JFrog, Atlassian Team To Improve DevOps with More Visibility, Faster App Delivery

JFrog is delivering new out-of-the-box integration with Atlassian’s Jira to allow mutual customers to streamline DevOps collaboration and traceability across their full software delivery process.

by Anne Lessman

Tags: Atlassian, app delivery, cloud, DevOps, JFrog, Jira, traceability, visibility,

JFrog is integrating its DevOps capabilities with Atlassian's Jira tracking software to improve collaboration and traceability for new software.

 

The new bi-directional integration is between JFrog DevOps Platform Cloud and Atlassian’s Jira Cloud. The latest offering enables mutual JFrog and Atlassian users to streamline collaboration and traceability across app pipelines and the entire software delivery process. The result is faster and more frequent application releases and improved developer productivity, according to company execs.

 

JFrog's collaboration with Atlassian will "accelerate the flow of applications' updates," said Casey O'Mara, JFrog's vice president of worldwide business development, in a statement.

 

O'Mara went on to detail just how the partnership delivers these benefits. "Considering that binaries - not source code - are what is actually being deployed to production and consumed by end users, the new integration allows developers to trace each Jira issue to the unit of value that was delivered to customers and collaborate more effectively around the lifecycle of software binaries," he added.

"Unifying planning and development processes with best-in-breed tools to manage and deliver software packages provides a unique way to collaborate across a business," added Suzie Prince, Atlassian's head of product, DevOps. "JFrog's integrations with Atlassian help mutual customers improve the traceability of software throughout the delivery lifecycle."

 

In detail, the JFrog/Jira integration links each Jira issue (such as a feature request, bug fix, etc.) to the binary or build that resolves this issue. This action, in turn, is managed in the JFrog Artifactory repository management and container registry solution.

Benefits of Deep, Seamless Integration Between JFrog/Jira 

This deep and more seamless integration between the two platforms is what delivers visibility, traceability and more effective collaboration between all software stakeholders – from developers, IT and even business managers, O'Mara added.  

 

The JFrog DevOps Platform / Jira Cloud integration aims to allow users to:

  • Build a trace between the source code, the CI system, and the software version while also creating a link with the Jira issue that explains why a software version was created.
  • Create a two-way link that allows users to look at a Jira issue and link out to information about the build created to solve the Jira issue. Users can also download that specific software binary, all from inside Jira Cloud.
  • Allow deeper collaboration around the software binary itself, as well as the maturation of processes surrounding the actual software binary that will be delivered and/or deployed in production.

 

In a technical blog post, JFrog senior product manager Mark Galpin also described how Jira and JFrog work together.

To see which Jira issues are associated with your builds… Artifactory's power is enabled through the DevOps pipeline tools and workflows you already use.

 

It's likely that you're already tagging each of your Git repository source code checkins with the Jira issue key(s) those changes resolve. Not only is it a best practice that disciplined developers follow, many companies enforce it with scripts that reject commits without an issue attached.

 

Artifactory can collect issue key messages from Git, and log it with your builds. It's added to all the other build information Artifactory acquires to give you knowledge about your builds, providing a traceable path to component binaries and the conditions for deterministic builds.

 

The Artifactory dashboard for build information displays each of the referenced Jira issues in the Issues tab, and seamlessly provides a link to each issue key in Jira:Jira issues in Artifactory.

 

Those using one of JFrog's many CI server build integrations for Artifactory may already be seeing this benefit. Many, such as JFrog Pipes for Bitbucket Pipelines, enable Artifactory's collection of information from Git automatically. 

 

So most developers already have their builds in Artifactory linked to Jira issues, and can know every issue that was resolved in any build. Those not using a build integration can collect Git information through the JFrog CLI to enable the feature.

Galpin also discussed the benefits of the two-way integration between Jira and JFrog.

Since builds in Artifactory can already link to your Jira issues, wouldn't it be useful if your Jira issues could in turn link to your builds in Artifactory? Once you install the JFrog Artifactory App for Jira, you can do just that, and see within your Jira issues which Artifactory builds resolve them.

To take advantage of the new capabilities, joint customers can install the "JFrog Platform Artifactory Application" from the Atlassian Marketplace.

 

When installing the app, users need only enter the information about their Artifactory service as directed to allow Jira to connect to its build data.




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