Editing deployment process properties

There are three levels of properties to define for a deployment process:

  • The global-level, where properties that affect the whole deployment process are defined.
  • The activity-level, where properties that affect only the Initialization and infrastructure item activities are defined.
  • The action-level, where properties that affect each individual deployment action are defined.

Selecting the element for which to edit the properties in the deployment process diagram opens the context-sensitive  Properties view.

Note

Click the pin icon in this view to remove the context-sensitive property. Clicking this icon ensures that the current entity's properties will stay in the view, even if you navigate away from that entity in the editor. If the pin in not activated, the options in the Properties view will change depending on what entity is currently selected in the editor.

To edit deployment process details, either right-click on the process in the  Process List view then select  Edit Details or select it, then click the  Edit Details icon. The  Process editor is opened.

The Deployment Process details editor

Process Code
A unique string that identifies the deployment process. This label is used throughout DROPS to select the entity.
Process Name
A label used to give additional information about the deployment process. This label is used throughout DROPS to select the entity.
Related Entities

The process' Application and Environment fields are not editable. These values cannot be changed for an established deployment process. Create a new process to change the application deployed to the current Environment. To change the Environment that the current application is deployed to, duplicate the existing process.

Process Version
The current version of the deployment process.
Process Status

The current status of the deployment process. Status are defined in the Preferences menu. If a deployment process is marked as Production Status, it means that the process has been validated and cannot be modified.

Reference

For more information about changing a process' status, refer to Changing a deployment process' status.

Save the changes (, Ctrl+S or File > Save).

Warning!

If there are errors in the process diagram, DROPS cannot save it.

A dialog opens to warn you that there are invalid items in process diagram and the Invalid Items view displays the problem. If you close the process without fixing the issues listed and successfully saving, any changes will be lost!

To check if a diagram is valid at any time, right-click on any of the elements and select Check Process.

Reference

Refer to the Troubleshooting guide for more details on the different reasons a diagram cannot be saved.

To edit the global deployment process properties either right-click on the process in the  Process List view then select  Edit, select it then click the  edit icon or double-click it.

If the  Properties view is already opened, navigating to the deployment process diagram will open the global properties in that view.

The Deployment Process properties editor

The tabs on the left enable you to modify the process' different global properties.

Process Code
A unique string that identifies deployment process instance. This label is used throughout DROPS to select the entity.
Process Name
A label used to give additional information about the deployment process.This label is used throughout DROPS to select the entity.
Application & Environment
The process' Application and Environment fields are not editable. These values cannot be changed for an established deployment process. Create a new process to change the application deployed to the current Environment. To change the Environment that the current application is deployed to, duplicate the existing process.

Refer to Properties and Server properties.

Select the Package Type for the associated application.

If this field is set to From Application, the packaging type defined in the application will be used.

[default] Unitary packaging deploys only the release selected.

Cumulative packaging deploys the selected release and all of the preceding releases that have been imported into DROPS but have not yet been deployed to the target environment. A ‘cumulative packaging type’ deploys only the most recent artifacts in each release. This ensures that all of the most up-to-date artifacts are deployed and that the deployed application is accurately updated.

Example

You have imported 4 versions of your release but only deployed the first version to the target environment. The 4th release contains the same version of all the artifacts that the 3rd release contains, except for one file. Now, you select the 4th release to deploy and choose a ‘cumulative packaging type’. Result: The 2nd, 3rd and 4th releases will all be deployed in order, finishing with the most current version of every artifact and release. The artifacts from the 3rd release are all current except the one, which is deployed with the 4th release.

If the Execute Rollback on error checkbox is ticked, when the process encounters an error, it will automatically roll back everything it accomplished up until the moment the error occurred.

The process executes all of the rollback actions for every activity in the deployment process diagram in reverse order.

If this checkbox is not ticked, the process will complete even if it encounters errors. Likely, its final status will be Failed. Rollback can then be carried out manually.

If deployment instances are created using environment groups, they can be automatically broken into transfer-only and installation-only pairs. Installation-only instances can be automatically scheduled to execute a certain amount of time after the transfer-only portion is complete. This property defines when automatically-scheduled installation-only deployment process instances are executed.

Delay Value

The delay, in number of days, between the end of a transfer-only execution and when its child installation-only instance will be scheduled to begin automatically.

If this property is set to -1, DROPS will automatically retrieve the default value defined in the Server Configuration.

By default the delay is one (1) day.

Reference

For more information about defining the default, refer to Deployment instance settings.

Execute at a fixed time
If ticked, the scheduled time of day is defined by the user. If this option is activated the two options below are available and must be defined. If this option is left inactive, the automatic execution will begin right after the parent instance is finished.
Hour
The hour at which the execution will take place on the day defined by the date the parent instance execution was completed + the delay value.
Minute
The minute of the hour defined at which the execution will take place on the day defined by the date the parent instance execution was completed + the delay value.

Enable default scheduling for a deployment process, to define a Default scheduling which automatically schedules a deployment instance relatively to its creation date (for single deployment instance) or the stage validation date (for deployments that are part of a pipeline). The default schedule can be forced so that it cannot be modified later with the execution console.

Note

The default scheduling is different from the Auto-scheduling, which only schedules an installation instance relatively to a transfer deployment instance.

Default scheduling
The date at which the execution will take place. It can be today, next-D, next-X-D with X a number and D one of the following: monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, day, week, month.
Hour
The hour at which the execution will take place on the day defined by the date defined in the Default scheduling field.
Minute
The minute of the hour defined at which the execution will take place on the date defined in the Default scheduling field.
Skip non-working days
When using next-X-D, you can check the Skip non-working days box so that Saturday and Sunday are not counted as days. So if today is Friday, next-3-day is next Wednesday. It is not used for other scheduling types.

Enforce scheduling

Enforce the schedule rule by checking the Enforce scheduling box. In that case, it will not be possible to modify this scheduling with the execution console.

Validation Required Before Starting

To require validation from a specific user before being able to execute this part of the deployment, tick the checkbox. During deployment, the element is executed as soon as the validator approves the request.

Validation requests display in the Validation Requests node (under the relavent parent node in the Operational Console Management perspective) for the user(s) assigned the role(s) selected. They also receive an automatic email.

Reference

For more information about approving requests, refer to Validation requests.

For more information about editing the default content of automatic emails and defining the mail configuration, refer to Defining deployment process instance parameters and Mail sender settings.

Validation Request Message & Comment
The subject line and body of the email to send to the validator. If defined here, the default content of the email, defined in the Preferences menu, is overridden.
Validation comment is required
Tick this checkbox if the user is required to provide a reason why they validate or reject the process.
Validation Roles
Select the role of the user(s) that should receive the validation request. The list of roles is prepopulated with all the Roles that can validate the entity.

Click the  Create button to create a new notification linked to the deployment process.

Notifications messages are not like validation/suspension/interruption messages in that they are intended to be only informative. They do not require action from the user and simply let them know that certain steps have been carried out in the process. Notifications are sent to the email address configured for each user who is assigned the role(s) selected.

When & Subject

On Start sends the notification email to the user(s) at execution.

On End sends the notification email to the user(s) after execution.

Enter the subject line for the email in the Subject field.

Message
The body of the email sent to the user(s).
Custom recipients
Enter a CSV list of email addresses, without spaces, and those addresses will be notified when the process is executed.
Recipient Roles
Select the role of the user(s) that should receive the notification. The list of Roles is prepopulated with the roles that are allowed to validate.
Warning!

If there are errors in the process diagram, DROPS cannot save it.

A dialog opens to warn you that there are invalid items in process diagram and the Invalid Items view displays the problem. If you close the process without fixing the issues listed and successfully saving, any changes will be lost!

To check if a diagram is valid at any time, right-click on any of the elements and select Check Process.

Reference

Refer to the Troubleshooting guide for more details on the different reasons a diagram cannot be saved.

Pre-defined deployment process properties templates can be applied to any deployment process diagram. These templates define the diagram’s global properties. Applying the properties defined in a template at the global level is not permanent. After global-level properties are applied using a deployment process properties template, you can edit the diagram’s properties to continue to personalize the options.

Global-level Properties Templates in the deployment process diagram

Follow the subsequent steps to apply the predefined global properties to a deployment process.

Step 1   Right-click anywhere in the editor and select Use Deployment Process Properties Template.

Step 2   Select the deployment process properties template from the Process Template Selector dialog. This list is prepopulated with all of the global process properties templates available on the current DROPS Server.

Step 3   Click OK.

Result   The properties defined in the template are applied to the current process but can be modified.

Save the changes (, Ctrl+S or File > Save).

To edit the activity-specific properties in the deployment process diagram, click on the  Initialization or  <infrastructure item> activity.

If the  Properties view is already opened, clicking on any activity will open its properties in that view.

The Deployment Activity properties editor

Click the  Initialization activity to open its Properties view. The tabs on the left enable you to modify the activity's properties.

Validation Required Before Starting

To require validation from a specific user before being able to execute this part of the deployment, tick the checkbox. During deployment, the element is executed as soon as the validator approves the request.

Validation requests display in the Validation Requests node (under the relavent parent node in the Operational Console Management perspective) for the user(s) assigned the role(s) selected. They also receive an automatic email.

Reference

For more information about approving requests, refer to Validation requests.

For more information about editing the default content of automatic emails and defining the mail configuration, refer to Defining deployment process instance parameters and Mail sender settings.

Validation Request Message & Comment
The subject line and body of the email to send to the validator. If defined here, the default content of the email, defined in the Preferences menu, is overridden.
Validation comment is required
Tick this checkbox if the user is required to provide a reason why they validate or reject the process.
Validation Roles
Select the role of the user(s) that should receive the validation request. The list of roles is prepopulated with all the Roles that can validate the entity.
Execute Import
If ticked, the import process(es) associated with the releases to deploy are launched. It is recommended to only re-import the release being deployed if you are sure of its contents. This option is helpful when working in a Continuous Integration system.
Fail on Error
If ticked, if the operation fails for any reason at this step, the import will fail and no further actions will be carried out.

 

Click an  infrastructure item activity to open its Properties view. The tabs on the left enable you to modify the activity's properties.

*Identifier
[Required] Enter a unique label for the activity. Only alphanumeric characters are allowed (no spaces).
Active
Tick this checkbox to ensure that inactive infrastructure item activities do not execute when the deployment process is launched.
Force Transfer
If the activity does not contain either a receiving or an installation stage, or both, the transfer stage will not be executed, meaning that the content will not be transferred from the DROPS Server to the target infrastructure item.
Tick this checkbox to force the content to transfer without defining receiving or installation stages. If ticked, content will transfer when the activity is executed.
Ticking this checkbox also ensures that content is transferred even if there are no deployment actions defined.
Zip artifacts before transfer
Tick this checkbox to automatically zip all of the artifacts before transferring them and them automatically unzip them after the transfer. This is helpful if you have a lot of small artifacts to transfer because the compression will save space and time.
No artifacts to transfer
In some cases, an activity may never need to transfer any artifacts. In other cases, if an activity fails to detect artifacts to transfer or fails to transfer them, it may cause problems. This option allows you to decide what status to give an activity should no artifacts be transferred by it.
The status can be defined for every activity in each process to manage the Execution Result in the deployment log. If it’s normal that one activity should not transfer any artifact, set the status to Succeeded. If this is abnormal, choose between Warning and Failed.
Validation Required Before Starting

To require validation from a specific user before being able to execute this part of the deployment, tick the checkbox. During deployment, the element is executed as soon as the validator approves the request.

Validation requests display in the Validation Requests node (under the relavent parent node in the Operational Console Management perspective) for the user(s) assigned the role(s) selected. They also receive an automatic email.

Reference

For more information about approving requests, refer to Validation requests.

For more information about editing the default content of automatic emails and defining the mail configuration, refer to Defining deployment process instance parameters and Mail sender settings.

Note

If an activity requires validation but has not been validated before the process is executed, it will not run. Approved activities in the process will run but any unapproved activities will not.

Validation Request Message & Comment
The subject line and body of the email to send to the validator. If defined here, the default content of the email, defined in the Preferences menu, is overridden.
Validation comment is required
Tick this checkbox if the user is required to provide a reason why they validate or reject the process.
Validation Roles
Select the role of the user(s) that should receive the validation request. The list of roles is prepopulated with all the Roles that can validate the entity.

Every activity is required to be linked to a *Component to deploy. Click the browse button to select the component to deploy to the corresponding infrastructure item. The Component Selection dialog is prepopulated with all of the components defined in the application associated with the current deployment process.

Only one component can be deployed to an infrastructure item per deployment process. To deploy multiple components to one Item, you must create multiple deployment processes.

Important!

Make sure to select the correct component! Once confirmed, you cannot change it.

To edit the properties for the component defined in an infrastructure item, right-click on its activity and select Edit > Component.

Click the  Create button to create a new notification linked to the activity.

Notifications messages are not like validation/suspension/interruption messages in that they are intended to be only informative. They do not require action from the user and simply let them know that certain steps have been carried out in the process. Notifications are sent to the email address configured for each user who is assigned the role(s) selected.

When & Subject

On Start sends the notification email to the user(s) at execution.

On End sends the notification email to the user(s) after execution.

Enter the subject line for the email in the Subject field.

Message
The body of the email sent to the user(s).
Custom recipients
Enter a CSV list of email addresses, without spaces, and those addresses will be notified when the process is executed.
Recipient Roles
Select the role of the user(s) that should receive the notification. The list of Roles is prepopulated with the roles that are allowed to validate.
Deployment Schema

Select the deployment schema to run on the artifacts deployed to the corresponding infrastructure item. Click the  browse button. The Deployment Schema dialog is prepopulated with all of the deployment schemas defined in the infrastructure item.

Only one schema can be used for an infrastructure item per deployment process.

Reference

For more information about adding schemas to infrastructure items, refer to Editing infrastructure items.

Use Replacement Rules

If ticked, the substitutions defined by the replacement rules are activated at the beginning of the transfer stage for all of the artifacts deployed to the current infrastructure item. This ensures that the replacement rules are taken into account locally before the artifacts reach their final destination.

Important!

This box must be ticked in order to run the replacement rules defined in DROPS.

Replacement rules are similar to a Search & Replace on configuration files linked to an application. Rules enable you to activate specific commented content in artifacts such as .properties files during deployment. This means that commented content can be selected and rendered active by automatically removing the comment tag. The now-active content will be taken into account during the deployment process.

Reference

For more information about replacement rules, refer to Replacement rules.

Warning!

If there are errors in the process diagram, DROPS cannot save it.

A dialog opens to warn you that there are invalid items in process diagram and the Invalid Items view displays the problem. If you close the process without fixing the issues listed and successfully saving, any changes will be lost!

To check if a diagram is valid at any time, right-click on any of the elements and select Check Process.

Reference

Refer to the Troubleshooting guide for more details on the different reasons a diagram cannot be saved.

To edit the action-specific properties in the deployment process diagram, click the blue Action box.

If the  Properties view is already opened, clicking on any Action will open its properties in that view.

The Deployment Action properties editor

*Identifier
[Required] Enter a unique label for the deployment action. Only alphanumeric characters are allowed (no spaces). This label is viewed in the deployment process diagram to easily see what the action accomplishes.
Comment
Enter additional information in this field to clarify the specific details of this Action.
Apply script to the list of artifacts

If ticked, this option ensures that the script will be applied to every artifact deployed.

If not ticked, the script will run just one time.

Example

An email script should likely not be applied to all of the artifacts, but 'copy to' scripts specific to a certain file type should be applied to every artifact to ensure that all the artifacts are filtered through the script.

Important!

If any of the action-level substitution variables are used, you must tick this checkbox in order to ensure that the variable is taken into account at the artifact-level. If the script is not applied to each individual artifact in the list, these variables will not be applied because they are specific to individual artifacts.

Reference

For more information about these variables, refer to Substitution variables.

File Name Pattern
Enter the pattern to follow to filter the artifacts. Artifacts that meet the pattern defined here will all be used for the current script.
Fails on Error
[Ticked by default] If ticked, if the operation fails for any reason at this step, the deployment will fail and no further actions will be carried out.
Script

The name and version number of the action's current script. The associated script is selected when the action is created but it can also be changed here.

Click the  browse button to select a new script to associate with the action.

Filter the search in the Script Selection dialog using the Name, Script Category and/or Execution Platform options. To display all of the scripts available on the current server, click Search without defining any search criteria.

Select the script, then select the version of that script to use. Click OK to apply the selected script to the deployment action.

Warning!

Replacing a script in an action deletes any parameters that may have been defined in the original script. All changes are lost.

Reference

For more information about all the built-in scripts DROPS Software offers, refer to the Script Inventory.

Parameters

If required, modify the parameters for the selected script in the Value column. The parameters in this list are prepopulated with all of the parameters defined in the  Script editor.

Variables can be used as parameter values.

Press Ctrl+Space to view a full list of the variables available for the current field. The list of available variables is prepopulated with the available properties defined in the entities or at server level, and the ready-to-use context-specific variables available by default.

Reference

For more information about variables, refer to Substitution variables.

If a parameter is not given a value, it will not be referenced when the script is run during the deployment process.

Warning!

If there are errors in the process diagram, DROPS cannot save it.

A dialog opens to warn you that there are invalid items in process diagram and the Invalid Items view displays the problem. If you close the process without fixing the issues listed and successfully saving, any changes will be lost!

To check if a diagram is valid at any time, right-click on any of the elements and select Check Process.

Reference

Refer to the Troubleshooting guide for more details on the different reasons a diagram cannot be saved.