Creating and managing channel templates

Channel templates define default settings for channels to use during deployment, such as the APIs, services, systems, and so on.

Template definitions can be as generic or specific as needed. They include properties and configuration data, and you can associate them with deployment processes by creating process set trigger patterns. This enables you to implement and configure business policies. For example:

  • A UNIX system with JBoss installed acts as a JBoss application server, so you would create a JBoss application server channel template. A channel can then associate this template with the UNIX system.
  • Templates can include a provisioning process that identifies start-up or configuration steps. For example, a provisioning process for a JBoss template could start JBoss if it is not already active on the server. Further, the process could first check for the existence of JBoss, and install JBoss on the server if it is needed.

  • Or, you might assign different application server passwords for "QA" and "Production JBoss" systems. In that case, you would create a QA JBoss Server template and a Production JBoss Server template, and associate each with an appropriate JBOSS_ADMIN_PASSWORD property set.

    Note

    This example shows another benefit of using channel templates: If the interface password changes at some regular frequency, the only place to change the password for system interactions is in the template.

  • Another example is a file system. You would create a File System template so that channels can associate this template with any computers that have file systems needed for deployment. If deployments need to send different application components to servers of the same type, you would create templates that represent the consumers of the component, such as "JBoss application server for database services" or "JBoss application server for business rules."

When channel templates are defined as "managed," the system gathers configuration drift information. A managed template also can have a reference channel as a baseline for its channel configuration information, with these results:

  • First, after a deployment to a channel for the template, if the configuration differs from the reference channel, the deployed channel is flagged.
  • Second, when a configuration check schedule is run for the template, the template Failure/Drift process runs for all channels flagged with configuration differences. For more information about configuration schedules, see Using-configuration-schedules-with-channel-templates.

A template definition should identify its action type to ensure that the appropriate action package is used when interacting with the channels for that template. For more information, see Understanding-channel-template-action-types.

The Channels link for each template displays the list of associated channels. This link is a shortcut to the channels management pane, prefiltered for the template. To remove a template, click Delete in the associated Actions menu.

Note

Templates that have channel associations cannot be deleted.

To create a channel template

  1. Click the Topology tab.
  2. From the left menu, select Channel Templates.
  3. On the right after the set of existing templates, click New Channel Template.
  4. Enter a descriptive label for the template.

  5. Enter the root directory for the template.

    Note

    The root directory defines the directory level for channel access. For more information, see Populating-property-values-with-dynamic-variables.

  6. From the Type menu, select the appropriate action for the template channels.
  7. (Optional) Select the Provisioning process or leave None selected.
  8. Click Create.

The new template appears in the list of existing templates. To configure properties for the new template, click its name and make additions and changes as needed.

To add channel template properties

  1. Click the Topology tab.
  2. From the left menu, select Channel Templates.
  3. Click the name of the template to which you want to add a property.
  4. On the Properties tab, click Add Property.
  5. Enter a name for the property.

  6. (Optional) Enter a value for the property.

    Tip

    To encrypt the property value, click the encryption icon next to the value.

  7. Click the Submit checkmark icon.

To control server connections on the destination or limit deployments to sequential processing

You can use a channel template's Concurrency setting to control server connections on the destination. Also, you can limit deployments to sequential processing. The Concurrency setting identifies, on a channel-by-channel basis, how many processes can run against a channel of that type at one time. For example, if you have 10 pieces of content to be deployed to the same channel and a concurrency of None, only one piece of content can be deployed at a time. Changing the concurrency to 2 would permit two content deployments to occur at a time.

To set the concurrency for a channel template

  1. Click the Topology tab.
  2. From the left menu, select Channel Templates.
  3. Click the name of the template for which you want to set the concurrency.
  4. For the Concurrency setting, click the link for the value.
  5. Select a new value from the menu.
  6. Click the Submit checkmark icon.

To change channel template configuration data

To modify channel template configuration data, including "managed" state, reference channel, or drift process:

  1. Click the Topology tab.
  2. From the left menu, select Channel Templates.
  3. Click the name of the template that you want to modify.
  4. Click Configuration.
  5. Modify the configuration information as needed.
     For each changed setting, click Submit to save the change.
  6. Click Definition to return to the page for modifying the template channels or properties.

To set post-processing or removal processes for channel templates

For a channel template, you can choose processes for post-processing or removal activities after a completed deployment, such as sending email notifications or deleting temporary content. For more information about these process types, see Creating-and-managing-processes-and-content-process-sets.

  1. Click the Topology tab.
  2. From the left menu, select Channel Templates.
  3. Click the name of the template that you want to modify.
  4. For Post-Processing, click the link and select the activity that you want from the menu, and then click Submit to save the change.
  5. For Removal, click the link and select the activity that you want from the menu, and then click Submit to save the change.

Related topics

Enabling-role-based-access-permissions-for-a-channel-template

 

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