We are excited to welcome 2023 with the release of OpsMx Intelligent Software Delivery Platform (ISD) for Argo version 4.1.2. ISD for Argo 4.1.2 aims to help enterprise Argo users unlock the true potential of GitOps while increasing manageability and visibility across their Argo environment.
ISD 4.1.2 introduces several key features and enhancements specifically designed for organizations who are expanded their use of Argo to production environments, including:
- Automated verification of deployment using AI/ML, including predefined templates to get started with metrics and log analysis
- Unified dashboard to connect and manage multiple Argo instances, and track applications across Argo instances and environments
- Delivery Insights / DORA metrics to improve the CI/CD process
- Deployment Audit for ongoing compliance and reporting
- Easy integration of Argo with SAML or LDAP providers
- RBAC enforcement for users, resources, and actions
- Single click to implement Argo CD and Rollouts
Automated verification of deployments
While deploying applications using progressive delivery approaches in Argo Rollouts, organizations face several challenges, such as manual assessment of risks of multiple deployments per day, inability to find out the dependencies between services, etc.
OpsMx ISD automatically validates and recommends if a deployment is fit to go into production. Once a new release runs in production for a specified period, ISD collects metrics from tools such as Prometheus and compares them with the baseline data from the current release. ISD also collects logs from logging tools like Splunk and applies NLP to find the risk of a release. With ISD, verification of a release can be performed as often and on as many releases in a day.
The image below represents the overall ISD score after metrics and logs analysis of a new release.
ISD also provides granular risk scores:
- Performance score based on metrics such as latency and throughput
- Quality score based on error rates at application, service, and API levels
- Reliability score based on metrics such as memory and disk access during application operation.
Pre-defined templates to get started with logs and metrics analysis from Day-0
To release using a progressive deployment strategy and verify a canary, a new release’s logs, and metrics must be collected for analysis. To cut short the experimentation time and get started with the analysis from Day-0, ISD provides predefined templates for different metrics and logging tools. For any custom log message or metrics, SREs can quickly and easily edit those templates for their disposal.
Find out examples of Elasticsearch and Prometheus templates.
Unified dashboard to manage multiple Argo CD instances
For customers already using Argo CD, it can be overwhelming for the Ops team to handle the lifecycle management activities of multiple Argo instances deployed into various environments for multiple teams. Secondly, to view application deployment status, DevOps or Ops teams have to log into each cluster, login to each Argo instance or apply commands. This can be time-consuming and frustrating.
But with the ISD, the team can visualize the status of enterprise-wide application deployments, workloads and performance metrics in a single plane (refer the below image). Moreover, the Ops team can enforce security, RBAC, and operational policies to all the Argo instances from the ISD UI.
ISD 4.1.2 achieves the unified dashboard functionality by connecting with multiple Argo instances with simple clicks. The approach is to install an ISD agent into each cluster where Argo instances are running and connect with the Argo control plane installed in another cluster.
You can go to the CD integration tab to connect with existing Argo CD instances and select Connect Argo CD. And then, OpsMx will ask you to fill in the basic details of the new Argo CD instances and prompt you to install an agent along with the token in the same cluster where the Argo CD is installed. After a few minutes, your Argo CD instances will be visible in ISD.
Delivery Insights to improve the CI/CD process
ISD provides deployment insights critical for a DevOps manager or engineering leader responsible for making the software development process more efficient and effective. The ISD 4.1.2 offers the current status and health of deployments, along with DORA metrics – deployment frequency, fastest/slowest applications, most active applications, etc.
Deployment Audit for ongoing compliance and reporting
Secure software delivery is an integral part of a secure software supply chain. ISD 4.1.2 captures audit information on what happened (who, what, when) across the entire deployment process. This includes details such as application, CD tool, deployment start time and date, deployment duration, destination cluster, namespace, source repository, source path, etc. All is recorded by ISD and can be retrieved for review, audit, and reporting without manual data gathering by the DevOps team.
Easy integration of Argo with SAML or LDAP authentication providers
Authentication and authorization are primary checks for every application for production usage. Configuring authentication manually for multiple Argo CD instances can be time-consuming. ISD 4.1.2 allows platform engineers and the Ops team to connect Argo with SAML and LDAP Authentication from the UI. This will provide login experience to Argo instances from a single control plane.
For configuring LDAP, the admin or Ops team can click on the Authentication tab under the Access Management tab and provide details such as LDAP provider URL and Bind DN to integrate existing LDAP providers with any Argo instances.
Similarly, one can set up SAML authentication with Argo instances in ISD 4.1.2.
RBAC enforcement for all the Argo instances
To avoid misuse of Argo resources, it is essential to provide access to various team members with the least privileges.
With ISD, the admin or Ops team can implement and enforce role-based access control (RBAC) to all Argo CD instances from an interface. Super administrators can define granular access, such as read/write/delete permissions on different capabilities to multiple groups in your organization.
Single click to implement Argo CD and Rollouts
ISD makes it easy for the DevOps team and platform engineers to deploy new instances of Argo CD and Rollouts from the UI in three easy steps. They need to provide the name, download the manifest to install OpsMx Enterprise for Argo (OEA), and run two commands to connect the newly created Argo CD instances with ISD.
Try OpsMx ISD 4.1.2 for Argo
OpsMx ISD 4.1.2 for Argo is now available. You can use our free cloud-based trial to get started with Argo CD and GitOps deployment without any operation headaches. And if you want to implement progressive deployment strategies from day-1, you can create Argo Rollouts and predefined templates for risk analysis.
Or if you prefer to try this out in your own lab, contact OpsMx for a free trial.
About OpsMx
Founded with the vision of “delivering software without human intervention,” OpsMx enables customers to transform and automate their software delivery processes. OpsMx builds on open-source Spinnaker and Argo with services and software that helps DevOps teams SHIP BETTER SOFTWARE FASTER.
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