Deltanji Deploy



Deltanji Deploy is a stand-alone edition of Deltanji which is used for installing software on a machine which has no network connection to the Deltanji server. The install function is designed to be as automated as possible so that the risk of mistakes is minimized.

Deltanji Deploy is a single-concurrent-user version with limited functionality. There are no systems and no change requests.

Using Deltanji Deploy


Software is transferred from the Deltanji server to the Deltanji Deploy machine. The procedure has three steps:

  1. The main Deltanji server transfers the objects destined for the Deltanji Deploy machine to a local sequential file location.

    The transfer on the main Deltanji server creates a set of files with the same name but different extensions. This is collectively known as a fileset. One of the files has an extension of $ and is the control file. It contains all the information which Deltanji Deploy requires about the objects and the locations which they belong in. There is also one file for each type of component which is to be installed. The extensions for these correspond to the component type code.

  2. The user manually copies the files to a sequential file location on the Deltanji Deploy machine using any available transfer protocol. Alternatively, a shared filesystem is used so that the files written by Deltanji are immediately visible to Deltanji Deploy.

  3. Deltanji Deploy reads the sequential files and installs the objects from this sequential file location into the installation location.

Installation Mode


A Deltanji Deploy machine can be configured to install the objects in one of three different modes.

  1. An operator can use the interactive 'Install' option from the menu that is launched by running the following command in the namespace where code is to be installed: do ^%vcl
  2. A non-interactive command can be run at an appointed time. This could be run, for example, when a system restarts after a nightly shutdown for backup.
  3. A background install daemon can be set up to run constantly. This will periodically check the sequential file location and will install the objects non-interactively when filesets appear there.

Hot Backups and Rollback


The install function includes an option for a hot backup of the objects which are being replaced. This means that, when a new version of an object is installed, the displaced version will be transferred from the 'to location' into the designated backup location. If the new version turns out to have a problem, the old version of the object can be quickly reinstated from the hot backup location, using the 'Rollback' option. This is particularly useful for a live system.

Setup


To configure Deltanji Deploy's interactive installation and rollback options for a particular namespace, run the following command in that namespace:

do ^%vcsetup

Choose the menu option named 'Install'. In the page that appears, enter the location where the incoming files appear, the location corresponding to the current namespace, and optionally the location where hot backups are to be written. Before doing this you must have used the instructions here to define the necessary locations and routes.