Important new updates and capabilities from UrbanCode Deploy and Velocity.
A software-driven economy requires constant digital innovation and automation to speed products to market and save money in the process. It’s so important for companies to have implemented continuous delivery with testing and security checks baked in.
At this moment, most companies are focused on improving software delivery by experimenting with application modernization because it makes continuous delivery easier. Re-architecting existing software applications into microservices to run in containers or writing software applications as “cloud native” microservices allows companies to run in public clouds or on-prem with heightened efficiency and lower costs.
The IBM Cloud DevOps for IBM Cloud Paks contains UrbanCode Deploy and Velocity, which have been updated to continue improving those critical DevOps capabilities for your app modernization journey.
UrbanCode Velocity
UrbanCode Velocity 1.4 introduced more integrations from which to collect data that will provide insights into how to improve continuous delivery. Perhaps even more important is the relaunch of a Community Edition for Velocity.
UrbanCode Velocity 1.4 highlights
- New Community Edition: In UrbanCode Velocity v1.4, we have reimagined our Community Edition. Now, the IBM UrbanCode Velocity Community Edition is combined into the primary install to create a simplified experience. Instead of being limited to the UrbanCode Deploy Audit Reports, the Community Edition opens the entire product (limited to two users) for free. Current users of Velocity CE should migrate to this new version.
- Plugin Framework on Docker Compose: Previously, the Plugin Framework was limited to OpenShift and Kubernetes production-ready instances. Today, the same capabilities can be utilized in the simpler Docker Compose environments. This will allow users to experience the power of UrbanCode Velocity’s Plugin Framework in trial and test environments.
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Work Type Distribution and Throughput: We have added two new supported metrics to our Value Streams and Insights dashboards.
- Work Type Distribution: Percentage of items by type in the value stream.
- Throughput: The number of items that have reached a specified stage in a given amount of time.
- Release Locking: In order to better service production release scenarios, we want to support the need to protect release plans. Using Release Locks, a release manager may stop unwanted changes as the release date approaches. This will help prevent unknown changes at the most critical moment.
New and updated UrbanCode Velocity plugins
- GitLab: Monitor merge requests and commits in the Value Stream.
- Rational Test Automation Server: Absorb and map test statuses to your Value Stream issues and product metrics through Insights.
- ServiceNow: Monitor tickets as they flow through your Value Stream.
UrbanCode Deploy
For years, UrbanCode Deploy has provided critical deployment automation capabilities that are known to scale and supply the governance-regulated industries like banks and healthcare require. A recent addition, UrbanCode Velocity tackles “Day 2” DevOps challenges, including value stream management, DevOps analytics, and reporting that simplifies the audit process.
UrbanCode Deploy v7.0.4 introduced several customer-requested functionalities that will make automated deployments with orchestration easier and more effective than ever before—for distributed systems, z Systems, and microservices.
In addition to enhancements to UrbanCode Deploy usability which keeps existing customers happy, v7.0.4. includes new and updated plugins, enhancements to cloud provisioning capabilities, and expanded containerized implementations.
UrbanCode Deploy v7.0.4 highlights
- Improved upgrade experience: UrbanCode Deploy changed the plugin upgrade process, enabling the UCD server to go online faster post-upgrade.
- Token mapping restrictions to user tokens: Token usage can be restricted down to a specific REST API endpoint. This feature strengthens security by enabling UrbanCode Deploy to enforce a deeper level of security on user restrictions, at an API level.
- Unwanted roles now hidden from the user interface: Users can hide roles that they no longer want to remain visible, which declutters the user interface and improves navigation.
- Warning settings for deployments: Users can configure processes to add a warning status to a deployment to alert team members when a deployment has specific warning characteristics. With this feature, users get more information than “pass” or “fail” for deployment results.
- Agent relay actions: Agent relay actions—such as Restart, Test Connection, and Download Logs—are available through the user interface.
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Enhancements to UrbanCode Deploy’s capability to run in a container:
- In addition to the UrbanCode Deploy server, the UCD agents and relays are IBM Container Certified. (IBM Cloud Pak certified)
- New and updated plugins:
- Enhancements to cloud provisioning with Terraform.
- IBM z capabilities: Ability to upload IBM z artifacts to Nexus and Artifactory as part of deployment process to IBM z.
Learn more
The combination of improved usability, integration support, platform support, security aspects, and improvements in data analytics mark new milestones for UrbanCode Deploy and Velocity products. Watch for further updates coming in Q1 2020.
Visit the IBM Cloud DevOps page to learn more about these products.