Creating and provisioning environments

Before you can run a deployment, you must define at least one environment that associates components with an agent on the target host. This initial environment is typically uncontrolled and often used to create snapshots.

Before you begin

About this task

There are three basic ways to create an environment:

Procedure

  1. Open the Create New Environment window by clicking Applications > [select application] > Environments > Add New Environment and then enter the following information:
    The Create New Environment window, showing fields for the name, description, blueprint, teams, and other properties
    • Name and Description. The name is used as part of the deployment process and typically corresponds to the target environment. For example, if you are deploying to an integration environment, "SIT" might appropriate.
    • In the Teams section, specify the teams and roles that have access to the environment.
    • If you are provisioning an environment on a cloud system, in the Blueprint list, select the blueprint. You can select a blueprint on the IBM UrbanCode Deploy or on a IBM UrbanCode Deploy with Patterns server if you are connected.
    • If you selected a blueprint on the IBM UrbanCode Deploy server, specify the resource to contain the new environment in the Base Resource field. This base resource is a container for the resources in the environment. The base resource is used only for organizational purposes. This field does not appear for blueprints in IBM UrbanCode Deploy with Patterns.
    • To ensure that components cannot be deployed to the environment without first being approved, select the Require Approvals check box. If this check box is selected, IBM UrbanCode Deploy enforces an approval process before the component can be deployed to the environment. Initial deployments are typically done in uncontrolled environments. After the deployment is successful, you can configure an approvals process as the application moves along the development pipeline. If you are setting up more than one environment, consider creating an approvals process for at least one of them.
    • In the Exempt Processes list, specify processes that do not require approvals.
    • If the Lock Snapshots check box is selected, snapshots added to this environment are locked (for the selected environment) to prevent changes.
    • The Color picker enables you to apply a visual identifier to the environment. The selected color appears in the UI.
    • The Inherit Cleanup Settings check box determines how many component versions are kept in CodeStation, and how long they are kept. If checked, the application uses the values that are specified on the System Settings pane. If cleared, the Days to Keep Versions (initially set to -1, keep indefinitely) and Number of Versions to Keep (initially set to -1, keep all) fields are displayed, which enable you to define custom values. The default value is checked.
  2. If you are not creating the environment from a cloud system, click Save.
  3. If you are creating an environment from a blueprint on IBM UrbanCode Deploy with Patterns, click Next and specify the information about the blueprint:
    1. In the Blueprint field, make sure that your blueprint is listed.
    2. In the Blueprint Version field, select the version of the blueprint to use. The default version for blueprints is 1.0.
    3. Optional: In the Configuration list, select the configuration file to use.
    4. If you selected a configuration file, in the Configuration Version list, select the version of the configuration file. The default version is 1.0.

      The Create New Environment window shows the properties in the blueprint and configuration file, along with the default values for those properties. You can accept the defaults or customize the values, as shown in the following figure.

      Specifying the properties for the blueprint in the Create New Environment window

    5. To provision the environment, click Create.
  4. If you are creating an environment that is based on a blueprint on the IBM UrbanCode Deploy server, click Save. In this case, the Environment Blueprint Properties window opens, as shown in the following figure. From this window, you can customize the properties for each virtual node, such as the starting user names and passwords.
    The Environment Blueprint Properties window, showing the name of the new environment and links to customize the properties for each node
    1. In the Cloud Connection field, make sure that the connection to your cloud system is listed. This list shows connections that you have access to, based on the security settings for those connections.
    2. In the Choose Location field, specify where to store the virtual nodes and how to allocate IP addresses to those nodes. Select Cloud Group to store the virtual nodes on one of the hypervisors in a cloud group. Select Environment Profile to provision the virtual nodes according to an environment profile. For more information on cloud groups and environment profiles, see the documentation for your cloud system.
      Note: If you need to specify both the environment profile and the IP group, first specify the environment profile on this page. Then, on the properties page for each node, specify the IP group for each node.
      Note: For IBM PureApplication® System, you must use an environment profile; cloud groups are not supported.
    3. If you selected Cloud Group, select a cloud group in the Cloud Group field.
    4. If you selected Environment Profile, select an environment profile in the Environment Profile field.
    5. Under Set property values for nodes to be created for this environment, you can customize the properties for the cloud resources. To customize these properties, click the node. A window opens that shows the properties for the node, including virtual image properties such as memory, number of CPUs, and starting passwords. The window also shows the properties for each script package on the node.
      Note: In some cases, you must specify certain required properties. In this case, when you click Save, a popup window lists the required properties that are not specified.
    6. To provision the environment, click Save.

Results

The new environment appears in the Environments pane.

If you created the environment from a blueprint that is on that is on a IBM UrbanCode Deploy with Patterns server, the design server and engine provision the environment and the application environment appears on the IBM UrbanCode Deploy server.

If you created the environment from a blueprint that is on the IBM UrbanCode Deploy server, the server runs the following tasks:
  1. The server requests the resources from the cloud system
  2. The cloud system runs script packages on the cloud resources, including installing an agent on each node
  3. The server creates an environment that is based on the blueprint
  4. The server connects the agents to that environment
The server does not run any processes on the environment automatically. You can run processes as usual after the environment is ready. You can see the cloud resources by opening the console for your cloud system.
Note: If you create an environment from a blueprint that is on the IBM UrbanCode Deploy server and then change the component mappings in the blueprint, the environment changes to match the blueprint.

When you are ready to remove the environment and the virtual resources, select the environment and then click More > Delete, as shown in the following figure.

Deleting the environment
If the environment includes cloud resources, you can specify whether to delete those resources or to leave them in the cloud. Select or clear the Delete Cloud Instances check box, as shown in the following figure:
Specifying whether to delete the cloud resources

What to do next

If you did not use a blueprint, add resources and components to the environment. See Mapping resources and components to environments.

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