Overview

What is Rocket DevOps?

Good CMS for traditional IBM i development

Rating: 6 out of 10

July 23, 2021

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

We use Rocket Aldon for managing IBM i development in SQL, CL, RPG, etc. This helps us manage our changes and makes sure we don't overlook related objects when making changes....

Stewart Locklear

Professional - Information Technology

Senior Information Technology Project Manager

Harriss and Covington Hosiery

8 years of experience

Rocket Aldon SCM

Rating: 6 out of 10

February 27, 2018

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

Rocket Aldon is used for configuration management and managing our distributed software code.

Verified user

Employee

1 year of experience

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Pricing

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Entry-level set up fee?

No setup fee

Offerings

Free Trial
Free/Freemium Version
Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Details

About
Tech Details

What is Rocket DevOps?

Rocket DevOps (formerly Rocket Aldon) enables true end-to-end (CI/CD) for IBM i+ environments. Businesses can extend holistic DevSecOps best practices to the IBM i, pursue innovative experimentation, easily respond to compliance audits, and adapt to the ever-changing expectations of process, technology, or experience.ructure users need to automate everything from the moment a change request comes in until a solution is delivered to production, as well as automate compliance reporting and audit tracking.

Rocket DevOps helps users to:

Establish agile DevSecOps methodologies and processes across a multi-code environment
Implement “shift left” testing for true CI/CD
Weave security throughout DevSecOps processes via automation and controls
Include the tools and integrations organizations need to build end-to-end DevSecOps workflows, from requirement gathering to delivery
Enable non-RPG talent to engage and support the IBM i DevOps process

Rocket DevOps Features

Supported: Automate your IT workflow
Supported: Built-in compliance management
Supported: Software release management
Supported: Simplified change management

Rocket DevOps Technical Details

Deployment Types	On-premise
Operating Systems	Linux
Mobile Application	No

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Good CMS for traditional IBM i development

Rating: 6 out of 10

Incentivized

July 23, 2021

Stewart Locklear

Senior Information Technology Project Manager

Harriss and Covington Hosiery (Textiles, 51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

8 years of experience

View profile

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Rocket Aldon for managing IBM i development in SQL, CL, RPG, etc. This helps us manage our changes and makes sure we don't overlook related objects when making changes. It is used only by IT. Rocket Aldon helps us keep a history of software changes and is useful for classifying the reason for the change.

Pros and Cons

Software Change Management
IBM i development
Object relationships

Likelihood to Recommend

Rocket Aldon is perfect for simple changes to traditional IBM i development using RPGLE, CL, and DDS. It is great for finding related objects that are referenced in many locations and helping recompile all of these objects.

However, Aldon has a particularly hard time with SQL views. For some reason, it is determined to lock every table related to a view even though this is not required by the operating system. Whenever one view references another view, you are always in danger of losing a view permanently if you didn't check it out and promote it. To clarify, imagine you created a view CUSTOMER_INFO. Then you make another view called CUSTOMER_SHIPMENTS that joins the CUSTOMER_INFO to a shipping table. If you ever change CUSTOMER_INFO and then promote it, there is a good chance that Aldon will delete the CUSTOMER_SHIPMENTS view and you will not get a single warning. It doesn't happen every time but when it does you are going to have a real mess on your hands.

Most Important Features

Change Management
Promotion history
Object relationships

Return on Investment

Software promotion is much easier and doesn't require custom coding.
Developers can work collaboratively with less overlap.
Developers can find objects faster and research code more thoroughly.

Alternatives Considered

There are not a lot of CMS solutions for the IBM i server. Midrange Dynamics MDCMS is definitely one to consider. It seems very similar to Aldon Rocket and has a lot more functionality. I haven't used it but I have been to a demo and it looks promising. It seems a lot more intuitive and the promotions seem easier. However, that was a demo environment and even then it crashed so there's that to consider....

Other Software Used

DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, InterBase

Support Rating

Support is hit and miss. Sometimes they give some great assistance and sometimes they are no help at all. It always seems like they can't replicate the problem but then they never try to get on our system to do deeper research. It's kind of frustrating dealing with them. Also, the website isn't that helpful.

Premium Support

We paid for normal support because we are a small shop and we don't have a lot of pressing issues. The other thing is that we know how to get the software into production outside of Aldon when we have to get something done. Then we wait for support to help us clean up the mess later.

Bug Resolution

Yes

We reported bugs related to SQL objects and nothing has ever been done to address the problem. Some SQL objects just seem too complex for Aldon Rocket to handle. We sometimes have to promote these outside of Aldon altogether. It can be quite concerning when we have to make changes to these objects later.

Exceptional Examples of Rocket DevOps Support

We really haven't had a truly exception support occasion. We have had a few good, experienced technicians who gave us very good support but nothing ever happened that made me think that this was truly exceptional.

Rocket Aldon SCM

Rating: 6 out of 10

Incentivized

February 27, 2018

Verified User

Vetted Review

Verified User

1 year of experience

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Rocket Aldon is used for configuration management and managing our distributed software code.

Pros and Cons

Allows flexibility for user groups
Scripting for releasing of code
Ease of comparing code versions within the tool

Likelihood to Recommend

Has all that is needed to manage source code for small and medium sized companies.

Return on Investment

Based on the functionality it provides and for the price paid, it is reasonable
Tool integrates well with existing legacy functions for Source Code Management
Integrates well with other Rocket Tools

Alternatives Considered

Gitlab and IBM Rational ClearCase

Aldon provides needed functions for our current implementations and legacy systems. As we move toward modernization, we are going to look at alternatives from reviewing cost, integration capabilities and functionality.