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Deployment package process utility steps
Deployment Automation provides a set of utility steps for deployment package processes.
To use the steps, open the deployment package process and drag the steps from the Tools pane onto the design space.
Acquire Lock and Release Lock steps
Use the Acquire Lock and Release Lock steps to lock and release a deployment package process in a designated environment.
Locks are typically used to prevent specific processes from modifying the same resource at the same time, for example, when a database is updated.
In an Acquire Lock step, the process tries to acquire a lock with the specified name. If there is no other lock with the same name, the process acquires the lock and continues. If another process is using a lock with the same name, the process waits until the lock is released by the other process. Any processes that access the resource without a lock or with a lock of a different name do not wait on this lock.
Locks are released automatically when the process completes. If you need to release a lock before continuing later steps in a process, use the Release Lock step.
Administrators can also release locks. For details, see Manage locks.
The following table describes the properties for these steps.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Lock Name |
Specify the lock name. The default setting is as follows: Tip: The default lock name is set with a
default variable. To make the lock names the same for different objects and processes, enter a static string for the name or use variables that resolve to the same in both processes. For example, to lock a resource against concurrent use for two processes in different components that are mapped to the same resource, you may use the following lock name for both:
|
| Hint | Add a comment to the step. To view the comment, point to the step in the design space. |
Set Status step
Use the Set Status step to set the status of a deployment package process.
The following table describes the step's properties.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Status | Select from available statuses, Success or Failed. |
| Hint | Add a comment to the step. To view the comment, point to the step in the design space. |
Process Sleep step
Use the Process Sleep step to set time (in seconds) for a process to wait until continuing with the next steps.
The following table describes the step's properties.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Sleep Time | Enter the time period (in seconds) for the process to suspend activity. The default setting is 30 seconds. |
| Hint | Add a comment to the step. To view the comment, point to the step in the design space. |
Join step
Use the Join step to join steps in a process.
There are no properties for this step.
For the Join step to proceed to its outbound connections, all its inbound connection paths must be valid. To be valid, those that should evaluate to success do so, those that should evaluate to failure do so, those that should evaluate to any value do so, and those that should evaluate to a specific switch value do so.
You can do an implicit join without the Join step by having multiple inbound connections for another step. Regardless of whether it is an implicit or explicit join, all incoming connections must be valid for the joining step to run.
The Join step is useful when your process includes multiple steps that must all complete to a certain outcome and then continue on to multiple outbound steps without additional processing between them.
Manual Deployment Package Task step
The Manual Deployment Package Task step enables you to interrupt a process until manual intervention is performed according to a preconfigured deployment package task.
You need to create deployment package tasks before you can select them for this step. For details, see Create deployment package tasks.
The following table describes the step's properties.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Enter a descriptive name for the step. |
| Task Definition | Select a previously created deployment package task. For details on creating tasks, see Create deployment package tasks. |
| Deployment Package Role | Select the role expected to respond to the task. The user mapped to this role must respond to the generated approval request before the process can continue. |
| Hint | Add a comment to the step. To view the comment, point to the step in the design space. |
Annotation
An Annotation enables you to create a text note that you can then connect to a process step. This feature is especially useful in complex processes when you need to provide an explanation or instructions for specific steps.
The following table describes the Annotation properties.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Annotation | Enter a message of the annotation. |
| Style | Select the background color for the annotation. |
Note: You cannot use annotations as steps in a process. Annotations connect to steps, but not the other way around.
See also:
