Deployment plan instances

Required Roles Environment Release Manager and/or Release Operator
Required Rights
(by category)		 Deployment Plan Execution Instance
Perspective  Operational Console Management
Access  DROPS Server →  Deployment Plans →  Deployment Plan Instances

Deployment plans enable you to deploy one or more applications to multiple environments.

Deployment plan instances are created automatically when a deployment plan is executed. Instances can also be created from the Deployment Plan Instances search view and either executed manually, or scheduled to execute them at a later date or regularly.

Multiple deployment plan instances can be scheduled to match your team's needs. To manage when the first the stages and actions included in the deployment plan diagram are executed, schedule when a deployment plan instance should be carried out. Scheduling deployment plans is useful if you need to continuously deliver content that is regularly updated or if you know in advance when the next batch of content to deliver will be ready.

A dedicated job runs on the DROPS Server that regularly scans for scheduled deployment plan instances, then triggers them according to the schedule(s).

The Deployment Search View

The  Deployment Plan Instances search view is accessed from the  Deployment Plans node in the  Console Explorer.

Follow the subsequent steps to create new deployment plan instances.

Step 1   To access the Create a new deployment plan instance wizard, either click the  create icon in the  Deployment Plan Instances search view or right-click anywhere in the view and select  Create a new deployment plan instance.

Step 2   Define the main properties by clicking the  browse button for each of the following entities.

Important!

Select the following properties carefully. They cannot be changed once the instance is created.

  1. If multiple clients are available, select the Client to which to deploy the release(s). Changing the client will alter the options available throughout the wizard. Only the entities available for the selected client will be accessible.
  2. Enter a name for the specific plan execution instance.
  3. Select the Deployment Plan to use. The list is prepopulated with the plans available for the selected client.
  4. Select a remote execution node from the Node drop-down list.

Click Next > to continue.

Step 3   Select the release to deploy for each application in the plan.

Select each application listed and click the  Edit button to select the release. The list is prepopulated with all of the releases available for the application.

Click Next > to continue.

Step 4   To Generate transfer-only and installation-only instances, leave the corresponding checkbox ticked [default]. If the check box is not selected,  full-transfer instances are created.

 Transfer- and  installation-only instances will be executed in order. First, all of the transfers for all of the diagrams in the plan will be executed. If they are all successful, then all of the installation instances will be executed, in order. Full-transfer instances for plans will also be carried out in order, but each process will fully transfer before moving on to the next process in the plan.

Reference

For more information about how deployment process instances are deployed, refer to Defining an instance's deployment mode

Click Finish.

Result   New deployment plan instances are displayed in the  Deployment Plan instances search view.

If the plan instance was scheduled to execute immediately, clicking Finish executes the deployment.

Deployment plan instances are, by default, scheduled to be executed automatically. Instances can also be executed manually or scheduled to be executed at a specific time and date in the future. Manually executing an instance will override the schedule.

To execute a plan instance manually, either select it in the  Deployment Plan instances search view and click the  Execute icon or right-click on it and select Execute.

Double-click on a plan to see the plan progress diagram. This diagram displays the plan in a different manner and enables you to follow the progress of each stage and each deployment process instance created by the plan.

Follow the progress of a deployment plan

Right-click on a deployment instance to manage it individually. You can unlock a dependent instance from its parent to launch it without waiting for the parent, resume instances that have been paused, suspended or validated, roll instances back and display the deployment results.

Reference

For more information about these actions, refer toRe-executing failed deploymentsRolling back a deployed deployment process instance, andUnderstanding deployment process instance results.

The  Deployment Plan instances search view provides some details of processed deployment plan instances. Access more information by either double-clicking on an instance in the list, selecting it then clicking the results icon in the view or right-clicking then selecting  Show deployment plan results.

The Deployment Plan Instance Results view contains three tabs that each contain different elements of the deployment.

The Overview tab displays the uneditable general information about the instance. The End Date and Executed by fields are blank until the instance is executed.

From the  Deployment Plan Instances search view, the Execution Status and Execution Result columns display the current status of instances and change while the instance is being processed.

Deployment plan instance statuses & results
 Prepared Prepared instances are ready to be executed.
 Completed Completed instances have already been executed.
 In Progress The progress bar is displayed while the instance is executing.
 Suspended Suspended deployment process instances are highlighted in red to bring attention to the fact that an action is required before the instance can continue to deploy. Deployment process instances are suspended when either a  validation request is required.
 Canceled If an instance is canceled.
 Succeeded If an instance executed all of its actions successfully.
 Failed If any step in deployment process failed to successfully execute.

All of the stages included in the deployment plan process, along with their current Execution Status and Result, are displayed in the Deployment Instance tab.

The deployment plan result view - steps

All of the activity from the deployment is displayed in the Logs tab. Every action carried out during a deployment is logged.

Filter results by Code or Text. Enter any combination of search criteria then click the Search button to display the results. To display the complete log, click Search without entering any criteria.

Filter the severity of the results displayed by selecting one or more of the Severity icons

  •  Fatal: only fatal errors are displayed.
  •  Warning: only Warnings errors are displayed.
  •  Info: only Important information is displayed.
  •  Verbose: only details are displayed.

If, for any reason, a deployment failed this option allows you to resume where it left off after fixing the issue(s) that caused the failure. All of the actions performed correctly before the failure was encountered are still valid and will not be affected by re-executing the deployment. Any transfers already made will not be made again since the process only restarts from the first action after the failure. A process can fail, be corrected and resumed as many time as needed to correct all the issues it may encounter. A log is created each time a deployment is resumed.

Follow the subsequent steps to re-execute a failed deployment.

Step 1   Select the failed instance to re-execute in the  Deployment Plan Instances search view then either click the  Re-execute icon or right-click, then select  Re-execute.

Step 2   Click OK in the dialog to confirm that the instance should be re-executed.

Result   All of the stages and actions in the deployment plan not yet executed by the instance are launched.

Follow the subsequent steps to create and execute a  rollback instance immediately from the  Deployment Plan Instances search view.

Step 1   Select the instance to roll back in the  Deployment Plan Instances search view then either click the  rollback icon or right-click, then select  Rollback.

Step 2   Click OK in the dialog to confirm that the instance should be rolled back.

Step 3   Click No in the dialog to schedule the rollback for another time.

Result   All of the stages and actions in the deployment plan executed by the instance are recalled in reverse order and the new  rollback instance is available in the  Deployment Process Instances search view.

Warning!

Canceled deployment plan instances cannot be restarted.

To be able to cancel a deployment plan instance, you must have the Release Manager or Release Operator role attributed on each environment of the deployment plan.

Deployment plans can only be canceled if its status is:

  • In progress
  • Waiting for validation
  • Suspended (the infrastructure item is not reachable)

To cancel a deployment plan instance, search for it in the  Deployment Plan instances search view. Either right-click on it, then select  Cancel or select it, then click the  cancel icon. Click OK to confirm or click Cancel to keep the instance.

Warning!

Deleted deployment plan instances cannot be accessed or recovered. Deleting a deployment plan instance removes all the related items (plan data, validation requests, etc.).

A deployment plan instance can only be deleted if its status is:

  • Prepared
  • Completed
  • Canceled

To delete an deployment plan instance, search for it in the  Deployment Plan Instances search view. Either right-click on it, then select  Delete or select it, then click the  delete icon. Click OK to confirm or click Cancel to keep the instance.