Guide: Comprehensive List of DevOps Tools You’ll Need

DevOps has emerged as a crucial methodology for streamlining workflows, enhancing collaboration, and accelerating the delivery of high-quality software. This comprehensive guide aims to provide an in-depth exploration of DevOps tools, from defining DevOps itself to key phases, implementation strategies, common challenges, and the process of choosing the right tools to suit specific needs.

Defining DevOps

DevOps is a cultural and philosophical approach to software development and IT operations that emphasizes collaboration, communication, and integration between development teams (Dev) and operations teams (Ops). It aims to automate the software delivery process, foster a culture of continuous improvement, and enable organizations to deliver better software faster and more reliably.

DevOps teams focus on standardizing development environments and automating delivery processes to improve predictability, efficiency, security, and maintainability. By encouraging autonomy and ownership, DevOps eliminates the “throwing over the wall” mentality, ensuring that teams are responsible for the entire lifecycle of their applications.

In essence, DevOps embodies the principles of agile development while adding a focus on automation, collaboration, and continuous delivery. It represents a cultural shift in how software is developed, deployed, and supported, emphasizing the importance of communication, collaboration, and shared responsibility across development and operations teams.

Importance of DevOps in Modern Software Development

DevOps enables organizations to achieve this by breaking down silos, streamlining processes, and fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation. By embracing DevOps practices and leveraging the right tools, businesses can gain a competitive edge, accelerate time-to-market, and deliver value to customers more effectively.

Phases of the DevOps Lifecycle

The DevOps lifecycle encompasses various phases that facilitate the continuous delivery of high-quality software. With the integration of security practices at every stage, it evolves into the DevSecOps lifecycle, ensuring that software is not only functionally sound but also inherently secure. Each phase contributes to the seamless integration of development and operations, promoting collaboration and efficiency throughout the software delivery pipeline.

By integrating these phases and including security into a cohesive DevOps lifecycle, organizations can achieve faster delivery timelines, improve collaboration between development and operations teams, and deliver value to customers more effectively. The iterative nature of the DevOps lifecycle enables continuous improvement and innovation, empowering teams to adapt to changing requirements and deliver high-quality software at scale.

Understanding DevOps Tools

DevOps tools are instrumental in implementing and automating various aspects of the software delivery pipeline. These tools help teams collaborate more effectively, automate repetitive tasks, and ensure the continuous delivery of high-quality software.

Numerous tools are available, and each serve a unique purpose while offering various features. While we highlight specific brands in the following sections for illustrative purposes, it’s important to note that our selection is not an endorsement, but rather an effort to provide tangible examples to aid comprehension. Additionally, the tools mentioned represent just a fraction of the available options. Here’s a brief overview of some key DevOps tools.

Key DevOps Tools

Plan – Digital.ai Agility | Jira Software | Planview

Overview: In the planning phase, project stakeholders collaborate to define project requirements, establish milestones, and create a strategic roadmap for software development. This phase involves analyzing past iterations, gathering feedback, and incorporating lessons learned into future plans. By fostering open communication and alignment among teams, the planning phase ensures that project goals are clearly defined and achievable.

How/why it fits in this stage:

• Digital.ai Agility: Digital.ai Agility provides comprehensive enterprise agile planning capabilities, allowing teams, teams of teams, portfolio and business leaders to better manage the flow of value across complex software portfolios and hybrid teams, prioritize tasks, and track progress towards business objectives. Its intuitive interface and customizable workflows streamline the software development lifecycle from planning through software delivery and aligns agile, DevOps and business to adapt quickly to changing requirements.
• Jira Software: Jira Software offers team-level project management features, including sprint planning, backlog prioritization, and issue tracking.
• Planview: Planview is an enterprise software solution designed to streamline planning and collaboration across diverse teams and projects within an organization. It offers features for sprint planning, issue tracking, and collaboration, enabling teams to break down work into manageable chunks and accelerate project delivery.

Code – Bitbucket | GitHub | GitLab

Overview: In the code phase of the DevOps lifecycle, developers focus on writing and collaborating on code. Version control systems (VCS) play a central role in this phase, enabling developers to track changes to their codebase, collaborate with team members, and manage different versions of their code.

How/why it fits in this stage:

• Bitbucket: Bitbucket provides a robust platform for hosting Git repositories and managing code collaboration workflows. Bitbucket offers Git repository hosting with collaboration tools like pull requests and code reviews, facilitating effective code management and team collaboration during the code phase.
• GitHub: GitHub is a widely used platform for hosting open-source and private Git repositories. GitHub hosts millions of repositories and provides features such as pull requests and project management tools, empowering effective code collaboration and community support.
• GitLab: GitLab provides a comprehensive DevOps platform with version control, issue tracking, CI/CD, and project management capabilities, streamlining collaboration and automation throughout the code phase.

Build – Digital.ai TeamForge | Gradle | Apache Maven | Puppet

Overview: The build phase involves compiling and integrating code changes into a cohesive software package. Continuous integration (CI) tools automate the build process, allowing developers to identify and address integration issues early. By regularly integrating code changes and running automated tests, teams ensure that the codebase remains stable and functional throughout the development cycle.

How/why it fits in this stage:

• Digital.ai TeamForge: Digital.ai TeamForge is a collaborative software development and delivery platform that provides end-to-end visibility and traceability across the software development lifecycle. It facilitates Agile planning, version control, build automation, and release management, allowing teams to manage and streamline their development processes effectively. Digital.ai TeamForge integrates with CI/CD tools like Jenkins and supports various build automation strategies, enhancing collaboration and efficiency in the build phase of the DevOps lifecycle.
• Gradle: Gradle is a powerful build automation tool that supports multiple programming languages, including Java, Kotlin, and Groovy. It offers flexibility and scalability, allowing developers to define custom build logic and manage complex project structures efficiently. Gradle’s dependency management and incremental build capabilities contribute to faster build times, enhancing the efficiency of the build phase.
• Apache Maven: Apache Maven is a build automation tool primarily used for Java projects. It manages project dependencies, compiles source code, and packages the application into a distributable format. It streamlines the build process, ensuring consistent and reproducible builds across environments, which aligns with the objectives of the build phase.
• Puppet: Puppet automates the configuration and management of infrastructure, enabling developers to define infrastructure as code and enforce desired state configurations. Puppet aligns with the coding phase by providing a declarative approach to infrastructure management and allows developers to codify operational requirements and maintain consistency across environments.

Test – Digital.ai Continuous Testing | Sauce Labs | Browserstack

Overview: In the testing phase, teams verify that the software meets quality standards and fulfills functional requirements. Automated testing tools enable comprehensive testing at various levels, including unit, integration, and system testing. By detecting and addressing bugs and issues proactively, teams ensure the reliability and robustness of the software before deployment.

How/why it fits in this stage:

• Digital.ai Continuous Testing: Digital.ai Continuous Testing provides a comprehensive solution for automating and orchestrating the testing process throughout the software development lifecycle. By integrating with CI/CD pipelines, it enables teams to automate testing at every stage, from unit testing to performance testing. Digital.ai Continuous Testing helps teams identify and address defects early in the development process, ensuring faster time to market and higher-quality software releases.
• Sauce Labs: Sauce Labs streamlines cross-browser and cross-device testing, ensuring compatibility across diverse environments. By providing extensive browser and device coverage, it facilitates thorough testing on real devices and browsers, essential for delivering a seamless user experience. Integration with popular testing frameworks and CI/CD tools further enhances efficiency, enabling teams to automate testing and ensure continuous quality throughout the development process.
• Browserstack: Browserstack simplifies cross-browser and cross-device testing, crucial for ensuring software compatibility across various platforms. With its extensive browser and device coverage, teams can thoroughly test their applications on real devices and browsers, identifying and addressing compatibility issues early in the development lifecycle. Integration with popular testing frameworks and CI/CD tools enables seamless automation and continuous testing, empowering teams to deliver high-quality software efficiently.

Release – Digital.ai Release | Harness | Azure DevOps

Overview: The release phase marks the final readiness check before deploying the software to production environments. Teams conduct thorough testing and quality assurance to ensure that the software meets production standards and user expectations. By validating deployment readiness and addressing any identified issues, teams mitigate risks and ensure a smooth transition to the deployment phase.

How/why it fits in this stage:

• Digital.ai Release: Digital.ai Release offers a comprehensive solution for orchestrating and automating the release process across various environments. It integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, enabling teams to define release pipelines that automate the deployment of software changes from development through production. Digital.ai Release ensures consistency and reliability in the release process, enabling teams to deliver high-quality software releases efficiently.
• Harness: Harness is a continuous delivery platform that automates the entire software delivery process, from code to production. It provides features such as deployment pipelines, automated rollback, and intelligent verification, enabling teams to deploy confidently and with speed. Harness ensures that releases are consistent, reliable, and error-free, facilitating a seamless transition to production environments.
• Azure DevOps: Azure DevOps streamlines the release process by allowing teams to create automated release pipelines to deploy software changes across environments, ensuring consistency and reliability. Its integration with other Azure services and third-party tools makes it a versatile choice for managing releases in diverse environments.

Deploy – Digital.ai Deploy | AWS Code Deploy | CircleCI

Overview: During the deployment phase, the software is deployed to production environments, making it available for end-users. Automation tools streamline the deployment process, enabling teams to deploy changes consistently and reliably. By leveraging deployment automation and continuous delivery practices, teams reduce deployment times and minimize the risk of errors in production environments.

How/why it fits in this stage:

• Digital.ai Deploy: Digital.ai Deploy provides a comprehensive solution for automating the deployment process across diverse environments. By integrating with CI/CD pipelines, it facilitates the seamless deployment of software changes from development through production. Digital.ai Deploy offers deployment dashboards that provide full visibility into the deployment status, enabling teams to track branches, builds, pull requests, and deployment warnings in one place.
• AWS CodeDeploy: AWS CodeDeploy is a fully managed deployment service that automates software deployments to a variety of compute services, including Amazon EC2, AWS Fargate, and Lambda. It allows teams to deploy applications from a central location, enabling rapid and reliable deployments at scale. AWS CodeDeploy integrates with existing CI/CD pipelines and provides deployment dashboards for monitoring deployment status and performance.
• CircleCI: CircleCI is a cloud-based CI/CD platform that automates the build, test, and deployment processes for software applications. It provides seamless integration with popular version control systems and deployment tools, enabling teams to automate deployment workflows with ease. CircleCI offers deployment dashboards and automated deployment features that help teams deploy changes consistently and efficiently.

Operate – Opsgenie | ServiceNow | Jira Service Management | BMC Remedy

Overview: In the operate phase, teams monitor and manage the software in production environments to ensure its availability, performance, and security. Operations teams utilize monitoring tools to collect real-time data and identify potential issues or bottlenecks. By proactively addressing operational concerns and optimizing system performance, teams ensure a seamless user experience and minimize downtime.

How/why it fits in this stage:

• Opsgenie: Opsgenie provides incident management and alerting solutions that enable teams to respond to and resolve incidents effectively. By centralizing incident information and facilitating collaboration between DevOps teams, Opsgenie ensures that incidents are promptly addressed and resolved, minimizing downtime and impact on users.
• ServiceNow: ServiceNow offers a comprehensive ITSM platform that streamlines incident, problem, and change management processes. By providing a centralized system for managing IT operations, ServiceNow enables teams to prioritize and resolve incidents efficiently, ensuring service availability and reliability.
• Jira Service Management: Jira Service Management offers IT service management solutions that streamline incident, problem, and change management processes. By providing a centralized platform for managing IT operations, Jira Service Management enables teams to prioritize and resolve incidents efficiently, ensuring service availability and reliability.
• BMC Remedy: BMC Remedy is an ITSM platform that offers incident, problem, change, and asset management capabilities. It provides a centralized system for managing IT operations and aligning IT services with business needs. It’s workflow automation and service catalog features help streamline service delivery processes, minimizing service disruptions.

Monitor – DataDog | AppDynamics | Dynatrace

Overview: The monitoring phase focuses on monitoring and gathering insights into the performance and health of deployed applications and infrastructure. This phase enables teams to detect issues proactively, optimize system performance, and ensure a positive user experience. By leveraging monitoring data to inform decision-making and drive continuous improvement, teams enhance the reliability and efficiency of the software over time.

How/why it fits in this stage:

• DataDog: DataDog provides a comprehensive platform for monitoring and analytics, allowing teams to collect, visualize, and analyze metrics, logs, and traces from across their stack. It monitors key performance indicators and infrastructure metrics in real-time, enabling teams to identify and troubleshoot issues quickly, optimize system performance, and ensure the reliability and availability of their apps and services.
• AppDynamics: AppDynamics is an Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tool that provides real-time insights into application performance, user experience, and business impact. It monitors key metrics such as response times, error rates, and resource utilization across distributed environments, enabling teams to identify performance bottlenecks, optimize application code, and enhance user satisfaction.
• Dynatrace: Dynatrace is a comprehensive observability platform that combines APM, infrastructure monitoring, and AI-driven analytics to deliver insights into the performance and health of applications and underlying infrastructure. It automatically discovers and maps application dependencies, traces transactions across distributed environments, and correlates performance data with user experience and business metrics.

Security – Digital.ai App Security | GuardSquare | AppDome

Overview: Security is not merely a phase but an overarching concern throughout the DevOps lifecycle. Software teams integrate security testing and evaluation at every stage of development, ensuring that security is a fundamental consideration from ideation to deployment. DevSecOps practices emphasize the importance of proactive security measures, aiming to build software that is not only functionally sound but also inherently secure.

How/why it fits in this stage:

• Digital.ai App Security: Digital.ai App Protection provides app hardening for web, desktop, and mobile applications against various threats, including reverse-engineering and tampering. By inserting security into your apps at the build phase, development teams can proactively address security concerns and safeguard their applications from potential attacks.
• GuardSquare: GuardSquare offers app security solutions that protect mobile applications against reverse engineering, tampering, and other security threats. By implementing GuardSquare’s security measures during the development phase, teams can enhance the security posture of their applications and mitigate the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.
• Appdome: AppDome provides a no-code mobile app security platform that allows developers to add security features to mobile applications without writing any code. By integrating security enhancements during the build phase, AppDome helps teams streamline the security integration process and ensure that applications are protected against threats such as malware, data leakage, and unauthorized access.

How to Implement DevOps Tools in your SDLC

Implementing DevOps tools effectively requires careful planning, collaboration, and a clear understanding of your organization’s specific needs and goals. Here are some steps to help you successfully integrate DevOps tools into your software development lifecycle (SDLC):

1. Assess Your Current Processes: Before introducing new tools, it’s crucial to assess your current software development processes. Understand how teams collaborate, how code is managed, how testing is conducted, and how deployments are executed. Identify any inefficiencies, bottlenecks, or areas for improvement in your existing workflows.
2. Identify Bottlenecks and Pain Points: Identify the key bottlenecks and pain points in your SDLC. These could include manual tasks, slow deployment processes, lack of visibility, or communication gaps between teams. Pinpointing these issues prioritizes the selection and implementation of DevOps tools that address specific pain points and improve overall efficiency.
3. Research and Evaluate DevOps Tools: Research and evaluate DevOps tools that align with your organization’s requirements and objectives. Consider factors such as ease of integration, scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. Explore tools that cover various aspects of the DevOps lifecycle, including planning, coding, building, testing, releasing, deploying, operating, monitoring, and, of course, security.
4. Start Small and Iterate: Rather than attempting to implement all DevOps tools at once, start small and focus on addressing one or two key challenges initially. Implement tools gradually, allowing teams to adapt to new processes and technologies incrementally. As you gain experience and confidence, iterate on your toolset and expand its usage across different stages of the SDLC.
5. Train Your Team: Invest in training and upskilling your team members to effectively use DevOps tools and practices. Provide hands-on training sessions, workshops, and resources to ensure that team members understand how to leverage these tools to streamline their workflows and collaborate more efficiently. Encourage a culture of continuous learning and improvement to foster adoption and mastery of DevOps principles.

Common Challenges

DevOps addresses several common challenges inherent in traditional software development methodologies, promoting collaboration, efficiency, and quality throughout the software delivery lifecycle. Prior to adopting DevOps practices, organizations often grapple with the following issues:

Fragmented Teams and Siloed Processes

In traditional development environments, teams operate in isolation, leading to fragmented communication and disjointed workflows. DevOps fosters collaboration and cross-functional teamwork, breaking down silos and promoting alignment among development, operations, and other stakeholders.

Slow and Inefficient Delivery Cycles

Traditional development approaches are characterized by lengthy and error-prone delivery cycles, resulting in delayed software releases and frustrated stakeholders. DevOps streamlines and automates the software delivery process, enabling organizations to release software faster, more frequently, and with greater reliability.

Lack of Visibility and Accountability

In traditional development setups, visibility into the software delivery pipeline is often limited, making it challenging to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and hold teams accountable for outcomes. DevOps introduces transparency and visibility across the entire delivery lifecycle, providing insights into each stage of development and operations.

Manual and Error-Prone Processes

Manual interventions and handoffs between development, QA, and operations introduce opportunities for errors, inconsistencies, and delays in the software delivery process. DevOps advocates for automation at every stage of the lifecycle, reducing manual effort, minimizing human error, and enhancing repeatability and consistency.

Limited Feedback Loops and Continuous Improvement

Traditional development methodologies lack mechanisms for gathering timely feedback, hindering continuous improvement efforts and inhibiting innovation. DevOps promotes feedback loops and emphasizes continuous feedback collection and analysis to drive iterative enhancements and innovation.

In essence, DevOps transforms traditional software development and deployment practices by promoting collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement. By addressing these challenges head-on, DevOps enables organizations to overcome barriers to effective software delivery, driving agility, innovation, and competitiveness.

How to Choose the Right DevOps Tools for Your Needs

Selecting the right DevOps tools is essential for success in implementing DevOps practices. Here are some factors to consider when choosing DevOps tools:

Factors to Consider

When selecting DevOps tools for your software development lifecycle (SDLC), it’s essential to consider various factors to ensure they align with your organization’s requirements and objectives. Here are key factors to consider:

Compatibility and Integration

Ensure that the DevOps tools you choose are compatible with your existing infrastructure, development platforms, and technologies. Assess how well the tools integrate with your current toolchain, including version control systems, issue tracking systems, and CI/CD pipelines. Seamless integration reduces friction between tools and enables smoother collaboration across teams.

Scalability and Flexibility

Choose DevOps tools that can scale with your organization’s growth and evolving needs. Consider how easily the tools can accommodate changes in project size, team size, and complexity. Look for flexible solutions that allow customization and adaptation to different workflows and processes. Scalable and flexible tools enable agility and support continuous improvement in your SDLC.

Community Support and Documentation

Evaluate the level of community support and documentation available for the DevOps tools you’re considering. Active community forums, user groups, and online resources can provide valuable insights, troubleshooting assistance, and best practices. Comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and guides ensure that your team can quickly onboard and effectively utilize the tools.

Cost and Licensing

Understand the cost implications and licensing models associated with DevOps tools. Consider both upfront costs and ongoing expenses, including subscription fees, maintenance fees, and support costs. Assess whether the benefits offered by the tools justify the investment and align with your budget constraints. Additionally, be mindful of any licensing restrictions and compliance requirements to avoid legal issues.

Security and Compliance

Prioritize the security and compliance features of DevOps tools to safeguard your software development process and protect sensitive data. Look for tools that offer robust security measures, such as role-based access control, encryption, and audit trails. Ensure that the tools comply with relevant industry regulations and standards to mitigate risks and maintain regulatory compliance.

Tailoring DevOps Practices to Your Needs

Every organization is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to DevOps. It’s essential to tailor DevOps practices and tools to meet your organization’s specific needs, goals, and constraints.

Staying Current with DevOps Tools and Best Practices

The field of DevOps is constantly evolving, so to stay ahead of the curve, it’s crucial to continuously educate yourself, stay informed about the latest developments, and actively participate in the DevOps community.

DevOps tools play a vital role in enabling organizations to embrace DevOps practices, streamline workflows, and deliver high-quality software more efficiently. By understanding the phases of the DevOps lifecycle, selecting the right tools, overcoming common challenges, and staying current with best practices, organizations can unlock the full potential of DevOps and drive innovation and success.