Compare Deployments

With Comparisons, you can compare the installations of an application of two environments, e.g. Test vs. Production environment.

Note, that comparison is based on snapshot functionality. The environment specific snapshot functionality (application and component) depends on the Action Packs installed.

Open The Deployment Comparisons Screen

Steps:

  1. Start from Environment List or from the Application List
  2. Select the Environment in the Environment List or the Application from the Application List
  3. Click on Go to - Deployment Comparisons

As a result, the Deployment Comparisons screen is displayed.

Example Screen 1

In the first example (screenshot 1), the user started from the Environment List.

Screenshot 1: Deployment Comparisons screen when user starts from Environment List (example)

Note that:

Example Screen 2

In the second example (screenshot 2), the user started from the Application List.

Screenshot 2: Deployment Comparisons screen when user starts from Application List (example)

Note that:

Select The Deployments To Compare

Start at the top and complete the selections until the bottom of the screen:

  1. If applicable, select environment for both sides
  2. If applicable, select the application for the left side - the right side is always selected automatically
  3. Select the package for both sides
  4. Select the component for the left side - the right side is always selected automatically
  5. Select the target for both sides
  6. Set the compare option
  7. Optionally set a filter
  8. Click on Compare Deployments, a new entry will be added to the top of the comparison list in the sidebar indicating the status of the comparison.
  9. In the Snapshot Properties (see screenshot 3) fill in the properties according to the selected snapshot. Snapshot types for which snapshots exist, are be displayed in bold and on the top of the list.
    This screen only appears when you have selected to compare the current state.
    As a result, a confirmation and progress information appears on top (screenshot 4) and a summary information in the sidebar (screenshot 5)

Comparison Settings in Detail

Environment

When you start from the Application List, you can select the Environment for both sides

The field shows all available environments where the user has read permissions in alphabetical order.

When you start from the Environment List, the left side always displays the current environment.

Application

When you start from the Environment List, you can select the Application for the left side. The right side is always selected automatically

The filed shows all applications that have installations on the selected environment and the user has read permissions or at least read permissions on one component.

When you start from the Application List, both sides always display the current application.

Package

Select the Package for both sides.

The field shows all packages of the selected application that are currently installed on the selected environment and the user has read permissions. If no packages are installed, the list is empty.

Component

Select the Component for the comparison. The same component is always selected automatically on both sides.

The field shows all components of the selected application where the user has read permissions in alphabetical order.

By default, the first component is selected.

Type specific comparisons (e.g. of Tomcat, MS SQL or websphere) are available. You can compare type specific Snapshots among one another or with the Present State. For customizing the parameters see Type Specific Snapshots.

Target

Select the Target for both sides.

The field shows all deployment targets where the user has read permissions; In alphabetical order. Targets where the component is not installed are indicated with a asterisk (*).

By default, the first target is selected.

Compare Options

Option: Installation Properties

Use this option to compare the properties that were used to install the component on the selected deployment targets.

Note that the comparison only works when you select two deployment targets where the component is installed.

If you select a target where the component is not installed the button is inactive.

Option: Snapshots with type

Use this option to compare two snapshots of the component with each other or with a present state.

Note that you cannot compare snapshot of different types.

The Snapshot list shows all snapshots of the selected type that are available on the selected target for the selected component. The list is ordered by the creation date of the snapshots.

Only snapshots generated with ARA V 4.0 can be compared with each other.

Types available for comparison (depending on the Action Packs installed):

Filter

Filters are used to exclude differences between environments that either exists by nature or are known and deliberately designed this way.

You can select a filter which will be applied for the result screen.