Deployment Definition - Precisely_EnterWorks - EnterWorks - 11.0

A detailed description of what deployment is in the context of an EnterWorks implementation.

A deployment is defined as a set of changes to be applied to an EnterWorks environment (referred to as the "Target Environment") that result in a change of behavior in that environment. Typically, a deployment originates from another EnterWorks environment (referred to as the "Source Environment") but may be generated separate from EnterWorks. The majority of the EnterWorks implementations include two or three environments: DEV, QA, and PROD (in two-environment configurations, the DEV and QA are combined into one environment in such cases, the environment will be simply referred to as DEV). The general practice is to develop and test changes in the DEV environment, generate a deployment package to deploy those changes to the QA environment and re-deploy the same (or revised) deployment package to the PROD environment, with the ultimate goal being the deployment to PROD goes smoothly and results in a functioning system with the desired changes.

For implementations with only two environments, there is no opportunity to test a deployment so there is greater risk that problems arise with the deployment procedure or with the resulting changes to the PROD environment. In such cases, greater care must be taken with the creation of the deployment and with comparing the source and target environments after the deployment to ensure all changes have been deployed.

Each deployment may be comprised of one or more of the following components:

• Copied files – these are files that are replaced in-whole in the target environment, such as JSP pages, template configuration files, and JAR files.
• File Updates – these are changes that are made to existing files, such as EnterWorks.properties and sharedConfig.properties.
• EnterWorks Migration – this is an EnterWorks Migration Out file generated from the Source Environment that typically only contains the changes that are to be moved to the Target Environment.
• EPX Migration – this is an EPX Migration Out file generated from the Source Environment that typically contains the modified workflows and their subflows that fully replace the same workflows and subflows in the Target Environment.
• EnterWorks Repository Exports – these are data files that are used to update records in configuration repositories in the target environment. Configuration repositories include DAMConfig, DAMVariants, Scheduled Imports, Scheduled Exports, Scheduled Promotions, and CN_Registry. Repository data is not included in EnterWorks Migrations so the configuration repository data must be exported from the Source Environment to be imported in the Target Environment. Sometimes this configuration data includes environment-specific settings (for example, URL for a DAMVariant or FTP server location for a Scheduled Export). These settings must be localized in the files prior to importing into the Target Environment.
• SQL Scripts – these are files containing SQL scripts that need to be applied to the EPIM database in the Target Environment. For example, staging tables for syndications, data queues for processing emails or change notification events, or stored procedures used in exports or workflows.
• Configuration Changes via the UI – sometimes there are changes that need to be made as part of a deployment that cannot be included in a migration file but only set manually through the UI in the Target Environment. An example would be if only a subset of the changes in the source environment are being deployed to the target environment.