Top Tools for DevOps That Every Engineer Should Know
Tags: devops, engineering, tools, programming
Published: 2023-09-12 22:44:33

It's become more and more crucial to have an effective, dependable, and scalable software development process in today's fast-paced industry. DevOps can help in this situation. Software development and IT operations are combined through the DevOps technique to produce an efficient and automated development process. DevOps teams employ a variety of technologies to manage infrastructure, automate processes, and keep an eye on apps in order to do this. The top DevOps tools that are extensively utilized in the sector will be covered in this article.

Let us look at the major categories of Tools in the DevOps discipline.


**Version Control Systems**

Systematic collaboration, code management, and change tracking are made possible via version control. Developers may successfully manage their codebases using the powerful and adaptable framework offered by Git, the most extensively used distributed version control system. Teams can easily cooperate, assuring code harmony and version control, with tools like branching, merging, and pull requests.



![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/isszjjrpqdjv3d9c2zuh.png)


**Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) Tools**

The second tool is what is called CI/CD tools. Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools are essential for automating and streamlining the software development and the entire delivery pipeline. These tools help developers and organizations integrate code changes, test them, and deploy them to production or staging environments in a consistent and automated manner. Here's a list of some popular CI/CD tools:

- **CircleCI**

CircleCI is a cloud-based continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) platform that automates the software development process, allowing teams to build, test, and deploy their applications more efficiently Discover CircleCI [here](https://circleci.com/).

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/emfrx82o7xvetlptedse.png)

- **GitLab CI/CD**

[GitLab CI/CD](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/) is an integral part of GitLab, a web-based platform for version control, source code management, and software development collaboration. GitLab CI/CD provides robust automation and continuous integration/continuous deployment capabilities to help streamline the development and delivery of software. Here are some key features and aspects of GitLab CI/CD: Version control integration, docker container support, Parallel Processing, etc.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ocwhbkj8xxdnykqph39s.png)


- **Jenkins**

[Jenkins](https://www.jenkins.io/) is one of the most popular and widely used open-source automation servers for building, deploying, and automating projects, including software development. It provides a flexible and extensible framework for continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) processes. It is especially valuable for teams that require a high degree of customization and control over their build and deployment pipelines.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/jdm8ethjdw8ftf57y2nv.png)


**Containerization and Orchestration Tools**

Containerization and orchestration tools play a crucial role in modern software development and deployment, particularly in the context of microservices and container-based applications. These tools help automate the management of containers, ensuring that applications run reliably, efficiently, and at scale. Here are some popular containerization and orchestration tools: Docker, Kubernetes, Podman, etc.

- **Docker**

Docker is one of the most well-known and leading containerization platforms. It allows developers to package applications and their dependencies into containers in isolation, making it easy to develop, test, and deploy software consistently across vast environments. 

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/z8prm9e84y3mx334lkhv.png)

- **Kubernetes**

[Kubernetes(k8s)](https://kubernetes.io/) is the most widely used container orchestration platform. It automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications across clusters of machines. It provides features like load balancing, automatic scaling, self-healing, and more. It also has seamless scaling for modern microservices architectures.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/exd602kp472e78583ed0.png)


**IaC(Infrastructure as Code) Tools**

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools are essential for automating and managing the provisioning and configuration of infrastructure resources in a repeatable and consistent manner. These tools enable developers and operations teams to define and manage infrastructure using code, making it easier to scale, version control, and maintain infrastructure resources. Let us explore some popular IaC tools that enable teams streamline infrastructure management in the DevOps discipline.


- **Terraform**

[Terraform](https://www.terraform.io/) is an open-source Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool developed by **HashiCorp**. It enables users to define and provision infrastructure resources in a declarative and consistent manner using a domain-specific configuration language. Terraform is designed to work with various cloud providers, on-premises environments, and third-party integrations, making it a versatile tool for managing infrastructure.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/dj0twiplhn14j4dm1bjt.png)


- **Ansible**

[Ansible](https://www.ansible.com/) is a configuration management and automation tool that can also be used for IaC. It uses YAML-based playbooks to define and provision infrastructure resources on various cloud providers and on-premises environments.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hw10jhza3ow0cml9o8cm.png)


- **Cloudify**

Cloudify is an open-source orchestration and automation platform that can be used for IaC to define and manage infrastructure resources across various cloud providers. Check it out [here](https://cloudify.co/)

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/csn20cx2z8i3ftipjhfp.png)


**Conclusion**

In conclusion, the field of DevOps is rapidly evolving, and DevOps engineers play a critical role in ensuring the seamless integration of development and operations processes. To excel in this dynamic and demanding environment, it's essential for DevOps engineers to be well-versed in a variety of tools and technologies.

In this guide, we've explored a list of tools that DevOps engineers should be familiar with. From version control and continuous integration to containerization, orchestration, and infrastructure as code.

It's crucial, however, to remember that the effectiveness of these tools relies heavily on the skill & expertise of the engineers who use them. While the tools can automate tasks and improve efficiency, it's the DevOps engineer's ability to design, implement, and maintain these processes that truly defines success in the field of DevOps!


Let me know if you have any contributions or questions. Feel free to reach out to me on [X](https://twitter.com/dev_leslie_)