The Shippable Blog

Microservices are currently the hottest topic in software development. The concept is simple: Break down your application into smaller pieces that each perform a single business function and can be developed and deployed independently. These pieces, commonly called services, can then be assembled into an application using some flavor of service discovery like nginx or consul. The microservices approach is considered the architecture of choice for teams that want to build scalable platforms and efficiently and rapidly innovate on them. 

As infatuated as I am with this architecture, our journey to microservices was a long and winding road. It has finally led us to a version of the architecture that gives us the scalability and agility we require as a business. I want to share my thoughts, experiences, and lessons learned in a series of blogs around this topic so you may benefit from our experiences. Also, I would love to get your feedback or comments on our approach.

When you start moving to microservices, the first question before you write a single line of code is: How do you organize your codebase? Do you create a repository for each service, or do you create a single ‘mono repo’ for all services? The two approaches are illustrated below:

Docker Datacenter is an integrated, end-to-end platform for enterprise-grade agile application development and management from the data center to the cloud.

The core concept of Docker Datacenter is Containers as a Service (CaaS), where organizations can deploy and manage container-based applications on-premises or in a virtual private cloud. A CaaS provides an IT-managed and secured application environment of platforms and infrastructure where developers can build and deploy applications in a self-service manner.

Docker Datacenter (DDC) is a great choice for organizations looking for a CaaS Platform with built-in enterprise-class support. DDC includes support for High Availability and Security, LDAP/AD integration and a Docker Swarm-based cluster management solution, which treats the entire cluster as a single, virtual Docker Host. In this blog, I will show you how to create an end-to-end application delivery workflow for Docker Datacenter. The workflow will use CI and CD in Shippable to take an application from the developer code repository to deployment in Docker Datacenter.

Today at the Docker Roadshow in Chicago, Shippable's Tom Trahan announced our latest integration, this time in support of Docker Datacenter. Shippable has been tightly integrated with Docker since day 1, and Docker Datacenter support is the latest connection we have built for the Docker platform. Docker Datacenter joins our Docker Cloud integration to give customers the most flexible choices for CI pipelines on-prem or in the cloud.

Developers are increasing their use of containers for new applications, but a technology skills gap is impeding widespread adoption of container technology. These are two of the key findings of our latest survey on container adoption among developers. Shippable worked with independent research firm Survata to survey of 300 developers about their current and expected use of container technologies. The results were interesting in a number of ways.

Today, we are proud to announce our latest Shippable release. This release is very close to our hearts for several reasons. First, it addresses almost all customer feedback that we have received over the last couple of years. Second, it achieves our goal of going beyond CI and being a true end-to-end continuous delivery platform for all applications. Third, our platform architecture sets us up to execute faster than anyone else, which means we can innovate at breakneck speed and deliver value to our customers, namely, YOU.

The new Shippable helps you ship code faster than ever before. Let’s delve deeper into what we are launching today.