Deployment Design Outputs

During the deployment design phase, you might prepare any of the following specifications and plans:

• Deployment architecture. A high-level architecture that depicts the mapping of a logical architecture to a physical environment. The physical environment includes the computing nodes in an intranet or Internet environment, processors, memory, storage devices, and other hardware and network devices.

• Implementation specifications. Detailed specifications used as a blueprint for building the deployment. These specifications provide specifics on the computer and network hardware to acquire and describe the network layout for the deployment. Implementation specifications also include specifications for directory services, including details on a directory information tree (DIT) and the groups and roles defined for directory access.

• Implementation plans. A group of plans that cover various aspects of implementing an enterprise software solution. Implementation plans include the following:

  • Migration plan. Describes the strategies and processes for migrating enterprise data and upgrading enterprise software. The migrated data must conform to the formats and standards of the newly installed enterprise applications. All enterprise software must be at correct release version levels to interoperate.

  • Installation plan. Derived from the deployment architecture, specifies hardware server names, installation directories, installation sequence, types of installation for each node, and the configuration information necessary to install and configure a distributed deployment.

  • User management plan. Includes migration strategies for data in existing directories and databases, directory design specifications that takes into account replication design specified in the deployment architecture, and procedures for provisioning directories with new content.

  • Test plan. Describes the procedures for testing the deployed software, including specific plans for developing prototype and pilot implementations, stress tests that determine the ability to handle projected loads, and functional tests that determine if planned functionality operates as expected.

  • Roll-out plan. Describes the procedures and schedule for moving the implementation from a planning and test environment to a production environment. Moving an implementation into production usually occurs in various phases. For example, the first phase might be deploying the software for a limited group of users and increasing the user base with each phase until the entire deployment is complete. Phased implementation can also include scheduled implementation of specific software packages until the entire deployment is complete.

  • Disaster recovery plan. Describes procedures on how to restore the system from unexpected system-wide failures. The recovery plan includes procedures for both large scale and small scale failures.

  • Operations plan (Run Book). A manual of operations that describes monitoring, maintenance, installation, and upgrade procedures.

  • Training plan. Contains processes and procedures for training operators, administrators, and end users on the newly installed enterprise software.