Create components

Create components and use them to deploy artifacts to Deployment Automation.

Permissions

To create components, you need the Create Components permission. Administrators have this permission by default.

As an administrator, you can grant this permission in Administration > Security > Role Configuration > DA Server. For details, see Server roles and system security.

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Create a component

You create components in the Management > Components section of the Deployment Automation user interface. For details about the Components page, see Manage components.

To create a component:

  1. In Deployment Automation, navigate to Management > Components.

  2. On the Components page, click Create.

  3. Specify the component's details:

    Field Description
    Name Enter a name to identify the component.
    Description (Optional) Provide additional information about the component. For example, specify in which applications the component is used.
    Template

    (Optional) Select a component template. Template-based components inherit the template's source configuration options, properties, and processes.

    Additionally, specify the template version to use. By controlling the version, you can roll out template changes as required. By default, Deployment Automation uses the latest created version.

    For details about component templates, see Component templates.

    Source Config Type

    (Optional) Select the source configuration type (SCT) to define the location from which to download the component's artifacts. Then specify the options for the selected SCT. For details, see Use source configuration types.

    All component artifacts must have the same SCT.

    Note: If you selected a template, the SCT options are inherited from the template.

    Component Integrators Pool

    (Optional) To download the component's artifacts using component integrators, select a pool of integrators.

    Only a component integrator from the selected pool can import versions for this component.

    Component integrators support only a number of external SCTs. For details, see Manage component integrators.

    For SCTs that are not supported, this option is displayed dimmed.
    Import Versions Automatically

    (Optional) Select this option to set periodic imports and enable Deployment Automation to automatically poll for new versions based on the Quiet Period and Polling Period:

    • Quiet Period. Indicates the time, in minutes, during which there's no polling. The Quiet Period starts after the last polling period that detected changes. Leave the field empty if you don't want to set the quiet period.

    • Polling Period. Indicates the time between polls, in seconds. Default: 15 seconds. Leave the field empty to use the default polling period.

      Tip: To change the default polling period, navigate to Administration > System > System Settings and modify the Automatic Version Import Check Period (seconds).

    For example, with Quiet Period set to 60 and Polling Period set to 300, Deployment Automation polls for new versions every 300 seconds. After detecting and importing changes, the server pauses polling for 60 minutes.

    By default, the automatic import is disabled, and you need to manually import versions. For details, see Import versions manually.
    Copy to CodeStation

    (Optional) Use this option to create a tamper-proof copy of the artifacts and store them in the DA's embedded repository, CodeStation.

    For optimal use of Deployment Automation, we recommend that this option is selected.

    Clear the option to save pointers to versions rather than the versions themselves. This way, you can track versions and save space on your Deployment Automation server, but this limits your ability to download individual versions.

    For details on maintaining versions in external sources, see CodeStation: maintain versions externally.

    If your source configuration type cannot be used to populate versions directly, this option is selected and locked.

    Note: If you are using component integrators, this option is not available and is displayed dimmed.
    Default Version Type

    Define how versions are imported to CodeStation:

    • Full (default). The version contains all artifacts.

    • Incremental. The version contains a subset of the component's artifacts.
    Inherit Cleanup Settings

    (Optional) This option determines how many component versions can keep their contents in CodeStation and for how long.

    By default, the component inherits version cleanup configuration from the system settings specified in Administration > System > System Settings.

    To change the default settings, clear this option and set the following parameters:

    • Days to keep versions. Specify for how long, in days, to keep the contents of component versions. Default: -1, keep indefinitely.

    • Number of versions to keep. Specify for how many versions to keep the contents. Default: -1, keep all versions.

    Cleaned up versions are displayed as inactive and archived in the user interface, and their content is permanently removed from the repository. For details, see Component version cleanup.
    Run process after creating a new version Available only when editing a component: (Optional) Select this option to automatically run an application process when a new version is created. Then select the process to run and the environment to use.

  4. Click Save.

    To create another component, click Save and New.

    To start configuring the component you just created, click Build Out.

The component is now listed on the Management > Components page.

If you're using a component template, the template name is displayed next to the component in the Uses Template column.

If you selected to import versions automatically, you can view the initial versions in the component's Versions tab after the polling period and quiet period have elapsed. If the automatic import is disabled, you need to import the initial versions manually. For details, see Import component versions.

Before using a component, ensure that the artifacts are ready in the source location you specified for the component.

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See also: