Contact us anytime to know more — Kuldeep K., Founder & CEO CISIN
C-suite executives in an increasingly profit-oriented business culture constantly seek ways to increase efficiency.
One approach used by software project teams to do just this is implementing strategic DevOps tools; these enable better and faster construction with reduced costs, helping teams meet these objectives by automating projects.
In this post, we'll review each DevOps tool's versatility, functionality, and overall popularity on my favorites list.
In particular, we will highlight their strengths and weaknesses to provide you with a complete picture of the DevOps landscape in 2024.
What Are The DevOps Tools?
What are DevOps tools? DevOps (Developer Operations) refers to combining development with operations; various DevOps tools aim to increase software development efficiency across software development, deployment, and maintenance activities.
DevOps tools support continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD), configuration management, and infrastructure as code (IaC). Furthermore, some DevOps solutions also feature features like continuous monitoring, collaboration, and project tracking to streamline development workflows further.
Benefits Of Using DevOps Tools
DevOps tools offer development and operations teams several benefits, such as:
- DevOps tools automate development cycles, resulting in faster and more efficient software delivery.
- DevOps tools improve collaboration by breaking down silos between development and operations teams.
- DevOps tools automate repetitive tasks, leading to increased efficiency and reduced effort.
- DevOps tools enable continuous testing, leading to better software quality.
- DevOps tools improve scalability, allowing teams to adjust development processes to meet changing business needs.
Read More: Maximizing Efficiency with DevOps: How Much Can Your Business Save?
Ten DevOps Tools You'll Need In 2024
Here you read, what tools are used in DevOps you'll need in 2024 to increase productivity:
Jenkins: Jenkins Is Ideal For Flexible Deployments.
As an open-source Java automation server, Jenkins simplifies continuous integration tools and delivery (CI/CD).
Why we picked Jenkins: Jenkins stood out due to its flexibility with thousands of community-built plugins that simplify customizing this platform for all use cases.
Plus, because it was developed using Java programming technology, it's compatible with most operating systems - another plus point!
Jenkins Standout Features: Jenkins is an invaluable tool, capable of quickly distributing builds across various environments for code testing and deployment, not to mention being open source with support from an expansive developer community.
Kubernetes - Best For Container Orchestration
Kubernetes is an open-source platform for managing and deploying containerized applications.
Why we picked Kubernetes: Kubernetes was chosen to automate the deployment, provisioning, and scaling of containerized applications within isolated environments.
Kubernetes allows you to form your own "clusters" for running containers across public, private, and hybrid cloud services.
Kubernetes Standout Features and Integrations: Kubernetes stood out because its built-in storage options automatically provision storage from public cloud providers like Amazon Web Service (AWS).
Another impressive aspect was how quickly updates could be deployed without downtime; it would automatically roll back if any issues arose. If any problem occurs, it reverts to an earlier version if necessary.
Puppet - Best For Multiple Server Management
Puppet is an open-source configuration management platform designed to streamline server management in any infrastructure environment.
We picked Puppet: Puppet was my choice because it automates server management on an enterprise scale, enabling me to customize host configurations while enforcing desired states for specific systems.
Puppet saves significant time compared to manually configuring virtual machines.
Puppet Standout Features and Integrations: Puppet stands apart from other configuration management tools by actively tracking and enforcing desired states across environments, which enables it to prevent "configuration drift." This feature prevents changes made without proper documentation occurring ad-hoc; Puppet combats it by returning configurations into compliance states for enhanced reliability.
Aws Cloudformation - Best For Aws Configurations
AWS CloudFormation is an infrastructure automation platform that empowers developers to manage and deploy AWS resources via template text files.
We picked AWS CloudFormation: CloudFormation was included on this list as it can automate deployment and configuration for many AWS services, including Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Simple Storage Service (S3), and Identity and Access Management roles.
By automating their deployment, you can save both times and avoid manual errors while deploying AWS resources.
AWS CloudFormation Standout Features: CloudFormation stands out because of its fast deployment speed.
It uses JSON or YAML text templates that enable multiple AWS resources to be provisioned simultaneously. While creating templates will take some effort and time investment, we found it far more efficient than manually configuring deployments via AWS Command Line Interface (CLI).
Github - Best For DevOps Collaboration
GitHub is a cloud-based service that enables developers to collaborate remotely on code repositories while managing them in remote places and sharing code repositories among teams, working seamlessly with several: how DevOps tools work together and supporting development tools as needed.
Why we picked GitHub: Collaboration among distributed workforces can be tricky, which is why we chose GitHub as one of the best DevOps tools.
Their distributed version control system (DVCS) lets users manage code repositories individually while tracking changes across their workstations. Then, they merge these changes, regardless of location.
GitHub Standout Features: GitHub Actions, which enables developers to quickly build, test, and deploy applications from GitHub repositories, makes GitHub an exceptional choice for DevOps teams.
Users can either develop custom actions or select pre-built workflows via the Marketplace. Furthermore, Issues allows groups to organize projects as boards or tables while assigning tasks among members of their teams.
Chef - Best For Cloud Security Management
Chef Automate is a DevOps platform that automates cloud infrastructure management, deployment, and security.
Why we picked Chef: Chef is my go-to choice because of their effective cloud security management that ensures compliance with industry best practices to protect infrastructure.
Chef supports both on-premises and public cloud environments and containerized Kubernetes deployments.
Chef Standout Features: Chef stands out with its IAC scanning tools, which automatically inspect infrastructure for security vulnerabilities or misconfigurations, such as those created by IAC scanning tools used by Chef to audit environments for potential security flaws or configuration mishaps.
Chef can be especially beneficial if your company operates within industries with stringent regulatory standards; additionally, it automatically reconfigures IT resources before production deployment and offers scalable IT resource reconfiguration at scale before deployment.
Terraform - Best For Complex Environments
HashiCorp developed Terraform as an automated cloud infrastructure management platform. DevOps teams can use it to efficiently provision locally and in cloud environments.
Why we picked Terraform: HashiCorp developed Terraform as an automated cloud infrastructure management platform.
DevOps teams can use it to efficiently provision locally and in cloud environments.
Terraform Standout Features: Terraform's drift detection feature stood out for me; it monitors any configuration drift that might compromise deployments and keeps everything on schedule.
This system uses a comparison between the current infrastructure state and the desired configuration state to flag any differences as drift, helping your deployments remain intact and on schedule.
Ansible - Best For Automating It Tasks
Ansible is an open-source platform for automating IT tasks such as cloud provisioning and application deployment.
Why we picked Ansible: Ansible was my go-to choice because it easily automates repetitive IT tasks.
The platform uses "playbooks," written using yet another markup language called YAML, to instruct Ansible what actions it should take - this allows for automation across your infrastructure without the need to write custom code from scratch.
Ansible Standout Features: Ansible's declarative language enables users to define the end state of their system quickly, setting it apart from other DevOps tools.
Furthermore, we liked its agentless architecture, which eliminates any need to install software onto host servers or create separate management structures; moreover, it could easily be deployed remotely or locally if required.
Docker - Best For Faster Software Delivery Cycles
Docker is an open-source containerization platform that enables developers to package and deploy applications inside isolated environments known as containers.
We picked Docker: Docker made my list because containers have proven themselves game-changers in DevOps environments.
Docker is widely regarded as one of the top platforms for creating containerized applications. Instead of configuring multiple virtual machines separately for different infrastructure environments (on-premise and cloud), Docker provides one container configuration that works consistently across platforms - and its portability means rapid deployment into production environments.
Docker Standout Features: One reason we recommend Docker for DevOps teams is its capacity for scaling.
Docker allows developers to run multiple instances of containers simultaneously, giving them greater flexibility in scaling applications up or down depending on workload requirements. Furthermore, version control features allow reverting to the previous version if necessary.
TeamCity - Best For CI/CD Pipeline Optimization
JetBrains' TeamCity CI/CD server empowers DevOps teams to automate software testing and deployment by streamlining testing processes.
Why we picked TeamCity: Your end users expect regular software updates that feature both new features and bug fixes, so we chose TeamCity as their CI/CD pipeline automation solution to quickly roll out new versions more rapidly with automated code testing capabilities.
Plus, its instant feedback, associated code changes, and build artifacts make troubleshooting much simpler!
TeamCity Standout Features: TeamCity impressed me with its code quality tracking features, such as support for testing frameworks like JUnit and code coverage tools like IntelliJ IDEA, which evaluate new builds in your pipeline before being committed.
In addition, TeamCity allows for building configuration templates, which makes creating continuous integration/continuous delivery pipelines much simpler when starting from scratch on new projects.
Conclusion
DevOps is an essential approach that organizations must embrace to boost productivity, efficiency, and overall application performance issues.
Employing tools such as Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Git, Ansible Terraform Grafana ELK Stack, and Prometheus JIRA, they can automate workflows, improve collaboration, reduce time to market as well and compare features and capabilities of each one to find the best fit for their specific goals and needs.
Enrolling in an online DevOps training program can provide invaluable knowledge about the best DevOps tools and their usage.
With such skills and expertise in place, you could prove an asset to any organization looking to use DevOps to meet its goals.
