Contents

After you have installed and configured Deployment Automation, log in to the user interface.

The Deployment Automation user interface enables you to create and configure the Deployment Automation elements and initiate the deployment of your component versions. You can see and access only the elements for which you are authorized. Some common elements of the user interface are indicated in the following figure.

1. Click the slide-out menu icon to open the navigation menu, then expand and select the context you want to work in. Depending on your role and privileges, you'll see some or all of the following selections:
   • Most Recent: Records the pages you have recently visited so that you can quickly navigate between elements you are configuring
   • Management: Where you create and configure the primary elements of Deployment Automation, design your processes, and initiate deployments
   • Administration: Where you configure selections that will be available to users when they work with Deployment Automation
   • Deployment: Where you view information about deployments

   When the navigation menu is expanded, click the pin icon at the top right of the menu to pin it so that it stays open. Click the pin again to make the menu automatically collapse.

2. The global menu is shown at the top of the page. Options here include the following:
   • Approval Requests: View a list of requests awaiting approval
   • Processes: View processes executed within a given range of time
   • User Profile menu: Select from options to configure preferences such as locale, get help, visit the user community, view information about the product version, and sign out

   In the global menu you may also see a messages indicator . Click this to see important messages, such as upgrade suggestions for your server and agent versions.

3. Select from the Action menu for actions specific to the current context, such as Management, Administration, or Deployment pages or a selected element's page. For example, for the Management page, available actions enable you to create and import any Deployment Automation element.
4. Select from the navigation menu to view and manage information. This example shows Components selected.
5. To filter the information shown in the content area, click the filter buttons to select or toggle filter criteria. The filter Search box searches various columns and further filters the list by showing only items that match the search string. In this example, the list is filtered by components that belong to the current user, and inactive components are not being shown.
6. Select from actions to create or import an instance of the selected element. For example, in the Component page, click the Component Actions button () and then select Create Component to create a component.
7. This section is the content area of the page. In this example, the list of components is shown. Click the up or down arrow beside a column name to sort ascending or descending by that column.
8. Click any links in the content area to see more information. For example, for components, click the number under Used in Apps to see the names of the applications the component is associated with.
9. Select from actions available for listed items. For example, in the component list, click the delete icon ( ), to delete a component.

Before you get started with Deployment Automation, here are some terms you should know.

• Application

  Applications bring together components with their deployment targets and orchestrate multi-component deployments.

• Component

  Components typically map to a functional part of a real world application, and represent deployable items, or artifacts, such as files, images, databases, and configuration materials.

• Plugins

  Plugins provide functionality in discrete steps to be used in component and global processes for configuration of or deployment into target environments.

• Environment

  Environments represent logical deployment locations. Your deployment processes must run in at least one environment. Environments and their resources are used by applications and components at runtime.

• Pipeline

  A pipeline is a pre-defined sequence of environments in which application process requests are executed.

• Agent

  Agents are physical resources for deployment. To run a deployment, an agent must be installed on the target server.

• Agent Relay

  Agent relays are used to manage communication between servers and agents. Agent relays are typically used when agents are dispersed across geographic locations or must communicate through firewalls. Agent relays can also be used to manage network traffic in implementations where you have many agents.

Although there is no set order, a typical sequence for configuring Deployment Automation elements and deploying artifacts is as follows:

1. Create components and set your source configuration type and version import approach. The source configuration type points to where the artifacts for a component are stored. You can import the artifacts into Deployment Automation CodeStation automatically or manually.

2. Create and design component processes, defining the processes you want performed on target machines before, during, and after deployment of the component artifacts.

3. Create and configure environments, assigning resources, such as agents, to environments.

4. Create and configure pipelines, sequencing environments and adding approvals.

5. Create an application, selecting the pipeline it will use.

6. Add components to the application.

7. Add environments to the application that are not included in the pipeline and map components to the environment resources they will use.

8. Create and design an application process to control the deployment. An application process typically initiates multiple component processes.

9. Request the application process to deploy the components.