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Update pipelines defined

Understanding update pipelines

Keeping current enables your application to utilize the latest features, performance improvements, and security fixes to maximize customer success. Enhancing your Pega solution is now a simple and convenient process.

The basic update phase updates Pega Infinity Rules to the latest version with minimum disruption. This phase takes you about two weeks to complete and performs any necessary application changes to ensure functional correctness and update compliance. You can adopt the latest performance and security improvements and test existing functionality using your current testing processes. This phase excludes adopting features of the new version of Pega Infinity to ensure a near-zero-downtime update of the production environment.

Deployment Manager plays a crucial role in the basic update phase of the process. Update pipelines automate and simplify the near-zero-downtime updates to minimize the risk of update failures.



Deployment Manager update process


Deployment Manager in the update process
Note: Update pipelines are only available in Deployment Manager 5.3 or later and it is recommended that you request an update for the Deployment Manager orchestrator during the validation phase of the basic update process.

Managing update fixes

Deployment Manager ships the KeepPegaCurrent application responsible for managing the update fixes identified during the validation phase in the basic update process.

The KeepPegaCurrent application has two product Rules:
  • UpdateFixes
    • You must package your update fixes across multiple applications in the updateFixes product rule. For each application this impacts, you must lock and roll a new Ruleset version.
  • UpdateTestAssets
    • You must package the test assets you require to test during the Go-No-Go process in the UpdateTestAssets product rule.

Managing operators in the update process

Update pipelines require you to assign certain Access Roles and privileges before proceeding.

To create an update pipeline, ensure you have the proper Access Role and privileges. Only operators with app admin and superadmin roles can create update pipelines. If an application administrator wants to create an update pipeline, they must have access to the KeepPegaCurrent application. This application is used to deploy update fixes through the pipeline. Update pipelines also require the appointment of a Go-no-Go approver at the time of pipeline creation. The Go-no-Go approver represents the stakeholder responsible for approval tasks in the pipeline.

Note: Go-no-Go approvers must have an operator in Deployment Manager with access to the KeepingPegaCurrent application and the approve/reject privilege. See Assigning privileges for more information.

Managing the update process

During a basic update process, you create an update request on My Pega Support Portal for Pega Cloud. To receive this request, Pega provides a cloned and updated staging environment to validate the impact of the update on client applications.

Before you begin:

It is recommended that you update the Deployment Manager environment to leverage update pipelines to manage update fixes through the update process.

If you are on Pega Cloud services, an updated Deployment Manager instance enables you to create update pipelines to detect your environments. On-premise and client cloud customers can leverage update pipelines by filling in the environment details and managing the product rule.

Note: Update pipelines are valuable during the validation phase to help with compliance guardrails.

When you are ready to sign off on the validation and begin the update process, do the following:

  1. If the pipeline is not open, in the navigation pane of Deployment Manager, click Pipelines and then click the name of the pipeline.
  2. Click Start deployment on the update pipeline to begin the update process.
  3. After the Staging-Clone Stage completes, the update queues for promotion.
  4. Notify Pega that you are ready to proceed with your software update by indicating that UAT is complete.
  5. From Deployment Manager, promote the update to the Ephemeral Stage.
  6. Ensure you secure the Ephemeral Stage (temporary production URL) details from My Pega Cloud.
  7. Log in to your temporary production URL and update the DMReleaseAdmin_oAuth2 profile and the DMAppAdmin operator passwords. This allows you to interact with Deployment Manager and complete the Go-no-Go confidence testing. This may require you to recreate the profile and operator.
  8. After the previous step completes, approve the Enable DMAppAdmin Task on the update.
  9. The update is now waiting for the Go-Decision approval. Perform the confidence tests after eabling the operators required for the testing. You can package the operators in the updateTestAssets product rule and deploy to the Ephemeral Stage with no additional configuration.
  10. To continue with the production update, you must indicate approval for the update on production by clicking the Action center banner in the My Pega Cloud Portal and provide the relevant information.
  11. After the rolling update of the production environment is complete, approve the Confirm update readiness Task for deploying update fixes
  12. For non-production updates:
    1. If the update is pending promotion to the non-production Stages, you must manually promote the update to the next Stage.
    2. The update waits for the approval of the Confirm update readiness Task. Once you update the Staging environment, you can approve the Task.
    3. The update moves to the Quality Assuance Stage and waits for approval for Confirm update readiness Task. Once you update the Quality Assurance Stage, the Task must be approved for the update fixes to deploy.
    4. The above steps must be repeated for the Development Stage.
    Note: Diagnostics will fail on update pipelines due to the generation method of update pipelines for Pega Cloud clients. Deployment Manager returns an error when connecting to the ephemeral node on Pega Cloud since the ephemeral environment is temporary and only during Go-no-Go phase.

Check your knowledge with the following interaction:

Creating an update pipeline

Update pipelines automate and simplify near-zero-downtime updates by automating the basic update process. By using Deployment Manager as a standard DevOps approach during updates, you can promote the update fixes with ease to production and non-production environments through a single pipeline.

Ensure the staging clone environment has proper provisioning to perform update validation before you create an update pipeline.


Update pipeline model


Update pipeline model

Adding a new update pipeline

Deployment Manager manages pipelines for your application. To begin working with an application pipeline, you must first add one.

To add a pipeline, from the Deployment Manager Portal, perform the following steps:

  1. Click Pipelines.
  2. On the top-right of the Portal, click New .
  3. Select Update pipeline.


    Update pipeline template


    Update pipeline template
    Pipeline templates drive the necessary information to complete the creation of a pipeline. For more information, see Pipeline templates.
    Note: If you choose to navigate away from any of the pipeline creation screens, save your configuration. If you do not save the Configurations, you lose your progress. Continue below to add application environment and pipeline model details.

Configuring a new update pipeline-Application Details

Configuring the application details for an update pipeline is the first of three steps to create an update pipeline.

To configure application details, perform the following steps:

Application packaging environment
  1. In the Pipeline name field, enter a name for the pipeline.
  2. In the Application packaging environment field, specify the environment URL for the application package location.
  3. In the Authentication profile field, select or enter the authentication profile to connect to the application packaging environment.
    Note: Pega Cloud auto-detects the application packaging environment with the staging clone environment provisioned for update validation. Validate the accuracy of this URL.
Go-no-Go approver
  1. In the Approver dropdown list, select the Deployment Manager user to promote the update to environments and confirm that the platform update is complete.


    Application details overview for update pipelines.

    Application details for update pipelines.

Application details for update pipelines

To simplify updating your application update fixes, use the KeepPegaCurrent application in Deployment Manager.

The KeepPegaCurrent application has two product Rules to package update artifacts. For more information, see Understanding update pipelines. To aid in this workflow, Deployment Manager presets the application details for update pipelines. Ensure that the UpdateFixes product rule has the update fixes for all applications that this change affects.



KeepPegaCurrent pre-populated application details with the UpdateFixes product rule.


Application details

Configure the updateTestAssets product rule to package all test assets you need to perform confidence testing during the Go-no-Go phase.



Test application details with the updateTestAssets product rule.


Test application details

Configuring a new update pipeline - Environment Details

After you complete the application details for your update pipeline, you configure the candidate environment details for the pipeline to use where you deploy the application.

To strengthen the decision to update the production environment, Deployment Manager provides two instances to customers These two instances are:
  • The Staging-Clone environment is the updated, cloned staging-environment where you make update fixes. On Pega Cloud services, the URL contains the word clone.
  • The Ephemeral environment is the temporary production environment. In Pega Cloud services, the URL contains the word ephemeral.
Note: This information is detected automatically in Pega Cloud environments, however we recommend you validate the environment URLs for each Stage.

Environments
  1. Deployment Manager pre-populates an update pipeline with six Stages:
    • Staging-clone - Updated environment where the team validates their applications. Use this Stage to fix any update impacts and source changes.
    • Ephemeral - This Stage represents a short-lived environment that comes to life during the Go-no-Go phase. Update and deploy this environment with your production rule schema and data schema. Run confidence tests on this environment before you confirm updates on production.
    • Production - Actual production environment of the client. In a basic update, production updates after you approve the Go decision.
    • Staging - Actual staging environment of the client. In a basic update, staging updates after the production update completes.
    • Quality Assurance - Actual quality assurance environment of the client. In a basic update, staging updates after the production update completes.
    • Development - Actual development environment of the client. In a basic update, staging updates after the production update completes.
  2. In the Authentication Profile field for the system, press the Down arrow key, and then select the authentication profile that you want to communicate from the orchestration server to the system.
Repositories
  1. In the Artifact management section, select the development and production repositories through which the product rule that contains application moves through the pipeline.
  2. In the Development repository field, select the development repository.
  3. In the Production repository field, select the production repository.
  4. Click Next.


    Environment details screen with populated templates


    Environment details

Configuring a new update pipeline - Model Pipeline

Update pipelines offer the optimal end-to-end process recommended to migrate update fixes during the basic update process.

To further enhance the pipeline with additional features, edit the pipeline model from the pipeline model screen. To customize your update process, you can add Stages or tasks to any pre-populated Stage.


Process for promoting update fixes across environments


Process for promoting update fixes across environments

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