Modern App and DevSecOps Platform in 3 Steps

What’s the problem?

Adopting cloud native architectures, using the latest dev tools or just quietly trying to modernize your application estate has become a more daunting challenge than building a rocket to the moon.? Across the enterprise, 80% of CIOs and CTOs have embraced the the idea of adopting? modern DevSecOps, but only 10% can confidently say they’ve seen accelerated performance and delivery cycles.?

But what’s the real problem?

Enterprises aren’t starting their modernization journey with a clean sheet of paper. Instead many are using a semi-functional array of inherited point solution, from legacy code management, issue tracking, CI/CD, security, and monitoring to application orchestration platforms that lack modern services for their new cloud native applications, their emerging mobile and edge apps, and the older bare metal and VM-hosted apps. Compounding the problem, there is no single expert to consult or even hire to fix the mess.?

What companies have is difficult to scale because the “stack” is duct-taped together, difficult to manage, upgrade, patch or just maintain on a daily basis. The latest and greatest tech isn’t any use either as any visit to the CNCF library of projects is more confusing than an M.C. Escher print.?

What companies have is old, it’s a mess, it’s breaking and it’s going to cause trouble unless it gets fixed right now!

So what do I need?

ChatGPT will solve all your problems - no, sorry not really. Start with what works. Start with what’s been working for the past decade for companies just like yours: BoxBoat Services from IBM, Gitlab’s unified DevSecOps solution, Red Hat OpenShift and the Red Hat Stack.

Part 1a: A single application modern DevSecOps solution

Why use 11 different tools when you can get everything done in one - plan your development, create your code, verify test and secure your software, and package/deploy it with automatic monitoring and governance built in.? GitLab provides all of the essential DevSecOps tools in one platform - it enables teams to improve cycle time from weeks to minutes, reduce development costs, speed time to market, and deliver more secure and compliant applications. Getting started is easy with affordable options including free!

In addition, GitLab has been developing the latest generation of AI-assisted features including:

• Code Suggestions - Enables developers to write code more efficiently by viewing code suggestions as they type. Learn more about Code Suggestions.
• Suggested Reviewers - Helps customers receive faster and higher quality reviews by automatically finding the right people to review a merge request. Learn more about Suggested Reviewers.
• Summarize MR Changes - Helps merge request authors to drive alignment and action by efficiently communicating the impact of their changes. Learn more about Summarize MR Changes.
• Summarize My MR Review - Enables better handoffs between authors and reviewers and helps reviewers efficiently understand many merge request suggestions. Learn more about Summarize My MR Review.
• Explain This Vulnerability - Helps developers remediate vulnerabilities more efficiently and uplevel their skills, enabling them to write more secure code. Learn more about Explain This Vulnerability.
• Generate Tests in MRs - Automates repetitive tasks for developers and helps them catch bugs early. Learn more about Generate Tests in MRs.
• Explain This Code - Allows DevSecOps teams to get up to speed quickly on code. Learn more about Explain This Code.
• Issue Comment Summaries - Quickly gets everyone up to speed on lengthy conversations to ensure they are all on the same page. Learn more about Issue Comment Summaries.
• GitLab Chat - Helps quickly identify useful information in large volumes like documentation. Learn more about GitLab Chat.
• Value Stream Forecasting - Predicts productivity metrics and identifies anomalies across your software development lifecycle. Learn more about Value Stream Analytics.

To learn more, Sid, Taylor, Neha and Torsten have written excellent articles on all of GitLab’s upcoming AI features.

Part 1b: GitLab for Red Hat OpenShift

Gitlab and Red Hat have been strategic partners for over 5 years. This month Red Hat’s Taylor Smith and GitLab’s Dilan Orrino confirmed official support of GitLab for RedHat OpenShift as a Certified Operator, which gives customers the capability to install GitLab inside of an OpenShift cloud cluster. Leveraging the Operator framework enables a streamlined installation & upgrade process, with future plans for backup and recovery, comprehensive metrics, auto-tuning and auto-scaling.?

Part 2: Red Hat Openshift

Red Hat’s OpenShift Container Platform — a hybrid cloud platform as a service built around Linux containers orchestrated and managed by Kubernetes leveraging RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) - is one of the earliest and most trusted Kubernetes solutions. It has faithfully served thousands of customers in the past 12 years, evolving and modernizing with the pace of innovation that is the hallmark of the CNCF. For customers who have complex and costly multi tool development environments that are often very manual and time consuming, OpenShift reduces the costs and complexity of managing large application estates by leveraging the scalable architecture of easy Kubernetes container management. It helps application developers and ops teams alike manage complex micro-services deployments, with a single pane of glass to monitor and govern applications and infrastructure.

OpenShift can be operated as software as a service, self-managed, or in any of the combinations offers by the large hyper-scalers including: ROSA (Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS), ARO (Azure Red Hat OpenShift) and RHOIC (Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud).?

Part 3: Tie it all together with BoxBoat Services from IBM Global Business Services

BoxBoat has developed a highly successful OpenShift and GitLab practice built around delivering proven, predictable, scalable, efficient, and durable services to accommodate rapid adoption and scaling of Red Hat Openshift and GitLab’s DevSecOps solution. BoxBoat is the trusted partner? driving business transformation, workload modernization, and vendor integration around container platforms with deep industry expertise across the CNCF landscape. Their Red Hat + GitLab Center of Excellence provides guidance and advice on container platforms, with solution architectures, platform assessments, PoCs, and more to deliver Enablement, Excellence, and Eminence.

A better solution together

GitLab accelerates software development and deployment of applications while OpenShift provides a secure, fully managed container + Hybrid cloud platform to manage and scale fleets of applications with ease. Together, we deliver true value for customers who are starting or well on their journey to combine the benefits of DevSecOps best practices on a scalable application platform designed to grow with their needs.??

For CIOs, CTOs, VPs of Infrastructure, VPs of Dev, VPs of Operations, Cloud Platform Leaders, and Application Development Leaders interested in learning more, GitLab’s own Director of Alliances for IBM and Red Hat, Brett Egloff will be among the thousands of attendees celebrating Red Hat’s continued success at their Annual Red Hat Summit May 23-25, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. See you there!