Continuous Delivery Solution

This section provides information about new features and enhancements that have been implemented in version 21. To give you a better overview, the new features and functions are grouped per component and contain links to the relevant documentation pages.

Automic Continuous Delivery Automation

Friction-free Upgrades of CDA

CDA version 12.3 introduced Release Manager Unified Upgrade to automate the upgrade of the various CDA components. With CDA version 21, this tool has been extended by adding more automation, including the following:

• Capability to upgrade from CDA 12.2/12.3 to version 21

• Migration of CDA-specific binaries on the Automation Engine as well as on Windows IIS

  • Stop and restart IIS

  • Set the right user permissions on IIS

  • Consolidation of multiple client DBs into a single DB

• Migration of the configuration file to an AE VARA object

You can run the Release Manager Unified Upgrade in simulation mode to catch any unanticipated changes before actually starting the upgrade.

Note: The upgrade tool comes in two versions, a UI and a command line interface one.

Artifact Model Enhancements with the RM Repo

With this version, CDA refines its artifact management capabilities to provide better control, traceability and visibility of deployment artifacts. CDA provides now a built-in repository, the RM repo, as a single version of truth for all your artifacts.

This internal filesystem-based repository works with GIT, Nexus, Artifactory and many more through generic source types: HTTP(s), FTP(s), SMB. This ensures that your standard CI/CD tool chain is supported

In addition, its out-of-the-box integrity checks ensure that artifacts at their final destination are exactly the same as at their origin.

Last but not least, the built-in file transfer handles the artifact transfer to endpoints transparently and it helps improve efficiency, as only changed artifacts are transferred.

For more information, see:

• Consolidating Artifacts in CDA with the RM Repository

• Working with Artifact Sources

• Managing the RM Repo

TLS

With version 21, the Automation Engine introduces TLS 1.2-based secure communication between the Agents and the server.

To make use of the TLS-based communication, you will have to update your Agents. However, your existing non-TLS Agents will still be able to connect to the Automation Engine.

For more information, see:

• TLS/SSL Implementation

• Securing Connections to the AE (TLS/SSL)

• Securing Connections to the AE (TLS/SSL)

• TLS/SSL Certificate Considerations

• TLS/SSL Troubleshooting

• https://www.java.com/en/configure_crypto.html

Compatibility Enhancements

Version 21 is compatible with

• Oracle DB 19c

• MS SQL Server 2019

• PostgreSQL 11 RDS

Dynamic Properties DB Performance Enhancements

The database has been optimized to better deal with large volumes of dynamic properties.

Login Object Assignment on Environments

Login objects can now be assigned on environment level, which substantially simplifies the user experience (so fra it was only possible at profile level). For more information, see Working with Environments.

CDA Database Schema Documentation

The CDA documentation has been enhanced with a new chapter that describes the CDA database schema. For more information, see CDA Database Schema.

REST API Enhancements

All the new features can also be accessed using new or enhanced REST endpoints.

For a complete list of available REST API endpoints and their required parameters, see the REST API documentation at the following link: https://docs.automic.com/documentation/webhelp/english/all/components/DOCU/21.0/REST%20API/Continuous.Delivery.Automation/index.html?overrideUrls=../Continuous.Delivery.Automation/swagger.json,../Automation.Engine/swagger.json,../Analytics/swagger.json,../Infrastructure.Manager/swagger.json

Shared Components

Shared components provide standardized and reusable deployment practices. They allow novice users to easily assemble their application deployment processes, since they can reference predefined shared components, including workflows and configuration. Using shared components helps reduce maintenance overhead when the deployment logic changes.

For more information, see Working with Shared and Proxy Components.

Continuous Delivery Code

Continuous Delivery Code (short: CDC) was introduced in version 12.3 to allow developers to set up a new application model and its related workflows from the IDE of their choice to fully deploy an application.

CDC keeps the configuration of a deployment workflow together with the actual code being built/tested/deployed. This allows users to apply their existing CI/CD best practices and enables configuration versioning. Users can also organize the CDC scripts as standardized templates (by exposing the variable parts of the configuration) to be used to quickly onboard new applications.

This new version introduces the following enhancements:

Automation Engine Permissions and Privileges

When you create or export a User or a User Group using CDC, the Automation Engine permissions and privileges are included in the User and User Group definition now. For more information, see Exporting a User/User Group to As Code.

Managing Approval Request Rules

When you create or export a User or a User Group using CDC you can set the approval request rules.

Jenkins Plug-in

The Jenkins Plug-in 3.0.0 has been enhanced with the following features:

• Possibility to create a RM repo artifact, both in Post Build and Pipeline

• Possibility to create folders to add artifacts, both in Post Build and Pipeline

• Possibility to create folders to create packages, both in Post Build and Pipeline

  • Possibility to create a RM repo artifact when creating packages, both in Post Build and Pipeline