Working with Targets

As an Administrator you set up Targets to deploy Application Components.

As an Operator, the Installations list helps you track the installation status of your Applications by providing an overview of the Components that are installed on the Targets, the Artifacts deployed (if any), and other entities used for the deployment.

As an Application Developer, you can use the Auto-Discovering Custom Properties of Targets feature to save time and effort when working with Application servers, because you do not have to wait for the Application server administrator to provide configuration information.

Important! The actions that you can perform depend on your folder permissions, see: Folder Permissions.

This page includes the following:

Viewing Targets

Targets are managed within the Target section of the Release Automation perspective.

From the Targets list you can:

  • See a list of Targets you have read access to.
  • Edit the properties of a Target from the sidebar.
  • Trigger the most common Actions from the Toolbar.
  • Click the left icon or hover over the Target name on the column header to access its full functionality.

Also, the Related tab of an Application displays its related Environments and Targets.

Tip: For more information about how to search for entities and narrow down the results, see: Using the Global Search for Objects and Tasks

Viewing Installations

For more information, see Application Installations

Defining Custom Views

You can define custom views for Targets as described in the Custom Views section. Beside the custom properties; depending on the Target type, you can select different system properties to be used in the filters (for example, name, type, status...).

Creating Targets

You can create single and multiple Targets from the Targets list. This topic describes both methods.

Creating a Single Target

  1. Go to the Targets tab In the Navigator pane.
  2. Click the Create button in the toolbar. The Create Target dialog is displayed.
  3. Enter a unique Target name. The name can only contain alphanumeric characters, blanks, ., -, _, @, $, #.
  4. Select the Target type.

    Note: You can set the type only during creation. It is not possible to change it afterwards.

  5. Select the folder where you want to save the Target.

    Note: Avoid folder names containing a period character. Period characters may cause ambiguity in Application Workflows.

  6. Select the owner of the Target. You can select the current user or one of the user groups the user belongs to as owner (or one of all active user groups for administrators). To assign a different user, edit the entity after creating it.

  7. Click Assign Agent/Group to select an agent or agent group from the list.

    Important! Application Workflows can be executed on Agents and Agent Groups. General Workflows, however, can only run on Agents. For more information, see: Workflows

  8. Click Create.

Creating Multiple Targets

For the process of creating multiple Targets an existing Target is used as template. The created Targets are of the same type as the template and may copy properties, dynamic properties and deployment handler. All agent information will not be carried over. Status, ownership, and environment assignments will not be copied from the template but set during Step 3.

  1. Click the Targets tab in the Navigator pane.
  2. Click the Create Multiple button in the toolbar. The Create Multiple Targets - Select Template wizard is displayed.
  3. Click Select template and select the Target that will serve as template. Once the Target has been selected, the type is automatically selected.
  4. Click Next to navigate to step 2.

    The Copy From Template screen shows properties that may be carried over from the template. The user is free to choose whether all or no properties and dynamic properties should be copied. By default, all options are checked. Property values of the type Identity will not be copied.

  5. Clear the entities which shall not be copied.
  6. Click Next to navigate to Step 3.

    In the Settings screen, set the properties that are to be used for every Target created at the end of the process.

  7. Set the status the Targets are to be created with.
  8. Select a destination folder.
  9. Assign an owner for the Targets.
  10. To assign an Environment, click Add To Environment. Select the Environment in the popup.

    Note: Environment assignments are optional.

  11. Click Next to navigate to Step 4.
  12. Select all agents or agent groups for which Targets should be created.

    Note: All available agents and agent Groups which are not connected to Targets yet are displayed in the list.

    Important! Application Workflows can be executed on Agents and Agent Groups. General Workflows, however, can only run on Agents. For more information, see: Workflows

  13. Click Next to navigate to Step 5.

    The Names table displays all agents that were selected in the previous step. The Target Name column shows the name of the agent that is inserted per default.

  14. If you want the Target to be named differently than the agent, you can simply type the requested Target name.
  15. If you want to create more Targets without any agents, click the Add additional Targets link. A text box is shown where Target names can be entered.
  16. When clicking the create button two possible outcomes may occur:
    • A warning icon and a list of Target names is shown. In this case, some Target names are not unique. Rename the affected Targets and click Create again.
    • The Targets are created. Agents are automatically assigned to the Targets from the table, Target names that are inserted in the text box are created without any agents.
  17. Click Create to create the new Targets.

Editing the Properties of Targets

  • General

    In the General panel, you can view and edit the basic properties of a Target:

    • Name: the name of the target (has to be unique and may only contain alphanumeric characters, blanks, ., -, _, @, $, #.

    • Note: GUIDs are used to uniquely identify provisioned Targets.

    • Type (readonly): the type of the target.
    • Status: the current target status. It can be Active or Inactive. An inactive target is not available for deployments.
    • Folder: folder where the Target is stored.
    • Owner: owner of the Target.

  • Description

    Description is limited to 4000 characters.

  • Environments

    This section shows the Environments the Target has been assigned to. Click on Add to Environment to assign the Targets to one or more Environments.

  • Deployment

    Within the deployment section, you can configure:

    • Agent/Group: the name of the Automation Engine Agent or group of Agents that should be used when Components are deployed to this Target. The Agent is used to physically carry out all deployment steps for Components that are related to the Target within the Automation Engine and is available within the EXT:agent Automation Engine variable of a component process Workflow.

      To assign an Agent to a Target click the Assign Agent/Group hyperlink (if no agent is assigned yet). The popup displays all agents that are defined in the Automation Engine.

      Note: GUIDs are used to uniquely identify Agents.

    • Deployment Handler: select a deployment handler if deployments to that target should be done via another target. E.g. instances of Web Sphere Application Servers are typically not provisioned directly, but via the Web Sphere CDA. The Target that represents the Web Sphere CDA would be the deployment handler of each of the Targets that represent a Web Sphere Server instance.

      Note: You cannot assign a handler if the Target is already the handler of another Target.

      To assign a deployment handler to a Target click the icon or the Assign Handler... hyperlink (if no handler is assigned yet). The popup shows all targets which are not themselves the deployment handler of other targets.

  • Handled Targets

    If a target is the deployment handler of other targets, the handled targets are shown in the Handled Targets panel.

  • Recent Installations

    This panel displays the latest five Components that are deployed on this Target with their installation statuses.

    Click on Show all Installations to open the Installations view.

  • Custom Properties

    The selected object may have more properties and property groups defined by the administrator. When defined, these properties are shown in the sidebar as separate panels and can be edited by you.

  • Actions

    Actions are located in the toolbar. They can be also triggered from the context menu displayed after right-clicking the entity. You can trigger the following actions (depending on your permissions):

    • Discover: automatically identifies and imports custom properties of a specific Target type.
    • Duplicate: see Duplicating Targets.
    • Export: exports the Target definition in CSV format.
    • Delete: see Deleting Targets
    • Archive: archives the selected entity. If an entity is archived, Restore is available (see Archiving Entities)

  • Errors and Warnings

    This panel shows errors and warnings in the context of the current Target. If there are no errors or warnings, the panel is not displayed.

    Note: If the Target is to be provisioned, a message with information about the current status is displayed instead.

  • Statistics & History

Defining Dynamic Properties

Targets allow you to define dynamic properties that can be used in deployments in the General / Dynamic Properties section. See About Properties for details.

The following system defined dynamic properties are available in addition to the custom dynamic properties and the custom properties (in the /custom namespace):

  • /system/name

    Name of the Target.

  • /system/type

    Type of the Target.

  • /system/owner

    Display name of the owner of the Target.

  • /system/agent

    Name of the agent.

Deleting Targets

Right-click the entity and select Delete.

Note: You may only delete the entity when you have the appropriate permission on the containing folder (see Security and System Hardening) and all of the listed conditions are met.

Conditions to delete entities of type DeploymentTarget

  • Not assigned to any environments
  • Not referenced by any snapshots
  • Has no installed components
  • Has no ad-hoc snapshots that are in progress
  • Not used by any profiles

Duplicating Targets

  1. Execute the Duplicate Target action in the toolbar.
  2. Optionally, enter a new name for the Target.
  3. Select a folder to store the target.
  4. Select an owner.
  5. Check whether you want to carry over environment assignments (preselected by default)

    A Target name can only contain alphanumeric characters, blanks, ., -, _, @, $, #.

Note: In case an agent is set, a warning is shown, which informs you that this data will not be copied. You have to set it manually after duplication.

The following information is copied:

  • Properties
  • Read Access
  • Dynamic Properties
  • Handler Assignments

Information that won't be copied:

  • Agents
  • History Records
  • Properties of type Identity

After creation, you are redirected to the properties page of the new Target.

Auto-Discovering Custom Properties of Targets

The custom properties of a specific Target type (for example, home directory, ports, or management connections) can be automatically identified and imported into a new Target definition, which helps you save time and manual effort. These properties can be edited at a later point in time.

Requirements

  • The latest version of at least one of the following Action Packs must be installed:

    • PCK.AUTOMIC_WEBLOGIC
    • PCK.AUTOMIC_TOMCAT
    • PCK.AUTOMIC_JBOSS_V7
    • PCK.AUTOMIC_IIS
    • PCK.AUTOMIC_WEBSPHERE

To Auto-Discover Custom Properties of Targets

  1. Execute the Discover action in the toolbar.
  2. Enter the Target type for which you want to discover the custom properties.
  3. Assign a Login Object and one or more Agents (HOST) or Agent Groups (HOSTG).

    Important! Application Workflows can be executed on Agents and Agent Groups. General Workflows, however, can only run on Agents. For more information, see: Workflows

  4. Click Start Discovery to start the discovery process.
  5. Optionally, open the notification to follow the process in the Process Monitoring perspective (for multiple agents) or Workflow Monitor (for one single agent).
  6. When the process is completed, you are prompted to select one or more Targets that match with the type you have previously selected.
  7. Click Create Targets.

Depending on the server selected, different values are added to the new Target.

Target Best Practices

Users should be able to identify which agent/server, environment, and optionally component the Target is assigned to. It should also have a short description of the technology deployed to this node.

Naming Conventions

All Targets must have a unique name. The following naming conventions are recommended:

  • Example 1 – <Agent Name><Environment><Component>_<Description>

    Example 1 – AGENT12087_TEST_WEB_NEXUS

  • Example 2 – <Environment><Application><Component><Agent><Description>

    Example 2 – TEST_GLS_WEB_AGENT12087_NEXUS

Viewing Environments to Which a Target is Assigned

In the General / Environments view, all Environments to which the current Target is assigned are displayed.

For each Environment the following information is displayed:

  • Name
  • Type
  • Status: reflects the current status of an Environment, which can either be busy, planned, free or inactive.
  • Owner  

Notes:

  • Click on an Environment to view/edit its properties in the sidebar.
  • Click Add Environment to add/remove the Target to/from an Environment.
  • Click the Delete button to remove the Target from the environment.