Shulou(Shulou.com)06/01 Report--

In this issue, the editor will bring you what are the CI / CD tools. The article is rich in content and analyzes and describes it from a professional point of view. I hope you can get something after reading this article.

Why use tools for CI / CD workflows and which one is right for you?

More and more engineering teams are adopting agile development to promote shorter and faster release cycles. The growth of the code base and the frequency of creating new production builds have led to the rise of continuous integration and continuous deployment / delivery tools.

If you are also considering switching to a quick release frequency, or if you are not sure what other tools offer-we have provided protection for you. In the following articles, we will familiarize ourselves with some of the most popular CI / CD tools and learn about each one. The boat!

What is CI / CD and what is its use?

Before delving into CI / CD automation tools, we first need to understand this concept. As we mentioned, continuous integration and continuous deployment often go hand in hand with agile development environments, where teams want to deploy different code snippets to a production environment as soon as they are done.

Use CI / CD tools to automate the process of building, testing, and deploying new code. Each team member can get immediate feedback on their code production readiness, even if they change only one line or one character. In this way, each team member can push their code into production, while the process of building, testing, and deployment is automated so that they can move on to the next part of the application.

Adding automation to the workflow does not end with the deployment of code into production. You must track new errors before you can have a significant impact on users. For most teams, debugging in production is a manual and tedious task that requires them to focus on log filtering for hours and days. However, root cause analysis can now be massively automated to understand where, when, and the most important cause of the error occurred.

If you are a Java,Scala or .NET developer, we will provide you with special treatment, please check.

Now that we know why it's important to automate our workflows with CI models, it's time to see which tool is right for us.

Jenkins

Jenkins is one of the most well-known and common names in the CI market. It started as an auxiliary project made up of an engineer at Sun and expanded to one of the largest open source CI tools to help engineering teams automate deployment. Full disclosure: our OverOps also uses Jenkins and our own CLI tools.

What does it do?

Just like the CI tool, Jenkins can automatically build, test, and deploy tasks. The tool supports Windows,Mac OSX and various Unix systems and can be installed using native system packages as well as Docker, or independently on any machine on which Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed.

In practice, Jenkins allows any member of the team to push their code into the build and get immediate feedback on whether it is ready to build. In most cases, this requires some patching and customization of Jenkins based on your team's customization requirements.

What Jenkins shines about is its rich plug-in ecosystem. It provides an extended version of more than 1000 plug-ins to integrate almost all the tools and services available on the market. As an open source tool, you can also choose to customize for native solutions, just like we do. However, it takes time and some effort to make sure it suits you, which may be a weakness of some teams.

Price: free of charge

One more thing: we said it once, and we'll say it again: open source + plug-ins = community. Any configuration, workflow, requirement, or wish you can think of, you can choose to create it with the help of Jenkins and its plug-ins. Besides, the name of the band.

Bottom line: if you are looking for bargains (free! CI solution, willing to work to customize your environment and need the support of the user community, Jenkins is your best choice.

Standard Jenkins worklist 2.Travis CI

Travis CI, one of the more common names in the CI / CD ecosystem, was created for open source projects and then extended to closed source projects over the years. It focuses on the CI level and improves the performance of the build process through automated testing and alarm systems.

What does it do?

Travis-CI focuses on allowing users to quickly test code when deploying it. It supports size code changes and is designed to identify changes in build and testing. After a change is detected, Travis CI can provide feedback on whether the change was successful or not.

Developers can use Travis CI to observe tests at run time, run multiple tests in parallel, and integrate the tool with Slack,HipChat,Email and the like to get notifications of problems or unsuccessful builds.

Travis CI supports container construction and supports Linux Ubuntu and OSX. You can use it in different programming languages, such as Java,C#,Clojure,GO,Haskell,Swift,Perl, and so on. It has a limited list of third-party integrations, but since the focus is on CI rather than CD, it may not be a problem for your use cases.

Price: although Travis CI provides free support for open source projects, prices for private projects range from $69 per month for the self-service version to $489 per month for the advanced version.

One more thing: to ensure that the most recent build is always backed up, Travis CI clones the GitHub repository into the new virtual environment when you run the new build.

Conclusion: if your code is open source and you are more concerned with building continuous integration, then Travis CI is worth a try.

Travis CI dashboard 3.Circle CI

Circle CI is a cloud-based tool that automates the integration and deployment process. It also focuses on testing each change in the code before deployment, using a variety of methods, such as unit testing, integration testing, and functional testing. The tool supports containers, OSX,Linux, that can be run in a private cloud or in your own data center.

What does it do?

Circle CI integrates with your current version control system, such as GitHub,Bitbucket, and runs multiple steps when changes are detected. These changes could be commit, open PR, or any other changes to the code.

Each code change creates a build based on your initial configuration and preferences and runs the test in a clean container or VM. Each build consists of many steps, including dependency, testing, and deployment. If the build passes the test, you can deploy it through the AWS CodeDeploy,Google container engine, Heroku,SSH, or any other method you choose.

The success or failure status of problematic builds and tests is sent through Slack,HipChat,IRC or many other integrations, so the team can keep updated. It is important to note that Circle CI requires some adjustments and changes to many languages, so it is best to look at the documentation for the selected language.

Price: for Linux users, the first container is free and each additional container is $50 per month. For teams building 1-5 buildings per day, as well as private data centers or cloud computing, OSX prices start at $39 per month and the annual contract price is $35 per user.

One more thing: Circle CI can automatically cancel redundant builds on GitHub. If a newer build is triggered on the same branch, the tool recognizes it and cancels the old build that is running or queued, even if the build is not complete.

Bottom line: if you're looking for a GitHub-friendly tool that has a broad community behind it, and it can also run in a private cloud or your own data center, Circle CI is worth a try.

Circle CI dashboard 4. TeamCity

TeamCity is a CI / CD server made by JetBrains. It provides "out-of-the-box" continuous integration and allows users to best adapt tools according to their own needs. It supports multiple languages (Java,.NET,Ruby, etc.), and JetBrains supports tool support and documentation wisdom.

What does it do?

As a CI / CD tool, TeamCity aims to improve the release cycle. With it, you can instantly view test results, view code coverage and find duplicates, as well as custom build duration, success rate, code quality, and other custom metrics statistics.

Once TeamCity detects a change in your version control system, it adds a build to the queue. The server finds an idle compatible build agent and assigns queued builds to this agent, which performs the build steps.

When this process runs, the TeamCity server logs different log messages, test reports, and other changes in progress. These changes are saved and uploaded in real time, so users can understand what happens during the build process when building the changes. The tool also provides the option to run parallel builds simultaneously on different platforms and environments.

Price: the professional server license is provided free of charge and includes 100 build configurations, full access to all product features, support through forums and issue trackers, and 3 build agents. For servers with 3 agents, the enterprise server license starts at $1999 and increases the price depending on the number of agents you are interested in.

One more thing: TeamCity comes with an gated commit option to prevent developers from breaking the source code in the version control system. This is done by running the build remotely to make local changes before committing.

Conclusion: TeamCity has become more and more popular over the past few years, providing a good choice for other CI tools on the market. If you are interested in viewing builds and tests, or if you want a free and powerful CI solution, there is no doubt that TeamCity is worth a try.

TeamCity dashboard 5.Codeship

Codeship has a different view of CI / CD and provides managed continuous integration as a service. The tool was originally built to provide a continuous integration platform for Rails developers; their code is hosted on GitHub and deployed to Heroku. Because of its popularity and demand, the company has been expanding over the years to support other technologies.

What does it do?

Codeship has two different products, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Codeship Basic allows you to set up the CI / CD process through Web UI and turnkey deployment connection repositories. It supports a preconfigured CI environment and allows multiple different builds to run on the same build VM.

Codeship Pro uses Docker to define the CI / CD environment through which you can run the build pipeline. It has complete control over the build environment, allowing you to define what is running in it. The Pro version also allows pre-branching caching, setting which images and which parts of the workflow are cached, and parallel deployment.

Overall, Codeship supports multiple languages, such as Java,Go,Node.js,Python,Ruby. On the deployment side, the Basic version supports AWS,Heroku,Azure and Kubernetes, while Pro also supports AWS ElasticBeanstalk,Google App Engine and DigitalOcean.

Price: the free program includes 100 versions per month for unlimited projects, users and teams. It also provides a concurrent build and a parallel test pipeline.

Depending on the number of concurrent build and parallel test channels you are interested in, the basic and professional plan costs between $49 and $79 per month.

One more thing: Codeship has a common utility, a collection of scripts and Docker images that can be used with the tool, and the company even points out that some of them can be used with other similar tools. This collection includes customizable deployment scripts for external services to install scripts for specific versions of software that are not included on the build VM by default, and so on.

Conclusion: it may seem strange to provide two different tools in one domain, but it allows Codeship to choose to focus on the various elements that are more suitable for different types of customers. Since both Basic and Pro are available for free, this is an interesting choice for your CI needs.

Codeship dashboard

6. GitLab CI

Shortly after the launch of GitLab, the team launched the continuous integration service GitLab CI. In addition to testing and building projects, the tool can also deploy builds to your infrastructure, and by knowing the location of each piece of code, you can choose to track different deployments.

What does it do?

GitLab CI is available for free as part of GitLab and can be set up fairly quickly. To start using GitLab CI, you first need to add the. gitlab-ci.yml file to the root of the repository and configure the GitLab project to use Runner After that, each commit or push triggers the CI pipeline with three phases: build, test, and deploy.

Each build can be divided into multiple jobs and can be run in parallel on multiple machines. The tool can immediately feedback the success or failure of the build, letting the user know what is wrong or whether there is a problem in the process.

Price: community version is available free of charge. For programs that include release boards, multiple approvals in code review, advanced syntax search, and some other features, prices start at $3.25 per month.

One more thing: GitLab (and GitLab CI) is an open source project. In other words, you can access and modify the GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition source code.

Bottom line: if you're using GitLab, it's almost wise to try a GitLab CI solution as part of it.

GitLab CI dashboard 7.Bamboo

Bamboo is part of the Atlassian product suite, which, like other tools, provides build, test, and deploy code and supports multiple languages. It has strong integration with other CI products related to the Atlassian cycle, such as JIRA and Bitbucket.

What does it do?

Building, testing, and deployment are all part of the Bamboo package, and the testing part is done with the help of Bamboo Agents. Similar to agents in Java monitoring, Bamboo provides two types; as part of its process, the local agent runs as part of the Bamboo server, while the remote agent runs on other servers and computers. Each agent is assigned to a build that matches its function, which allows different agents to be assigned to different builds.

The main advantage provided by Bamboo is its close relationship with other Atlassian products, such as JIRA and Bitbucket. With Bamboo, you can see code changes and JIRA issues that have introduced code since the last deployment. In this way, developers can synchronize their workflows and keep them running all the time and know the next version and what to fix (should).

Price: bamboo pricing is based on the number of agents. The basic pricing for unlimited local agents is $10, up to 10 jobs, and no remote agents. The next layer is $800 for unlimited work and local agents, as well as a remote agent. Prices for other remote agents will be as high as $44000.

One more thing: Bamboo comes with strong support from Atlassian and a better workflow for the company's existing products. If you want to seamlessly add JIRA and Bitbucket to your CI process and are willing to pay for it, then Bamboo is worth a try.

Conclusion: as long as you use it with Bitbucket and JIRA, Bamboo is powerful and willing to pay for your CI solution.

Bamboo dashboard above are the CI / CD tools that Xiaobian shares with you. If you happen to have similar doubts, you might as well refer to the above analysis to understand. If you want to know more about it, you are welcome to follow the industry information channel.

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