You're migrating your software projects to the cloud. Which continuous integration tools should you choose?

Regarding the selection of the right CI tools for migrating projects in the cloud, the most important is Cloud compatibility with most popular providers (i.e., AWS, Azure), because the right Cloud platform will ensure scalability, performance, security, cost effectiveness and the relevant. Also, needs to support the languages and tools used in your organization. Jenkins is an excellent example of such CI tool that is used many years in SW development in our organization.

In selecting a CI tools for migratim to cloud, some of the key considerations include: Multi-cloud support, to stay future-ready. Non-proprietary nature, to avoid vendor locking. Scalability and performance to support rapid releases in bulk. Interoperability of developed pipelines with other CI tools. Availability of talent pool in the long run for supporting the tool. User experience, specifically designed for developer empowerment. Out-of-box support for security (features) integration into the pipeline, to enable DevSecOps functionality.

My perspective is to leverage Cloud agnostic tools. With architectures and organisation strategies gravitating towards multi or hybrid coud, having a cloud native tool would always prove to be a challenge. Tools like Jenkins (open source or CLoudBees Jenkins) in my experience work very well with any Cloud or on-premise setup.

Selecting the right continuous integration (CI) tools is crucial when migrating software projects to the cloud. Cloud compatibility is a key consideration in this process. Jenkins, an open-source automation server, offers robust plugin support, making it adaptable to various cloud platforms. Travis CI seamlessly integrates with GitHub and supports major cloud providers. GitLab CI/CD, integrated with GitLab, aids smooth transitions to cloud environments. CircleCI stands out with its multi-cloud support, allowing deployment on AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure. Evaluating your project's specific needs and the compatibility of CI tools with your chosen cloud provider is essential for a robust and scalable cloud-based development pipeline.

What I think the most important part is it should ease the development process by automating builds and tests rather than make it more complex with abrupt failures that can impact the delivery. In my personal experience, continuous integration tools should have seamless integration with project management tools and should provide a collaborative platform that can track what is being deployed and who is deploying. Pipelines should be easy to understand and support multiple languages which will help if the team is diverse.

When choosing CI tools for cloud migration projects, we must ensure the selected tools should meet the demands of projects for smooth and reliable CI/CD processes in the cloud environment.

In my experience, where we migrated a complete portfolio of applications to the cloud, make buckets of applications that have really fluctuating demands for capacity and others that are quite stable. The first category needs also migration to micro-services to easily scale-out. The other category is best served by lower cost, stable cloud infrastructure with as much automated pipelines as possible.

Scalability and performance must be designed into the software from the very beginning. It cannot be an afterthought; do not assume that your friendly DevOps team can make your software scale and provide your clients with the experience they rightfully expect. In general: - Avoid monoliths. - “Right-size” your services; consider microservices but evaluate their suitability for your project. - Make your services stateless when practical. - Add heartbeat or health check endpoints to facilitate autoscaling. - Strive to host your software in such a way that it facilitates seamless updates without downtime. - When practical, employ eventual consistency as long as it doesn’t negatively affect the client’s experience.

When choosing CI tools for cloud migration, prioritize scalability and performance. Opt for tools that efficiently handle concurrent builds, parallel testing, and distributed workloads to prevent bottlenecks, delays, and failures. Consider factors like speed, reliability, and availability, along with their ability to address network latency, bandwidth, and security issues. Ensure the selected tools can meet the demands of your projects for smooth and reliable CI/CD processes in the cloud environment.

My experience, with thousands of developers spread across various countries. Initially, the CI tool was piloted on a small scale, involving around 100 users. The results were promising: builds were quick, and the tool integrated well with the existing tech stack. It seemed like a perfect fit. However, as the company began to roll out the tool across its entire developer base, issues started to emerge. The tool that performed so well in a controlled pilot could not scale effectively to meet the demands of thousands of developers working on numerous, complex projects. So keep your big picture always in mind while taking enterprise wise initiative.

DevOps and Azure are free to use. It is very cost-effective and If you are using it, you can upgrade and change the pricing plan seamlessly to scale your application.

Existem vários CI's gratuitos, acredito que nenhuma empresa irá "falir" por conta de uma implementa??o de CI, porém, uma configura??o de escala mal feita pode sim levar uma empresa para patamares mais baixos.

Key Considerations for Cost and Flexibility Budget: Consider both the immediate and long-term costs of the CI tool, including subscription fees, compute resources, and potential costs related to scaling up. Project Requirements: Evaluate the flexibility of each tool against your project's specific needs, including language support, build environment customization, and integration capabilities. Growth and Scalability: Choose a tool that not only fits your current budget and project requirements but also has the flexibility to adapt to future changes and growth in your project. Jenkins is open source and free to use but not on cloud. Generally other popular CICD tools have free tier. You should evaluate based on the factors above.

One key benefit is the ability to scale resources according to demand, optimizing costs while maintaining flexibility in cloud integration.

Cost is important, but developer experience is more important. We don't want make developers wait for the builds/deploys to finish too long. If by implementing faster builds/faster deploys, we have to invest a bit more in CI infrastructure, then it's worth doing it.

Although cloud based CI/CD tools can be a much more easier with better UX however i am sure any one who starts with the basics on a local stack of tools can also understand a-lot on how things goes … using cloud services have the downside of hiding some information and making it easier for a devops engineer … for business yea for sure this is better . For the engineer i like to know the basics first and how things are really working

Developer experience is crucial. If CI tool is hard or not obvious to use, then it will become an obstacle. CI tool should help with traceability of problems, fast deployments, clear presentation of environment data.

This is the most important milestone. Our users must have a wonderful experience. Sometimes we are going to need change management for this kind of projects, sometimes not. It all depends about the users maturity. You can choose the more spectacular suite of products, with the best performance and functions, but users should be convinced about it. We have to prepare some laboratories showing the new functions, talking the users language and knowing their daily challenges. It's not enough the technical performance, but the users voice. The change if because of them and for them.

In my experience all 4 are vital . Each of them are phases in evaluation of both the right target cloud as well as the new skills and resources that are going to be managing and operating the platform

The choice of continuous integration tools depends on many factors, not least the preferences of the project team, the preferences of the client or sponsors, etc. As a personal experience, I can mention Jenkins because we have used it several times. Jenkins is a widely used open source automation tool for continuous build and deployment. It has a large group of users and there are user groups where you can look for solutions to any problems. It can be extended with numerous plugins to support different environments and technologies. Before choosing a tool, it is a good idea to make sure that those who already use it are satisfied with it.

After you decide to migrate to cloud, I think it is equally important to check for #lowcode platforms like #outsystems . While cloud gives you stupendous benefits, Lowcode on cloud adoption will bring much more benefits in terms of speed, time to market, ease of resource capability building, secured and scalable apps.

Choosing the right Continuous Integration (CI) tool for cloud migration involves evaluating scalability, performance, cost, flexibility, user experience, and support. Integration with cloud platforms and version control systems is crucial for seamless workflows. Security features like access control and secrets management, while compliance with industry standards is vital. Customizable build environments and container support are essential for consistency across development stages. Effective reporting and real-time feedback mechanisms, alongside customizable notifications, keep teams informed and responsive. Considering these factors ensures a CI tool not only meets current needs but also supports future growth and development practices.

Choosing CI tools goes beyond just specs; the community and innovation behind them matter greatly to me. Tools supported by active communities offer unique benefits like rapid innovation, quick bug fixes, and extensive customization. Engaging with these communities has provided invaluable insights and helped overcome complex challenges. This aspect, hard to quantify, plays a significant role in my decision-making, fostering a culture of continuous learning and enhancing project quality. #OpenSource #CommunityInnovation

When migrating to the cloud, selecting the right CI tools is crucial. Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, and Travis CI are popular choices, but compatibility, scalability, security, extensibility, and user-friendliness are vital considerations. Ensure seamless integration with your tech stack, prioritize scalability for growing projects, prioritize robust security features, assess extensibility through plugins, and opt for user-friendly tools with thorough documentation. Ultimately, the selected CI tool should align with project needs, fostering an efficient development environment in the cloud.

The ease of training your people to use a tool is a major deciding factor for me. If you already have a well established workflow, then migrating to a new workflow is going to come with its own challenges. 1. The availability of documentations, online courses, videos, etc. will be a consideration. 2. A "necessity" would be the reducing the number of new processes that is required from the individuals. 3. A "nice-to-have" would be the elimination of some of the existing processes. 4. Compatibility with existing tools and tech stack is also of importance, for instance, if we are using the Atlassian eco-system, then we need tight integration with Jira and Bitbucket.