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# Introduction to Deployment Automation

This topic introduces Deployment Automation (DA) and explains how you can use Dimensions CM with Deployment Automation.

Note: The default CM deployment model is Dimensions Deployment. For details see Use Dimensions deployment.

In this topic:

## About Deployment Automation

Deployment Automation (DA) automates software deployment, the process of moving software through pre-production stages to final production. Typically, each stage represents a step of higher criticality, such as testing to production.

Software deployment complexity increases with more releases to deploy, more deployment targets, more types of deployment targets, shortened deployment cycles, and changes in technology. Deployment Automation helps you meet the deployment challenge by providing tools that improve deployment speeds while simultaneously improving their reliability.

For details about configuring and using Deployment Automation, see the Deployment Automation help.

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## Use Dimensions CM with Deployment Automation

You can run a Deployment Automation application process during promotion.

Deployment Automation enables you to:

- Graphically model deployment process rather than write scripts.

- Use the plugins to automate common deployment tasks.

- Run complex deployment processes on different machines, for example:

  - Stop a web server on machine A.

  - Run an SQL script on machine B.

  - If the SQL fails, run another SQL script on machine B.

  - If the script succeeds, restart the web server on machine A.

- Use multiple CM servers and base databases with one DA server.

- Re-use existing DA processes.

- Automatically promote through an DA pipeline.

- Automate different component versions together.

- Use single sign-on between CM and DA.

Note: The CM integration with Deployment Automation supports only baseline promotion and demotion.

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## Deployment Automation terminology

This table describes key Deployment Automation terms.

Entity | Description
--- | ---
Component | Maps to a functional part of a real world application and represents a deployable artifact, such as CM baseline items. Each component can have a version.
Application | Brings together all the components that need to be deployed together. Applications define the versions of each component and the environment the components must go through on the way to production. They also map resources, which are the hosts and machines a component needs within each environment. DA applications are mapped to CM products.
Component process | Defines how a component should be deployed, installed, or interacted with. A process typically contains a number of steps that are inter-dependent, and may include complex logic if a step in the process fails.
Application process | A high-level automation orchestration that can run multiple component processes such as the automation of deployments and rollbacks. Application processes run as part of Dimensions CM baseline promotion and demotion.
Environment | Represents logical deployment locations. Your deployment processes must run against at least one environment. Environments and their resources are used by applications and components at runtime. An environment brings together components with the agent that deploys them. Deployment Automation maintains an inventory of every artifact deployed to each environment and tracks the differences between them.
Pipeline | A sequence of environments.
Agent | A physical resource used to run a deployment. It must be installed on the target server.

For details, see the Deployment Automation help.

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## Automation history

The Automation view in the web client displays details of promotions and demotions. The Queue tab lists all jobs that are waiting to run. The History tab lists events that have completed.

You can open Deployment Automation from the Automation view.

For details, see View automation history.

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