DROPS can import and deploy artifacts that come from and are intended to be deployed to an ARCAD Server.
The 
Configuration Explorer provides access to the entities required to set up the import process. This perspective is the configuration side of DROPS.
Configuring DROPS to import and deploy 
ARCAD applications can be accomplished in two ways:
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Manually create the various import and/or deployment elements by selecting the ARCAD-specific options in every element.
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Automatically create the various import and deployment elements via one streamlined process. The automated creation of the DROPS elements associated with your ARCAD application deployment process will save you time by bypassing the requirement to create and link the individual elements manually.
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Define the connection information to the source development server and to the target server(s) to which to deploy.
Configuring ARCAD connections -
Generate the ARCAD-type elements to deploy via DROPS.
Generating ARCAD elements
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You can also manage the target ARCAD layout remotely from DROPS.
To update the content of any menu list, right-click then select 
Refresh.
Once the required elements are created, no matter how they are created, ARCAD artifacts can be imported into DROPS and deployed using the standard processes.
About importing artifacts
About deploying releases
If you choose to create all of the elements manually, refer to the following sections to see where ARCAD information needs to be defined throughout the process:
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When defining an import strategy to use to import ARCAD applications, select the ARCAD strategy type.
Import strategy type configuration -
When defining an infrastructure item to which to deploy, select ARCAD Server for the type, which requires specific extended configuration.
Infrastructure item type extended configuration
How ARCAD applications are mapped and deployed in DROPS
ARCAD applications vs DROPS applications
Because the concept of an application exists in both ARCAD and DROPS, it's important to understand the difference and describe how they are mapped.
- In ARCAD, an application is a set of libraries, referred as application operational libraries. It is the versioned, hierarchical structure of the libraries (layout) and their contents (objects) that will be imported into DROPS as artifacts and deployed.
- In DROPS, an application is a container that regroups different technical sub-parts to which together make up a functional user-oriented application. For example, a DROPS application can be made up of a native IBM i part that provides back-office features, and by a Web server that provides the front-end. The union of these two parts is called an application in DROPS.
Because of this difference, it is not (always) possible to create a 1-to-1 relationship between an ARCAD application and a DROPS application. An ARCAD application is only a sub-part of a DROPS application.
When imported, an ARCAD application (version) is mapped to a DROPS component, which is the technical sub-part of a DROPS application.
ARCAD runtime vs DROPS infrastructure items
The technical location in which ARCAD applications are stored, and how they are arranged, must be mapped to DROPS infrastructure items.
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On IBM i, the layout of ARCAD applications is critical. The position of the objects must remain intact when deployed. This layout is managed by the ARCAD Runtime.
When an ARCAD version is ready to be deployed using DROPS, a SAVF is generated that contains the objects to be deployed and some additional information in ARCAD lists. These lists identify which objects have been updated, added or deleted. They also contain information about the target location (the libraries) to where these artifacts are to be transferred to maintain the integrity of the hierarchical structure of the libraries (layout).
- In DROPS, the logical targets are called infrastructure items. An infrastructure item is the top-level technical location where the artifacts in a component will be deployed. This is the entity that must receive the layout information from the SAVF to reproduce the hierarchy system on the target so that the ARCAD application remains intact.
To deploy an ARCAD application that requires a specific layout, a DROPS infrastructure item must point to an ARCAD remote application.
Because an ARCAD application can be deployed to multiple infrastructure items, on multiple IBM i machines, the template ARCAD structure to respect is centralized so that it can be reproduced on multiple target systems.
Tips for working with multiple ARCAD instances
No ARCAD libraries can be in system LIBL, check QSYSLIBL.
Ensure that all subsystems involved, typically ARCAD and DROPS, do NOT have any ARCAD libraries in the LIBL. Check the subsystem description using DSPSBSD ARCAD_SYS/ARCAD (option 1).
You need multiple macro libraries if you are using the DROPS4ARC library, since the ARCAD library is embedded in the macro. To switch the library, go into the specific instance of ARCAD and use AWRKMACCMD MACRO(DROPS4ARC/*ALL) on the appropriate library name and select option 14 on all macros, then hit enter.
If you’re using the newer A4DEPLOY and A4EXPORT macros that are in ARCAD itself you do not have to worry about the macros.
