An amazing software for CI/CD and git management.

Item: GitLab
Rating: 9
Author: Mohit Prasad

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Gitlab is a great tool for the GIT repository and Continuous Integration/ Continuous Deployment. We normally use this for keeping track of the website changes, automated testing, and deployment of the site on the server. The automated build process also helps to integrate recent technologies easily, with seamless team collaboration.

Pros and Cons

Git Repo Management.
CI/CD
Automated testing.

initial Setup.
Community
Security

Return on Investment

Easy Deployment.
Automated Testing.
Team collaboration.

Alternatives Considered

GitHub

GitLab is a self-hosted solution when compared with GitHub, but it has all the feature GitLab have. Overall this use case is the same, but I you do not want to store your code on the GitHub server, it is the best solution. Easily manageable but bound to resource restriction. For small teams, I recommend GitHub over Gitlab, but if you have the structure of regular deployment, go with Gitlab.

Security

We are on the community version. Still, the community was so supportive, and the software has regular updates that keep you safe from vulnerabilities. Overall when you consider the paid plan, GitHub is a good alternative. Security features are great, with options to add SSH to the account and restrict the login process. This makes GitLab a good competitor in the self-hosted git management arena.

Continuous Integration

Continuous integration is an amazing feature when you are working in a team. When we implemented Gitlab, we didn't have any solution for which the testing process was a big task for the team. After the implementation of Gitlab, testing and collaboration became easy. While working with a team, you always want a robust solution, and Gitlab provides that.

Key Insights

Do you think GitLab delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with GitLab's feature set?

Yes

Did GitLab live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of GitLab go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy GitLab again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

Initial team collaboration was very difficult before the Gitlab integration. There is no code version maintained by the developer leading to problematic situations when actual deployment needs to be done. The initial setup was a learning curve, but the overall integration helped to work with the team. The CI/CD pipeline also helped to easy deployment.