Backstage is an open source framework for building developer portals, created at Spotify, donated to the CNCF, and adopted by hundreds of companies. One frontend for all your infrastructure. Please report sensitive security issues using Spotify's bug-bounty program rather than GitHub. Imagine if all your tools GCP, Bigtable, CI pipelines, TensorFlow Extended, and whatever else is hiding in your stack all had the same, easy-to-use interface. The course starts with a discussion on developer portals, arguing in favor of implementing one in your organization. All of it! Need to know to enable it? That's Backstage. Backstage is an open-source platform for building developer portals built by Spotify and donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Zhinian Luo is a senior cloud native application architect in the application modernization department of VMware Greater China. LFS142x is designed for DevOps engineers and professionals interested in or working in Developer Productivity or Developer Experience teams. Developer portals provide important information and tools for prospective developers. To install the Backstage Standalone app, we make use of npx, a tool to run Why do tech companies need a developer portal, and at what stage does this become necessary? After inputting some metadata about your service, a new repository is created with a hello world service that automatically builds and deploys in production on Kubernetes (GKE). When you have thousands of engineers building thousands of components, how can anyone find anything? To do so, I initially contacted the most well-known Backstage SaaS provider. To install Backstage, use the following command: You should see the below line in the terminal where you need to enter a name for your app. Here, the developer should be able to find all relevant information about the organizations services: owner, lifecycle, runtime, version, slack channel, last deployment link, and more. But then what? This website uses cookies. For further details, see our complete security release process. Second, it makes it easy for developers to get started with your platform. It is a tool designed around the needs of service owners, rather than cluster admins. Developed by the Spotify engineering team, Backstage is an open-source platform used for building developer portals. Integrate Backstage in your DX. Backstage gives developers a uniform overview of all their resources, regardless of how and where they are running, as well as an easy way to onboard and start using those tools. Copyright 2022 Backstage Project Authors. The Software Catalog can contain many entity types with different connections and dependencies between them. Its also possible to build our own plugins. Once other resources come into play (databases, queueing, etc. Silos affect productivity because teams or different business areas act in isolation, making decisions where systems and team members do not communicate with each other. How do you adopt the tool? Bring your own model or use ours. Instead of using the console of a cloud service provider, such as AWS or GCP, you can integrate the option to manage the lifecycle of a component within Backstage. The npm package @backstage/plugin-sonarqube receives a total of 5,859 downloads a week. It makes it possible for a single team to manage dozens of software components and for your organization to manage thousands of them, allowing teams to visualize projects and dependencies. The documentation is then displayed in HTML format to be searched for and edited through Backstages Markdown files.. Please, After looking further, I observed that, although only released in 2020 in public, Backstage has seen surprisingly large adoption at larger tech companies. At the time of writing, Backstage is an incubating project within the Cloud-Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). Become a part of the worlds largest community of API practitioners and enthusiasts. Ultimately, a Developer Portal is a product, and the developers are the customers. -2. This makes it easy for developers to avoid having to use another tool for documentation. So what is the typical developer experience? Backstage is an open platform for building developer portals. A key benefit of the Backstage plugin model is that it allows you to add more tools without increasing the complexity for each individual user. Learn more about Tanzu Application Platform, and see thenew features that were delivered in the recent version 1.2 release. What makes a good developer experience, and how can you improve yours to make your developers happier and more productive? The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. Backstage is the natural result of that focus. It gets harder for individual engineers to find and use all these distinct tools. Since, it has been donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). It's based on software templates, unifying infrastructure tooling and consistent and centralized technical documentation. With Backstage, you can build one central place for your engineering organizations tools, resources, and documentation from CI/CD status to Kubernetes monitoring, to API and library docs, to deciphering your monorepos, and everything in between. Here, you can find more information on our open source contribution to Backstage and offer feedback. Similar to how Backstage ties together all of Spotifys infrastructure, our ambition is to make the open-source version of Backstage the standard UX layer across the broader infrastructure landscape. I disclose any conflicts of interest and affiliations, should I have them. Additionally, they save developers time with repeatable templates that your whole team can use. with getting started: Configuring Backstage. Even simple operations, such as connecting a cloud resource to service, requires diverse knowledge to ensure it stands at scale and avoids bugs and security vulnerabilities. Right now, the following API formats are supported: Other formats are displayed as plain text, but this can easily be extended. First off, what are the benefits of building a developer portal? Were taking a VIP pass to look in detail at the benefits and solutions a developer portal solves and whether Backstage is the right platform for you. Code collaboration can be incentivized using tools likeGithub. Since the open-source version currently does not have any end-to-end use cases, it can be challenging to understand what problems Backstage can solve for you. Using Backstage, one can add components and then link them together. Why do tech companies need a developer portal, and at what stage does this become necessary? From scaffolding to day-2 ops, permissions and ephemeral environments. These React components written in Typescript are added to each services page. The general timeline of Backstage's development is as follows: More than 100 renowned companies and organizations have publicly deployed this technology, including Netflix, Expedia, Splunk, American Airlines, and VMware. You signed in with another tab or window. Where can I view telemetry datasuch as running logs, metrics, and distributed tracing datafor my app? Our internal installation of Backstage has over 100 different integrations we call them plugins. All rights reserved. Searching, finding, and using everything we have built is a huge challenge. If an app developer on one team wants to understand how their feature is affecting overall app performance, theres a plugin for that: Developers can also look at crashes, releases, test coverage over time and many more tools in the same location. A good developer experience is hard to achieve. So how do we bridge these gaps in the development experience? Backstage is a powerful open-source developer portal platform. A follow-up to the original article. Thats Backstage. Tanzu Application Platform application accelerator. It then goes on to discuss Backstage, the leading open source framework for creating developer portals, covering the architecture, features (Catalog, Scaffolder, TechDocs, and Plugins). If this sounds interesting or youd like to help us shape our product vision, wed love to talk. Zohar Einy is the founder of Port. Why did they open source it? Backstage is an open platform for building developer portals. Refresh the page,. Recently, he has focused on the design and development of cloud native, microservice-based applications using agile development methodologies. If youre looking for a developer portal, what other alternatives do you have? As companies grow, their infrastructure systems get messier. This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Having long recognized the importance of developer experience to building a streamlined, cloud native business, VMware in 2021 releasedVMware Tanzu Application Platform, a state-of-the-art application platform that includes a developer portal delivering a consistent GUI, constructed and extended based on Backstage. Spotify operates arguably the most advanced version of Backstage. What is Backstage, and how does it work? Backstage is an open platform for building developer portals. separate processes (named [0] and [1]) in the same window. Text analysis of the adopters descriptions reveals that Service catalog, Documentation, and Software Templates are the most frequently used features. You can start exploring the demo immediately. Backstage is the quintessential developer portal. Backstage unifies all your infrastructure tooling, services, and documentation with a single, consistent UI. How often do I submit? Each change is managed and recorded through the Git process last updated, contributors, code reviews, automated tests, owner, Github issues, etc. Well outline the benefits of creating an API developer portal and see just how easy it is to set one up using Backstage. Some of the widely-used Bitnami-packaged Data Services Helm charts now support Service Binding for Kubernetes, removing the complexities around services configuration and secrets retrieval processes. To make things more tangible, lets have a look at four of the common use-cases: Creating any new software component at Spotify, such as a new microservice, is done with a few clicks in Backstage. Backstage and the Backstage Software Catalog make it easy for one team to manage 10 services and makes it possible for your company to manage thousands of them. | Supported by. Tanzu Application Platform supply chain visibility. , for their insights, talked with an engineer from the team which created Backstage, and got in touch with Backstage adopters. Operate your software components easily with a transparent and centralized repository. Most plugins are a stripped-back version of the complete tool. Developer portals offer different benefits to various personas, and we agree with the benefits underscored by Backstage, one of the open source offerings in the space: Our rule of thumb: if your organization has more than 200 engineers or microservices, then Backstage can restore order to your growing chaos. Each project needs to be provided with metadata to describe itself (catalog-info.yaml), which is stored with the source code in a version control system, such as Git. Backstage unifies all your infrastructure tooling, services, and documentation to create a streamlined development environment from end to end. After looking further, I observed that, although only released in 2020 in public, Backstage has seen surprisingly large adoption at larger tech companies. A study published by McKinsey suggests that companies with high developer efficiency grow their revenue four to five times faster than companies with low developer efficiency. Consider a team that wants to deploy something to the cloud. For most Backstage installations, installing the standalone app will bring you Create documentation and sites by just writing Markdown. Backstage attempts to combine all relevant data into a single pane of glass rather than being spread across independently built islands. As your infrastructure portfolio grows, the level of complexity will increase. Next, we'll deepen the integration, providing more monitoring within the Backstage portal. This is quite uncommon, unless when you're Further insights into developer portals. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see the Trademark Usage page. We cant do it alone. Backstages core features currently focus on visualization: Service Catalog, TechDocs, and Kubernetes Plugin. you to use the Contributors guide to do a repository-based installation. Imagine a new developer joins the team and frequently asks questions such as: With any luck, they'll find the right people to answer their questions. This issue mentions several vendors related to developer portals. The core idea is to provide a single, consistent UI for all infrastructure . Spotify operates arguably the most advanced version of Backstage. To engage with our community, you can use the following resources: Copyright 2020-2022 The Backstage Authors. You can see who is using your platform, what theyre working on, and how theyre doing. you have, and feel free to The Software Templates is a tool that allows you to define software templates to create new software projects. A company might create a developer portal to promote its API-as-product, or an individual might generate one to share their knowledge and expertise. Its certainly not the only option for this task, but its a popular choice for particular use cases. Since Backstage is now the default developer portal for global teams nowadays to uplift engineering productivity, understandably, we FOMO'd and decided to do a PoC on this open-source platform built by Spotify from scratch. The codebase is divided up into differentfeatures, each owned and maintained by a separate team. database, configure authentication, and add your first integration. See the full list of configuration items. Where can I find the project file? Metadata mainly includes: Sample YAML defining a Backstage component. How do I trigger the pipeline execution to deploy the app? If you have a dedicated team of DevOps Engineers, Senior Full-Stack engineers, and a product owner, then Backstage is an excellent option for you. system using tools like apt-get, npm, yarn, curl. For the backstage installation, I have left a detailed step-by-step on how to do it, in order to facilitate the process. Alternatives to Backstage. With Backstage, troubleshooters can find service owners, new hires can find documentation, everyone can share, build, and collaborate together avoiding duplication because everything is discoverable inside Backstage. Backstage was founded by music streaming giant Spotify, and its vision is to be the "Kubernetes for developer experience." The general timeline of Backstage's development is as follows: An internal project launched in 2016 to build Spotify's internal developer portal. Backstage unifies all your infrastructure tooling, services, and documentation with a single, consistent UI. If you have any other questions feel free to comment down below. If the system is not directly accessible over your network the following ports He has 20+ years of experience in software development and architecture design, and has extensive experience in enterprise IT planning, enterprise system architecture design, and system development and implementation management. Fascinating. create a subdirectory inside your current working directory. These plugins often provide an overview; the developer can go directly to the dedicated UI for more information. No-code internal developer portals, that way they were meant to be. The software bill of materials provided by VMware Application Catalog is now available in SPDX format, an international open standard developed by the Linux Foundation for communication of SBoM. All rights reserved. What are our technology and architecture standards? On top of this, organizations need to adapt to their own specific needs and integrate existing tools to continuously improve their current development experience. Workload visibility: Dynamic view of the application after deployment, including detailed information about objects at each level of the resource tree such as Knative Service, Kubernetes Deployment, ReplicaSet, Pods, etc., with one-click access to the app via Knative Route. For information about the detailed project roadmap including delivered milestones, see the Roadmap. But if youdig deeper, youll find that since the very beginning, Spotify has been known for its agile, autonomous engineering culture. The catalog is built around metadata YAML files, which are stored together with the application code. Backstages Kubernetes plugin connects to your existing ecosystem, simplifying the deployment workflow and visualizing all deployment statuses in a single view. Supply chain visibility: Graphical display of the supply chain execution path and status, allowing further viewing of the execution details of each step. Open source plugins can be found at: https://backstage.io/plugins.There are about 80 plugins now. As one of the earliest adopters of Backstage, the developer experience team at American has had a firsthand look at how the community has grown. Many Git commands accept both tag and branch names, so creating this branch may cause unexpected behavior. Behind the playlists and podcasts of Spotifys sizable audio catalog is Backstage, touted as one of the leading choices in the Developer Portal world. For more information, see the announcement. One of the greatest strengths of Backstage also presents a never-ending challenge: Backstage is highly customizable and allows you to easily build a unique developer portal suited to your organization's needs. Frontside helps your teams integrate more tools into Backstage and streamline their . For example, onboarding new engineers into complex tech stacks with hundreds of microservices and tools becomes a mammoth task. Backstage isn't a "developer portal" but a tool to build your developer portal. There are many potential benefits to building a developer portal using Backstage. or App Live View: Graphical display of the app's health status based on the Spring Boot app's Actuator mechanism, as well as real-time monitoring of CPU/memory, details of recent HTTP requests, dynamic adjustment of log levels, and more. Realizing that trying to find the owner of services by yelling in Slack channels was no longer tenable, TELUS turned to Backstage for its focus on developer experience. on discord, file issues for any What about the architecture and topology diagrams? Creating a API entity using the following YAML file. Backstage is a great Developer Portal. I have no affiliations with any vendors mentioned in this article and no conflicts of interest. As cloud native concepts and adoption take hold, many enterprises are now considering and implementing ways to achieve the primary objective of cloud native technology: enabling engineers to make significant changes to systems easily, frequently, and confidently. The software catalog is used to present all your software systems, components, resources, APIs . Therefore, you can add code that will do operations upon your organizations DevOps assets - more of this later on.). Building developer portals with Backstage Chris Chinchilla 956 subscribers Subscribe 115 Share 12K views Streamed 1 year ago Powered by a centralized software catalog, Backstage restores order. Today, they use their custom Backstage portal (known internally as Runway) to create a one-stop shop for their developers. Valuable resources and documentation can help developers get started quickly and easily. They help organizations scale company best practices (CI, Documentation, Logging, K8S configuration). As part of the process of creating software, digital products, among others, where multiple teams, people, roles and processes are involved within an organization, sharing information and knowledge is becoming increasingly complex and even unmanageable. Organizations Warned of Essential Vulnerability in Backstage Developer Portal Platform; Swimlane Launches Safety Automation Ecosystem for OT; Threat Mitigation Methods to Shut the XIoT Safety Hole; 40 States Settle Google Location-Monitoring Expenses for $392M; Canadian Grocery store Chain Sobeys Hit by Ransomware Assault