Nexus Repository Manager plays an important role in software development as it allows for proxying, collecting, distributing, and managing software dependencies.
When we look at its definition, it’s evident that Nexus Repository plays a crucial role and is widely used by organizations. But why is Nexus Repository so important and widely adopted?
One of the key advantages of using a repository manager like Nexus is its ability to act as a proxy. For example, when developing a Java application, it’s highly likely that we use external libraries. Developers constantly build and test their features in local environments, and with each build, the external dependencies need to be downloaded and loaded into their local environments. But where and how are these external dependencies downloaded?
In cases where a repository manager is not used, such as in a Java project, external dependencies are typically downloaded from the public repository called Maven Central.
Every time a developer builds their project with Maven, the pom.xml file specifies that the external dependencies should be downloaded from the internet. While constantly downloading external libraries from the internet may not be a problem for a small software team, it can become an issue in larger organizations where there may be more than 100 people constantly downloading packages from the internet. Depending on the internet speed, the build times can significantly increase.
Additionally, in a team working on the same software project, if we consider that developers will download the same project dependencies, these dependencies will be downloaded from the internet repeatedly.
In the usage of a repository manager, developers retrieve their external dependencies from the internal Nexus proxy repository located within the organization. This eliminates the need for constant internet access, resulting in reduced build times. When using a proxy repository, once an external dependency is downloaded, it is stored and cached in the internal repository. As a result, when the same dependency is requested again, it can be retrieved faster from the cache. This enables other software teams to download the same dependency more quickly, thus reducing their build times as well.
One of the most important features of a repository manager is the use of internal hosted repositories. In organizations, multiple projects are developed by different software teams. These projects can have dependencies on each other. For example, let’s say one team wants to use a customer service module developed by another team. The first question that comes to mind is how to integrate the relevant customer service into their own project. If they are not using an internal repository manager, they would need to retrieve the generated JAR, Python, Node module, etc. from a shared file server or a similar location. While this approach may work for small software teams, in larger organizations, for teams to work efficiently, snapshot and release versions are kept in the repository manager.
Each software team deploys their developed product to the internal repository manager’s hosted repository, and other teams can easily use the modules developed within projects. This approach will increase the productivity of different software teams and eliminate unnecessary communication. Additionally, it facilitates the effective execution of a large project by different software teams. Each team develops a different module and deploys only their responsible module to the internal repository manager, making it accessible to other teams.
Indeed, in addition to the points mentioned earlier, there are other important features of using a repository manager:
Stability: A repository manager provides a stable and reliable environment for managing software dependencies. It ensures that even in the absence of internet access, proxy repository caching allows continuous access to external dependencies.
Access Control and Audit: Repository managers offer access control mechanisms, allowing organizations to control who can access and modify the repositories. This helps maintain security and ensures that only authorized individuals or groups have access to the resources. It also enables audit trails, allowing organizations to track and monitor repository activities.
Resource Utilization: Repository managers allow organizations to manage and allocate resources effectively. With features like caching, it reduces the need for redundant downloads, optimizing resource utilization and reducing network bandwidth consumption.
Support for Open Source Libraries: The increasing use of open-source libraries in software development makes an internal repository manager crucial. It allows organizations to manage and host their own curated repositories of open-source components, ensuring control, security, and compliance.
Microservices Development: The adoption of microservices architecture in IT organizations has further emphasized the need for an internal repository manager. With numerous microservices being developed and deployed, a repository manager provides a centralized platform for managing and sharing dependencies across different services.
Overall, the usage of a repository manager enables teams to work more effectively, promotes reusability of components, ensures stability and security, and facilitates efficient resource management in software development and IT organizations.