- It is not difficult to learn. Although it is possible to learn and implement Kubernetes in a difficult manner, it is not required.
Cons
- Kubernetes debugging and troubleshooting are difficult and time-consuming.
- There is no front end. Therefore everything that attempts to provide a self-service paradigm will have to be built right now.
- In contexts where all development is done locally, Kubernetes tends to be a little difficult and superfluous.
Pricing
It’s free to use for everyone.
6. Chef
Chef is one of our favorites since it allows you to manage both cloud and conventional (on-site) systems with the same tool, reducing the time it takes for your team to learn new technologies or transition between them.
Chef is also an excellent tool to employ if your company or development team is transitioning from on-premises to cloud architecture over time — you can use it to speed up cloud migration across the board.
It includes a complete development kit for building amazing systems and applications, as well as testing tools for examining your infrastructure automation code before deploying it over a network.
Pros
- Chef includes pre-packaged templates that make it easier to manage the infrastructure of low to moderate complexity.
- There is sufficient community support from both major and small suppliers to assist in the development of templates (‘receipts’) for various deployment situations.
- Chef supports a wide range of applications and infrastructure, minimizing the number of tools required to administer an IT system.
Cons
- More indicators for monitoring, especially for apps, might be added to the administration panel.
- Chef’s support for hybrid cloud deployments, particularly those spanning several clouds, may be improved. This is currently done manually.
- More Internet-scale deployment templates (‘recipes’), with an emphasis on compliance monitoring and auditing.
Pricing
It’s free to use for everyone.
7. Nagios
Nagios is another essential DevOps tool.
It helps DevOps teams in identifying and resolving network and infrastructure issues.
It’s a free open-source DevOps tool that’s used to monitor your infrastructure – making it an important tool for the monitoring portion of the lifecycle mentioned above.
Nagios makes it simple to keep track of numerous occurrences and failures, especially because it includes a variety of reports and graphs for teams to grasp.
It also works well with a number of plug-ins, many of which are available for free thanks to the tool’s growing community.
Pros
- Alerts are sent out very quickly.
- Graphical user interface (GUI) that is simple to use
- Configuration is not complicated.
- Monitors a number of common parameters.
- Standard procedures are used (SNMP).
Cons
- In contrast to a GUI-based setup, the configuration must be done on the command line.
- Initially, installing plugins might be challenging.
- False-positive warnings are difficult to locate and correct.
Pricing
It’s free to use for everyone.
8. Consul
Finally,, this open-source DevOps tool is ideal for microservice applications, particularly for service discovery and setup.
It can register dozens or hundreds of names for smaller services across a larger network or software system, making it a perfect tool if you need to sign in to register dozens or hundreds of names for smaller services across a larger network or software system.
As a result, instead of digging through machine titles, you’ll be able to access alternative service names.
You can also group services together into clusters to make organization easier.
Consul.io isn’t the most comprehensive open-source DevOps solution on the market, but it does provide some unique benefits that should make it a go-to solution for a wide range of development pipelines and teams.
Pros
- Offering a DNS service
- Being a quick, stable, and dependable service – a cluster of at least three nodes is required by default.
- A reliable key-value storage
- Installation and configuration are simple.
- Exceptionally lightweight
- Web UI that is both slick and really useful.
Cons
- Error logs – you’ll need to Google some of the errors if you don’t know what they signify.
- Misconfiguration is a headache since it may lead to odd problems if you make even a little error.
Conclusion
Finally, any of these technologies might be an excellent fit for your development team or company.
I heartily suggest all of them, especially because the majority of them work well together.
Give each one a try, and you’ll discover that your development lifecycle is now quicker and more efficient than before.
DevOps is vital not just for speeding up software development, but also for improving software quality.
DevOps brings a fresh attitude, agile techniques, and smart technologies to the table, all of which work together to achieve that aim.
Leave a Reply