GitLab Inc., in collaboration with Google, today launched an open source Cloud Seed tool that makes it simpler for DevOps teams to consume Google Cloud Platform (GCP) resources.
The Cloud Seed tool, announced at the virtual Google Cloud Next ’22 conference, is integrated within the GitLab web UI to make it simpler for developers to consume Google cloud resources—such as Cloud Run for building and deploying containerized applications—and the managed Cloud SQL database service.
Nima Badiey, global vice president of alliances for GitLab, said the goal is to reduce friction that would otherwise be created by requiring developers to write code to consume these services using a set of lower-level application programming interfaces (APIs).
That self-service approach not only improves productivity but provides the added benefit of reducing the odds those services might be misconfigured in a way that creates a cybersecurity vulnerability, he added.
As it seeks to gain ground on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft, Google has a vested interest in working with providers of DevOps platforms to make it simpler for developers to consume cloud resources. The challenge is that developers often make mistakes when they programmatically invoke cloud services. Those resulting misconfigurations are all too often not discovered and remediated until after there has been some type of cybersecurity incident.
In the wake of a series of high-profile breaches of software supply chains, there is a lot more focus on security. The challenge, of course, is finding a way to ensure application development platforms are as secure as possible without slowing down the rate at which software is developed and deployed. Achieving that goal requires the right mix of policies, training and systems, said Badiey.
Most organizations are trying to strike a balance between the need for greater security and their need to attract and retain developer talent. In theory, the rise of DevSecOps best practices is pushing more responsibility for security further left toward developers. However, most developers have little to no cybersecurity expertise, so it’s clear more guardrails need to be built into DevOps tools and platforms to prevent cybersecurity mistakes from being made.
It’s not clear how much improved developer productivity and greater security will drive organizations toward one cloud platform versus another, but in an age where many more organizations now routinely employ two or more cloud platforms, it could make a significant difference. Developers don’t especially enjoy remediating applications after they are deployed in a production environment because they have generally already moved on to other projects. IT operations and cybersecurity professionals are also likely to nudge developers toward platforms that create the least amount of operational overhead for them.
Regardless, one thing that is certain is compliance requirements are about to become stricter for all concerned as scrutiny of software supply chains intensifies in the months ahead. The issue now is how to proactively address those requirements before they become a much larger issue.
