What are the differences among Jenkins, Urbancode build and ElectricAccelerator?
Jenkins can be used for build &CI. UrbanCode build is also used for Build&CI and ElectricCloudAccelerator is also used for Build&CI.Which tool do you recommend?
Statements above regarding UrbanCode Build are incorrect, it is general purpose not websphere specific. I'm a product manager at UrbanCode and have been in the CI space the past 14 years with commits on both open source and commercial tools there. I'll try to be balanced.
I would first note that EC Accelerator is a different kind of tool. It is build grid acceleration. It can be compared to something like Xoreax Incredibuild. These tools try to take an 8 hour build and make it take 30 minutes. If you have large C/C++ builds, totally check both out. You could use them with any CI tool. If you have a 5 minute Java or .Net compile/package/unit test cycle don't bother.
EC also has build capability as part of it's ElectricFlow suite. That is the closest to an IBM UrbanCode Build you'll find as you have CI tools optimized for enterprise scale and integrated with application release automation capabilities (UrbanCode Deploy in our case) for sophisticated CD. So obviously if you're using EC or UC for deployment, you should absolutely consider their build capabilities.
UrbanCode Build was created after CruiseControl and Hudson/Jenkins had commoditized team level CI. So if you have just a team or a small business unit to worry about, we like Jenkins or TravisCI. If you want a hosted option, CircleCI, GitLab, etc are all swell too. We focus on central teams that want to deliver CI as a service to dozens or hundreds of squads. Some clients have thousands of monthly users on a single instance. To support that model, UC Build forces you to create templates and stamp out projects based on those templates. That promotes consistentcy and makes maintenance of build processes at scale doable. It is also set-up for reporting at scale.
So my advice is to first bucket yourself into the size of deployment that you're looking at, then into whether you want to run a tool yourself or if you want it hosted. Then go from there.
Search for a product comparison in Build Automation
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Jul 11, 2017
The final answer is very dependent on your goals.
I don't have experience with UrbanCode or ElectricCloudAccelerator, but both these solutions seem to be optimized for very specific tasks. UrbanCode is made to support IBM infrastructure (WebSphere?) and ECA is dependent on make.
On the other hand, Jenkins can be set up to build and deploy a very wide range of applications. It defaults to Java world, but it's easy to install plugins for different languages/tools for Linux/GNU world and MS and Apple technologies. The user interface can look outdated, but the Blue Ocean project can help with it (jenkins.io/projects/blueocean/). One other benefit is that Jenkins has very good integration with various IDEs, other 2 tools you mentioned do not have it as far as I know.
Jenkins also has downsides: It has pretty cumbersome settings and security mechanics and backups can be difficult to set up. Jenkins stores its configuration in XML files in folder tree structure.
Summarizing, if you want to have a general purpose tool to build your CI/CD and automation pipelines, I strongly suggest using Jenkins. But it's worth checking other tools, there are plenty on the market. Some of them are easier to set up or provide managed environments, so you don't need to have your own build machines (Jenkins also has SaaS version www.cloudbees.com/products/jenkins-cloud).
Architect IT at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Jul 16, 2017
I would gain some experience with each of these and see which fits best in your environment and cost/support model. Jenkins is 10lb gorilla for CI, Urbancode Build predecessor may have been originator of "Build" and some "CI" capabilities (Anthill Pro), but since then Jenkins has stayed on top. It really depends on all the capabilities you need vs that are available but you won't use. If your unsure what path you'll take Jenkins is a safe bet, otherwise explore and get what suits your needs and budget, don't fear trying them out and then deciding :-)
Managing Partner and AEM Architect at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Jul 11, 2017
Hi,
I'm sure the list of technical differences, pricing/licensing models and
available features is available on the web, so what I will say is that I've
deployed dozens of web sites over the past 7 years for companies that are
leaders on their respective business verticals, and in 95% of them we used
Jenkins as our CI for automated build and deployment tasks. In the
remaining 5%, we didn't used a CI at all :)
Sr. DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Jul 11, 2017
The short answers are
1. Avoid Jenkins if you can.
2. Gitlab CI is perfect if you use Gitlab CI. I am using it for pro and personal code.
3. Circle CI works well.
4. If you are in GCP, check out gcloud container builder as it takes care of the so called "runners" for you.
Full disclosure, I work at CircleCI. We're a modern Continuous Integration and Delivery platform with over 150,000 organizations and developers building daily.
Though Jenkins is very flexible, it also requires a lot of maintenance to manage the plug-in based configuration. CircleCI allows configuration as code (self-service) and allows teams to start building within minutes. We effectively eliminate any of the frustration with maintenance for your DevOps team. Jenkins is "free" but your team's time isn't.
CircleCI provides a complete solution out-of-the-box for any web or mobile application. We offer a hosted or on-premise version of our platform with simple integration with GitHub and BitBucket. We also offer first-class Docker support and just introduced Workflows on our new 2.0 platform that gives you ultimate flexibility and control over your build environment.
Here is some information about migrating from Jenkins and how simple our setup is:
circleci.com/docs/2.0/faq/
Program Management Principal | Owner at a tech services company
Consultant
Jul 11, 2017
I have started the process of installing a CI infrastructure but have had to put it on hold temporarily. So, I don’t have any experience, yet, with any of these products. Jenkins is my choice because it has been so widely used and there’s a ton of support for it. I’ve never heard of the other two products because I haven’t gotten far enough along with my infrastructure to have come across them.
Software Developer at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Jul 11, 2017
I'm currently using Atlassian Bamboo to achieve Continuous Integration and Deployment. It's fairly extensible, similar to Jenkins, and has native integrations with the Atlassian ecosystem. I'm currently exploring automating the entire build and deploy process based on Jira actions. The tool best for you is really about need. Bamboo requires a lot of configuration and maintenance and, in my opinion, not as mature a product as Jenkins, a lot of that is because of the community, though. Jenkins has way more community support than Bamboo. All in all, Bamboo has been a solid tool and has been able to build both .Net and Java without issue, once we had it configured to do so. We were also able to deploy Sql Server Integration Packages, WebAPI, MVC. Have yet to deploy a WAR or JAR to Tomcat, though.
Sales Manager in Software Tools & Agile Development at Clearvision
Vendor
Jul 11, 2017
As an Atlassian Platinum Solution partner we sell Atlassian Bamboo for similar functionality, however Jenkins, in my personal experience of working within Enterprise clientele, is a very widely used and good product for your requirement. In my time working in this ecosystem I have not come across the other tools you mention. I hope this information is of use to you.
Jenkins is almost a de-facto standard.
It's simple to deploy and use, has a huge community and lots of plugins... and is free (MIT license).
The main advantage I see in the other two options you mention is they're better suited for distributed tasks and so they'll probably scale up better.
Additionally they're more modern and less boring than Jenkins (well, this is a little bit subjective but Jenkins is and old-fashioned monster with all its pros and cons).
In my opinion, unless you are dealing with really huge environments, Jenkins will be much easier (and cheaper) to start with and will probably cover all your needs.
Dear Sir,
Yes these are all three Build tools.
Question is what do you want to build and what about deployment?
Next question: build tool is one thing, but how much are you willing to spend on (internal or external) services to get your build tool up and running and to get the build tool to do what you want.
Or do you want an out-of-the-box build (and deploy) solution that is up and running in no time?
I had a nice discussion with a manager of a consultancy company about open source versus commercial software. He liked open source as people can spend the money only once: or expensive software or open source and spent money on implementation. I honestly don't follow him completely, but he has a point. Consultants earn a lot of money where some tasks (like WebSphere CI and CD) can be done out-of-the-box at finally lower cost.
Our IKANALM solution can be used for some out-of-the-box implementations like IBM z/OS, SAP and Websphere.
Jenkins is an open-source automation server known for its extensive plugin ecosystem and seamless integration with a broad range of tools, enhancing CI/CD processes.As an automation server, Jenkins streamlines development workflows by managing continuous integration and deployment with powerful pipeline support and distributed build capabilities. Its strong community backbone and ease of use contribute to its ongoing appeal. While highly versatile, Jenkins can encounter scalability and plugin...
Statements above regarding UrbanCode Build are incorrect, it is general purpose not websphere specific. I'm a product manager at UrbanCode and have been in the CI space the past 14 years with commits on both open source and commercial tools there. I'll try to be balanced.
I would first note that EC Accelerator is a different kind of tool. It is build grid acceleration. It can be compared to something like Xoreax Incredibuild. These tools try to take an 8 hour build and make it take 30 minutes. If you have large C/C++ builds, totally check both out. You could use them with any CI tool. If you have a 5 minute Java or .Net compile/package/unit test cycle don't bother.
EC also has build capability as part of it's ElectricFlow suite. That is the closest to an IBM UrbanCode Build you'll find as you have CI tools optimized for enterprise scale and integrated with application release automation capabilities (UrbanCode Deploy in our case) for sophisticated CD. So obviously if you're using EC or UC for deployment, you should absolutely consider their build capabilities.
UrbanCode Build was created after CruiseControl and Hudson/Jenkins had commoditized team level CI. So if you have just a team or a small business unit to worry about, we like Jenkins or TravisCI. If you want a hosted option, CircleCI, GitLab, etc are all swell too. We focus on central teams that want to deliver CI as a service to dozens or hundreds of squads. Some clients have thousands of monthly users on a single instance. To support that model, UC Build forces you to create templates and stamp out projects based on those templates. That promotes consistentcy and makes maintenance of build processes at scale doable. It is also set-up for reporting at scale.
So my advice is to first bucket yourself into the size of deployment that you're looking at, then into whether you want to run a tool yourself or if you want it hosted. Then go from there.
The final answer is very dependent on your goals.
I don't have experience with UrbanCode or ElectricCloudAccelerator, but both these solutions seem to be optimized for very specific tasks. UrbanCode is made to support IBM infrastructure (WebSphere?) and ECA is dependent on make.
On the other hand, Jenkins can be set up to build and deploy a very wide range of applications. It defaults to Java world, but it's easy to install plugins for different languages/tools for Linux/GNU world and MS and Apple technologies. The user interface can look outdated, but the Blue Ocean project can help with it (jenkins.io/projects/blueocean/). One other benefit is that Jenkins has very good integration with various IDEs, other 2 tools you mentioned do not have it as far as I know.
Jenkins also has downsides: It has pretty cumbersome settings and security mechanics and backups can be difficult to set up. Jenkins stores its configuration in XML files in folder tree structure.
Summarizing, if you want to have a general purpose tool to build your CI/CD and automation pipelines, I strongly suggest using Jenkins. But it's worth checking other tools, there are plenty on the market. Some of them are easier to set up or provide managed environments, so you don't need to have your own build machines (Jenkins also has SaaS version www.cloudbees.com/products/jenkins-cloud).
I would gain some experience with each of these and see which fits best in your environment and cost/support model. Jenkins is 10lb gorilla for CI, Urbancode Build predecessor may have been originator of "Build" and some "CI" capabilities (Anthill Pro), but since then Jenkins has stayed on top. It really depends on all the capabilities you need vs that are available but you won't use. If your unsure what path you'll take Jenkins is a safe bet, otherwise explore and get what suits your needs and budget, don't fear trying them out and then deciding :-)
Jenkins is most widely used CI tool that I know of. So you we will have
more people to brain storm, more people to hire and more suggestions to
take.
Thanks,
Pavan
Hi,
I'm sure the list of technical differences, pricing/licensing models and
available features is available on the web, so what I will say is that I've
deployed dozens of web sites over the past 7 years for companies that are
leaders on their respective business verticals, and in 95% of them we used
Jenkins as our CI for automated build and deployment tasks. In the
remaining 5%, we didn't used a CI at all :)
Thanks,
Miguel
The short answers are
1. Avoid Jenkins if you can.
2. Gitlab CI is perfect if you use Gitlab CI. I am using it for pro and personal code.
3. Circle CI works well.
4. If you are in GCP, check out gcloud container builder as it takes care of the so called "runners" for you.
Hi Ravi,
Full disclosure, I work at CircleCI. We're a modern Continuous Integration and Delivery platform with over 150,000 organizations and developers building daily.
Though Jenkins is very flexible, it also requires a lot of maintenance to manage the plug-in based configuration. CircleCI allows configuration as code (self-service) and allows teams to start building within minutes. We effectively eliminate any of the frustration with maintenance for your DevOps team. Jenkins is "free" but your team's time isn't.
CircleCI provides a complete solution out-of-the-box for any web or mobile application. We offer a hosted or on-premise version of our platform with simple integration with GitHub and BitBucket. We also offer first-class Docker support and just introduced Workflows on our new 2.0 platform that gives you ultimate flexibility and control over your build environment.
Here is some information about migrating from Jenkins and how simple our setup is:
circleci.com/docs/2.0/faq/
And some more information on our Enterprise solution:
circleci.com/enterprise/
We offer a free trial and it is super simple to get started:
circleci.com/
Feel free to reach out to our team for more information or help getting started.
I have started the process of installing a CI infrastructure but have had to put it on hold temporarily. So, I don’t have any experience, yet, with any of these products. Jenkins is my choice because it has been so widely used and there’s a ton of support for it. I’ve never heard of the other two products because I haven’t gotten far enough along with my infrastructure to have come across them.
I'm currently using Atlassian Bamboo to achieve Continuous Integration and Deployment. It's fairly extensible, similar to Jenkins, and has native integrations with the Atlassian ecosystem. I'm currently exploring automating the entire build and deploy process based on Jira actions. The tool best for you is really about need. Bamboo requires a lot of configuration and maintenance and, in my opinion, not as mature a product as Jenkins, a lot of that is because of the community, though. Jenkins has way more community support than Bamboo. All in all, Bamboo has been a solid tool and has been able to build both .Net and Java without issue, once we had it configured to do so. We were also able to deploy Sql Server Integration Packages, WebAPI, MVC. Have yet to deploy a WAR or JAR to Tomcat, though.
As an Atlassian Platinum Solution partner we sell Atlassian Bamboo for similar functionality, however Jenkins, in my personal experience of working within Enterprise clientele, is a very widely used and good product for your requirement. In my time working in this ecosystem I have not come across the other tools you mention. I hope this information is of use to you.
Jenkins is almost a de-facto standard.
It's simple to deploy and use, has a huge community and lots of plugins... and is free (MIT license).
The main advantage I see in the other two options you mention is they're better suited for distributed tasks and so they'll probably scale up better.
Additionally they're more modern and less boring than Jenkins (well, this is a little bit subjective but Jenkins is and old-fashioned monster with all its pros and cons).
In my opinion, unless you are dealing with really huge environments, Jenkins will be much easier (and cheaper) to start with and will probably cover all your needs.
Dear Sir,
Yes these are all three Build tools.
Question is what do you want to build and what about deployment?
Next question: build tool is one thing, but how much are you willing to spend on (internal or external) services to get your build tool up and running and to get the build tool to do what you want.
Or do you want an out-of-the-box build (and deploy) solution that is up and running in no time?
I had a nice discussion with a manager of a consultancy company about open source versus commercial software. He liked open source as people can spend the money only once: or expensive software or open source and spent money on implementation. I honestly don't follow him completely, but he has a point. Consultants earn a lot of money where some tasks (like WebSphere CI and CD) can be done out-of-the-box at finally lower cost.
Our IKANALM solution can be used for some out-of-the-box implementations like IBM z/OS, SAP and Websphere.
Kind regards,
René De Vleeschauwer
CEO IKAN
www.ikanalm.com
www.bluebridgesoftware.com