A component process is a series of user-defined steps that operate on a component's artifacts. Each component has at least one process defined for it and can have several. A component process can be as simple as a single step or contain numerous steps and relationships. The switch step, for instance, enables you to create conditional processes. You might, say, take artifacts from a source like an AnthillPro project and map the ones that get deployed to an HTTP server into one component; those that get deployed to a J2EE container to another; and those that get deployed to a database to yet another. Or, to take another example, a single-component deployment might consist of two processes: the first moves component files to a server on Friday night (a lengthy operation), while the second deploys the files Saturday morning.
Component processes are created with uDeploy's process editor. The process editor is visual drag-and-drop editor that enables you to drag process steps onto the design space and configure them as you go. As additional steps are placed, you visually define their relationships with one another. Process steps are selected from a menu of standard steps that replace typical deployment scripts and manual processes. uDeploy provides steps for several utility processes, such as inventory management, and workflow control. Additional process steps are provided by plug-ins. Plug-ins provide integration with common deployment tools and application servers, such as WebSphere, Microsoft IIS, and many others. Out-of-the-box, uDeploy provides plug-ins for many common processes, such as downloading and uploading artifacts, and retrieving environment information. A component process can have steps from more than one plug-in.
A component process is defined for a specific component. A component can have more than one process defined for it, but each component requires at least one process.
For example, deploying a J2EE EAR file to WebSphere server typically consists of the following operations:
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transfer the EAR file to the target machine
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stop the WebSphere server instance
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invoke wsAdmin with deployment properties
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start the WebSphere instance
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verify that the deployment succeeded by accessing a specified URL
The WebSphere plug-in provides a configurable process step for each operation.
A frequently used component process can be saved as a template and applied later to new components.
Component processes are executed by uDeploy agents running on hosts. One instance of a component process is invoked for each resource mapped to a component in the target environment, see the section called “Resources”.
