The primary use case for CloudBees is for continuous integration and deployment. It is primarily used for production deployments. We use it to trigger Autobahn, such as CloudBees, well in advance to clear out many issues upfront, trigger change requests, and test in various environments to be ready with the production deployment on the actual date.
External reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Streamlined deployment efficiency with excellent integration and comprehensive integration capabilities
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
CloudBees has helped our organization by integrating with various systems like version one, GitHub, and PDSM. It reduces the need for documentation by automating processes, saving time when creating documents and testing the application. This reduces the amount of time spent on deployments and helps pull out all the test results and create change requests, providing a more streamlined process for deployment.
What is most valuable?
The most beneficial aspect is that CloudBees integrates with everything, like version one, GitHub, and PDSM. It automates documentation and testing processes, reducing the need to create documents manually. By creating automated processes, it saves time and effort.
What needs improvement?
It could improve the document upload process. Currently, documents need to be uploaded manually to the PDSM request. An enhancement could be to have a feature where you can upload documents directly to go into the PDSM request.
For how long have I used the solution?
For about two to three years, approximately two and a half to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
CloudBees has improved a lot over time. Initially, there were challenges setting it up, but once we understood its functions and processes, there were no stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
CloudBees is scalable as it integrates with various complex systems and offers the flexibility to scale to many other application integrations beyond those currently used.
How are customer service and support?
I have not personally interacted with customer service or support since the DevOps team handles template creation and maintenance, and they might have contacted support during the initial phase.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before CloudBees, we did not use a similar tool. However, we are currently considering a transition to GitHub Actions.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup involved creating a template that checks pull requests in GitHub. It verifies approvals, mergers, and other criteria necessary for a build. The setup includes extensive integration with other systems, stringent checks, and a series of deployment stages from QA to production.
What about the implementation team?
The DevOps team is responsible for creating templates and handling integration with various systems. They play a crucial role in supporting the implementation and deployment processes.
What was our ROI?
The measurable benefits of using CloudBees include a significant amount of time saved during deployment because of the automation and integration capabilities it offers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am not aware of the pricing, setup cost, or licensing details for CloudBees.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are currently using GitHub Actions, with an effort to transition from CloudBees to GitHub Actions.
What other advice do I have?
Follow the guidelines and step-by-step processes thoroughly. If you encounter integration issues with your tools, seek support from CloudBees to ensure integration. Once set up, CloudBees is a reliable tool for deployment.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Improves deployment speed with automation features
What is our primary use case?
We use CloudBees for deploying the code in higher environments, such as QA, C2, staging, and production.
How has it helped my organization?
CloudBees has made deployment faster compared to on-premise solutions. It also facilitates working with multiple machines, improving efficiency and performance.
What is most valuable?
I find the automation feature most valuable. CloudBees is highly scalable and supports both small and large teams. The deployment process is also faster when compared to on-premise.
What needs improvement?
There are connection issues with CloudBees, specifically between Sybase and CloudBees. We often encounter connection problems, and there are issues with the pipelines.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with CloudBees for one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There are a lot of connection issues with CloudBees. We experience disconnections frequently.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
CloudBees supports the deployment of large amounts of data efficiently across multiple machines.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't gone through the technical support, so I can't comment on it.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before CloudBees, we were using Jenkins on-premises. We switched to CloudBees because we moved our SQL servers to the cloud, which made deployment easier.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of CloudBees took approximately fifteen to twenty minutes.
What about the implementation team?
We used UrbanCode deployment to deploy it in different environments, but I was not directly involved in the implementation part.
What was our ROI?
I am not aware of the return on investment metrics for CloudBees.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am not sure about the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for CloudBees. The team takes care of it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I am not aware of any other solutions that were evaluated before choosing CloudBees.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend CloudBees to others because building jobs is much easier than with other solutions.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Streamlined deployment and automation with enhanced efficiency
What is our primary use case?
We use a pipeline to deploy our application. All our organization checks and requirements are added to the CloudBees pipelines, ensuring code quality and checking vulnerabilities. We use Jenkins and SonarQube as part of the deployment process.
How has it helped my organization?
CloudBees has streamlined our deployment process. Previously, deployment involved manual file transfers and checks, which were time-consuming. Now, with CloudBees, many tasks are automated, making our work easier and more efficient.
What is most valuable?
CloudBees assists by automating tasks, previously done manually, in the pipeline setup. This saves time and improves efficiency. The features set rules that are regularly updated, reducing the need for constant oversight. One-click deployment processes also highlight the flexibility and ease of the platform.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes, there are performance issues, however, they may be due to our organization's configuration. Currently, I do not have specific improvements in mind as these might be related to our side.
For how long have I used the solution?
Previously, our organization had an on-premise solution, but we have moved to the cloud version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Due to security constraints within our organization, the performance can appear slow. It is difficult to discern if the issue is with CloudBees or our organization's configuration.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
CloudBees is scalable, but I cannot provide specific details on how this scalability impacts us.
How are customer service and support?
We experience issues with the CloudBees pipelines occasionally, like resource limits or permission errors. The DevOps team generally resolves these, and I would rate CloudBees support eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before CloudBees, we used FTP for deployment, which involved no pipelines.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was managed by a separate team. My experience starts with using the product, which was straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
A separate team, the DevOps team, manages the CloudBees setup and any technical support needed.
What was our ROI?
CloudBees saves time and resources by executing automated deployment processes, which would otherwise have been manual and time-consuming.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am not aware of the pricing, setup cost, or licensing details.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have not evaluated other solutions, as my interaction began with CloudBees directly.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend CloudBees, especially to those using traditional ways of deployment, because it simplifies and automates many processes.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Efficient feature deployment with robust DevOps capabilities
What is our primary use case?
We use CloudBees Jenkins with Jenkins and Sonar validation for our pipeline. We use it for all microservices, web system payment integrations, and overall pipeline configurations and deployment processes.
How has it helped my organization?
CloudBees has improved our DevOps practices by allowing us to deploy features and fixes efficiently. It supports our business rules, security analysis, and overall deployment process while simplifying the configuration.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are Java features, microservice communication, payment validation, Jenkins Sonar, management master to CloudBees, Blue Ocean, JobConfig, and support.
What needs improvement?
The user interface of CloudBees is good but could be even more intuitive. Improving the user-friendliness of the interface and having simpler setup configurations would greatly benefit new users.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with CloudBees for around two to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
CloudBees is very stable and reliable. From one to ten, I would rate the stability a ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
CloudBees offers high scalability. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate its scalability a ten.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service and technical support are excellent. I rate the technical support from one to ten as a ten. They provide fast, simple, and efficient support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before using CloudBees, we used Jenkins SonarQube, Nexus, Azure, and AWS. The decision to switch to CloudBees was made for better integration and deployment capabilities.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of CloudBees is very easy and straightforward. It takes around 20-30 minutes to deploy completely without any complicated steps.
What about the implementation team?
Our configuration team handled the setup and deployment. Twenty people were involved in the deployment and maintenance processes, and they ensured everything worked perfectly without delays.
What other advice do I have?
CloudBees provides a robust and efficient solution for our DevOps needs. Ensuring an intuitive user interface and simplifying the setup process can further enhance its usability for new users.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
A single person can still control all the masters
What is most valuable?
CloudBees is the Jenkins tool for building and deploying. There's open-source Jenkins, which is free and can be used by any organization, but it offers a different architecture for Jenkins. If your organization is larger, you might choose the architecture. This way, you can have different masters for different applications, and different teams can manage their masters separately. However, a single person can still control all the masters, whoever manages it for the organization.
It has dynamic node allocation for the code we're building. When we trigger a build, like for Java code, it pulls a Docker image from a repository. Then, a pod spins up. If you have ten nodes, the solution uses a Kubernetes architecture. There's one master node and ten different nodes connected to the master. Whenever we trigger a build, a pod spins up and gets scheduled on any of the slave nodes in the Kubernetes cluster. That's the best thing I see about the product.
The management is good. You don't need to manage different nodes individually. You don't have to specify which node to build the code on. In CloudBees, you can avoid that. You mention the node, and it will automatically schedule the pod on whichever node is free.
You can also configure different nodes. Another good point is that you can configure Elastic File System to store the data.
What needs improvement?
The setup is somewhat complicated. You need a cloud architect and engineer to set it up properly. The initial setup will take time, so you need a good engineer and architect to handle it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the product for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have no issues with the tool's stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I find the product scalable. Currently, we're using a Kubernetes architecture and working on-premises. However, other teams are working on the cloud version of CloudBees with AWS infrastructure. There, we can also scale the nodes.
I'm currently working for an organization that has over 200 applications. They've adopted the CloudBees architecture. So, these 200 applications have 200 different masters. All of this is managed by a single team, which is a separate team. The different applications and different members are managed by a single person who oversees the entire organization, similar to how we have it in AWS.
How are customer service and support?
The tool's support is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
What other advice do I have?
I don't think CloudBees requires much maintenance, but some things must be considered. As I said, they have a Kubernetes architecture, so Kubernetes patching and Jenkins patching will also be required. It publishes upgraded versions on its website. You can purchase the latest license and upgrade the Jenkins version through that purchase.
I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
User-friendly, but the pipelines randomly fail multiple times
What is most valuable?
CloudBees is a user-friendly tool.
What needs improvement?
I think the pipeline design we had on CloudBees was not very intuitive. There were a couple of reasons for this. The first reason was the way we went about merging our code. When we have code, we would just put it on GitLab. Realistically, GitLab already provides CI/CD pipelines. We shouldn't be using CloudBees because it's a third-party source we don't need.
We started realizing that CloudBees was not the right tool for that. The problem with CloudBees is that when you merge it, the pipelines would randomly fail multiple times. The failures wouldn't be related to a test that we would have.
It became such a huge problem that pipeline issues became a whole other domain that we would end up exploring through different developers. Because of that, we're actually moving away from CloudBees now and looking into just making GitLab pipelines.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution’s stability a five out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We scaled the solution, and it's a major part of the company. Since tons and tons of products are using CloudBees, I don't think it has a problem with scalability.
How was the initial setup?
I've worked a bit with the deployment of the pipeline. I don't want to say I made my own pipeline, but I merged two repositories and made my own pipeline out of them. It took me almost a week's worth of work and a lot of random failures here and there.
The setup will not be too complicated if you have good knowledge of it. It wasn't that easy for me because I was still like an intern who had just started.
What other advice do I have?
I wouldn't say anybody can use the solution. CloudBees is a user-friendly tool, but it's a bit confusing to navigate in certain places. It wasn't confusing, but it was a bit unintuitive. On the other hand, the GitLab pipelines we started migrating towards were significantly more user-friendly.
The solution's integration with other tools is fine, and I rate it a six out of ten. We integrated with GitLab, and it was fine. We did have a lot of problems, though, and we would have people working until past midnight trying to fix those. It was kind of a problem on that end. It was getting the job done eventually, but it had many ghost problems.
People would end up waiting for weeks to merge perfectly good code just to make it work for this pipeline that was having problems. It was very annoying from that standpoint.
I don't think there's any actual problem with CloudBees. Our problems with CloudBees could have been specific to our code, development practices, and how we used the tool. At the end of the day, it's not about the tool itself, but it's about how you use the tool. There may be a problem with the way we were using the tool. I think CloudBees is still good.
At the end of the day, it did get the job done for a lot of things. I have to give it credit where it's due. I would recommend CloudBees to other users. In my opinion, having a third-party pipeline when your repository already provides a pipeline doesn't make any sense to me. If GitLab is providing a pipeline, use that pipeline, which is more intuitive. It's also fine if you want to use CloudBees as a secondary pipeline support.
Overall, I rate the solution six and a half out of ten.
Provides continuous integration and deployment along with great support
What is our primary use case?
We started with the continuous integration product and have now adopted continuous deployment for my current projects. We have a cloud-based product for other environments, like our dev environment and one of our CAT environments. These are the two environments we are using right now. Initially, we mainly used CloudBees for continuous integration. Now, we are utilizing both CloudBees for continuous integration and CloudBees CD for deployment.
When a build starts in CloudBees, it progresses from continuous integration to continuous deployment and monitoring. These are the three areas we're focusing on. We have successfully onboarded over 150 applications, which allows us to gather deployment and CI/CD pipeline metrics. We also have a dedicated service template for different application types, such as Java with Maven, .NET using MSBuild, and Node.js.
We use CloudBees for continuous integration, deployment, and monitoring. We also started leveraging CloudBees CD Analytics for enhanced metrics and insights.
How has it helped my organization?
We deploy several applications using ECS and EKS, enabling us to achieve blue-green deployments. This allows for rolling updates and changes, benefiting many of our customers.
Another important aspect is our analytics capabilities. By leveraging these analytics, we can identify areas for improvement and increase our deployment frequency. We can predict trends and forecast business needs.
What is most valuable?
We are a centralized team that provides all the CI/CD and automation best practices for our internal teams. We chose a cloud-based product because it allows for end-to-end process automation. Using Cloud-based CI and CD, we can achieve effective release orchestration, enabling us to plan new releases efficiently.
One standout feature is build promotion. With this feature, we can promote builds across different environments with a single click, simplifying our workflow significantly. Additionally, we can easily identify where errors occur at any stage, making it straightforward to resolve issues.
Our automation supports not only on-premises deployments but also integrates with cloud solutions like AWS, GCP, and Azure. This flexibility allows us to deploy in both on-prem and cloud environments.
What needs improvement?
When I started with CloudBees, I found the configuration at the CD level to be quite challenging when creating end-to-end orchestration or release execution flows.
If industry-standard templates were available—based on surveys of what other companies are doing with their deployment models—it would simplify the configuration process. Collecting this information and providing standardized templates would make it much easier for teams to configure and use the platform.
Most of our configurations were done manually. On the CI side, customization options or APIs could improve the experience when dealing with Kubernetes execution or pod template configurations.
It would be beneficial to integrate AI solutions like ChatGPT into our CI and CD processes. Many distributed networks and CI tools, like GitLab, are adopting such integrations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CloudBees for three and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
When we started using cloud technologies, we faced initial challenges. We initially opted for CloudBees and later integrated CloudBees CD. We encountered setup and stability issues at that time, including connectivity problems and occasional downtimes. The system is now running smoothly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable because we've deployed it on high-throughput servers, allowing for efficient operation. The applications can be deployed without any interruptions.
We have 200+ users using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
When we interact with the CloudBees team, we utilize the CloudBees University for support. This platform provides access to technical expertise, and if we need customized solutions, we can reach out to CloudBees representatives through the university.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
When I started working with CloudBees, we focused on creating service catalogs. Given that we have over 2,000 components and applications, we follow various deployment strategies, including ECS-based, SAML-based, and Windows IIS-based deployments. Each of these requires specific template configurations.
We also explored blue-green deployments involving customized configurations we've implemented externally. While I’ve noticed some templates already available, expanding the library of deployment strategy templates would be beneficial. Adding templates for Tomcat, WebLogic, WebSphere, and Node.js deployments would enhance support for our diverse solutions.
Once we onboard an application, we hand off the maintenance and deployment responsibilities to the application team. Our role is to provide the initial solution and support them in getting started.
We have a team of twenty. It takes us one or two days to onboard a new application. This efficiency is due to our well-defined templates and process documentation. When a new application team approaches us for their DevOps journey, we can onboard them quickly, often within one or two days, with an end-to-end solution.
We assess their current deployment setup. If it aligns with our existing processes, we begin onboarding immediately. If not, we work with them to create a suitable deployment model. We have a solid understanding of our major deployment procedures, which allows one person to establish a complete end-to-end solution in about a day.
Once the application is onboarded, the application team takes over the entire release flow. We’re available to provide guidance and support if they encounter any issues or need training.
What other advice do I have?
Even with full automation, some level of maintenance is necessary. Currently, we have a dedicated SRE team to handle this. Our DevOps journey with CI/CD involves a combination of various tools, not just the CloudBees CD product.
Some applications are heavily dependent on GitLab. We are currently focusing on migrating a few of these applications and building them directly on GitLab.
I recommend this solution for smaller projects or teams, as it can be quite effective for them. For those seeking a consolidated CI/CD and comprehensive metrics solution, CloudBees CD is an excellent choice.
Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Easy availability of all the plugins, easy authentication process but Groovy coding aspect needed
What is our primary use case?
I work for a client. We have a CloudBees-based infrastructure, a microservice-based infrastructure. To deploy the applications, we have around 200+ microservices.
To deploy all those microservices within different environments, we use CloudBees. We use it for deployment purposes. We use Docker, Kubernetes, and all those kinds of things. To integrate all those features, we use CloudBees.
How has it helped my organization?
The master-slave Jenkins structure has improved overall deployment efficiency. In other places, we have to keep waiting for the nodes to be available, but I haven’t seen that issue with CloudBees, which helps us do our deployments faster.
Other than that, the availability of plugins is very helpful. We can easily integrate multiple tools, and the authentication process is also very easy. We can use SSH keys, usernames, and passwords. There are multiple things we can do.
Also, the kind of logs we get. If an issue occurs, we can easily find out what the issue could be. These things are very helpful.
I haven't encountered any compliance issues with CloudBees. They update their features frequently, so if we need something like SSL login, they enable it. If we don't want to allow username and password login for all users, we can manage that easily within CloudBees.
I'm very positive about CloudBees because I've been using it for a long time and have never had a negative experience. It aligns perfectly with the compliance requirements of any organization. I've worked for multiple clients and it has always met their needs.
What is most valuable?
The easy availability of all the plugins is the most valuable aspect. When I use any other open-source tools, there are multiple options available similar to CloudBees. I found it a little difficult over there because I have worked on those as well, such as GoCD and IBM. Integrating multiple tools was a bit challenging. With Cloudbees, I found it very easy.
Also, the use of Jenkins files and integrating Groovy scripts is beneficial. When you create a pipeline, you can easily create the Groovy script automatically. That feature is very beneficial as it reduces stress and makes the work easier. These are the main features I like.
We are in development of an AI tool. In CloudBees, we basically use Groovy. There are multiple other tools available, like those present in Google, where you can create the Groovy code automatically. But I work for Cognizant, and we are in the process of creating a Groovy generator where we can generate our Groovy code. This will take care of client compliance more perfectly. We are in progress of doing that.
Also, there is an initiative in the market, which is "low-code, no-code" development, where organizations are reducing their dependies on code to minimize the possibility of errors. We are exploring the creation of an AI-based tool that integrates with Jenkins to facilitate this low-code approach and further reduce the likelihood of failures.
We can create such a tool and integrate it with Jenkins to reduce the amount of code needed, thus decreasing the possibility of failures and errors. We're thinking of something like templating the CI/CD pipeline. If CloudBees offered something like this, it would be even more beneficial.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see improved speed and availability. It's much faster nowadays, but that could always be improved.
Other than that, it's quite easy to understand. I've seen development teams get confused when using other open-source CI/CD tools, but Jenkins' options and features are very clear and easy to access.
Most people are dependent on Jenkins these days, and they have their pipeline as code. I would like to see this functionality within CloudBees so the pipeline code (the Groovy file) can be generated automatically when we provide the variables or requirements. This would make things much easier.
People already do this within AWS, Azure, and other platforms, but we don't have such a feature in Jenkins. If we could add that, it would be a significant improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for seven years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have seen stability issues very rarely. Sometimes, one or two times in my whole career, I have seen issues after an upgrade where our nodes are not able to come up. But that’s very rare. So, I have never faced any significant issues with CloudBees.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. We have a Microsoft-based infrastructure. So we have to scale and contract it very frequently as per the requirement. And we do that, and it responds in a very good way.
We have a very big infrastructure. It has around eight environments. We use microservices, and some of our pipelines and environments are for other teams because the output of our application is used as input for another application. Some of our environments are for other teams. We have Dev, Test, Pre-Prod, Prod, but a few other environments are for another team that uses our application. They need a separate infrastructure for testing because they don't want our work to be interrupted. So, we have multiple environments.
So, I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Many times, some plugins or other components have become corrupt and stopped working. Our pipeline would start failing without providing any clear errors. We've contacted tech support numerous times, and because we're using the paid version, we get responses quickly, and they resolve the issues fast as well.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've worked for multiple organizations and multiple clients.
The con about CloudBees is Groovy coding aspect. Learning Groovy is a different skill that you need. That's why I asked if they could create a code generator like Google's, which would be beneficial. That's one of the cons.
On the pros side is that the UI is very understandable, even for beginners. The freestyle jobs, the plugins they have for everything, the easy installation and integration of multiple other tools, and code-based logs are all pros.
How was the initial setup?
I've worked on multiple kinds of projects. In some cases, it was very easy, where we just integrated Git, did the checkout, then integrated Maven, created the build, integrated SonarQube and ran the test cases, integrated artifacts with Nexus, stored them there, and then directly ran the deployment script.
I've also worked on more complex environments, where we do all of that and more.
In my current scenario, we handle deployments to multiple environments with a single pipeline. We have the whole pipeline code written in Groovy and reduced our dependency on freestyle jobs. When it comes to microservices, the infrastructure changes completely, and there are multiple microservices and pipelines. I've worked on a variety of infrastructures, from basic to extensive.
If it's a single monolithic service, it's very easy. You can do it within a day or two. But our infrastructure is microservice-based, and we have a lot of old Groovy code, so it took a lot of time. However, it's more dependable now. We've enabled multiple features and such.
Usually, it takes one or two days, but it can take longer, depending on your needs. If you want to enable all the features of CloudBees, it might take six months or more because you have to write everything in code.
Usually, we don't do any maintenance. Maintenance is typically handled by CloudBees as far as I know. We only do cleanups.
For example, if there are a few pipelines that are no longer needed or there's too much load on our CloudBees server, we clean things up. That's the extent of our maintenance. We don't do any other kind of maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
On average, three to four resources are needed for the deployment process, depending on ISD and ESD, because some of our deployments, such as production, happen in ESD. We had US clients, so we utilized ESD resources at that time - two resources from ISD and two from ESD. This allows us to handle deployments in lower environments or other tasks.
The developers are usually from the US, so we need two DevOps engineers there to support them. So, on average, four to five resources are enough to handle both ISD and ESD at all times.
What was our ROI?
ROI is good. It's much better. That's why we've been using it for the last eight years, across multiple clients and organizations. Everyone uses it, so I believe the ROI is good. That's the only reason they use it. Otherwise, there are multiple competitors, and they would have chosen another one.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend CloudBees to other users who are looking into implementing it.
I would recommend that if users have a microservice-based infrastructure, they should have some engineers who are proficient in Groovy scripting. They should also know the deployment procedures and the steps involved in deployment.
So, once you know the steps, I don't think implementing it within Jenkins is tough, but you should be aware of all those things. Groovy is the most important part; you should have a very good knowledge of it. That's the only con that Groovy is only used in Jenkins. Other than that, it is not used anywhere.
Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Provides continuous implementation and deployment with good support
What is our primary use case?
We use it as one of the DevOps tools in continuous implementation. We use the tool for continuous deployment. There are two parts to the tool: continuous integration and continuous deployment. We work for continuous deployments of applications. We have multiple pipelines in our environment and multiple applications. There are about 1,000 applications within our environment. Each application has multiple pipelines and branches configured. We pull the source code from Git. There's also something called a repository. We use Groovy scripts to provision pipelines. These pipelines have multiple stages, starting with SCM checkout, build stage and Sonar scan stage. Finally, it gets deployed to a particular server defined in the code. Before we execute the pipeline, we have different environments for development and production. For development, we test by executing directly. We hand it over to the production team for production to test on the specific branches.
What is most valuable?
It is a standalone tool, so no networking is possible by itself. However, it can be integrated with multiple vendors. CloudBees, in particular, supports integration with multiple vendors and offers enterprise support, including vendor support. Whenever we encounter issues, we can troubleshoot them with their help, as they provide continuous support. They also offer monthly knowledge transfer sessions for the team working with the tool. Jenkins is a standalone tool without cluster or networking capabilities; you can't integrate it similarly. CloudBees, however, supports different networking components, such as pods, Kubernetes, and Docker, which can all be integrated. CloudBees continues to develop and release new features.
What needs improvement?
Improvements in resolution time may vary since every environment has different needs. CloudBees is still a growing platform, but it has proven to be capable of supporting enterprise-level pipelines and CI/CD requirements.
They could increase the number of support channels to expedite resolutions or introduce a chat option similar to what Amazon and other vendors offer. A chat option would make resolving issues quickly and efficiently easier.
New features and updates in the market for tools like Jenkins and others are often developed as open-source projects. Since CloudBees is an enterprise-level platform, it ensures thorough testing for critical environments like production. While CloudBees is doing well in this regard, it's not yet adopted in all areas. We have a dedicated team for CloudBees and receive proper support whenever we deploy.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CloudBees for seven to eight months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We haven't encountered any performance issues with CloudBees. CloudBees is hosted on a particular server, either a clustered or standalone one. CloudBees' performance might also be affected if the server's performance is impacted. CloudBees has been stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In our setup, the Jenkins server's hard disk, which hosts Jenkins, is used to host the NAS. The NAS contains the CloudBees files. We performed a migration where Jenkins files were copied to the NAS for CloudBees. Through CloudBees' GUI, we refresh or reload to retrieve the required files. This affects every pipeline.
Scaling can be done through the parameters we configure in the pipelines. The parameters are not limited to just one; whatever we need, we rely on plugins, and these can be integrated. As these scripts are further developed to meet future needs, scaling CloudBees becomes even more flexible. Teradata integration has been working perfectly for us.
Scalability depends on the number of pipelines we have. As the number of pipelines increases daily, the number of DevOps engineers required to handle the workload must match. This is because multiple teams are involved, often encountering issues that need troubleshooting. Multiple issues still arise even if we are disconnected, and engineers must resolve them. It depends on the environment and the current number of pipelines.
In our environment, we have almost 1,000 applications. Of those, around 45 to 50 applications are actively in use. Each pipeline is managed based on the environment, such as development or production. There are approximately 713 development pipelines, and the production pipelines are about half that number. The number of users is difficult to count, as different application teams use each pipeline. To be efficient, each pipeline requires at least one dedicated engineer, so it's typically a one-to-one ratio between pipelines and engineers.
How was the initial setup?
A DevOps engineer needs some knowledge to implement CloudBees. Once they approach the CloudBees team, they provide knowledge transfer during a scheduled conference call. They share comprehensive information using reference guides, making it easier to implement. However, engineers should have prior knowledge of Jenkins or CloudCI, which is essential for a smooth implementation.
We have implemented CloudBees in Kubernetes nodes, which are basically in the cloud only. In the initial migration stage; we have it in our local NAS. There'll be a future production, and one will be more for the CloudBees.
We are primarily involved in migrating pipelines from Jenkins to CloudBees. Migration is not difficult for us, but creating a new pipeline and ensuring it matches the Jenkins setup while executing can present challenges. One of the main issues we face is when new plugins are unavailable or when application support for plugins such as Java, Node.js, or Git.js versions is lacking. If the necessary versions aren't available, it becomes a problem.
What was our ROI?
There are costs involved, but the tool is useful and worth it. While we can rely on Jenkins, it lacks vendor support in a production environment. We are solely responsible for troubleshooting issues. This can be time-consuming, and if it's a production issue, it affects production time. With enterprise support, we benefit from immediate troubleshooting when issues arise, making it a valuable feature.
What other advice do I have?
If you use any plugins or whatever plugins you get, you'll have access to the latest versions of pipelines and branches. Everything, including the most recent versions, will be available. Whether it's a Java version or any other plugin, for example, if it's related to Java, they will provide the latest updates for the currently available versions.
It comes with vendor support and continuous assistance. CloudBees provides regular knowledge transfers about new and upcoming features and supports any issues that arise. For example, if new features are unavailable in the tool, we can raise a ticket or concern, and they promptly address it. They also communicate with us by scheduling calls with our tech leads to resolve any issues in real-time. Since different environments and development teams have varying needs, CloudBees ensures these are consistently met.
Similar to other infrastructure areas, it requires maintenance. Having the right options available is essential to maintaining it properly.
The core advantages of this tool are its enterprise-level vendor support and its ability to handle cluster-level and network-level configurations, which facilitate high availability in the environment—capabilities that other tools often do not provide. These are the two main pros: cluster concepts and enterprise-level support.
Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Flexible system with an effective pipeline explorer feature
What is our primary use case?
We use the product primarily for automation tasks. It handles various processes that don't require human intervention, making it a crucial part of our workflow.
What is most valuable?
One recent product feature that stands out is the pipeline explorer, which is providing significant value for us right now.
What needs improvement?
The platform could integrate better with other tools and support external tools directly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using CloudBees for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Over time, we have encountered product performance issues at large scales. However, at small to medium scales, there are no issues at all.
Overall, I rate the stability an eight.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
As long as you follow the vendor's recommendations on scaling, the platform performs well. Adapting to more complex organizational challenges outside those recommendations could be better. However, the support team does their best to handle the issues.
I rate the scalability a nine.
How was the initial setup?
The VM-based infrastructure setup is easy. However, Kubernetes-based setup is difficult, even for experts who find bugs and report them back to the vendor.
What other advice do I have?
To effectively use the platform, you need to know Jenkins, as the product is essentially a layer on top of Jenkins.
It's a powerful and flexible system, but it's important to implement proper guardrails from the outset because making systemic changes down the road can be difficult for your organization.
I rate it a nine out of ten.