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NodeSource, AppDynamics Ally for Node.js DevOps

The prevalence of Node.js as the most widely deployed instance of JavaScript is putting a lot of pressure on DevOps teams to find ways to automate the management of Node.js applications. To provide the visibility needed to achieve that goal, NodeSource has announced it has integrated its N|Solid development environment with the application monitoring tools developed by AppDynamics.

Pravin Halady, product manager for NodeSource, says one of the things that differentiates N|Solid, which is based on Node.js, most is the amount of telemetry data NodeSource is able to collect from Node.js applications. The alliance with AppDynamics provides a mechanism for DevOps teams to now tap into that data to better manage those applications alongside the panoply of existing applications they need to support and manage, says Halady.

AppDynamics already supports Node.js. But Halady says the alliance with NodeSource provides deeper visibility into, for example, asynchronous activity. Advanced metrics can be used to augment the basic Node.js metrics that AppDynamics currently provides to better ensure service level agreements (SLAs) are both achieved and maintained, Halady says.

Adoption of Node,js exploded across the enterprise once it became feasible several years ago to deploy JavaScript code on both the client and the server. That capability in many ways fulfilled the early promise of Java in the eyes of many developers. But DevOps teams have been slow to include support for JavaScript applications within their DevOps processes, mainly because of a lack of visibility. Now that the base of Node.js applications in the enterprise has reached a level of critical mass, tools vendors such as AppDynamics are looking to provide that visibility by expanding the scope of support they provide for Node.js.

Halady says NodeSource chose to partner with AppDynamics in part because in the wake of AppDynamics being acquired by Cisco Systems, it’s clear that NodeSource needs to participate in the end-to-end visibility platforms that larger companies are starting to build. Cisco has already made significant investments in a Cisco Tetration analytics application in addition to committing to imbuing the IT infrastructure environment it provides with machine-learning algorithms. That data will then be combined with data about applications collected by AppDynamics to identify the source of any potential performance issue faster. NodeSource, adds Halady, will look to foster similar agreement with other providers of application monitoring tools.

In the meantime, DevOps team can take heart in the fact the Node.js Foundation is making providing visibility into DevOps environments a higher priority. The number of Node.js applications in the enterprise is only expected to increase. There’s a high correlation between usage of Node.js and containers that collectively are being used to facilitate the development of microservices. As those microservices bgin to replace monolithic applications developed originally developed in languages such as Java, the size and scope of the DevOps challenge exponentially increases.

Application development in the enterprise is going to be polyglot well into the next decade. Today there are more programming languages being actively used in the enterprise than any time in history. In fact, the days when IT operations could mandate what technologies developers can employ are long over.

— Mike Vizard

September 6, 2017
NodeSource Gets to the Source of the Node.js Issue

There’s no shortage of variants of Node.js in the world, but NodeSource is making a DevOps-related case for why IT organizations should standardize on its runtime implementation.

NodeSource released version 2.3 of N|Solid, which adds support for event loop delay notifications that pinpoint precisely where an issue that needs to be addressed has occurred with an application, based on the Node.js variant of JavaScript.

Pravin Halady, product manager for NodeSource, says N|Solid uniquely provides a runtime implementation of Node.js that provides that capability. Coupled with tools to monitor applications based on N|Solid, additional visualization tools and configurable webhooks-based integration to create alerts that can be shared via collaboration platforms such as Slack, N|Solid is the only Node.js runtime specifically optimized for enterprise IT environments, Halady says.

He notes one of the thornier issues organizations that embrace Node.js face is that any long-term synchronous activity blocking the event loop can prevent other incoming requests from reaching the server. Before too long, the application hangs or simply crashes. By providing insights into when an event loop delay is occurring in real time, Halady says IT organizations don’t have to waste time trying to reproduce the problem. The result is a much faster time to resolution of Node.js application issues.

DevOps teams can find themselves dealing with those types of issues at a much higher level of frequency once developers employ Node.js. As adoption of the most widely employed variant of JavaScript increases, IT organizations are managing more applications than ever. In fact, a recent survey published by the Node.js Foundation finds that three out four respondents plan to increase their usage of Node.js over the next 12 months. The primary reasons cited for that additional usage are increased developer productivity (68 percent); improved developer satisfaction (65 percent); reduced development costs (58 percent); and increased application performance (50 percent). Nearly half the respondents (47 percent) working in enterprise IT organizations say they been using Node.js for more than three years. Over half the developers (58 percent), in contrast, report having more than 10 years of experience working with Node.js.

IT organizations generally have very little visibility into what’s occurring inside Node.js applications, which makes it difficult to apply DevOps processes. In fact, most DevOps processes in place today are wrapped around applications written in more mature languages such as Java. Developers employing JavaScript tend to not be as well-versed in the role programmers ideally play within the context of an integrated set of DevOps processes.

In the absence of those processes, having the tools needed to debug an application in real time becomes more important to an IT operations teams that needs to inform a developer about the root cause of a specific issue. Otherwise, the developer ends up running one test after another in the hopes of replicating the problem. Unfortunately, the probability of accomplishing that goal inside most organizations is often relatively low. Because of that issue alone, an event loop delay notification made in real time is likely to pay for itself in a matter of hours.

— Mike Vizard

August 1, 2017
Node.js Becoming More DevOps-Friendly

Over the last several years use of Node.js has exploded across the enterprise, as developers moved to embrace a variant of Javascript that made it easier to build both client and server-side applications. However, every time it is upgraded, all the dependencies between it and application modules written in C or C++ breaks.

To solve that problem, the Node.js Foundation is making available on an experimental basis a Node.js API (N-API), developed collaboratively by Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, nearFrom, NodeSource and other contributors. The API will be in Node.js 8, and promises to eliminate the need to update all those dependencies. Pending additional testing, it is expected to be given Long Term Support (LTS) status later this year.

At the same time, The Linux Foundation is adding new features to experimental tracing and async tracking features. A diagnostics API will make it easier to monitor the operation of the Node.js event loop across the complete life cycle of a service request. Finally, an inspector core module, which allows developers to leverage the debug protocol used by the Google Chrome inspector to inspect currently running JavaScript code, is also being added.

Each of these new capabilities are nice to have on their own. But collectively, they signal the beginning of a maturation process in the Node.js community. Increased use of Javascript in general—and Node.js especially—have arguably caused many enterprise IT organizations re-evaluate their DevOps processes. Developers using Node.js have been able to increase the number of applications they could develop considerably. Since then, the number of languages being employed within the enterprise has exploded.

Mark Hinkle, executive director of the Node.js Foundation, says moving forward there will be more focus on reducing the friction surrounding upgrades of Node.js applications as part of an effort to further expand the ecosystem. Many organizations commonly end up supporting multiple versions running across a variety of applications. Hinkle says N-API is a step in helping to reduce the maintenance costs associated with supporting those applications. In an ideal world, the foundation would be gathering additional input from DevOps experts pursuant to achieving that goal. In most IT organizations, the care and feeding of Node.js applications is still left in the hands of IT operations teams after the apps are deployed in production.

In the meantime, Hinkle says its performance continues to improve. Naturally, there’s a corresponding relationship between better performance and the number of use cases for which it will be considered. Of course, that doesn’t mean Java and other legacy programming languages won’t be used to develop new applications. But it does means that in terms of the number of programming languages employed across the enterprise, it’s now a polyglot universe.

— Mike Vizard

June 13, 2017
New Node.js Foundation Survey Reports New “Full Stack” In Demand Among Enterprise Developers
Nearly 50 percent of Node.js developers surveyed using container technology, strong growth emerges in cloud, front end, mobile and devices

SAN FRANCISCO, April, 12, 2016 — The Node.js Foundation, a community-led and industry-backed consortium to advance the development of the Node.js platform, today announced its first ever Node.js User Survey Report.

With over 3.5 million users and an annual growth rate of 100 percent, the Node.js Foundation survey identified that Node.js is emerging as an universal platform/language used for web applications, IoT, and enterprise. It features insights on emerging trends like microservices architectures, real-time web applications, Internet of Things (IoT), and also paints a detailed picture of the technologies that are being used with Node.js in production and language preferences (current and future) for front end, back end and IoT developers.

Node.js and Containers Take Off Together

Both Node.js and containers are a good match for efficiently developing and deploying microservices architectures. And, while the surge in container use is relatively new, 45 percent of developers that responded to the survey use Node.js with the technology. Other container-related data points:
- 58 percent of respondents that identified as IoT developers use Node.js with Docker.
- 39 percent of respondents that identified as back end developers use Node.js with Docker.
- 37 percent of respondents that identified as front end developers use Node.js with Docker.
Node.js — the Engine that Drives IoT

JavaScript and Node.js have risen to be the language and platform of choice for IoT as both are suited for data intensive environments that require parallel programming without disruption. JavaScript, including Node.js and frameworks, such as React, have become the de facto choice of developers working in these connected, device-driven environments with 96 percent of IoT respondents indicating they use JavaScript/Node.js for development.

These environments are challenging, and the survey revealed that on average, IoT developers using Node.js have more experience than their front end and back end counterparts with over 40% percent of IoT developers surveyed having over 10+ years of development experience.

Additionally, although Docker is a server technology, many IoT developers (58%) are using Node.js with Docker compared to only 39% of back end developers. This metric is significant as it means that the new IoT world also is quickly adopting containers and microservices.

Node.js Becoming Universal Language

The full stack is no longer “front end and back end,” but rather “front end, back end and connected devices,” which is a combination of everything from the browser to your toaster all being run in JavaScript and enabled by Node.js. The survey revealed that 62% of respondents are using Node.js for both front end and back end development, and nearly 10% are using Node.js for front end, back end, and IoT development.

Node.js Pervasive in Enterprises

Node.js is increasingly used in the enterprise, and used within huge enterprises like PayPal, Go Daddy, Capital One, and Intel. The Node.js Foundation survey respondents backup Node.js’s growing role in the enterprise:
- More than 45 percent already using the Node.js Long Term Support release (v4) geared toward medium to large enterprise users who require stability and high performance.
- Of those who haven’t upgraded, 80 percent report definite plans to upgrade to v4, with half of respondents planning to do so this year.
- Strong interest in enterprise tooling among 34 percent of tech leaders.
Full “MEAN” Stack Explodes

The popularity of real-time, social networking and interactive game applications is pushing a new stack among developers. The MEAN stack is able to handle lots of concurrent connections and extreme scalability, which these applications demand. Node.js, in combination with MongoDB, Express, Angular.js, allows developers to tackle the needs of front end and back end development. Not surprisingly, all of these technologies were commonly used alongside Node.js. Express, cited the most, used by an average of 83% of developers.

Popularity of JavaScript and Node.js

JavaScript and Node.js were popular among back end, front end, and IoT developers. Other languages that were popular for all three developer types included PHP, Python and Java. However, when looking to the future, back end, front end and IoT developers planned to decrease their use of Java, .Net and PHP (PHP averages a 15% decrease) and increase the use of Python and C++.

About the Survey

The survey was open for 15 days, from January 13 to January 28, 2016. During this time, 1,760 people from around the world completed the survey. Seventy percent were developer’s, 22 percent technical management and 64 percent run Node.js in production. Geographic representation of survey covered: 35 percent from United States, 22 percent from Continental Europe, 6 percent India, and 6 percent from United Kingdom with the remaining respondents hailing from Asia, Latin America, Africa, Russia and the Middle East.

Additional Resources
- Node.js Foundation User survey infographic
- Report summarizing Node.js Foundation User Survey 2016
About Node.js Foundation

Node.js is used by tens of thousands of organizations in more than 200 countries and amasses more than 3 million active users per month. It is the runtime of choice for high-performance, low latency applications, powering everything from enterprise applications, robots, API engines, cloud stacks and mobile websites.

The Foundation is made up of a diverse group of companies including Platinum members Famous, IBM, Intel, Joyent, Microsoft, PayPal and Red Hat. Gold members include GoDaddy, NodeSource and Modulus/Progress Software, and Silver members include Apigee, AppDynamics, Codefresh, DigitalOcean, Fidelity, Groupon, nearForm, New Relic, npm, Opbeat, RisingStack, Sauce Labs, SAP, StrongLoop (an IBM company), Sphinx, YLD!, and Yahoo!. Get involved here: http://nodejs.org.

The Node.js Foundation is a Linux Foundation Project, which are independently funded software projects that harness the power of collaborative development to fuel innovation across industries and ecosystems. www.linuxfoundation.org

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*Node.js Foundation is a licensed mark of Node.js Foundation. Node.js is a trademark of Joyent, Inc. and is used with its permission.
April 12, 2016