Tag: ITAR

If you’re managing software development for defense or aerospace programs, you already know the cloud isn’t always an option. Air-gapped networks, classified programs, ITAR-controlled data, compartmentalized projects—these realities make on-premise Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools not just preferable, but mandatory.

And then Atlassian ended Server licenses.

Suddenly, teams that had been running Jira and Confluence on-prem for years were forced to evaluate alternatives. Some migrated to Atlassian’s Data Center (at significantly higher cost). Others moved to the cloud and dealt with the compliance headaches. Many started looking for something else entirely.

If you’re in that third group—or if you’re starting fresh and need an ALM solution that works in secure environments—here’s what to look for.

The On-Premise Reality in Defense

“On-premise” in defense contracting means something different than it does in commercial IT. You’re not just avoiding subscription fees or keeping data closer to home. You’re dealing with:

Air-gapped networks where systems have zero internet connectivity—not restricted connectivity, zero. Your ALM tool needs to install, run, update, and function completely offline.

Classified programs that require physical and logical separation. One project can’t share infrastructure with another, even within the same organization.

Government cloud environments like AWS GovCloud or Azure Government, where you need on-prem-style control but with cloud infrastructure.

Compliance frameworks like ITAR, CMMC, and NIST 800-171 that dictate how data is handled, stored, and accessed.

Your ALM tool needs to support all of these scenarios—not as edge cases, but as primary use cases.

What to Look For

Installation That Actually Works Offline

Some vendors claim “on-premise support” but their installer phones home for license validation. Or the application checks for updates on startup. Or certain features require cloud connectivity.

For air-gapped environments, you need:

• Offline installation with no network dependencies
• No license server requiring internet access
• All features functional without connectivity
• Updates delivered as downloadable packages you can transfer via approved media

Docker and Podman-based installations have become the gold standard here. They package everything needed into containers that can be transferred to air-gapped systems and deployed consistently.

As one engineer at a major defense contractor put it: “GForge’s air-gapped installs have made upgrading all our servers so much easier.”

Multi-Instance Architecture

Here’s a scenario that’s common in defense work:

You have unclassified projects, Secret projects, and Top Secret projects. They can’t share infrastructure. Each classification level—and sometimes each program—needs its own instance of your ALM tool.

This creates two challenges:

Procurement overhead. If spinning up a new instance requires a new purchase order, you’re adding weeks or months to program timelines. When a new classified effort kicks off, you need infrastructure ready, not stuck in procurement.

Project mobility. Projects change classification. An R&D effort that starts unclassified may become classified as it matures. You need the ability to export a project from one instance and import it into another without losing history, attachments, or traceability.

Look for licensing models that support unlimited instances (enterprise licensing) and robust export/import capabilities that preserve full project history.

CI/CD That Doesn’t Break the Budget

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment are standard practice in modern software development. But in air-gapped environments, your CI/CD infrastructure lives on the same isolated network as your source code.

This is where some vendors’ pricing models fall apart.

GitLab, for example, charges per CI/CD minute on their SaaS offering—and their self-managed licensing at scale becomes cost-prohibitive for organizations running multiple instances. When you need CI/CD across several classified networks, each with their own GitLab instance, costs multiply fast.

An alternative approach: integrate your ALM tool with Jenkins. Jenkins is open source, runs anywhere, and doesn’t charge per minute or per pipeline. You can point any number of Jenkins instances at your projects without additional licensing costs.

Upgrades Without Downtime or Drama

Upgrading software on an air-gapped network is painful. You can’t just click “update.” You’re transferring packages via approved media, testing in isolated environments, and coordinating maintenance windows across programs.

The last thing you need is an upgrade process that requires extensive manual configuration, database migrations with downtime, or—worst case—a failed upgrade that leaves you restoring from backup.

Container-based deployments (Docker/Podman) simplify this significantly. The upgrade process becomes: pull the new container image, stop the old container, start the new one. If something goes wrong, you roll back to the previous image.

Questions to Ask Vendors

When evaluating on-premise ALM tools for defense work, get specific answers to these questions:

1. Can it install and run with zero internet connectivity? Not “limited connectivity”—zero. Get them to walk you through the installation process for an air-gapped server.
2. What’s the licensing model for multiple instances? Per-instance licensing adds up fast. Look for enterprise agreements that allow unlimited instances.
3. How do projects move between instances? Ask for a demo of export/import. Does it preserve full history? Attachments? Custom fields? User associations?
4. What does an upgrade look like on an air-gapped server? Ask to see the actual process. How long does it take? What’s the rollback procedure?
5. What are the CI/CD costs at our scale? Model out your actual usage across all instances and networks. Some vendors’ pricing looks reasonable for one instance but becomes untenable at scale.
6. What compliance frameworks do your customers use this for? The vendor doesn’t need to be “certified compliant”—but they should have customers successfully using the tool in ITAR, CMMC, or similar environments.

Getting Started

If you’re evaluating options, GForge is worth a look. It’s an all-in-one ALM platform (project management, source control, wikis, CI/CD integration) built for exactly these scenarios:

• Docker/Podman installation that works fully offline
• Enterprise licensing for unlimited instances
• Full project export/import with complete history
• Jenkins integration for CI/CD without per-minute costs
• Customers in defense and aerospace running it on air-gapped networks today

You can download it and test on your own infrastructure, or talk to an engineer about your specific requirements.

GForge for Defense & Aerospace | Download GForge | Talk to an Engineer