Overview
|
In the Policy Studio, the Profile Management screen enables administrators
to compare different configuration Profiles and merge differences between them. On the
Profile Repository tab, when you select two Configuration Profiles,
two Configuration Profile Versions, or one Configuration Profile and one Version in the
tree or table, the Compare menu option is available. This option loads
the selected Configuration Profiles into the Profile Editor tab below,
and compares them in the Compare and Merge tab on the right.
|
Compare and Merge Example
|
The Compare and Merge tab is best illustrated with an example.
The following screen shot shows the Compare and Merge tab:
This simple example compares two configurations. The configuration at the top left of the
screen is the Merge from Configuration (Source). The configuration on the
right is the Merge into Configuration (Target). Any merged changes are
applied from the source configuration on the left into the target configuration on the
right. By default, all differences between both configurations are displayed in the tree
(Additions, Deletions, and Conflicts).
However, only Additions are selected by default for merging. You must
explicitly select Deletions and Conflicts in the tree
for merging.
|
Viewing Differences
|
In the following screen shot, the Monitoring Configuration node has a
Conflict (exists in both configurations but is not the same). If
you select that node in the Differences tree, the Differences
Details panel at the bottom of the screen shows the details for this configuration
entity, and highlights the changed fields.
Compare and Merge Differences
|
For example, the messageMonitoringEnabled field value differs
between both configurations. When you perform a Merge,
the value of this field in the Merge into Configuration (Target)
is updated to that in the Merge from Configuration (Source).
If a difference is marked as an Addition, this means that it exists
in the source configuration, but not in the target configuration. When you perform a
Merge, you add the entities into the target configuration. If a difference
is marked as a Deletion, this means that it exists in the target configuration,
but not in the source configuration. When you perform a Merge, you delete the
entities from the target configuration. In this example, the generated filter circuits for the
HelloWorldService would be deleted in a merge.
Some configuration entities contain references to other entities. In this case, an icon is
displayed for the field in the Difference Details panel. If you double-click
a row with an icon, you can drill down to view further Difference Details dialogs
for those entities.
|
Swapping the Source and Target
|
You can swap the source and target configurations by clicking the Swap
button. When this button is clicked, Additions become Deletions,
and Deletions become Additions in the Differences
tree.
To refresh the Differences tree, click the Compare
button. If modifications are made in the Profile Editor tab after the
Compare and Merge tab is opened, a refresh of the comparison is
required to show new differences.
|
Filtering Differences
|
To filter nodes from the Differences tree view based on their type,
right-click in the tree, and select from the following View Nodes
options:
Additions |
Exist in the source configuration being imported but not in the
destination configuration. Displayed as a green plus icon.
|
Deletions |
Exist in the destination configuration but not in the
source configuration being imported. Displayed as a red minus icon.
|
Conflicts |
Exist in both configurations but are not the same. Displayed as a yellow
warning icon.
|
External Connection Conflicts |
External Connections that exist in both configurations but are not the same.
Displayed as a yellow warning icon.
|
Identical |
Exist in both configurations and are exactly the same. Displayed as grayed out nodes.
|
By default, all differences are displayed, and identical nodes are not displayed.
|
Selecting Differences for Merging
|
You can merge all differences in the tree, or a subset of differences by right-clicking,
and selecting the Select Nodes for Merging options:
-
Additions
-
Deletions
-
Conflicts
-
External Connection Conflicts
By default, only Additions are automatically selected for merging. Alternatively,
you can manually select the check boxes on the tree nodes. When you click the Merge
button, only the tree items that are selected are merged into the configuration on the right. You
must also take care to merge any entities that are referred to.
The Difference Counts field shows the number of entities that are classed
as Additions, Deletions, and Conflicts.
If all differences are merged, these counts are reset to zero. If there are no differences
between both configurations, the tree is empty and the Difference Counts
is set to zero.
|
|