Argo CD is a powerful and popular open source tool for automating continuous delivery workflows on Kubernetes. Launched in 2018, it quickly gained traction among developers and organizations due to its ease of use, robust feature set, and ability to simplify application deployment to Kubernetes clusters.
Today, Argo CD is used by thousands of organizations worldwide, including well-known names like Intel, Red Hat, WordPress, and Intuit. In 2020, Argo CD was recognized for its contributions to the cloud-native ecosystem and graduated as a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) tool, making its place as a leading solution for continuous delivery on Kubernetes.
However, like any complex tool, Argo CD has its challenges when it comes to setup, integration, and maintenance. This is where Argo CD support services come into play, providing expert guidance and assistance to help users get the most out of the tool.
In this article, we will explore the best Argo CD professional services and support providers available in the market to help you make an informed decision and maximize the benefits of Argo CD for your organization.
What is Argo CD Support?
Argo CD support (also known as managed Argo CD) is a CI/CD service where experts take responsibility to maintain your Argo CD setup. There are companies and technology firms with talented DevOps professionals who are dealing with the Argo CD since its release and have worked on a variety of projects involving it.
Argo CD Support companies provide a range of offerings, including consulting, implementation, training, troubleshooting, and customization, to help organizations maximize the benefits of Argo CD and address any issues they may encounter. With Argo CD professional support providers, you can sleep well knowing that your CD pipelines are running smoothly, efficiently, and securely – adding hours to your day so you can focus on delivering value to your end-users.
How to select Argo CD Support companies?
To select the correct Argo CD partner, you have to note down your requirements and expectations from the Argo CD partner. If you don’t know them yet, keep reading, as I am sharing the factors to consider while reviewing the Argo CD support partner.
#1 Support & response time
One major reason for taking the commercial Argo CD support or any tech support is to get an immediate response in case of an emergency. So take a good look at the response time matrix to check whether timely responses and solutions are present or not.
If the support is not present at the time it was needed, then it is not helpful to the business. Because given enough time, your team will also find a solution to complex problems. The reason for taking the support is to have an expert onboard 24/7 so the problem could be solved before it affects the business.
#2 Security practices used
Argo CD comes with security features like built-in integrations for SSO providers such as OIDC, Argo CDOAuth2, LDAP, and more for secure access. There is also a role-based access control (RBAC) to authorize the team members to specific services in clusters.
All these features are helpful but only if they are implemented properly. If you are giving access to your Argo CD environment to the support team, you need to know the security policies that hold the support provider responsible to keep your Argo CD safe.
#3 GitOps support
If your team is using Git and Argo CD for continuous delivery then you need a support team that has experience in GitOps. They should be able to connect Git repository providers such as GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket with Argo CD to enable GitOps. Also, as multiple teams will be working on the project, you have to see the support team’s process to minimize the configuration drift.
#4 Project history
It is always a good measure to check the project the company has delivered in the recent past. You should do your due diligence on the team’s credentials and check the GitHub profiles to see if they have done work around Argo CD. You can also view the company's reviews, testimonials, and case studies. Online reputation in the open-source community and overall developer community also shows where the company stands in the Argo CD ecosystem.
Best Argo CD Support Providers
Once you know your requirements from the Argo CD partner and what type of enterprise support you are looking for, you can start your search. Here are the several companies that are offering professional services and enterprise Argo CD support and you can see if anyone of them fits your criteria.
1. ITOutposts
ITOutposts offers a wide range of IT consulting services including cloud optimization, Kubernetes consultation, managed IT support, and data migration services. Starting in 2020, during the Covid-era, when IT hiring was challenging due to remote norms, ITOutposts helped many companies by providing remote IT support.
The team has experience in various cloud technologies like Jenkins, TravisCI, AWS, Flex, and Argo CD. Though there is no dedicated page for Argo CD support, they provide CI/CD consultation service and Argo CD is a part of the service. You have to contact them using their website's contact page.
Despite being a new IT consulting company, they have delivered projects for global clients like Openware and Handy.ai. However, there isn't much activity on their social media channels or within the developer community.
2. InfraCloud
InfraCloud has been helping businesses of all sizes to adopt and implement cloud-native technologies since 2016. It's a big team consisting of engineers with decades of experience in deploying IT solutions in various niches.
The company offers managed Argo CD with unlimited incident reporting, SLA-backed 24/7 support, and Argo CD consulting. If you are looking to implement Continuous Delivery (CD) to improve development efficiency, the InfraCloud team can develop a comprehensive plan for the successful adoption of modern technologies. Delivering high-stakes projects for big clients like Hitachi, Mercedes Benz, Qualys, and Rancher, the team has demonstrated its expertise in cloud technology. The company has a team of CNCF-certified engineers with substantial experience in GitOps, Kubernetes, Progressive Delivery, and CI/CD implementations.
The team has developed and maintains various open source projects, including BotKube, Krius, and Fission. The developers regularly contribute to these projects and can frequently be seen at events and meetups promoting cloud-native technology. InfraCloud will be one of your best choices if you need 24/7 support and fast emergency response.
3. MeteorOps
MeteorOps is a small company delivering DevOps solutions since 2021. The team is small with 17-20 engineers, but they have years of experience in cloud-native technologies like Helm, Kubernetes, Terraform, and Argo CD.
Besides cloud adoption, they also help companies in tech hiring. So whether you need to build a dedicated team for Argo CD and related processes or to outsource the entire Argo CD, MeterOps could help you.
Similar to ITOutposts, MeteorOps is a new company – so they have worked with various clients of different backgrounds. The company is new but with a such diversified portfolio, they are a good option for smaller and simpler projects. At the time of writing this article, MeteorOps does not provide dedicated emergency 24*7 support. So if you have any small-scale projects, you can surely reach out to them – but for complex projects, it would be better to go with an experienced firm.
4. RxM
Started in 2012, RX-M is a well-known training company in the field of cloud-native technologies. They are charter members of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) as well as authorized Kubernetes Training Partner (KTP).
RX-M specializes in providing education and training on a range of cloud technologies, such as Docker, Istio, Jenkin, Helm, Kubernetes, and Argo CD. Their website features various certification programs and courses that you can enroll in. Additionally, RX-M has experience in creating on-demand courses that they have delivered to a number of Fortune companies.
They also offer staffing and consultation services aimed at DevOps, CI/CD, Argo CD, and various other cloud technologies. If you're looking to train your team in Argo DB, RX-M has many years of producing curses for tech organizations.
5. Servanamanaged
Servana offers proactive support services from DevOps-certified subject matter experts. Be it pipeline complexities, auditing of the correct tools for the project, or filling the skill gap – Servana support covers it all. With expertise in Git, Helm, and Kubernetes, the team can configure and maintain your Argo CD.
Servana has worked with global clients like Yazaki, Waitrose, and Glasswall and got decent reviews. They are also an official Cloudbees Summit Partner for EMEA. The team has worked on a variety of projects – e-commerce, chatbots, natural language processing, machine learning, and payment gateways. The wide range of work brings a larger perspective, which helps build a secure and compliance-friendly development pipeline.
However, Sarvana doesn't have much presence in the online developer community or contribution to open-source software. But Servana has a visible customer support platform which the majority of managed Argo CD partners are lacking.
6. OpsVerse
OpsVerse is a SaaS-based tool to deploy and manage a continuous deployment system. Deploying and configuring Argo CD is a time taking process, but with fully managed Argo from OpsVerse, you can deploy it in any cloud, region, or within your network and begin using it within minutes.
You get all the enterprise-grade Argo CD features such as RBAC and SSO support with OpsVerse. You also receive OpsVerse support from the DevOps experts.
OpsVerse product is built on open-source Argo CD and comes with key configurations, templates, and integrations that your engineers can work with right away. However, it is only a product that let you set up the Argo CD quickly. The OpsVerse team will help you if you are stuck with the managed Argo CD product, but they will not be able to provide support if the emergency is with your CI/CD pipeline.
So, which is the best Argo CD Support Provider for you?
Many cloud-tech companies offer CI/CD consulting and Argo CD support. However, which one is best for your project depends on the project’s requirements and product development strategy.
- Small-scale Argo CD: ITOutposts and Servanamanaged.
- Train your team in Argo CD: RX-M has experience and courses to deliver it.
- Dedicated team: MeteorOps is a small team and can offer dedicated support.
- For complex pipelines and 24/7 support: InfraCloud has the experience and staff to do this.
- Quickly install Argo and get it running: OpsVerse SaaS-based managed Argo is a suitable solution.
For the Argo CD support, the most important requirement is 24/7 response – so you can sleep peacefully knowing that experts are on board to sort out all Argo CD issues – ensuring your project achieves maximum release speed and velocity gains. But the requirements depend on your project’s requirements.
I hope this article helps you to find the best Argo CD professional services and support partner for you – if not let me know by leaving a comment. I will recommend one according to your requirements.
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