In an ideal world, developers will spend the vast majority of their time writing code, not configuration and administration of underlying resources. Fostering the first goal is the point of Google Cloud Launcher, a marketplace the vendor is unveiling in partnership with Bitnami. Here are the key details from an official Google Cloud Platform blog post:
For those of you who need a VM-based solution, deploying an application requires that all underlying runtime components and packages be in place and configured correctly. This often becomes a labor-intensive, time-consuming task. Developers should spend most of their time on design and writing code. Time spent finding and deploying libraries, fixing dependencies, resolving versioning issues and configuring tooling is time away from that work.
Today, we're introducing Google Cloud Launcher, where you can launch more than 120 popular open source packages that have been configured by Bitnami or Google Click to Deploy. Deployment is incredibly straightforward: users simply select a package from the library, specify a few parameters and the package is up and running in a few clicks.
Cloud Launcher includes developer tools and stacks such as Apache Solr, Django, Gitlab, Jenkins, LAMP, Node.js, Ruby on Rails, and Tomcat. It also includes popular databases like MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL and popular applications like Wordpress, Drupal, JasperReports, Joomla and SugarCRM.
Cloud Launcher's approach also means that developers will get the most up-to-date version of a software package, as well as the latest patches.
Google is still working to tie the packages into its cloud monitoring service, which will give developers insights into package health and performance. The integration is set for rollout in coming months.
Analysis: A Welcome Move from Google
"Open source is the most powerful trend the software industry has seen, but for enterprises it remains a daunting task," says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Holger Mueller. "It's fast-moving with little documentation and few trained professionals. Making it easier for enterprises to consume open source with products like Google Cloud Launcher is a key step to increase ease of adoption." In turn, Launcher should help drive additional workloads to Google Cloud Platform, Mueller adds.
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