I'm trying to figure out if Parallels Desktop is the best option for handling DevOps tasks on my M1 Mac. I'm particularly interested in automating the entire SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) so that any code changes get automatically pushed to a production-like environment. I know that we can get images for all the necessary DevOps tools, but for Kubernetes, we need to rely on AWS EKS. Can anyone suggest alternatives or how to set this up effectively?
6 Answers
Are you asking about Parallels for running Windows on your Mac? If your goal is CI/CD with DevOps tools, I've found that Vagrant generally performs better on Parallels Desktop.
If you're focused on virtualization, consider that I spend more time working with containers nowadays. Podman Desktop is a great choice for M1 since it utilizes the Apple hypervisor, and you can easily set up a kind cluster for Kubernetes locally. Just keep an eye on memory usage, as it can be a bit of a bottleneck!
I run a small EKS cluster via Docker Desktop with ArgoCD for testing and deployment. It’s super easy to set up and troubleshoot, plus all my tools can be quickly redeployed. Just a heads up though, I am somewhat restricted by security policies at work.
It seems like you're leaning towards Parallels since Vagrant isn't fully compatible with Apple Silicon and VMware costs money. Sounds like a solid plan! Any other thoughts from the community?
People still use Vagrant nowadays?
Honestly, in this day and age, you might want to skip VMs for isolation and just go with containers. If Vagrant is still on your mind for some reason, remember that you can use providers other than VirtualBox, especially if compatibility is an issue with Apple Silicon.
It'd be helpful to understand exactly what you plan to do. Are you looking to run CI/CD workflows with DevOps tools on your M1? That's a key detail!
Yeah, I'm aiming to set up CI/CD with those tools.
Exactly, I want to run CI/CD workflows on the M1 using those tools.