Compuware, provider of software for mainframe DevOps, has announced new capabilities that enable application development teams to automate performance tests early in the development lifecycle, helping large enterprises speed time-to-market and improve application performance.
A new Jenkins plugin, along with a new REST API for Compuware Strobe, a mainframe application performance management solution, allows developers to take performance measurements early and automatically as part of a Jenkins CI/CD pipeline.
This shift-left performance testing helps teams improve agility, deliver higher quality applications, reduce development costs and deliver better customer experiences
For customers not leveraging Jenkins, the Strobe REST API can also be integrated with other DevOps CI/CD tools.
“DevOps teams simply must accelerate mainframe software development and delivery and drive more innovation—it’s a competitive mandate,” said Chris O’Malley, CEO of Compuware.
According to Compuware, in today’s Agile environment, modern developers need fast feedback on all aspects of their code. In particular, identifying performance problems early in the development phase reduces the time and costs spent on re-working code, speeds application delivery and leads to better customer experiences.
These new integration points enable Strobe performance measurements to be triggered automatically in CI/CD pipelines as code is promoted towards production, ensuring accurate and repeatable performance testing. Automated tests can be run within the code delivery pipeline using Compuware Topaz for Total Test, the Topaz Utilities plugin or Compuware Hiperstation. Development teams can be notified when performance measurements are taken via tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams and then view before and after results in Strobe to determine if a quality gate has been met or missed.
Increasingly, says Compuware, as customers accelerate their delivery lifecycles, performance testing can no longer be seen as a separate activity from development only handled by QA and Operations teams. The Strobe integration with Jenkins supports this shift by making it easy for teams to automate and integrate the execution of performance measurements into their daily development practices. The integration also ensures applications have been thoroughly performance-tested before being handed off as production ready, improving collaboration and reducing interruptions to both Development and Operations teams.
Pairing Strobe with zAdviser—Metrics for Continuous Improvement
zAdviser, an innovative and free service for Compuware’s maintenance-current customers, gives mainframe modernization leaders the actionable metrics they need to continuously measure and improve development velocity, quality and efficiency. Strobe customers leveraging zAdviser can pinpoint trends and behaviors relative to their development processes that may be helping or hindering their mainframe software delivery and application performance.
For more information, go to compuware.com.