GitOps Runtimes

Create and deploy Argo CD applications with GitOps Runtimes

Enterprises leveraging Argo CD for deployments often face the complexity of managing deployments at scale.
Codefresh GitOps offers native support for Argo CD, while serving as an active maintainer of the open source community version.
Our GitOps Runtime solves these issues with unique benefits.

GitOps Runtimes come in two options:

• Hosted Runtimes with Argo CD installed within the Codefresh cluster (see Hosted GitOps)
• Hybrid Runtimes with Argo CD installed within the customer’s cluster (see Hybrid GitOps)

Explore the benefits of GitOps Runtimes, and compare their features/functionality.

Benefits of GitOps Runtimes

• Single pane of glass visibility
  All Argo CD instances in Codefresh are managed through a single control plane, which means full visibility for all Runtimes. Installed Runtimes are displayed in the GitOps Runtimes page with all the information you need on the Runtime, and actions to manage it.

• Effortless maintenance In the Runtimes page, the Version column notifies whenever a new version is available for the Runtime, providing a link to the complete changelog for full transparency when making decisions on upgrades.

• Flexibile scalability
  Single control plane management eliminates the challenge of maintaining multiple Argo CD instances. You can install any number of Argo CD instances and the Runtime will handle the logistics.

  Scaling down on Argo CD instances is equally straightforward: by connecting additional remote clusters to an existing GitOps Runtime, you can reduce the number of Argo CD instances.

• Faster security remediations As an active maintainer of Argo CD, Codefresh ensures timely fixes for security vulnerabilities in our forked version, before rollout to the community version.

• Centralized administration Administrative functionality for user, permission, and audit management is centralized and Argo CD agnostic.

Hosted GitOps

The SaaS version of GitOps, Hosted GitOps has Argo CD installed in the Codefresh cluster.

Hosted GitOps Runtime is installed and provisioned in a Codefresh cluster, and managed by Codefresh.
Hosted environments are full-cloud environments, where all updates and improvements are managed by Codefresh, with zero-maintenance overhead for you as the customer.
Currently, you can add one Hosted GitOps Runtime per account. For the architecture, see Hosted GitOps Runtime architecture.

For more information on how to set up the hosted environment, including provisioning hosted runtimes, see Set up Hosted GitOps.

Hybrid GitOps

The hybrid version of GitOps, has Argo CD installed in the customer’s cluster.
Hybrid GitOps is installed in the customer’s cluster, and managed by the customer.

The Hybrid GitOps Runtime is optimal for organizations with security constraints, wanting to manage CI/CD operations within their premises. Hybrid GitOps strikes the perfect balance between security, flexibility, and ease of use. Codefresh maintains and manages most aspects of the platform, apart from installing and upgrading Hybrid GitOps Runtimes which are managed by the customer.

Hybrid GitOps Runtime installation includes a forked version of the Argo Project with its components: Argo CD, Argo Rollouts, Argo Workflows and Argo Events.

For more information on Hybrid GitOps, see Hybrid GitOps Runtime requirements and Hybrid GitOps Runtime installation.

Hosted vs.Hybrid GitOps

The table below highlights the main differences between Hosted and Hybrid GitOps.

GitOps Functionality	Feature	Hosted	Hybrid
Runtime	Installation	Provisioned by Codefresh	Provisioned by customer
	Runtime cluster	Managed by Codefresh	Managed by customer
	Number per account	One Runtime	Multiple Runtimes, one per cluster
	External cluster	Managed by customer	Managed by customer
	Upgrade	Managed by Codefresh	Managed by customer
	Uninstall	Managed by customer	Managed by customer
Argo CD		Codefresh cluster	Customer cluster
CI Ops	Delivery Pipelines	Not supported	Supported
	Workflows	Not supported	Supported
	Workflow Templates	Not supported	Supported
CD Ops	Applications	Supported: see below for details	Supported: see below for details
		Deployment supported only on managed clusters	Deployment supported on both in-cluster and managed clusters
		Self-healing interval: 90 seconds See Argo CD automatic self-healing	Self-healing interval: 5 seconds (Argo CD default) See Argo CD automatic self-healing
	Image enrichment	Supported	Supported
	Rollouts	Supported	Supported
Integrations		Supported	Supported
Dashboards	Home	Hosted Runtime and deployments	Runtimes, deployments, Delivery Pipelines
	DORA metrics	Supported	Supported
	Applications	Supported	Supported

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