DROPS The business issue

Release Mobile, cloud and Web-based applications are making new demands on Release Management Management tooling. The changes impact the downstream phases of delivery and deployment, and in particular the boundary between development August 2016 and operations departments.

Agile: the origins A unique and multi-platform Fifteen years ago, the software development lifecycle revolved around fixed requirements to be implemented by local in-house development teams, solution for the management and delivered as “big bang” projects. Hundreds of modules were delivered and automation of software at distant intervals, and then review/acceptance by stakeholders was performed deployment (Windows, UNIX, at the final delivery. This waterfall approach to development resulted in the majority of software projects failing to deliver in terms of cost, timeliness, and Linux, IBM i and z/OS) end-user satisfaction.

Today, IT projects deal with evolving requirements, geographically dispersed development teams, ongoing stakeholder engagement, and incremental delivery. To stay ahead, massive software changes must be delivered with increasing frequency and at higher levels of quality. Agile methods were born to deal with these needs. Agile development allows organizations to react more quickly and deal with ever-changing requirements, while assuring quality with fewer resources.

Development and Operations: conflicting goals Yet as Agile shortens development cycles, operations teams have struggled to keep up. Faster delivery increases complexity as well as dependencies of enterprise applications, thus raising the risk in each software release as multiple teams push their “change sets” in the heterogenious world. The goal of operations – to keep applications available – conflicts with development that is measured on the speed and reactivity of their upgrades.

To balance these conflicting interests, “dev” and “ops” need common tools to cooperate closely and become more proficient in rolling changes into production. For this reason, both agile methods and, in turn, the DevOps lifecycle are now Authorized central to Release Management, reconciling pragmatism, accountability, and a z Systems “need for speed.”

Mixed platforms and technologies IBM – SYSchange is a validated At the same time, the introduction of Web and mobile components has made tool by IBM and is published on application architectures more complex. Information systems span multiple the IBM Global Solutions Directory platforms, with often a legacy business application at the core. Release Management tooling must therefore manage the dependencies between diverse technologies and facilitate collaboration between disparate teams. The solution DROPS offers a unique solution for the management and DROPS does not rely on any specific ALM tool. On the automation of application and systems software z/OS you may use any desired development tool such as deployment across multiple platforms — including IBM i, SERENA ChangeMan ZMF, CA Endevor, or, any in-house Windows, UNIX, Linux, and z/OS. development tools.Yet, DROPS will be able to identify the developed codes in the staging libraries and package In support of DevOps, DROPS is production-oriented, them for deployment. shifting the bias from development to operations. Unlike other solutions in the market, DROPS focuses on the deployment of functions, rather than on technical components. This makes the solution intuitive and easy- to-use, assisting development and operations teams in working closely together to smoothly manage an accelerated delivery schedule. At the same time, DROPS supports and delivery, so teams can use agile methods efficiently and deliver value to customers faster. DROPS deploys by process, to maximize automation and give real-time transparency on release status for all parties. Using DROPS, you can automatically or selectively create Change Packages on any environment and then “drop” it on the appropriate target environments.

Deployment Processes Deployment Execution Deployment using DROPS is simple, and deployment Deployments can be executed: processes are easily defined from a powerful visual n Sequentially interface. Processes can be associated with an application, n In parallel or an environment. n In dependency order A deployment process follows a configurable deployment Transport is via web or local connection. map, which can itself contain several environments. An application can be deployed in full, or by cumulative (patches). Compatibility checks are made with previously deployed releases.

Execution Tracking Tracking of deployment execution is made easy from a web console. Deployment stages are validated and visible in real time. A full deployment log is provided.

Deployment Process using DROPS

Page 2 Installation Phase Actors and Roles Following the deployment process, DROPS is able to Certain functions are common to all DROPS processes. manage the installation of delivered software. Actors are defined for each configuration, together with their Role in the Approval process. For greater flexibility, the deployment and installation phases can be separated. Warehouses are used to contain releases in order to defer installations if necessary. History As for deployment, DROPS can rollback any installation Full traceability is now a regulatory requirement in any according to one of several “strategies.” IT organization. DROPS keeps a history of all Actions, Installation execution is logged in a centralized journal. executions, and transition times.

DROPS Architecture Artefact Repository Infrastructure Loading DROPS makes it easy to work with heterogeneous Each infrastructure element in DROPS is loaded with applications developed on different platforms and specific properties (e.g. Tomcat, JBoss, IBM Websphere, technologies. For this, it uses a multi-platform artefact ORACLE Weblogic, etc.). Infrastructures are defined in repository, structured by application and component, and terms of environments and deployment groups. loaded by “strategy.”

DROPS architecture Page 3 Supported Platforms DROPS is an Enterprise Release Management software that supports multiple platforms including: IBM i, Windows, UNIX, Linux, and IBM z/OS. All levels of z/OS, including the latest release 2.2, are supported (DROPS for z; Powered by Pristine Software). Note: “DROPS for z/OS” is a DROPS extension used to deploy artifacts that come from an IBM z/OS server. This extension has been enabled by SYSchange “Advanced Deployment” by Pristine Software.

Strengths The real power of DROPS is derived from its comprehensive management capabilities, automation, and diversity of the supported platforms. The deployed software on the open systems, as well as on the z/OS platforms, can be traced at any time enabling operations mangers to closely watch inflow of systems and application software changes at all times, and to respond to all regulatory requirements.

Specialized in automation and release management Delivering Compliancy, Enterprise Deployment, in multi-platform environments and Change Management Solutions for z/OS

Corporate Office: European Distributor: About Pristine Software Pristine Software IST Innovative Software The talented team at Pristine Software has been providing corporations around PO BOX 74111 Technology GmbH Davis, California 95617 the world with leading edge software solutions for many years. They bring well Pastorsbusch 28 Tel: 530-758-4484 D-47918 Toenisvorst over thirty years of development experience on the IBM z/OS, with the primary Fax: 530-758-4344 Germany focus on Software Configuration Management (SCM) for tracking, controlling, [email protected] Tel: +40 2151 651700 managing changes in software, and synchronizing software environments. www.pristineusa.com Email: [email protected]

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