Users review CA Release Automation and IBM UrbanCode Deploy

In order to bring your products and services to market as quickly as possible you’ll need to have the right release automation solution.

Based on IT Central Station user reviews, CA Release Automation and IBM UrbanCode Deploy are noted as leading release automation solutions.

In this article, real users weigh the pros and cons of each solution, sharing their insights and feedback with other enterprise tech professionals looking to make a similar investment. They outline each solution’s valuable features, but also suggest where they see room for improvement.

CA Release Automation

Valuable features

Zero-code deployment process design

Simone R., a Senior Consultant at a tech services company praises CA Release Automation’s zero-code deployment process design:

He says, “With this feature, it’s easy to share, discuss, and debug the deployment logic with non-technical people.”

Easy to synchronize changes

Simone also praises the ease with which one can synchronize changes with CA Release Automation:

“It’s easy to synchronize the changes so they happen at the right time in relation to each other and even to pass information between those servers.”

User friendly GUI

CA Release Automation’s easy-to-use GUI is a particularly valuable feature for Gautam P., a Tech Lead at a tech company:

“CA Release Automation has a GUI which is easy to use and develop the solutions. Most of the day-to-day tasks which need automation have been already covered by built-in actions. So you just have to drag and drop to start using it.”

Shared components and version control

Specialid19b, a specialist at a financial services firm, explains why CA Release Automation’s shared components and version control features are particularly valuable to him:

“In my work, we have about 30 Java standalone applications, although every application is different and has specific behaviors. Nonetheless, I realized that all of them can be installed in the same way. I had to design only one flow for all of them. I found that the shared components feature helps me.

I had to create my common flow like a shared component. For every application, I only had to ‘import’ that shared component. Another amazing thing was that if I had to change something in my shared component, I could easily reflect my changes to all of the applications.

The version control is important because the changes that I make in my shared component can be controlled. I can decide which version will work with which Java application.”

Deployment Pipeline

For Lidor G., a DevOps Engineer for a comms service provider, it’s the Deployment Pipeline that he finds to be the most valuable feature:

“I really appreciate the Deployment Pipeline where you can see the environment and release version artifact that was deployed and whether it was successful (green) or failed (red) for each application.

The release deployment pipeline in CA RA is the most valuable feature of them all, as it shows the environment and the release version currently deployed for each application.”

Room for improvement

More disaster recovery base solutions

Associat0c44, an Associate Director at a financial services firm, writes:

“I would like to see a more robust solution. There are few downsides which I already expressed to CA. I’m sure they will address them. For example, I would like to see more disaster recovery base solutions and things like that. I’ve already done that a few times.”

IBM UrbanCode Deploy

Valuable features

Automated deployments

SoftwareEng842, a Software Engineer at an insurance company, discusses the high value of UrbanCode Deploy’s automated deployments feature:

“Getting the deployments automated adds a lot of value. Before we automated deployments, there was a big problem with manual intervention and people making changes on production services and forgetting what they did. It was just impossible to reproduce deployments.”

Traceability

SoftwareEng842 also mentions the value of the traceability aspect:

“You can trace back to the code which is stored in ClearCase through the build. All the deployment artifacts can be traced back to the original source.”

Lead approval process and ease of use

Anandkumar507, an Enterprise Development and Deployment Support professional at an insurance company, points to UrbanCode Deploy’s lead approval process as being a particularly valuable feature. “The lead approval process is one of the unique features in it that can’t be found in any other automation tool,” he says.

Anandkumar507 also mentions that the solution is particularly user friendly, which makes a big difference to his team:

“It’s user-friendly enough for our development team to access and use on a daily basis.”

Web GUI that stores prior deployments and logging

UrbanCode Deploy’s Web GUI is a favorite feature for AppDev993, an Application Developer at an insurance company:

“Prior deployments and logging stored in a web GUI which can be accessed by any member of the team.”

Room for improvement

Bulky resource tree

One area in which Abhishek L., a Technical Specialist at a financial services firm, would like to see some improvements is in the resource tree:

“The resource tree is pretty bulky and slow. Making a change to the resource tree manually is pretty difficult when size increases.”

You can read more Release Automation reviews, as well as more reviews for both CA Release Automation and UrbanCode Deploy, on IT Central Station.