Dev to Deploy: One Toolbar to Rule Them All

CloudBees is about taking the development-to-deployment lifecycle to the cloud. We want the whole lifecycle to be easy (ridiculously easy, to be precise!). To that end, we have just launched a toolbar that gives a quick overview of the services you are subscribed to, while doubling up as a launching pad into using these services (and ends up ruling them all - my precious!).

This blog is a quick visual tour of the toolbar.

The Toolbar
Once logged in, the toolbar shows up on the top of your browser. The various entries (except ClickStart - which we'll be blogging more about in the very near future) are described in the following sections.

The top right hand side shows you your account name and is a quick way to switch between multiple accounts (for example: it's easy to jump from dev to QA accounts). The ClickStart is rather special - a number of blogs in the pipeline will describe the feature in detail. Meanwhile, I would encourage you to play with it.

Image 1: CloudBees Toolbar

CloudBees Status
The status of various sub-systems on CloudBees can be easily accessed by clicking the thermometer on the top right hand side. The thermometer turns red/orange depending on severity level of issues. We actively update the status of our systems on status.cloudbees.com - so if you do see an issue, this is the place to head to.

Image 2: System health

Applications
It is all about the application - isn't it? The Apps menu entry gives you quick insight into the apps deployed on the platform. For example, I can quickly see that "auction" app is active, while others are either hibernated or stopped.

Image 3A: Applications

Clicking on the application name brings you to the RUN@cloud management screen for a particular application. Image 3B shows the details for the auction application.

Image 3B: Managing a single application

Clicking on the View button takes you to the URL of the deployed application. Image 3C shows the URL of the auction app which incidentally happens to be an ICEfaces application.

Image 3C: Deployed application

Database
The DBs menu entry shows you the list of deployed databases (creating a new MySQL database is very easy - just enter the database name, username and password).

Image 4A: Deployed database

Image 4B shows the database management screen which popped open by clicking a database name on the drop down.

Image 4B: Database management screen

Build
Hovering on the Builds entry shows you the list of Jenkins jobs on CloudBees. It gives you a quick overview of the last build as well the weather for the build. Clicking on the job name takes you to the Jenkins job status page (Image 5B).

Image 5A: Jenkins build jobs

Image 5B: Jenkins job page

Repositories
The repository service dropdown gives you a launcher to the repositories page. We are working on providing a list of repositories created in the account. Stay tuned for more news...

Image 6: Repository launcher

Services
CloudBees is focused on providing the best tools and services to deliver your application. To that end, CloudBees has partnered with numerous development services that are enabled in a few clicks from within the platform. The toolbar provides a quick overview of services available and those you have signed up for.

Image 7: Services

A few minutes with the toolbar and you will wonder how you lived without it. It definitely is "My Precious..."

Regards,

Harpreet Singh

Senior Director, Product Management

CloudBees

Harpreet has 12 years of experience in the software industry. Prior to CloudBees, he was at Oracle and Sun for 10 years in various roles, including leading the marketing efforts for Java EE 6 and GlassFish 3.1. He was also product manager for Hudson, launching it within Sun's GlassFish Portfolio.