Internal Developer Platform
What is an IDP?
An Internal Developer Platform (IDP) is a system of workflows and tools assembled to create streamlined, standard paths for developers, promoting a self-service approach. To facilitate these "golden paths (opens in a new tab)", an IDP integrates a variety of technologies and tools in a cohesive manner, organized to reduce the cognitive load on developer end-users.
The key here is that an IDP isn't just slapped together. Platform teams treat their platform like a product. They use user research to build an IDP and are committed to maintaining and continually improving it.
5 Core Components of an IDP
An IDP is comprised of five core components [1 (opens in a new tab)], described in the table below, which are designed to standardize configurations, automate processes, and enforce role-based access. Uffizzi facilitates the 5 core components of an IDP as follows:
| 5 Core Components | Component Description | How Uffizzi Facilitates This Component |
|---|---|---|
| Application Configuration Management | Dynamically handle scalable application settings | Supports configurations like Helm, kustomize, and Docker Compose |
| Infrastructure Orchestration | Smart, context-aware infrastructure arrangement | Utilizes container and cloud-native, Kubernetes-based infrastructure |
| Environment Management | Empower devs with on-demand, ready-to-use environments | Offers secure, self-serve ephemeral environments, managed via CLI or CI/CD |
| Deployment Management | Establish continuous delivery/deployment pipelines | Enables automated deployment, rollback/clean-up, and versioning |
| Role-based Access Control | Scale permission settings efficiently | Provides secure, isolated environments for each team member (with admin controls) |
Is Uffizzi an IDP? Yes and no. For many teams these 5 components provided by Uffizzi satisfy their requirements for enabling developer self-service. Yet other teams may need to incorporate more tools to address their particular needs. In either case, Uffizzi acts as a secure, customizable foundation upon which you can build out your IDP.
Benefits of an IDP
For Ops Teams:
- Streamlines resource allocation and management
- Standardizes application configurations through templates
- Enhances access control
- Automates setup of environments and resources
- Simplifies operational setup
For Developers:
- Increases autonomy in resource management and deployment
- Integrates with existing workflows
- Simplifies environment provisioning
- Facilitates autonomous deployments and rollbacks