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DevOps tool maker Shippable is now shipping a new enterprise version of its developer platform for enterprises that want to ship code frequently and in a predictable release pattern but have strict security, compliance and control needs.
Shippable Server unifies all of the company’s DevOps tools and processes into so-called “software assembly lines” that provide complete visibility, traceability and audit trails across the end-to-end software delivery workflow, the Seattle-based company said. Shippable Server became available earlier this month.
This is the latest incremental step into the automation of creating software, something that’s been in evolution for a couple of decades. It’s all about an agile-development industry that has sprung up around containers, an open-source deployment mechanism for IT software and services that’s been around for more than a decade, but now has injected itself into the mainstream of tech development.
No development team can seem to build and deploy software fast enough anymore, because there are so many moving parts and applications that change all the time. Shippable’s intent is to both grease the skids and make it as easy and effective as possible to do continuous delivery of mobile applications.
Next Wave of DevOps is Here
“This is the next wave of DevOps, and it brings the discipline of hyper-efficient manufacturing to software delivery,” CEO Avi Cavale said. “Companies like Amazon, Netflix and Google have spent many years and millions of dollars perfecting similar homegrown solutions, but most companies don’t have that kind of money and time. Shippable is built to bring that capability to every organization, irrespective of size.”
As IT shops adopt DevOps mindsets, they find themselves using a diverse and disconnected tool set that can create what Shippable calls “islands of automation.” These are optimized for each silo, but do not provide visibility, auditability and traceability across the entire workflow, the company said.
Therein lies the central problem. Teams then try to compensate for this through meetings, spreadsheets or Slack conversations, which take time. Alternatively, they build homegrown, point-to-point workflows between these islands that are fragile and difficult to scale, Shippable said.
There are other hindrances. Enterprises are often limited to tools that work behind the firewall due to enhanced security and compliance requirements. Second, they have larger teams, so communication lapses are common. Third, they usually have a large number of applications with disparate requirements that lead to a lot of fragmented workflows.
Quality Code Shipped Faster Than Previously
Shippable Server is designed to help enterprises overcome these challenges and ship quality code faster by unifying DevOps tools and activities with rich telemetry. The platform can be installed behind the firewall and provides control and visibility across all DevOps tools and processes, the company said. Software teams can easily implement end-to-end workflows, including CI, deployments, testing, infrastructure, configuration and releases, using a simple YML-based declarative language. Workflows can be scaled horizontally across diverse applications or vertically to allow for added complexity.
Shippable Server provides the following capabilities:
Security and control: Admins can configure roles and policies to decide who can do what. Teams have complete control over their infrastructure and machine configurations. Everything runs behind their firewall, so they are confident knowing that all their security and compliance requirements are met.
Automation: Tasks such as provisioning, building, testing and managing releases with manual or automatic approval gates can be automated, minimizing the need for human interaction.
Visualization: The flow of shipping software from code to production can be visualized in an unified interactive dashboard across one or many applications in the organization. This view is updated in real-time and errors or bottlenecks in the workflow can be quickly identified and rectified. The view also includes analytics and audit trails.
Workflow: With a simple declarative yml config, teams can create sequenced jobs and resources needed to execute DevOps activities and notify interested parties with a stateful workflow engine.
Runtime: Teams can provision, configure and prepare environments needed for DevOps activities in a consistent manner to minimize errors and bugs and reduce setup and teardown time.
Operations: The platform provides continuous monitoring across the entire workflow to detect abnormalities, stop/rollback and fix problems in real-time during any phase of the DevOps workflow.
Integrations: The platform offers 80+ native connectors with all popular tools, technologies, and languages to create synergistic activities across diverse toolchains.
Best-in-class Docker support: The platform offers the latest Docker tooling and natively integrates with all Docker registries like Docker Hub, Amazon ECR, GCR, and private registries, as well as Container Orchestration platforms like Amazon ECS, Kubernetes, GKE, and Microsoft Azure. DevOps workflows for Dockerized applications can be configured in minutes.
Availability
Shippable Server is available for deployment on any cloud or on-premises servers. An entry-level Shippable Server pre-installed AMI is available on the AWS Marketplace for $99/year for a 10-user license. For more information, go here.