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iPlanet Process Manager 6.0 (SP2) Process Builder's Guide |
Chapter 10 Deploying an Application
This chapter describes how to deploy an application. Deployment is specified through the Deployment Dialog Box. After you deploy an application and test it, you'll typically need to change the application and redeploy it.This chapter describes the following topics:
Before You Deploy
Steps for Deploying an Application
The Deploy Application Dialog Box
Before You Deploy
Deploying an application makes it available to test and use. However, before you deploy an application, make sure the following tasks have been performed:
Set up and Configure Process Manager
Set up and Configure Process Manager
Before you can deploy an application, you must have all the pieces of Process Manager installed and configured, including the corporate user directory, the database, and Process Administrator. In addition, you must have a cluster set up to deploy it to. For more information on creating a cluster, see the Administrator's Guide.You must also have your cluster information included in your preferences.ini file. For more information, see The preferences.ini File.
Deploy Subprocesses First
If you are using subprocesses, the child process must be deployed before you use it in a parent process. In this way, all expected components are in place when you deploy the parent process.
Save the Process Map, If Desired
When an administrator is viewing the Work Items List produced by the Work Items Statistics page, it's convenient for the administrator to have an image of the process map. If you want to provide this image, you must save the process map as an image file before you deploy the application. To save the process map, choose "Save Process Map Image" from the Applications menu.
Fix Application Errors
Once you have built an application and filled in the necessary configuration information, you can begin deploying the application. During the deployment process, your application syntax is checked. If errors are generated, you must correct them before you can deploy the application. If only warnings are generated (and no errors are generated), you are allowed to deploy the application. However, doing so might lead to problems using the application.
Steps for Deploying an Application
To deploy an application, perform the following steps:
Click Deploy, or open the Application menu and choose Deploy.
From the drop-down menu, select the cluster to which you want to deploy the application.
- If errors are reported, you must fix them first. If no errors are reported, the Deploy Application dialog box appears. For details about this dialog box, see The Deploy Application Dialog Box.
Enter your Process Manager administration username and password.
- If this is the first time you are deploying an application, the Authorization Required dialog box appears, prompting you to enter a Process Express username and password.
- As an alternative, you can enter the username and password of someone with deployment privileges. By default, any administrator can deploy an application. A sample entry is shown in Figure 10-1:
Figure 10-1    The Authorization Required dialog box ![]()
Click OK to close the Authorization Required dialog box.
In the Deploy Application dialog box, the database user and database password fields are filled in automatically. Change them if necessary.
Select a stage for deployment. If you are still designing the application, you typically want to deploy it to Development. If the application is ready for people to use, deploy it to Production.
Choose whether the application is in testing mode or not.
Click OK.
- If testing mode is set to true, all work items in the application are assigned to the creator of the process instance. If set to false, the work items are assigned to the groups and user roles defined in the application.
- If deployment succeeds, an Information dialog box appears. A sample is shown in Figure 10-2:
Figure 10-2    A successful deployment brings up the Information dialog box ![]()
From the Information dialog box, you have two main choices:
After you deploy the application, it is available for use.
Click OK to close the dialog box and resume working in Process Builder.
Click one of the highlighted links (Process Express Worklist, Application List, or the application name) to launch Process Express at a particular location.
- Solaris Only. In order for the links to work on Solaris, you must add the following line in your preferences.ini file:
browser = netscape_root/netscape -remote openURL{(0)}
- where netscape_root is the directory in which your Netscape browser is installed. Without the previous line, your browser will not open when you click the links in the Information dialog box.
The Deploy Application Dialog Box
Figure 10-3 shows the Deploy Application dialog box, where you enter deployment information.
Figure 10-3    The Deploy Application dialog box ![]()
Name. The name of the application that appears in the list of applications. You cannot edit this field.
Description. A longer description of the application. This description appears in Process Express. The user has to have enough information between the Display Name and the Description to identify the application they want from a list of applications, so it's important to make these two fields descriptive.
Display Name. The longer, more descriptive name displayed by Process Express. If you are updating an existing application by saving it with a new application name, you can still keep the same Display Name, so that the name users see can be the same from version to version of the application.
Database Table. The table in the database where the data for the application is stored. This table is created automatically when you deploy the application. The table name for each application must be unique. This field defaults to the application name. Because the table name can be no more than 15 characters long, if your application name is longer, it truncates the application name. This field is required.
Database User. The user name for accessing the database where the application's data is stored. This field is required. This user can be your cluster database user, or you can use a more restrictive application-specific database user. The default is the cluster database user. If you use a a more restrictive application-specific database user, then the cluster database user must have previleges to create tables in the table space of the application-specific database user. Note: While this feature is more appropriate for Oracle database users, it may not be as useful for other database users. You must not change the user after the application is deployed. If you do, you may get errors when the application is run.
Database Password. The password used to access the database. This field should be left unmodified. It is filled with the cluster database user's password. Changing this field has no affect on the application runtime.
Deployment Stage. Indicates whether the application is in Development or in Production. The deployment stage governs what you can change in the application. In Development, you can change all application information. In Production, there are some application changes you are not allowed to make.
Testing Mode. This property designates whether the application is in testing mode or not. If set to true, the application is in testing mode. In testing mode all work items are assigned to the process initiator. You can deploy in testing mode in either the Development or Production stage. This field is required.
Revising a Deployed Application
The deployment stage affects the types of revisions you can make to an application. You can deploy an application either to Development or to Production:
Development
Production
- When you deploy with the deployment stage set to Development, you can test the deployed application. After testing, you can change anything about the application. For example, you can deploy an application, test it, and decide to add or delete data fields.
- Because the application is still in development, Process Manager assumes that you do not need to preserve data or open work items. As a result, if you make changes to the data dictionary by adding or deleting data fields, Process Manager replaces the whole application when you redeploy it. This causes all existing process instances to be deleted.
- However, if you do not make changes to the data dictionary, your existing process instances will still be there if you redeploy the application.
Summary of Allowed Revisions
This section lists the different aspects of an application that you can change. The summary lists are grouped as follows:
Changes to Activities and Transitions
Table 10-1 summarizes the revisions allowed to activities and transitions, depending on the application's deployment stage.
Table 10-1 Changes allowed to application's activities and transitions
Changes to Data Elements
Table 10-2 summarizes the revisions allowed to data elements, depending on the application's deployment stage.
Table 10-2 Changes allowed to application's data elements
Changes to Forms, Scripts, and Content Store
Table 10-3 summarizes the changes allowed to forms, scripts, and the content store in deployed applications. These changes are allowed in both the development stage and in the production stage.
Table 10-3 Changes allowed in both development and production stages
Deployed Applications Compared with Local Copies
In most cases, you want to edit the deployed version of an application, not the version stored locally. You'll want to do this because the deployed version is usually the most current. If you edit the local version and then deploy it, you will overwrite your current deployed version.
Note. If your local version has a unique application ID that differs from that of your deployed version, you will not be allowed to deploy the local version.
Using a Backup of a Local Application
When you open a deployed application, Process Builder saves a copy of the application locally, in the builder/Applications/application_name folder. But you may already have a version of the same application stored locally. In that case, opening the deployed version will launch a dialog box that asks whether you want to overwrite the local version with the deployed version.If you choose to overwrite the local version, Process Builder saves a copy of the local version in a file called application_name_backup.zip. In this way, you'll have a backup of your local version in case you need to revert to it. For example, the deployed version might be corrupted, or it might not contain recent changes that you made to the local version. To revert to the local backup version, unzip the file.
Saving a Local Application to Another Name
Sometimes you want to make changes to an application, but the changes are not allowed at the deployment stage. In that case, use Save As to rename the application, and then make the changes in the new application.To rename an application, perform the following steps:
Open the most recent version of the application (usually the one deployed to the cluster).
From the Application menu, choose Save As.
In the dialog box that appears, rename the application.
In the application tree view, double-click the application name to access the properties.
- Note that you can use the same name if you save the application to a different local folder, but the new application will have a different unique ID. You will not be able to overwrite the deployed version of the application with your updated version, even though the name is the same, because the unique ID is different.
Make any changes required to the application, and redeploy under its new name.
Redeploying an Application
After you have deployed an application, you can change it and redeploy it.
If the deployment stage is Development, redeploying deletes any open work items and data (if they are affected by the application revisions you made).
When you redeploy an application, the application's stage (shown in Process Administrator) is set to the stage of the deployed application, not the locally stored application. For example, if the application in the cluster had a stage of Open, and the local application had a stage of Testing, the redeployed application's stage is set to Open. For more information on application stages, see the Administrator's Guide.If the deployment stage is Production, your open work items and data are preserved.
Deploying Applications with the Command Line Deploy Tool
The Command Line Deploy Tool allows you to deploy one or more applications created in the Process Manager Builder. It is not a standalone substitute for Builder. The Command Line Deploy Tool delivers the deployment functionality of the Process Manager Builder Deploy function without having to use the Builder's UI.The Command Line Deploy Tool has three dependencies:
A deployment descriptor (.dd) file. Inside this text file, you determine the deployment settings required to deploy/test your application. If you choose not to create a deployment descriptor file, the Command Line Deploy Tool supplies the default values used in a typical deployment from within Builder.
A PMExtensionManager.properties file. This is the cluster boot file. It contains the address of the application's target cluster configurartion directory. When a cluster is configured, the PMExtensionManager.properties file is installed in the server directory where Process Manager is installed (e.g. \iPlanet\ipm6\bpm). By default, the Command Line Deploy Tool looks in the local directory. You are free to move the file to any location, but you must reference it at deploy time if you do so.
An exported Process Manager Builder application .zip file. By default, the Command Line Deploy Tool looks for the application .zip file in the local directory. You are free to export the file to any location, but you must reference it at deploy time if you do so.
Deploying an Application With the pmdeploy Command
Export a Builder application to a zip file.
Create a deployment descriptor (.dd) file for the application.
Invoke the pmdeploy command from the command line.
- If you choose not to create a deployment descriptor file, the Command Line Deploy Tool supplies the default values used in a typical deployment from within Builder.
A Typical Deployment Descriptor .dd File
You can also add EJB references to the deployment descriptor file. To learn more about adding EJB references to an application's deployment descriptor file, see Adding EJB References to an Application Using the Command Line Deploy Tool.
pmdeploy -U <username> -P <password> -apppath <path_to_app.zip> -deployfilepath <path_to_app.dd> -bootfilepath <path_to_PMExtensionManager.properties> <appname> The only required values in the pmdeploy command are the username, the password, and the appname.
Other optional values that can be used in the pmdeploy command to add functionality:
-apppath -deployfilepath -bootfilepath -h -help -verbose -testing true/false (If the application is in production, the option must be false)
-mode -description
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Last Updated March 13, 2001