In this article Nazair Jones Jersey , we present seven open source tools that you can use right now to improve the deployment process on projects big or small. These tools are among the best and most-used tools in their areas; they attract developers who have created a large body of knowledge, plugins, and connectors that can be used in a wide range of situations and integrated with other tools and processes.
But more importantly, these tools can dramatically improve your deployments. They can empower your team to build better and more-innovative software in a less stressful environment.
#1 Jenkins
Start with Continuous Integration
Power and flexibility in Jenkins: The Build Pipeline Plugin makes it easy to chain Jenkins jobs to organize a deployment pipeline.
To build a good deployment process, you need to grab a few of those plugins. Here are some that can鈥檛 be left out of any deployment environment:
鈥?Build Pipeline Plugin. The Jenkins delivery approach involves the chaining of related jobs through build triggers. This flexible functionality lets you create sophisticated pipelines Delano Hill Jersey , but it can be difficult to see the pipeline鈥檚 鈥渨hole picture,鈥?the relationships between jobs, and where in the pipeline the build is at a given moment. The Build Pipeline Plugin solves that problem by providing a nice overview of the build pipeline, so you can easily follow the build as it happens and even decide when things should be automatic or require a manual trigger.
鈥?Parameterized Trigger Plugin. In a build pipeline, developers use the artifact that is generated as output from one job as the input for the next job in the pipeline. The Parameterized Trigger Plugin informs the next job which build result it must use to keep the pipeline moving.
鈥?Copy Artifact Plugin. A complement of the Parameterized Trigger Plugin Frank Clark Jersey , the Copy Artifact Plugin uses the parameters received from the previous job to fetch that job鈥檚 resulting artifacts and uses them as the starting point of the next job.
2 Chef
Turn Your Infrastructure into Source Code
Chef is a provisioning automation framework that simplifies the configuration of your development or production environment鈥攚hether on-premises or cloud-based. It is a Ruby-based tool that does wonders to deploy any infrastructure needed for your Java application.
By using Chef, you can define a project鈥檚 infrastructure with Ruby scripts that are versioned within the project鈥檚 source code repository. Chef scripts are called recipes, and they are bundled in cookbooks. With scripts written in Ruby, you have a well-known, generic scripting language to automate infrastructure activities.
#3 Vagrant
Reproduce Development Environments
Of all the tools mentioned in this article Jarran Reed Jersey , Vagrant is probably the least concerned with deployment per se. Vagrant is focused on the developer, but it bridges development and production, helping to reduce inherent risk by minimizing discrepancies between the different environments of the deployment process.
#4 Packer
Generate Images for Multiple Environments
In a 鈥渘ormal deployment,鈥?you provision, or prepare Germain Ifedi Jersey , your systems for operation. Starting from a base system, you install all the needed software until you have a fully functional environment. Tools such as Chef help you automate the provisioning process, making it repeatable and easy to evolve.
#5 Docker
Try Self-Sufficient and Portable Lightweight Containers
Creating ready-to-boot virtual machine images is a sophisticated way to use cloud computing so you can scale your application. But dealing with full stacks, complete operating systems, application servers Shaquill Griffin Jersey , and the rest might be overkill. In many cases, all you want is to add one more application to your stack.
#6 Flyway
Database Migrations that Follow Your Applications
Powerful database migrations: Flyway can leverage the use of the JDBC API to handle schema migrations.
We can鈥檛 talk about deployment without mentioning databases. Developers understand how to upgrade an application, maintain compatibility with older versions of APIs, and deprecate functionality. But what about the database? The hardest part of an automated deployment can be underdocumented SQL scripts that need to be run 鈥渏ust before鈥?production, differences between the cod