In the product that I work on, there are many configuration tables. I need to find a way to track configuration changes (hopefully with some kind of version/changeset number), deploy the configuration changes to other environments using the changeset number and if needed rollback particular configuration based on changeset number.
I am wondering how can I do that?
One solution that I think could work is to write a script(s) to take all the configurations from all the config tables and create Json file(s). I can then check-in that file(s) to tfs or github to maintain versioning and write another script(s) to load that configuration file(s) in any environment.
Related
seeking for advice about such problem.
We have stack of microservices written on NodeJs and running on Kubernetes cluster. We have separate GitHub repository for each of them and currently using Circleci for our CI/CD process. As of now we have about 25-30 repos, but their number will increase and problem that we faced now is that we need to have Circleci config yaml in each repository and if we need to change something globally in our ci/cd pipeline, we need to update this in each repository, which is obviously pretty painful process and Circleci doesn't support to have one config file for multiple repos.
I believe our situation/setup in terms of multiple repos is not unique, does anybody have experience/ideas of which CI tool support described scenario of having one config file for multiple repos?
Below are 2 approaches that I considered when had to deal with similar situation. You'd need to define for yourself what you want to optimize for and make a decision based on that
Optimizing for flexibility and isolation. In this scenario instead of making all repos use the same config file, you're keeping the file in each repo and automating how you manage this file.
For example: you'll have to create a CLI tool or a script to automate copying circle file and committing to appropriate repos (whenever a change needs to happen)
PROS: isolation - all repos have their own configuration, if you ever going to have a golang microservice or different config in one of your nodejs services, modifying CI pipeline wouldn't be an issue
CONS: a bit of extra work to write automation around managing this config separately
Optimizing for easier maintainability. Figure how to share single pipeline configuration across your repos.
For example: use git submodules for keeping circle.yml file, or use separate npm package with circle.yml file. Another alternative is to use a CI tool that supports templating, then define pipeline template and re-use it for each individual pipeline (one of the CI tools that supports it - Teamcity)
I personally picked approach #1 in similar situation. IMHO, this is a price one have to pay when one decides to go with microservices to not end up with a platform that is rather a distributed monolith :) also I really liked when all repos are descriptive and self contained and CI pipeline as code is one of the ways to help achieve that
In my mind you have 2 options - you could have a single CI job/config that can deploy any single/multiple services (if all the services are the same). Or if every service is different than you need a separate job/config for each. If it's somewhere in the middle it's a question of whether you want a single job that has a bunch of if/then statements e.g. "if repo = user then do this special thing." The if/then approach worked fine for me up to a point, but eventually, there were too many special cases at it was easier to just go with the unique config for each service.
I solved the issue of it "being hard to make a 1 line change across 30 git repos" by having a git superuser. Basically, normal users can only merge using PRs, but the superuser can commit directly. Since I'm only changing things like config files there are rarely merge conflicts or broken test cases so it works. Here's some sample code:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
for dir in /temp/*/
do
cd $dir
git pull
sed 's/Nick/John/g' report.txt > report_new.txt
git commit -m "CI change" && git push
cd ..
done
In TFS (2013 Update 4) I am trying to write a PowerShell script to copy modified SQL files that are tied to a build. I can get and copy the appropriate files if I know the changeset number, which will often be enough (I can use the TF_BUILD_SOURCEGETVERSION environment variable when the build is triggered by a merge). However, occasionally there will be a handful of changesets that are associated with the build in TFS.
Using the Build Number, how do I get a list of Changesets?
You need to use your build number to find the previous build number. You will then have both a start changeset (from previous build) to current changeset (current build).
You can then walk the gap with the API and find all the intervening changesets.
So I've done this in my last engagement, in essence we solved it by doing a get of all SQL related files EVERY build and produce a csv file that contained information about each file, name, version, and most importantly and MD5 hash of the file. Then with each deployment we create/update/insert into a special deployment table in our DB all SQL "run" against that DB. Then our build script is really just producing the csv file but our deployment script has the intelligence and checks to see if anything as changed in the csv file vs. the target DB and only applies changes (new SQL, changed SQL with new MD5). So we essentially use two scripts. I can't share the scripts but you have the idea. Also I would look at this article by Alexander
Automating SQL Server Database Deployments: Scripting Details where he explains a lot about db migration.
I recently joined a company as Release Engineer where a large number of development teams develop numerous services, applications, web-apps in various languages with various inter-dependencies among them.
I am trying to find a way to simplify and preferably automate releases. Currently the release team is doing the following to "release" the software:
CURRENT PROCESS OF RELEASE
Diff the latest revision from SCM between QA and INTEGRATION branches.
Manually copy/paste "relevant" changes between those branches.
Copy the latest binaries to the right location (this is automated using a .cmd script).
Restart any services
MY QUESTION
I am hoping to avoid steps 1. and 2. altogether (obviously), but am running into issues where differences between the environments is causing the config files to be different for different environments (e.g. QA vs. INTEGRATION). Here is a sample:
IN THE QA ENVIRONMENT:
<setting name="ServiceUri" serializeAs="String">
<value>https://servicepoint.QA.domain.net/</value>
</setting>
IN THE INTEGRATION ENVIRONMENT:
<setting name="ServiceUri" serializeAs="String">
<value>https://servicepoint.integration.domain.net/</value>
</setting>
If you look closely then the only difference between the two <setting> tags above is the URL in the <value> tag. This is because the QA and INTEGRATION environments are in different data-centers and are ever so slightly not in sync (with them growing apart as development gets faster/better/stronger). Changes such as this where the URL/endpoint is different are TO BE IGNORED during "release" (i.e. these are not "relevant" changes to merge from QA to INTEGRATION).
Even in a regular release (about once a week) I have to deal with a dozen config files changes that have to released from QA to integration and I have to manually go through each config file and copy/paste non URL-related changes between the files. I can't simply take an entire package that the CI tool spits out from QA (or after QA), since the URL/endpoints are different.
Since there are multiple programming languages in use, the config file example above could be C#, C++ or Java. So am hoping any solution would be language agnostic.
SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTS/PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/OS/ETC.
Multiple programming languages - C#, C++, Java, Ruby. Management is aware of this as one of the problems, since Release team is has to be king-of-all-trades and is addressing this.
Multiple OS - Windows 2003/2008/2012, CentOS, Red Hat, HP-UX. Management is addressing this too - starting to consolidate and limit to Windows 2012 and CentOS.
SCM - Perforce, TFS. Management is trying to move everyone to a single tool (likely TFS)
CI is being advocated, though not mandatory - Management is pushing change through but is taking time.
I have given example of QA and INTEGRATION, but in reality there is QA (managed by developers+testers), INTEGRATION (managed by my team), STABLE (releases to STABLE by my team but supported by Production Ops), PRODUCTION (supported by Production Ops). These are the official environments - others are currently unofficial, but devs or test teams have a few more. I would eventually want to start standardizing/consolidating these unofficial envs too, since devs+tests should not have to worry about doing this kind of stuff.
There is a lot of work being done to standardize how the binaries are being deployed using tools like DeployIT (http://www.xebialabs.com/products) which may provide some way to simplify these config changes.
The devs teams are agile and release often, but that just means more work diffing config files.
SOLUTIONS SUGGESTED BY TEAM MEMBERS:
Current mind-set is to use a LoadBalancer and standardize names across different environments, but I am not sure if "a process" such as this is the right solution. There must be a better way that can start with how devs write configs to how release environments meet dependencies.
Alternatively some team members are working on install-scripts (InstallShield / MSI) to automate find/replace or URLs/enpoints between envs. I am hoping this is not the solution, but it is doable.
If I have missed anything or should provide more information, please let me know.
Thanks
[Update]
References:
Managing complex Web.Config files between deployment environments - C# web.config specific, though a very good start.
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ManagingMultipleConfigurationFileEnvironmentsWithPreBuildEvents.aspx - OK, though as a first look, this seems rather rudimentary, that may break easily.
Generally the problem isn't too difficult - you need branches for each of the environments and CI build setup for them. So a merge to the QA branch would trigger a build of that code and a custom deployment to QA. Simple.
Now managing multiple config files isn;t quite so easy (unless you have 1 for each environment, in which case you just call them Int.config, QA.config etc, store them all in the SCM, and pick the appropriate one to use in each branch's deployment script - eg, when the build for QA runs, it picks qa.config and copies it to the correct location and renames it to the correct name)(incidentally, this is the approach I tend to use as its very simple).
If you have multiple configs you need to use, then its always going to be a manual process - but you can help yourself by copying all the relevant configs to a build staging area that an admin will use to perform the deployment. Its a good first step in that the build they have in a staging directory will be the correct one for them, they just have to choose which config to use either during (eg as an option in the installer) or by manually copying the appropriate config over.
I would not try to manage some automated way of taking a single config file in source control and re-writing it with different data in the build, or pre-deploy steps. That way lies madness, and a lot of continual hassle trying to maintain the data and the tooling. Keep separate configs in place and make sure the devs know to update all of them when they make a change. (Or, you can hold 1 config in the SCM tree and make sure they know that merging their changes must not overwrite any existing modifications - multiple configs is easier)
I agree with #gbjbaanb. Have one config for each environment. Get your developers to write apps that read their properties (including their URLs) from config files and commit config files for each environment. Not only does this help you with deployment, but config files under revision control provides reproducibility, full transparency, and an audit trail of your environment specific settings.
Personally, I prefer to create a single deployable package that works on any environment by including all of the environment configs (even the ones you aren't using). You can then have some deployment automation that figures out which config files the apps should use and sets that up appropriately.
Thanks to #gman and #gbjbaanb for the the answers (https://stackoverflow.com/a/16310735/143189, https://stackoverflow.com/a/16246598/143189), but I felt that they didn't help me solve the underlying problem that I am facing, and restating just to make clear.
The code seems very aware of the environment in which they run. How to write environment-agnostic code?
The suggestions in the answers above are to store 1 config file for each environment (environment-config). This is possible, but any addition/deletion/edit of non-environment settings will have to be ported over to each environment-config.
After some study, I wonder if the following would work better?
Keep the config file's structure consistent/standardized e.g. XML. Try to keep the environment-specific endpoints in this config-file but store them in a way that allows easy access to the specific individual nodes/settings (e.g. using XPath).
When deploying to a specific environment, then your deployment tool should be able to parse (e.g. using XPath) and update the environment-specific endpoint to the value for the specific environment to which you are deploying.
The above is not a unique idea. There are some existing implementations that tackle the above solution already:
http://www.iis.net/learn/develop/windows-web-application-gallery/reference-for-the-web-application-package & http://www.iis.net/learn/publish/using-web-deploy/web-deploy-parameterization (WebDeploy)
http://docs.xebialabs.com/releases/3.9/deployit/packagingmanual.html#using-placeholders-in-ci-properties (DeployIt)
Home-spun solutions using XPath find and replace.
In short, while there are programming-language-specific solutions, and programming-language-agnostic solutions, I guess the big downfall is that Release Management needs to be considered during development too, else it will cause deployment headaches - I don't like that, since it sounds like "development should be aware of what tests will be designed". Is there a need AND a way to avoid this, is the big questions.
I'm working through the process of creating a "deployment pipeline" for a web application at the moment and am sifting my way through similar problems. Your environment sounds more complicated than ours, but I've got some thoughts.
First, read this book, I'm 2/3 the way through it and it's answering every question I ever had about software delivery, and many that I never thought to ask: http://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Delivery-Deployment-Automation-Addison-Wesley/dp/0321601912/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371099379&sr=1-1
Version Control Systems are your best friend. Absolutely everything required to build a deployable package should be retrievable from your VCS.
Use a Continuous Integration server, we use TeamCity and are pretty happy with it so far.
The CI server builds packages that are totally agnostic to the eventual target environment. We still have a lot of code that "knows" about the target environments, which of course means that if we add a new environment, we have to modify all such code to make sure it will cope and then re-test it to make sure we didn't break anything in the process. I now see that this is error-prone and completely avoidable.
Tools like Visual Studio support config file transformation, which we looked at briefly but quickly realized that it depends on environment-specific config files being prepared with the code, by the developers in order to be added to the package. Instead, break out any settings that are specific to a particular environment into their own config mechanism (e.g. another xml file) and have your deployment tool apply this to the package as it deploys. Keep these files in VCS, but use a separate repository so that revisions to config don't trigger new builds and cause the build number to get falsely inflated.
This way, your environment-specific config files only contain things that change on a per-environment basis, and only if that environment needs something different to the default. Contrary to #gbjbaanb's recommendation, we are planning to do whatever is necessary to keep the package "pure" and the environment-specific config separate, even if it requires custom scripting etc. so I guess we're heading down the path of madness. :-)
For us, Powershell, XML and Web Deploy parameterization will be instrumental.
I'm also planning to be quite aggressive about refactoring the config files so that the same information isn't repeated several times in various places.
Good luck!
Currently I am using a shared database model for our development. I know, it's better to use local development databases to do database versioning the right way without one developer breaking everyone else's code. So that's what I'm trying to get to. I have a question about the web.config file though. How do I ensure that once every dev has his own local development database, he doesn't have to manually change the DB connection string every time he gets an update from source control? What's the best way to do this?
For example, say Johnny Dev commits his web.config that holds a connection string like this:
server=JohnnysBox;database=JohnnyAppDev1;
So now Susie Dev gets an update and she has to change her connection string to this:
server=SUE;database=development;
So now Susie and Johnny keep committing their own connection strings to the web.config file, and every time they get an update, they have to change the connection strings in all applications.
What's the best way to handle this situation so that devs don't mess up each others' connection string settings, but can push other kinds of config file changes to all the other devs when necessary (like a new app setting)?
It's only a partial solution, but you could have all the developers create an alias for their own SQL server using cliconfg.
Then the web.config in source control will have eg:
server=LocalServerAlias;database=development
For configuration or settings files, what you need to version is:
a template files (server=#USER_NAME#;database=#DATABASE_NAME#;)
one or several value files
one script able to replace the variables by the right values
What we do here is to never commit the web.config file to source control. Instead, we commit a web.config.sample file, and each developer merges changes in that file into their own personal web.config file. It's each developer's responsibility to handle those merges.
The way I deal with this is to just not check in developer-specific changes to config files.
When a config change needs to be checked in, I start from a 'clean' config file and make the needed changes, then check in. When everyone else does a get latest, they can merge these changes into their local versions.
The solution we came up with at my office was that we specifically exclude the web.config from version control, but only in the www folder. This allows developers to make whatever changes they need locally.
In a separate folder, we have a "master" copy of the web.config which is version controlled. As new sections, keys, etc. are added, it's the developer's responsibility to update the master copy.
You can create multiple Web.config files depending on the environment the application is running in. Using the transformation syntax you can modify the main Web.config to include or comply with your own local settings.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd465326(VS.100).aspx
Afterwards, exclude this custom Web.xxx.config from your repository.
We branch the web.config. So, i've got one called Mattweb.config and I can change it at will, and it replaces the web.config ON MY LOCAL MACHINE ONLY with the contents of Mattweb.config. It's requires no intervention by me.
We also branch the "real" web.config, so that I can compare with my own local version to see if any appsettings were added or any other types of changes. Then I just update my Mattweb.config file and all is well again.
Use (local) as the sql server name and it always refers to the local server. This should be the default value in the web.config you check into source control.
For production "installs", your installer should ask the user if they want to use a remote sql server and if so, update the web.config files as part of the install process.
Tipically a deploy in production does not involve just a mere source code update (build) but requires a lot of other important tasks like, for example:
Db scripts
Configuration files (differents from test\production)
Batch to schedule
Executables to move to the correct path
Etc. etc.
In our company we just send an email to a "Release email address" describing the tasks in order, which changeset need to be published (TFS), which SP need to be updated, db scripts and so on.
I believe there's not a magic tool that does these tasks automagically in order, rollback included; but probably there's something better than email that helps to keep track of releases in production.
Do you have any tools to suggest or practices to share?
When multiple tasks are required to support a full project deployment (and that's frequently the case, in my experience), I'd suggest using a build/deployment tool. I've used Ant in the past with great success, but know others who swear by Capistrano, Maven and others.
Using Ant, I wrote a script that would:
Pull the specific revision I wanted from my VCS
Create a tarball of the target directory on the remote machine (in case a rollback was required)
Create a MySQL dump file of the database (also for rollback purposes)
Delete the remote directory and SSH the new content just pulled from the VCS
Perform various other logistical operations (setting file perms, ownership, etc.)
Create a release branch on the VCS itself
Create a tag with the appropriate version information so I always had a snapshot of the code base at that moment of deployment.
Hope that helps some. I've written a few blog posts about this that may (or may not) be useful. They're dated now, but the general information should still be solid enough.
Introductory thoughts
Details of how I use Ant for deploying--including scripts
You might be interested in the Team Foundation Build Recipes Website, that showcases some build scripts developed using SDC Tasks Library and the MSBuildTasks library
How about something like SVN? You can put all of your code in a repository, then when you are ready to release from production bring your stuff over from test. Then you'll have very specific revisions with information on what happened. SVN keeps track of all of it.