💡 Introduction
As someone active in the CiviCRM and Drupal communities in India, I often work with teams that are passionate about open source but stretched when it comes to DevOps, infrastructure, and hosting challenges.
Recently, I had the opportunity to explore two platforms - DrupalForge and DevPanel - that provide practical tools for setting up and managing CiviCRM environments with greater ease. This post is a summary of what I learned, and how these tools might be useful to other CiviCRM community members.
🚀 DrupalForge: Launch a CiviCRM-Ready Site in Seconds
DrupalForge is a community-driven, open-source platform that enables users to launch Drupal sites in under 5 seconds. For anyone working with CiviCRM on Drupal, this can be helpful for:
- Setting up demo sites or testing extensions
- Creating training environments
- Rapidly deploying new instances for evaluation or prototyping
DrupalForge is managed by a nonprofit organization (OPS Association), and it provides Drupal 11 and Drupal CMS templates, with an emphasis on accessibility and ease of use.
For those who conduct training sessions or offer CiviCRM workshops, this could help streamline your setup process considerably.
💻 DevPanel: DevOps Automation on Your Own Cloud
DevPanel is a tool that automates cloud infrastructure tasks — specifically tailored for AWS. For CiviCRM developers or agencies that manage multiple sites, DevPanel can:
- Automate Dev/Test/Live environments
- Enable CI/CD workflows for CMS and CiviCRM updates
- Maintain full control over your AWS account and resources
- Follow AWS security best practices out of the box
It supports Drupal, WordPress, and Magento - so it's compatible with the CMSs that CiviCRM integrates with. It's especially useful if you're managing multiple deployments or working in teams with dedicated infrastructure needs.
🧩 Where These Fit in the CiviCRM Workflow
CiviCRM excels at managing relationships, memberships, campaigns, and events. But a well-maintained CiviCRM also needs:
- Reliable hosting
- Version control for updates
- Secure environments for testing and live sites
Platforms like DevPanel and DrupalForge can help solve the "infrastructure gap" that many smaller teams or organizations face without requiring in-house DevOps expertise.
I don’t have any affiliation with either platform, but after a detailed conversation and demo with one of the developers involved, I saw clear value for CiviCRM implementers like myself - especially those trying to do more with fewer resources.
🔗 Learn More
If you’re curious to explore further:
- 🌐 DrupalForge – https://drupalforge.org
- 🌐 DevPanel – https://devpanel.com
- 📣 Salim Lakhani on LinkedIn (co-founder, open to demos & questions)
🤝 Final Thoughts
The CiviCRM community thrives when we share tools, workflows, and ideas that help each other succeed. Platforms like these can help us focus more on what matters building sustainable systems for mission-driven work and spend less time fighting servers or configs.
If you've used other tools or strategies to simplify your CiviCRM deployments, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
#CiviCRM #Drupal #DevOps #Infrastructure #OpenSource #AWS #CommunityTools #CRMDeployment #DrupalForge #DevPanel
