This chapter describes how to create, manage, and deploy change sets in Oracle Communications Evolved Communications Application Server (OCECAS).
See ”About Control Flows” and ”About Change Management” in Evolved Communications Application Server Concepts for an overview of change sets and the change management process.
Change sets are collections of configuration and control flow changes. You create them using the Open Projects section of the Session Design Center home page. Change sets are also known as projects.
To activate a change set, you first deploy it to the Testing environment for testing and make any changes required. Once satisfied that it does what you intend, you then deploy the change set to the Staging and Production environments. The change set can not be modified after you deploy it to Staging or Production. If there are errors in a change set deployed in the Staging or Production environments, you can retract it, create a new corrected change set, and deploy the corrected change set in its place.
When you create a change set, you specify a baseline change set to which you are making the changes. The original baseline change set for OCECAS is the VoLTE, VoWiFi and eSRVCC change set, which consists of the VoLTE and VoWiFi application. As you continue to create change sets over time, you correspondingly increase the number of potential baseline change sets. The baseline change set is referred to as the parent and the new change set is the child.
This chapter assumes that you have an OCECAS Session Design Center GUI running.
To create a change set:
On the Home page of Session Design Center, click View All Projects.
Click New.
The New Change Set dialog box displays.
In the Name field, enter a unique name.
In the Description field, enter a short description.
To provide a base line for the change set, click the list for Baseline. Select a base line.
Click Create.
Session Design Center creates a change set ID for the new change set and displays it and the name of the change set at the top of the page.
To add a control flow to the change set, or to modify a control flow, see "Working with Control Flows".
To deploy the change set to the production pipeline, see "Deploying Change Sets."
To locate a change set, do one of the following:
If the change set is not yet deployed to a runtime environment, Session Design Center displays the change set below Open Projects.
If the change set is not among the recent entries:
Click View All Projects.
To search for a change set, enter its ID in the Search field, or start entering a string. As you type, the string filters the display to show only the change sets with a matching string in either the name or the description
You also filter the display using the Filter:All/Open/Deployed buttons.
Click the change set.
If a change set is in Open Projects, or deployed to the Testing environment, a pencil icon displayed to the right side of a change set indicating that the change can be edited. An eye icon indicates that the change set is deployed and is available only to view.
Click a change set row to view its details. The row expands to display any description of the change set, the date and time the change set was created, and the name of the baseline change set. Click Edit Details to change this information.
You can modify a change set if its deployment status is open or it is deployed to Testing, and it has not yet been deployed to staging or production. Some of the ways in which you can modify a change set are:
Modifying the baseline for a change set. See "Modifying the Baseline for a Change Set".
Modifying a control flow in the change set. See "Modifying a Control Flow".
Adding a control flow to the change set. See "Creating a Control Flow".
Removing a control flow from the change set. See "Reverting Changes in a Control Flow".
You can also modify a change set in other ways, such as adding media resources, media servers, and notification templates.
To modify the baseline for a change set:
On the Home page, click View All Projects.
Locate the change set. See "Locating and Viewing Details for a Change Set".
Click the arrow to the left of the change set name to expand the details.
Click Edit Details.
For the Baseline field, select a different entry.
Click Save.
To view the changes to a change set:
On the Home page, click View All Projects.
Locate the change set. See "Locating and Viewing Details for a Change Set".
Click on the icon in the last column of the row containing the change set.
Tip:
A view icon is displayed for a deployed change set and an edit icon for an open change set.The View Environment Configuration link in the Environments section of the landing page displays the runtime environments configured for your OCECAS installation.
For an overview of the OCECAS pipeline, see "About Change Management and the Production Pipeline" in Evolved Communications Application Server Concepts.
The production pipeline includes the runtime environments in this order:
Testing
Staging
Production
Change sets become active in an environment when they are deployed in the environment. Table 4-1 shows the possible actions you can take on change sets in a runtime environment.
Table 4-1 Actions Available in the Environments
| Action | Testing | Staging | Production |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Edit |
Available, if it has not been deployed. Retracted change sets are also not available for editing. |
Not Available |
Not Available |
|
Deploy |
Available. You can deploy a change set to the staging environment. |
Available. You can deploy a change set to the production environment. |
Not Available |
|
Retract |
Available. A change set can be retracted from the testing environment. |
Available. A change set can be retracted from the staging environment. |
Available. A change set can be retracted from the production environment. |
|
Redeploy |
Available. A retracted change set can be redeployed into the testing environment. |
Available. A retracted change set can be redeployed into the staging environment. |
Available A retracted change set can be redeployed into the production environment. |
|
Remove |
Available, if it has not been deployed. |
Not available |
Not available |
This section assumes that you have a Session Design Center GUI up and running with a change set created but not deployed. See "Creating a Change Set" for details.
Before you can deploy a change set, review it to ensure that the change set compiles correctly. The Changes panel for the change set should not display any error messages.
When you deploy a change set, you can choose to deploy it immediately or specify a later date and time. Once a change set is deployed to the staging or production environment the contents cannot be edited. See "Correcting Problems in Deployed Change Sets".
To deploy a change set to the Testing environment:
In the Home page, click on Environment Configurations.
The Environments page displays the Open Projects panel, the Testing, Staging and Production environment entries.
In the Open Projects panel, locate the change set.
Place your cursor on the change set. The arrow changes to a cross to indicate you have selected it.
Select and drag the change set to the Staging environment. Release the cursor.
The Deploying CS- dialog box opens.
Specify when to activate the change set. Select one of:
Activate immediately
Schedule for activation on
Enter the date as YYYY-MM-DD. use the up and down arrows to provide the hour and minute as HH:SS.
Click Confirm.
When the change set becomes active it is automatically checked for compile errors. It must be error-free before you deploy it to the Staging environment.
Before you deploy a change set to staging or production environments, test and confirm that it performs correctly. Once deployed to the staging or production environments you can not edit the change set, only retract it.
To deploy a change set into the next runtime environment in a pipeline:
In the Home page, click View Environment Configurations.
The Environments page displays the Open Projects panel, and the Testing, Staging and Production environments.
Select the change set to deploy.
Click on the arrow on the right side of the change set.
Do one of the following.
If you are in the testing environment, select Deploy to Staging.
If you are in the staging environment, select Deploy to Production.
The Deploying CS- dialog box opens.
Specify when to activate the change set. Select one of:
Activate immediately
Schedule for activation on
Enter the date as YYYY-MM-DD. use the up and down arrows to provide the hour and minute as HH:SS.
Click Confirm.
This section explains how to correct a changes set if it is not working as expected. You have these choices for correcting change sets:
For minor issues, create a new change set that fixes the problem, then retract the bad change set and deploy the new one. See "Correcting a Change Set Without Stopping Service".
If you want to disable the service immediately, retract the bad change set first, and then replace it with a corrected version. See "Correcting a Change Set by Removing the Service Immediately".
A parent change set must be deployed in the testing, staging or production environment in order for the child change set to de deployed in that environment.
You can fix minor change set problems in the background without deactivating that change set. This method applies to issues that are not causing major problems.
To fix a problem without disrupting service:
In Open Projects, create a new change to replace the one with the problem. See "Modifying a Change Set."
Retract the change set with the problem.
Deploy the corrected change set into the staging environment, and then into the production environment. See "Deploying a Change Set."
To fix a problems that must be resolved by removing the service immediately, retract the change set from the production environment. Then create a replacement change set and deploy it. The idea is to have a replacement ready, or nearly in time to maintain quality of service.
To disable a change set immediately and replace it:
From the Home page, click View Environment Configuration.The Environments page displays the Open Projects panel with the Testing, Staging, and Production entries. Retract the change set. See "Retracting a Change Set" for details.
In Open Projects, create a new change to replace the one with the problem. See "Modifying a Change Set."
Test the change set.
Deploy the corrected change set to the staging, and then production environments. See "Deploying a Change Set".
To retract a change set from the appropriate runtime environment:
From the Home page, click View Environment Configuration.
The Environments page displays the Open Projects panel with the Testing, Staging, and Production entries.
Locate the change set to retract. See "Locating and Viewing Details for a Change Set."
Click the arrow on the right side of the change set.
Select Retract.
The change set is no longer active in that environment. OCECAS displays the retraction date and time.
If you decide that a retracted change set should be returned to service, you can redeploy it. Redeploying uses the same mechanism as deploying.
Note:
before you redeploy a change set, verify that the base line for such a change set is one that is deployed in that environment and does not have issues.To redeploy a change set into an environment:
In the Home page, click on Environment Configurations.
The Environments page displays the Open Projects panel, the Testing, Staging and Production environment entries.
Select the change set to redeploy.
Click on the arrow to the right of the change set.
Select Redeploy.