Software deployment

Last updated

Software deployment is all of the activities that make a software system available for use. [1]

Contents

The general deployment process consists of several interrelated activities with possible transitions between them. These activities can occur on the producer side or on the consumer side or both. Because every software system is unique, the precise processes or procedures within each activity can hardly be defined. Therefore, "deployment" should be interpreted as a general process that has to be customized according to specific requirements or characteristics. [2]

History

When computers were extremely large, expensive, and bulky (mainframes and minicomputers), the software was often bundled together with the hardware by manufacturers. If business software needed to be installed on an existing computer, this might require an expensive, time-consuming visit by a systems architect or a consultant. For complex, on-premises installation of enterprise software today, this can still sometimes be the case.

However, with the development of mass-market software for the new age of microcomputers in the 1980s came new forms of software distribution   first cartridges, then Compact Cassettes, then floppy disks, then (in the 1990s and later) optical media, the internet and flash drives. This meant that software deployment could be left to the customer. However, it was also increasingly recognized over time that configuration of the software by the customer was important and that this should ideally have a user-friendly interface (rather than, for example, requiring the customer to edit registry entries on Windows).

In pre-internet software deployments, deployments (and their closely related cousin, new software releases) were of necessity expensive, infrequent, bulky affairs. It is arguable therefore that the spread of the internet made end-to-end agile software development possible. Indeed, the advent of cloud computing and software as a service meant that software could be deployed to a large number of customers in minutes, over the internet. This also meant that typically, deployment schedules were now determined by the software supplier, not by the customers. Such flexibility led to the rise of continuous delivery as a viable option, especially for less risky web applications.

Other options for software deployment include blue–green deployment and canary release deployment.

Deployment activities

Release
The release activity follows from the completed the development process and is sometimes classified as part of the development process rather than deployment process. It includes all the operations to prepare a system for assembly and transfer to the computer system(s) on which it will be run in production. Therefore, it sometimes involves determining the resources required for the system to operate with tolerable performance and planning and/or documenting subsequent activities of the deployment process.
Installation and activation
For simple systems, installation involves establishing some form of a command, shortcut, script or service for executing the software (manually or automatically). For complex systems it may involve configuration of the system  possibly by asking the end-user questions about its intended use, or directly asking them how they would like it to be configured  and/or making all the required subsystems ready to use. Activation is the activity of starting up the executable component of software for the first time (not to be confused with the common use of the term activation concerning a software license, which is a function of Digital Rights Management systems.)
In larger software deployments on servers, the main copy of the software to be used by users - "production" - might be installed on a production server in a production environment. Other versions of the deployed software may be installed in a test environment, development environment and disaster recovery environment.
In complex continuous delivery environments and/or software as a service system, differently-configured versions of the system might even exist simultaneously in the production environment for different internal or external customers (this is known as a multi-tenant architecture), or even be gradually rolled out in parallel to different groups of customers, with the possibility of canceling one or more of the parallel deployments. For example, Twitter is known to use the latter approach for A/B testing of new features and user interface changes. A "hidden live" group can also be created within a production environment, consisting of servers that are not yet connected to the production load balancer, for the purposes of blue–green deployment.
Deactivation
Deactivation is the inverse of activation and refers to shutting down any already-executing components of a system. Deactivation is often required to perform other deployment activities, e.g., a software system may need to be deactivated before an update can be performed. The practice of removing infrequently used or obsolete systems from service is often referred to as application retirement or application decommissioning.
Uninstallation
Uninstallation is the inverse of installation. It is the removal of a system that is no longer required. It may also involve some reconfiguration of other software systems to remove the uninstalled system's dependencies.
Update
The update process replaces an earlier version of all or part of a software system with a newer release. It commonly consists of deactivation followed by installation. On some systems, such as on Linux when using the system's package manager, the old version of a software application is typically also uninstalled as an automatic part of the process. (This is because Linux package managers do not typically support installing multiple versions of a software application at the same time unless the software package has been specifically designed to work around this limitation.)
Built-in update
Mechanisms for installing updates are built into some software systems (or, in the case of some operating systems such as Linux, Android and iOS, into the operating system itself). Automation of these update processes ranges from fully automatic to user-initiated and controlled. Norton Internet Security is an example of a system with a semi-automatic method for retrieving and installing updates to both the antivirus definitions and other components of the system. Other software products provide query mechanisms for determining when updates are available.
Version tracking
Version tracking systems help the user find and install updates to software systems. For example: The Software Catalog stores the version and other information for each software package installed on a local system. One-click of a button launches a browser window to the upgrade web page for the application, including auto-filling of the user name and password for sites that require a login. On Linux, Android and iOS this process is even easier because a standardized process for version tracking (for software packages installed in the officially supported way) is built into the operating system, so no separate login, download and execute steps are required  so the process can be configured to be fully automated. Some third-party software also supports automated version tracking and upgrading for certain Windows software packages.

Deployment roles

The complexity and variability of software products have fostered the emergence of specialized roles for coordinating and engineering the deployment process. For desktop systems, end-users frequently also become the "software deployers" when they install a software package on their machine. The deployment of enterprise software involves many more roles, and those roles typically change as the application progresses from the test (pre-production) to production environments. Typical roles involved in software deployments for enterprise applications may include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux distribution</span> Operating system based on the Linux kernel

A Linux distribution is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel, and often a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one of the Linux distributions, which are available for a wide variety of systems ranging from embedded devices and personal computers to powerful supercomputers.

In telecommunication, provisioning involves the process of preparing and equipping a network to allow it to provide new services to its users. In National Security/Emergency Preparedness telecommunications services, "provisioning" equates to "initiation" and includes altering the state of an existing priority service or capability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Package manager</span> Software tools for handling software packages

A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YaST</span> Installation and configuration tool for openSUSE and SUSE Linux

YaST is a Linux operating system setup and configuration tool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xandros</span> Linux distribution

Xandros, Inc. was a software company which sold Xandros Desktop, a Linux distribution. The name Xandros was derived from the X Window System and the Greek island of Andros. Xandros was founded in May 2001 by Linux Global Partners. The company was headquartered in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">APT (software)</span> Free software package management system

Advanced package tool, or APT, is a free-software user interface that works with core libraries to handle the installation and removal of software on Debian, and Debian-based Linux distributions. APT simplifies the process of managing software on Unix-like computer systems by automating the retrieval, configuration and installation of software packages, either from precompiled files or by compiling source code.

Most software systems have installation procedures that are needed before they can be used for their main purpose. Testing these procedures to achieve an installed software system that may be used is known as installation testing. These procedure may involve full or partial upgrades, and install/uninstall processes.

Installation of a computer program, is the act of making the program ready for execution. Installation refers to the particular configuration of a software or hardware with a view to making it usable with the computer. A soft or digital copy of the piece of software (program) is needed to install it. There are different processes of installing a piece of software (program). Because the process varies for each program and each computer, programs often come with an installer, a specialised program responsible for doing whatever is needed for the installation. Installation may be part of a larger software deployment process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zero Install</span> Software packaging mechanism

Zero Install is a means of distributing and packaging software for multiple operating systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VectorLinux</span> Linux distribution

VectorLinux, abbreviated VL, is a Linux distribution for the x86 platform based on the Slackware Linux distribution, originally developed by Canadian developers Robert S. Lange and Darell Stavem. Since version 7 the Standard Edition is also available for the x86-64 platform, known as VLocity64 7.

Nitix was a retail Linux distribution, produced in Canada. The software is developed by Net Integration Technologies, Inc., which has been acquired by IBM as of January 2008 and currently operates as IBM Lotus Foundations.

OpenManage is a product that consists of a number of proprietary network management and systems management applications developed by Dell, Inc.

Windows Vista contains a range of new technologies and features that are intended to help network administrators and power users better manage their systems. Notable changes include a complete replacement of both the Windows Setup and the Windows startup processes, completely rewritten deployment mechanisms, new diagnostic and health monitoring tools such as random access memory diagnostic program, support for per-application Remote Desktop sessions, a completely new Task Scheduler, and a range of new Group Policy settings covering many of the features new to Windows Vista. Subsystem for UNIX Applications, which provides a POSIX-compatible environment is also introduced.

Microsoft Application Virtualization is an application virtualization and application streaming solution from Microsoft. It was originally developed by Softricity, a company based in Boston, Massachusetts, acquired by Microsoft on July 17, 2006. App-V represents Microsoft's entry to the application virtualization market, alongside their other virtualization technologies such as Hyper-V, Microsoft User Environment Virtualization (UE-V), Remote Desktop Services, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

Configurable Network Computing or CNC is JD Edwards's (JDE) client–server proprietary architecture and methodology. Now a division of the Oracle Corporation, Oracle continues to sponsor ongoing development of the JD Edwards Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, While highly flexible, the CNC architecture is proprietary and, as such, it cannot be exported to any other systems. While the CNC architecture's chief 'Claim to fame', insulation of applications from the underlying database and operating systems, were largely superseded by modern web-based technology, nevertheless CNC technology continues to be at the heart of both JD Edwards' One World and Enterprise One architecture and will play a significant role Oracle's developing fusion architecture initiative. While a proprietary architecture, CNC is neither an Oracle nor JDE product offering. The term CNC also refers to the systems analysts who install, maintain, manage and enhance this architecture. CNC's are also one of the three technical areas in the JD Edwards Enterprise Resource Planning ERP which include developer/report writer and functional/business analysts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opsi</span> Software distribution and management system for Microsoft Windows clients

Opsi is a software distribution and management system for Microsoft Windows clients, based on Linux servers. Opsi is developed and maintained by uib GmbH from Mainz, Germany. The main parts of Opsi are open-source licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salix OS</span> Linux distribution

Salix OS is a multi-purpose Linux distribution based on Slackware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Definitive media library</span>

A definitive media library is a secure information technology repository in which an organisation's definitive, authorised versions of software media are stored and protected. Before an organisation releases any new or changed application software into its operational environment, any such software should be fully tested and quality assured. The Definitive Media Library provides the storage area for software objects ready for deployment and should only contain master copies of controlled software media configuration items (CIs) that have passed appropriate quality assurance checks, typically including both procured and bespoke application and gold build source code and executables. In the context of the ITIL best practice framework, the term definitive media library supersedes the term definitive software library referred to prior to version ITIL v3.

EMCO Remote Installer is a software distribution tool for Windows. It allows network administrators to install and uninstall software on remote Windows computers connected to a local network, and to audit installed software and Windows updates remotely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DevOps toolchain</span> DevOps toolchain release package.

A DevOps toolchain is a set or combination of tools that aid in the delivery, development, and management of software applications throughout the systems development life cycle, as coordinated by an organisation that uses DevOps practices.

References

  1. Roger S. Pressman Software engineering: a practitioner's approach (eighth edition)
  2. Rees-Carter, Stephen (13 July 2018). "How to Install and Configure Ansible on Ubuntu 18.04". DigitalOcean . Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019. Configuration management systems are designed to make controlling large numbers of servers easy for administrators and operations teams. They allow you to control many different systems in an automated way from one central location.