Mirantis Gives Cloud-Native Developers Spaces to Collaborate

Mirantis today unveiled an update to its Lens integrated development environment (IDE) for Kubernetes environments that makes it simpler for multiple developers to collaborate when building cloud-native applications.

Version 5 of the the development environment adds Lens Spaces, a cloud service that provides a space where development teams can more easily collaborate. It also provides a centralized catalog that makes it simpler to discover and, via a single click, access all clusters, services, tools, pipelines, automations and related resources associated with an application development project.

Miska Kaipiainen, senior director of engineering for Mirantis, says Lens Spaces will make it much simpler to onboard new developers at a time when many of them are continuing to work remotely to help limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lens Spaces also provides a Cluster Connect capability to encrypt connections between developers and the various Kubernetes clusters they need to access in a way that eliminates the need to employ a virtual private network (VPN), adds Kaipiainen. It also eliminates the need to manage kubeconfig files to gain access to their clusters. Instead, administrators can manage permissions for teams of developers.

Finally, Mirantis is adding a function that enables developers to build their own workflows and automation within the desktop application. Items in the Hotbar can be customized by assigning different labels, colors and icons for easy recall. Items can also be arranged, for example, to prioritize or perform actions in a specific sequence.

Mirantis Lens is gaining traction as an alternative to other desktop tools for building applications, because it is more tightly integrated with Kubernetes, says Kaipiainen.

Currently available in beta, Mirantis Lens 5 will expand adoption further by making it easier for widely distributed teams of developers to build distributed applications made up of individual microservices that are constructed in isolation from one another when the next release becomes generally available this summer.

In general, application development is becoming much more of team sport in the age of microservices now that it has become simpler to isolate and update functions by ripping and replacing containers. The challenge organizations face today is finding a way to bring some order to what can easily become a chaotic set of application development processes that now spans multiple clouds. Desktop application development tools, by necessity, will need to become more integrated with a control plane in the cloud through which individual developers share updates. Otherwise, while individual components of an application are being built faster than ever, an application development project will collapse in on itself as the weight of managing all those components steadily increases.

It’s not clear to what degree organizations will shift toward tools that provide developers with more visibility into Kubernetes environments. Over time, many existing tools will, no doubt, be updated to provide tighter integration with Kubernetes clusters. However, as many new developers are introduced to containers and Kubernetes there is a clear battle being waged for the hearts and minds of a new generation of programmers that have yet to commit to one tool versus another.