System Administration Manual

    Preface

    This manual describes how to install and configure XL Deploy.

    Installing XL Deploy

    This section contains information on the installation of the XL Deploy server.

    Prerequisites

    Server Requirements

    To install the XL Deploy server, the following prerequisites must be met:

    • XL Deploy license: You can download your license from https://tech.xebialabs.com/download/license.
    • Operating system: Windows or Unix-family operating system running Java.
    • Java Runtime Environment: JDK 7 (Oracle, IBM or Apple)
    • RAM: At least 2GB of RAM available for XL Deploy.
    • Harddisk space: Sufficient harddisk space to store the XL Deploy repository. This depends on your usage of XL Deploy. See section Determining Harddisk Space Requirements.

    Depending on the environment, the following may also be required:

    • Database: XL Deploy's Jackrabbit repository supports a number of different databases. For more information see section Configuring the Repository.
    • LDAP: To enable group-based security, an LDAP x.509 compliant registry is needed. For more information see section Configuring LDAP Security.

    Determining Harddisk Space Requirements

    The XL Deploy server itself only uses about 70MB of disk space. The main harddisk space usage comes from the repository which stores your deployment packages and deployment history. The size of the repository will vary from installation to installation but depends mainly on:

    • the size and storage mechanism used for artifacts
    • the number of packages in the system
    • the number of deployments performed (more specifically, the amount of logging information stored)

    Follow this procedure to obtain an estimate of the total required disk space:

    • Install and configure XL Deploy for your environment as described in this document. Make sure you correctly set up the database- or file-based repository.
    • Estimate the number of packages to be imported (either the total number or the number per unit of time) (NumPackages)
    • Estimate the number of deployments to be performed (either the total number or the number per unit of time) (NumDeployments)
    • Record the amount of disk space used by XL Deploy (InitialSize).
    • Import a few packages using the GUI or CLI.
    • Record the amount of disk space used by XL Deploy (SizeAfterImport).
    • Perform a few deployments.
    • Record the amount of disk space used by XL Deploy (SizeAfterDeployments).

    The needed amount of disk space in total is equal to:

    Space Needed = ((SizeAfterImport - InitialSize) * NumPackages) +
        ((SizeAfterDeployments - SizeAfterImport) * NumDeployments)
    

    If NumPackages and NumDeployments are expressed per timeunit (e.g. the number of packages to be imported per month), then the end result represents the space needed per timeunit as well.

    Unix Middleware Server Requirements

    Unix-based middleware servers that XL Deploy interacts with must meet the following requirements:

    • SSH Access: The target systems should be accessible by SSH from the XL Deploy server, i.e. they should run an SSH2 server. It is also possible to handle key-based authorization. Notes:
      • The SSH daemon on AIX is known to hang with certain types of SSH traffic.
      • For security, the SSH account that is used to access a host should have limited rights.
      • A variety of Linux distributions have made SSH require a TTY by default. This setting is incompatible with XL Deploy and is controlled by the Defaults requiretty setting in the sudoers file.
    • Credentials: XL Deploy should be able to log in to the target systems using a login/password combination that allows it to perform at least the following Unix commands:

      • cp
      • ls
      • mv
      • rm
      • mkdir
      • rmdir

      If the login user cannot perform these actions, XL Deploy can also use a sudo user that can execute these commands.

    Windows Middleware Server Requirements

    Windows-based middleware servers that XL Deploy interacts with must meet the following requirements:

    • File system access: The target file system should be accessible via CIFS from the XL Deploy server.
    • Host access: The target host should be accessible from the XL Deploy server via WinRM or Windows Telnet server running in stream mode.
    • Directory shares: The account used to access a target system should have access to the host's administrative shares such as C$.
    • Ports: For CIFS connectivity, port 445 on the target system should be accessible from the XL Deploy server. For Telnet connectivity, port 23 should be accessible from the XL Deploy server. For WinRM connectivity, port 5985 (HTTP) or port 5986 (HTTPS) should be accessible from the XL Deploy server.

    Extending Middleware Support

    It is possible to connect XL Deploy to middleware servers that do not support SSH, Telnet or WinRM. Using the Overthere remote execution framework, a custom access method can be created that connects to the server. See the Customization Manual for more details.

    Client Requirements

    GUI Clients

    To use the XL Deploy GUI, you must meet the following requirements:

    • Web browser: The following web browsers are supported:
      • IE 8.0 or up
      • Firefox
      • Chrome
      • Safari
    • Flash Player: A flash player is required, versions 9.0 and up are supported.
    CLI Clients

    To use the XL Deploy CLI, you must meet the following requirements:

    • Operating system: Windows or Unix-family operating system running Java.
    • Java Runtime Environment: JDK 7 (Oracle, IBM or Apple)

    Installation Procedure

    To begin installing XL Deploy, first unpack the distribution archive. The distribution archive contains the following:

    • Release notes describing the changes made in this version of XL Deploy.
    • A server archive.
    • A CLI archive.

    Note: see the separate Upgrade Manual for instructions on how to upgrade XL Deploy from a previous version.

    Installing the Server

    Follow these steps to install the XL Deploy server application:

    1. Login to the server where the XL Deploy Server will be installed. It is recommended to install XL Deploy Server as a non-root user, e.g. xldeploy.
    2. Create an installation directory, e.g. /opt/xebialabs/xl-deploy.
    3. Copy the XL Deploy Server archive to the directory.
    4. Extract the archive into the directory.

    XL Deploy Server Directory Structure

    Once the XL Deploy installation file is extracted, the following directory structure exists in the installation directory (in the remainder of the document this directory will be referred to as DEPLOYIT_SERVER_HOME):

    • bin: contains the Server binaries
    • conf: contains Server configuration files and the XL Deploy license
    • doc: contains the XL Deploy product documentation
    • ext: contains Server Java extensions. See the Customization Manual for more information
    • hotfix: contains hotfixes that fix issues with the Server software
    • importablePackages: default location for importable packages
    • lib: contains libraries that the Server needs
    • log: contains Server log files (this directory is only present once you have started XL Deploy Server)
    • plugins: contains the XL Deploy middleware plugins
    • recovery.dat: stores tasks that are in progress for recovery purposes (this file is only present once you have started XL Deploy Server)

    Installing the license

    The license for XL Deploy has to be installed manually. Follow these steps to do so:

    1. Download license from https://tech.xebialabs.com/download/license.
    2. Copy the downloaded file to the conf directory. It needs to be installed as deployit-license.lic. Be sure not to modify the license file or it will not work. (Some mail clients change the file unless it is packed in a ZIP)

    Note: License can be installed while server is running. It will be picked up automatically.

    When the license expires XL Deploy will finish running tasks and not accept any new requests. Also during boot up information about the license status will be printed in the logging. Once a new license is obtained it can be copied into the running server which will start functioning again.

    Installing the CLI

    Follow these steps to install the XL Deploy CLI application:

    1. Login to the server where the XL Deploy CLI will be installed.
    2. Create an installation directory.
    3. Copy the XL Deploy CLI archive to the directory.
    4. Extract the archive into the directory.

    XL Deploy CLI Directory Structure

    Once the XL Deploy installation file is extracted, the following directory structure exists in the installation directory:

    • bin: contains the CLI binaries
    • ext: contains CLI Python extension scripts
    • hotfix: contains hotfixes that fix issues with the CLI software
    • lib: contains necessary libraries
    • plugins: contains the CLI plugins

    Running the Server Setup Wizard

    Run the XL Deploy Setup Wizard to start the XL Deploy server and prepare it for use. The command server.sh -setup starts the wizard. If you want to stop the Setup Wizard at any time, enter exitsetup. All changes to the configuration will be discarded.

    The Setup Wizard displays the following welcome message:

    Welcome to the XL Deploy setup.
    You can always exit by typing 'exitsetup'.
    To re-run this setup and make changes to the XL Deploy server configuration
    you can run server.cmd -setup on Windows or server.sh -setup on Unix.
    
    Do you want to use the simple setup?
    Default values are used for all properties. To make changes to the default
    properties, please answer no.
    Options are yes or no.
    [yes]:
    

    Answer yes (or press Enter) to use the simple setup. Simple setup makes it easy to quickly get started with XL Deploy and to use the product's default configuration. See Simple Setup for more information.

    Answer no to use the manual setup. Manual setup provides explicit control over all XL Deploy settings. See Manual Setup for more information.

    Note: if you installed XL Deploy in the same location before, the Setup Wizard will ask you whether you want to edit the existing configuration or create a new one. Answer yes (or press Enter) to edit the existing configuration. The Setup Wizard will load all settings from the existing configuration and allow you to choose simple or manual setup. Answer no to start over with an empty configuration.

    Simple Setup

    Using simple setup, the Setup Wizard will assume default values for all configuration parameters. Specifically, the following defaults will be used:

    • The server will run with security enabled.
    • The server will not use secure communication between the XL Deploy GUI and the XL Deploy server.
    • The server will listen on XL Deploy's standard HTTP port (4516).
    • The server will use '/' as the context root.
    • The server will use a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 24 threads.
    • Applications can be imported from the importablePackages directory.

    First, the Setup Wizard will ask you to provide a password for the built-in 'admin' user.

    Please enter the admin password you wish to use for XL Deploy Server
    New password:
    Re-type password:
    

    The admin user has by definition all permissions (like 'root' on a unix operating system). The admin user is also used to connect to the JCR repository. If you connect to an existing repository, make sure you enter the password that has been used before to connect to the repository, otherwise the XL Deploy Server will not be able to connect. To change the admin password of an initialized repository, use the method described below in Changing the Admin Password.

    If you give an empty password (hitting enter twice), the default password 'admin' will be used.

    Then, the Setup Wizard will ask:

    Do you want XL Deploy to initialize the JCR repository?
    Options are yes or no.
    [yes]:
    

    Answer yes (or press Enter) if you want the XL Deploy repository to be recreated. The Setup Wizard must have write access to the repository directory. Answer no to leave the repository intact. This option is useful if you already have an existing repository that you want to reuse.

    If you answer yes, the Setup Wizard will ask the following questions to help you configure your repository:

    The password encryption key protects the passwords stored in the repository.
    Do you want to generate a new password encryption key?
    Options are yes or no.
    [yes]:
    

    XL Deploy ships with a default encryption key that matches the encryption key used in earlier versions of XL Deploy. By answering no, you agree to use either the XL Deploy-provided key or any key you previously generated. Answer yes to generate a new key. When you do this, you have the option of locking the keystore with a password as well:

    The password encryption key is optionally secured by a password.
    Please enter the password you wish to use. (Use an empty password to avoid a password prompt when starting XL Deploy.)
    New password:
    Re-type password:
    

    If you want to secure the keystore with a password, enter the password here. You will need to provide this password to XL Deploy when it starts, either interactively via a prompt or via a command line parameter. If you don't want to use a password for the keystore, press enter.

    See Finishing the Setup Wizard for completing the setup process.

    Warning: if you choose to recreate the XL Deploy repository and you have installed XL Deploy in the same location before, any information stored in the repository will be lost.

    Manual Setup

    The manual setup procedure contains the following steps:

    ** Admin password **

    First, the Setup Wizard will ask you to provide a password for the built-in 'admin' user.

    Please enter the admin password you wish to use for XL Deploy Server
    New password:
    Re-type password:
    

    The admin user has by definition all permissions (like 'root' on a unix operating system). The admin user is also used to connect to the JCR repository. If you connect to an existing repository, make sure you enter the password that has been used before to connect to the repository, otherwise the XL Deploy Server will not be able to connect. To change the admin password of an initialized repository, use the method described below in Changing the Admin Password.

    If you give an empty password (hitting enter twice), the default password 'admin' will be used.

    Secure Communication Configuration

    The Setup Wizard will show the following message:

    Would you like to enable SSL?
    Options are yes or no.
    [yes]:
    

    Answer no to use regular unsecured communication between the GUI and the server. Continue with the Http configuration section.

    Answer yes (or press Enter) if you want to use a secure connection from the GUI to the server.

    If you answer yes, the Setup Wizard will ask the following question to help you configure secure communication:

    Would you like XL Deploy to generate a keystore with a self-signed
    certificate for you?
    N.B.: Self-signed certificates do not work correctly with some versions
    of the Flash Player and some browsers!
    Options are yes or no.
    [yes]:
    

    Answer yes (or press Enter) if you want the Setup Wizard to generate a digital certificate automatically. The digital certificate is required to secure communication and is normally signed by a Certificate Authority (CA). The Setup Wizard can generate a self-signed certificate if there is no official certificate available. Beware that using a self-signed certificate may trigger security warnings in some Flash players and browsers. Continue with the Http configuration section.

    Answer no if you want to use your own keystore. XL Deploy uses the built-in Jetty webserver to communicate with the GUI. Jetty requires a certificate with the name jetty to be present in the keystore.

    The Setup Wizard prompts you for the following keystore information:

    What is the path to the keystore?
    []:
    
    What is the password to the keystore?
    []:
    
    What is the password to the key in the keystore?
    []:
    

    Enter the filesystem location of the keystore (for example, mykeystore.jks), the password to unlock the keystore and the password for the Jetty certificate in the keystore.

    Http Configuration

    The Setup Wizard shows the following questions:

    What http bind address would you like the server to listen on?
    [localhost]:
    
    What http port number would you like the server to listen on?
    [4516]:
    
    Enter the web context root where XL Deploy will run
    [/]:
    

    Note: if you chose to enable secure communication, the default port will be 4517 instead of 4516.

    Enter the host name, port number and context root that the XL Deploy server listens on for connections.

    Thread Configuration

    The Setup Wizard shows the following questions:

    Enter the minimum number of threads the HTTP server should use (recommended:
        3 per client, so 3 for single user usage)
    [3]:
    

    Enter the minimum number of threads that the XL Deploy server uses to handle incoming connections. The recommended minimum number of threads is 3 per XL Deploy application client.

    Enter the maximum number of threads the HTTP server should use (recommended :
        3 per client, so 24 for 8 concurrent users)
    [24]:
    

    Enter the maximum number of threads that the XL Deploy server uses to handle incoming connections. The recommended maximum number of threads is 3 per XL Deploy application client.

    Repository Configuration

    The Setup Wizard shows the following questions:

    Where would you like XL Deploy to store the JCR repository?
    [repository]:
    

    Enter the filesystem path to a directory where XL Deploy will create the repository. If the directory does not exist, the Setup Wizard will create it.

    Do you want XL Deploy to initialize the JCR repository?
    Options are yes or no.
    [yes]:
    

    Answer no to leave the repository intact.

    Answer yes (or press Enter) if you want the XL Deploy repository to be recreated. The Setup Wizard must have write access to the repository directory. The Setup Wizard will ask the following questions to help you configure your repository:

    The password encryption key protects the passwords stored in the repository.
    Do you want to generate a new password encryption key?
    Options are yes or no.
    [yes]:
    

    XL Deploy ships with a default encryption key that matches the encryption key used in earlier versions of XL Deploy. By answering no, you agree to use either the XL Deploy-provided key or any key you previously generated. Answer yes to generate a new key. When you do this, you have the option of locking the keystore with a password as well:

    The password encryption key is optionally secured by a password.
    Please enter the password you wish to use. (Use an empty password to avoid a password prompt when starting XL Deploy.)
    New password:
    Re-type password:
    

    If you want to secure the keystore with a password, enter the password here. You will need to provide this password to XL Deploy when it starts, either interactively via a prompt or via a command line parameter. If you don't want to use a password for the keystore, press enter.

    Warning: if you choose to recreate the XL Deploy repository and you have installed XL Deploy in the same location before, any information stored in the repository will be lost.

    Importable Packages Configuration

    The Setup Wizard shows the following question:

    Where would you like XL Deploy to import packages from?
    [importablePackages]:
    

    Enter the filesystem path to a directory from which XL Deploy will import packages. The Setup Wizard assumes that this directory exists once the XL Deploy server starts and will not create it.

    Finishing the Setup Process

    Once you have completed configuration of the setup process, the Setup Wizard displays an overview of all selected options. The following text is an example:

    Do you agree with the following settings for XL Deploy and would you like
        to save them?
    Changes will be saved in deployit.conf
        SSL will be disabled
        HTTP bind address is localhost
        HTTP port is 4516
        HTTP server will use a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 24 threads
        JCR repository home is at repository
        JCR repository will be initialized.
        Task recovery file will deleted
        Application import location is importablePackages
    [yes]:
    

    Answer yes (or press Enter) to store the configuration settings and end the Setup Wizard. If you selected the option to initialize the repository, this will be done now.

    Answer no to abort the Setup Wizard.

    If the Setup Wizard is successfully completed, it will display the following message:

    You can now start your XL Deploy server by executing the command server.cmd
        on Windows or server.sh on Unix.
    Note: If your XL Deploy server is running please restart it.
    Finished setup.
    

    Changing the Admin Password

    XL Deploy has a special user with administrative permissions, the admin user. The admin password can be set in the setup wizard when installing XL Deploy.

    To change the admin password, the following procedure has to be followed. Make sure the XL Deploy Server is running. Then start the CLI as the admin user (or another user with admin rights) and issue the following commands:

    adminUser = security.readUser('admin')
    adminUser.password = 'newpassword'
    security.modifyUser(adminUser)
    

    At this point, the XL Deploy Server must be stopped. Once this has happened, set the new admin password in the deployit.conf file in the conf directory of the server installation directory.

    Restart XL Deploy and test the new credentials in the CLI using the following command:

    security.login('admin', 'newpassword')
    

    Changing the encryption key password

    The passwords in the repository are encrypted with a secret key. This password encryption key is stored in a keystore file called conf/repository-keystore.jceks. This keystore file is optionally protected with a password. If a password is set, you need to enter the password when the XL Deploy Server starts up.

    To change the keystore password, you can use the keytool utility that is part of the Java JDK distribution. Usage:

    keytool -storepasswd -keystore conf/repository-keystore.jceks -storetype jceks
    

    There is one restriction however: keytool refuses to read or set passwords that are shorter than 6 characters. If you want to change a keystore with an empty or short password, download the third-party application KeyStore Explorer.

    Note: The repository-keystore.jceks is one of the two keystore concepts in XL Deploy. This keystore only contains the key used for encryption of passwords in the repository. If you use HTTPS, XL Deploy will use a second keystore file to store the (self-signed) certificate.

    High Availability Setup

    XL Deploy can be configured to ensure maximum uptime of the application. In such a high availability setup, two instances of XL Deploy are running in an active/passive configuration. At any one time, only one XL Deploy instance is active but as soon as a failure is detected, the passive XL Deploy instance is activated and the failed instance is taken down for repair.

    To configure XL Deploy for high availability, the XL Deploy repository must be used in clustering mode. This means that each XL Deploy node writes changes to a shared journal in addition to applying the change to it's own repository. See the section Configuring the Repository below for more information on setting up clustering.

    Configuring XL Deploy

    This section contains information on the configuration of the XL Deploy server.

    Configuring Security

    See the separate Security Manual for more information about how to configure security.

    Configuring LDAP Security

    By default, XL Deploy authenticates users and retrieves authorization information from it's repository. XL Deploy can also be configured to use an LDAP repository to authenticate users and to retrieve role (group) membership. In this scenario, the LDAP users and groups are used as principals in XL Deploy and can be mapped to XL Deploy roles. Role membership and rights assigned to roles are always stored in the JCR repository.

    XL Deploy treats the LDAP repository as read-only. This means that XL Deploy will use the information from the LDAP repository, but can not make changes to that information.

    To configure XL Deploy to use an LDAP repository, the security configuration file deployit-security.xml must be modified. This is an example of a working deployit-security.xml file that uses LDAP:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xmlns:security="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security"
        xsi:schemaLocation="
            http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
            http://www.springframework.org/schema/security http://www.springframework.org/schema/security/spring-security.xsd
        ">
    
        <bean id="ldapServer" class="org.springframework.security.ldap.DefaultSpringSecurityContextSource">
            <constructor-arg value="LDAP_SERVER_URL" />
            <property name="userDn" value="MANAGER_DN" />
            <property name="password" value="MANAGER_PASSWORD" />
            <property name="baseEnvironmentProperties">
                <map>
                    <entry key="java.naming.referral">
                        <value>ignore</value>
                    </entry>
                </map>
            </property>
        </bean>
    
        <bean id="ldapProvider" class="org.springframework.security.ldap.authentication.LdapAuthenticationProvider">
            <constructor-arg>
                <bean class="org.springframework.security.ldap.authentication.BindAuthenticator">
                    <constructor-arg ref="ldapServer" />
                    <property name="userSearch">
                        <bean id="userSearch" class="org.springframework.security.ldap.search.FilterBasedLdapUserSearch">
                            <constructor-arg index="0" value="USER_SEARCH_BASE" />
                            <constructor-arg index="1" value="USER_SEARCH_FILTER" />
                            <constructor-arg index="2" ref="ldapServer" />
                        </bean>
                    </property>
                </bean>
            </constructor-arg>
            <constructor-arg>
                <bean class="org.springframework.security.ldap.userdetails.DefaultLdapAuthoritiesPopulator">
                    <constructor-arg ref="ldapServer" />
                    <constructor-arg value="GROUP_SEARCH_BASE" />
                    <property name="groupSearchFilter" value="GROUP_SEARCH_FILTER" />
                    <property name="rolePrefix" value="" />
                    <property name="searchSubtree" value="true" />
                    <property name="convertToUpperCase" value="false" />
                </bean>
            </constructor-arg>
        </bean>
    
        <bean id="rememberMeAuthenticationProvider" class="com.xebialabs.deployit.security.authentication.RememberMeAuthenticationProvider"/>
    
        <bean id="jcrAuthenticationProvider" class="com.xebialabs.deployit.security.authentication.JcrAuthenticationProvider"/>
    
        <security:authentication-manager alias="authenticationManager">
            <security:authentication-provider ref="rememberMeAuthenticationProvider" />
            <security:authentication-provider ref="ldapProvider" />
            <security:authentication-provider ref="jcrAuthenticationProvider"/>
        </security:authentication-manager>
    
    </beans>
    

    The XML fragment above contains placeholders for the following values:

    • LDAP_SERVER_URL: The LDAP url to connect to. (example: "ldap://localhost:389/")
    • MANAGER_DN: The principal to perform the initial bind to the LDAP server. (example: "cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com")
    • MANAGER_PASSWORD: The credentials to perform the initial bind to the LDAP server. (example: "secret")
    • USER_SEARCH_FILTER: The LDAP filter to determine the LDAP dn for the user that's logging in, {0} will be replaced with the username that's logging in (example: "(&(uid={0})(objectClass=inetOrgPerson))")
    • USER_SEARCH_BASE: The LDAP filter that is the base for searching for users (example: "dc=example,dc=com")
    • GROUP_SEARCH_FILTER: The LDAP filter to determine the group memberships for the user, {0} will be replaced with the DN of the user (example: "(memberUid={0})")
    • GROUP_SEARCH_BASE: The LDAP filter that is the base for searching for groups (example: "ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com")

    XL Deploy server will need to be restarted after you have configured LDAP access.

    Assigning a default role to all authenticated users.

    When your Ldap is not setup to contain a group that all XL Deploy users are assigned to, or you want to utilize such a group in the default JcrAuthenticationProvider, it is possible to configure this in your deployit-security.xml file. The following snippet will setup an 'everyone' group (The name is arbitrary, choose a different one if you wish) that is assigned to each user who is authenticated. You could then link this group up to an XL Deploy role, and assign 'login' privileges to it for instance.

    <beans>
        ...
    
        <bean id="ldapProvider" class="org.springframework.security.ldap.authentication.LdapAuthenticationProvider">
            <constructor-arg>
                ...
            </constructor-arg>
    
            <property name="authoritiesMapper" ref="additionalAuthoritiesMapper" />
        </bean>
    
        <bean id="jcrAuthenticationProvider" class="com.xebialabs.deployit.security.authentication.JcrAuthenticationProvider">
            <property name="authoritiesMapper" ref="additionalAuthoritiesMapper" />
        </bean>
    
        <bean id="additionalAuthoritiesMapper" class="com.xebialabs.deployit.security.AdditionalAuthoritiesMapper">
            <property name="additionalAuthorities">
                <list>
                    <value>everyone</value>
                </list>
            </property>
        </bean>
    
    </beans>
    

    Hiding internal server errors

    By default XL Deploy will not hide any internal server errors due to incorrect user input. This allows clients to more easily determine what went wrong and report problems with the XL Deploy Support team. However this behaviour can be turned off by editing the conf/deployit.conf file in the XL Deploy server directory and edit the following setting:

    hide.internals=true
    

    Enabling this setting will cause the server to return a response such as the following:

    Status Code: 400
    Content-Length: 133
    Server: Jetty(6.1.11)
    Content-Type: text/plain
    
    An internal error has occurred, please notify your system administrator with the following code: a3bb4df3-1ea1-40c6-a94d-33a922497134
    

    The code shown in the response can be used to track down the problem in the server logging.

    Configuring the Repository

    XL Deploy uses a repository to store all of it's data such as CIs, deployment packages, logging, etc. XL Deploy can use the filesystem or a database for binary artifacts (deployment packages) and CIs and CI history.

    Out of the box, XL Deploy uses the filesystem to store all data in the repository.

    Using a Database

    XL Deploy can also use a database to store its repository. The built-in Jackrabit JCR implementation must be configured to make this possible.

    There are several configuration options when setting up a database repository:

    • Store only binary artifacts in a database. This requires configuring the DataStore property.
    • Store only CIs and CI history in a database. This requires configuring the PersistenceManager and FileSystem properties.
    • Store all data (binary artifacts and CIs and CI history) in a database. This requires configuring the DataStore, PersistenceManager and FileSystem must be configured.

    Here are some examples of configuring XL Deploy to use a database for various database vendors. The XML snippets below must be put into the conf/jackrabbit-repository.xml file.

    Note: XL Deploy must initialize the repository before it can be used. Run XL Deploy's setup wizard and initialize the repository after making any changes to the repository configuration.

    For more information about using a database with Jackrabbit, see it's PersistenceManager FAQ and DataStore FAQ.

    Using XL Deploy with MySQL

    <DataStore class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.data.db.DbDataStore">
        <param name="driver" value="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"/>
        <param name="url" value="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/deployit"/>
        <param name="databaseType" value="mysql"/>
        <param name="user" value="deployit" />
        <param name="password" value="deployit" />
    </DataStore>
    
    <Workspace name="${wsp.name}">
        <FileSystem class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.fs.db.DbFileSystem">
            <param name="driver" value="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/deployit"/>
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="${wsp.name}_" />
            <param name="schema" value="mysql" />
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
        </FileSystem>
    
        <PersistenceManager class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.persistence.pool.MySqlPersistenceManager">
            <param name="driver" value="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/deployit" />
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="${wsp.name}_" />
        </PersistenceManager>
    
        <SearchIndex class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.query.lucene.SearchIndex">
            <param name="path" value="${wsp.home}/index" />
            <param name="supportHighlighting" value="true" />
        </SearchIndex>
    
    </Workspace>
    
    <Versioning rootPath="${rep.home}/version">
        <FileSystem class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.fs.db.DbFileSystem">
            <param name="driver" value="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/deployit"/>
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="version_" />
            <param name="schema" value="mysql" />
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
        </FileSystem>
    
        <PersistenceManager class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.persistence.pool.MySqlPersistenceManager">
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/deployit" />
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="version_" />
        </PersistenceManager>
    </Versioning>
    

    Note: The MySQL database is not suited for storage of large binary objects, see the MySQL bug tracker.

    Using XL Deploy with DB2

    <DataStore class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.data.db.DbDataStore">
            <param name="driver" value="com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:db2://localhost:50002/deployit"/>
            <param name="databaseType" value="db2"/>
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
    </DataStore>
    
    <Workspace name="${wsp.name}">
        <FileSystem class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.fs.db.DbFileSystem">
                <param name="driver" value="com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver"/>
                <param name="url" value="jdbc:db2://localhost:50002/deployit"/>
                <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="${wsp.name}_" />
                <param name="schema" value="db2" />
                <param name="user" value="deployit" />
                <param name="password" value="deployit" />
        </FileSystem>
    
         <PersistenceManager class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.persistence.pool.BundleDbPersistenceManager">
                <param name="driver" value="com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver"/>
                <param name="url" value="jdbc:db2://localhost:50002/deployit" />
                <param name="user" value="deployit" />
                <param name="password" value="deployit" />
                <param name="databaseType" value="db2" />
                <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="${wsp.name}_" />
             </PersistenceManager>
    
        <SearchIndex class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.query.lucene.SearchIndex">
            <param name="path" value="${wsp.home}/index" />
            <param name="supportHighlighting" value="true" />
        </SearchIndex>
    </Workspace>
    
    <Versioning rootPath="${rep.home}/version">
        <FileSystem class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.fs.db.DbFileSystem">
            <param name="driver" value="com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:db2://localhost:50002/deployit"/>
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="version_" />
            <param name="schema" value="db2" />
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
        </FileSystem>
        <PersistenceManager class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.persistence.pool.BundleDbPersistenceManager">
            <param name="driver" value="com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:db2://localhost:50002/deployit" />
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
            <param name="databaseType" value="db2" />
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="version_" />
        </PersistenceManager>
    </Versioning>
    

    Using XL Deploy with Oracle

    <DataStore class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.data.db.DbDataStore">
        <param name="driver" value="oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver"/>
        <param name="url" value="jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:orcl"/>
        <param name="databaseType" value="oracle"/>
        <param name="user" value="deployit" />
        <param name="password" value="deployit" />
    </DataStore>
    
    <Workspace name="${wsp.name}">
        <FileSystem class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.fs.db.OracleFileSystem">
            <param name="driver" value="oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:orcl"/>
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="${wsp.name}_"/>
            <param name="schema" value="oracle" />
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
        </FileSystem>
    
        <PersistenceManager
            class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.persistence.bundle.OraclePersistenceManager">
            <param name="driver" value="oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:orcl"/>
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
            <param name="databaseType" value="oracle" />
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="${wsp.name}_" />
        </PersistenceManager>
    
        <SearchIndex class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.query.lucene.SearchIndex">
            <param name="path" value="${wsp.home}/index" />
            <param name="supportHighlighting" value="true" />
        </SearchIndex>
    </Workspace>
    
    <Versioning rootPath="${rep.home}/version">
        <FileSystem class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.fs.db.OracleFileSystem">
            <param name="driver" value="oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:orcl"/>
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="version_"/>
            <param name="schema" value="oracle" />
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
        </FileSystem>
    
        <PersistenceManager
            class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.persistence.bundle.OraclePersistenceManager">
            <param name="driver" value="oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver"/>
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:orcl"/>
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
            <param name="databaseType" value="oracle" />
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="version_" />
        </PersistenceManager>
    </Versioning>
    

    If you use the TNSNames Alias syntax to connect to Oracle, you may need to inform the driver where to find the TNSNAMES file. See the Oracle documentation for more details.

    Clustering

    It is also possible to run XL Deploy server with its repository shared with other XL Deploy server instances. For this to happen, the jackrabbit JCR must be configured to run in a clustered mode. This needs a cluster configuration to be present in the jackrabbit-repository.xml file.

    File-based repository

    Add the following snippet to the jackrabbit-repository.xml to enable clustering:

    <Cluster id="node1">
      <Journal class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.journal.FileJournal">
        <param name="revision" value="${rep.home}/revision.log" />
        <param name="directory" value="/nfs/myserver/myjournal" />
      </Journal>
    </Cluster>
    

    In the above example, the property directory refers to the shared journal. Both XL Deploy instances must be able to write to the same journal.

    Database repository

    The following XML snippet shows a sample clustering configuration for a JCR using Oracle as its repository.

    <Cluster id="101" syncDelay="2000">
        <Journal class="org.apache.jackrabbit.core.journal.OracleDatabaseJournal">
            <param name="revision" value="${rep.home}/revision" />
            <param name="driver" value="oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver" />
            <param name="url" value="jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:orcl" />
            <param name="user" value="deployit" />
            <param name="password" value="deployit" />
            <param name="schemaObjectPrefix" value="JOURNAL_" />
        </Journal>
    </Cluster>
    

    Note that each jackrabbit cluster node should have a unique value for id. For more information on JCR clustering, or ways to configure clustering using other databases, please refer to the jackrabbit clustering documentation.

    Installing Plugins

    XL Deploy Server supports various plugins that add functionality to the system. When it starts, the XL Deploy server scans the plugins directory and loads all plugins it finds. The additional functionality they provide is immediately available. Any plugins added or removed when XL Deploy server is running will not take effect until the server is restarted.

    Installing a Plugin

    To install a new plugin, stop the XL Deploy server and copy the plugin JAR archive into the plugins directory, then restart the XL Deploy server.

    Uninstalling a Plugin

    To uninstall a plugin, stop the XL Deploy server and remove the plugin JAR archive from the plugins directory, then restart the XL Deploy server.

    Advanced configuration

    A number of advanced configuration options are available by editing the deployit.conf file in the conf directory. Restart the server after making the necessary changes.

    • taskThreadPool.corePoolSize: The minimum number of threads allocated to execute tasks. Default value: 10.
    • taskThreadPool.maxPoolSize: The maximum number of threads allocated to execute tasks. Default value: 2147483647.
    • taskThreadPool.keepAliveSeconds: The number of seconds a time is kept alive before destroying it if the number of allocated threads exceeds.
    • taskThreadPool.queueCapacity: The capacity of the queue that holds tasks to be executed if no threads are available. Default value: 2147483647.

    Client security configuration

    A number of client security configuration options are available by editing the deployit.conf file in the conf directory. Restart the server after making the necessary changes.

    • client.session.timeout.minutes: The number of minutes it takes before the session of the user is locked when he is not using the XL Deploy GUI. The default value of '0' means that no time-out is configured.
    • client.session.remember.enabled: Setting this value to false disables the "Keep me logged in" option on the login screen. Default value: true.

    Logging

    Configuring Logging

    Out of the box, XL Deploy server writes informational, warning and error log messages to standard output as well as log/deployit.log when running. In addition, XL Deploy writes an audit trail to the file log/audit.log. It is possible to change XL Deploys logging behavior (for instance to write log output to a file or to log output from a specific source).

    XL Deploy uses the Logback logging framework for it's logging. To change it's behavior, edit the file logback.xml in the conf directory of the XL Deploy server installation directory.

    The following is an example logback.xml file:

    <configuration>
        <appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
            <!-- encoders are assigned the type
                 ch.qos.logback.classic.encoder.PatternLayoutEncoder by default -->
            <encoder>
                  <pattern>
                    %d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n
                </pattern>
            </encoder>
        </appender>
    
        <!-- Create a file appender that writes log messages to a file -->
        <appender name="FILE" class="ch.qos.logback.core.FileAppender">
            <layout class="ch.qos.logback.classic.PatternLayout">
                <pattern>%-4relative [%thread] %-5level %class - %msg%n</pattern>
            </layout>
               <File>log/my.log</File>
        </appender>
    
        <!-- Set logging of classes in com.xebialabs to DEBUG level -->
        <logger name="com.xebialabs" level="debug"/>
    
        <!-- Set logging of class HttpClient to DEBUG level -->
        <logger name="HttpClient" level="debug"/>
    
        <!-- Set the logging of all other classes to INFO -->
        <root level="info">
            <!-- Write logging to STDOUT and FILE appenders -->
            <appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />
            <appender-ref ref="FILE" />
        </root>
    
    </configuration>
    

    For more information see the Logback website.

    Audit log

    XL Deploy writes an audit log for each human-initiated event on the server. For each event, the following information is recorded:

    • the user making the request
    • the event timestamp
    • the component producing the event
    • an informational message describing the event

    For events involving CIs, the CI data submitted as part of the event is logged in XML format.

    These are some of the events that are logged in the audit trail:

    • the system is started or stopped
    • a user logs into or out of the system
    • an application is imported
    • a CI is created, updated, moved or deleted
    • a security role is created, updated or deleted
    • a task (deployment, undeployment, control task or discovery) is started, cancelled or aborted

    By default, the audit log is stored in log/audit.log. The audit log is rolled over daily.

    Script log

    The default logging configuration file also contains a (commented out) section that enables logging of all XL Deploy scripts to a separate log file.

    Starting XL Deploy

    Open a terminal window and change to the DEPLOYIT_SERVER_HOME directory. Start the XL Deploy server with the command:

    bin/server.sh
    

    on Unix and

    bin/server.cmd
    

    on Windows.

    By starting the server with the -h flag, a message is printed that shows the possible options it supports:

        java -cp deployit-server-<version>.jar [options...] com.xebialabs.deployit.XL Deploy arguments...
         -help                  : Prints this usage message
         -repository-keystore-password VAL : The password to open the repository keystore file, if not given,
                                  XL Deploy will prompt you.
         -reinitialize          : Reinitialize the repository, only useful with -setup
         -setup                 : (Re-)run the setup for XL Deploy
         -setup-defaults VAL    : Use the given file for defaults during setup server.sh arguments...
    

    The command line options are:

    • -repository-keystore-password VAL -- tells XL Deploy which password to use to access the repository keystore. If not specified and the repository keystore does require a password, XL Deploy will prompt you for it.
    • -reinitialize -- tells XL Deploy to reinitialize the repository. Used only in conjunction with -setup. N.B. This flag only works if XL Deploy is running on the filesystem repository, not when you've configured XL Deploy to run against a database.
    • -setup -- runs the XL Deploy Setup Wizard.
    • -setup-defaults VAL -- specifies a file that contains default values for configuration properties set in the Setup Wizard.

    Server options

    Any options you want to give the XL Deploy server when it starts can be specified in the XLDEPLOY\_SERVER\_OPTS environment variable.

    Starting XL Deploy in the background

    By running the server.sh or server.cmd command, the XL Deploy server is started in the foreground. To run the server as a background process, use:

    nohup bin/server.sh &
    

    on Unix or run XL Deploy as a service on Windows.

    Shutting down XL Deploy

    You can stop the XL Deploy server using a REST API call. This is an example of a command to generate such a call (replace admin:admin with your own credentials):

    curl -X POST --basic -u admin:admin
        http://admin:admin@localhost:4516/deployit/server/shutdown
    

    This requires the external curl command, available for both Unix and Windows.

    If you have administrative permissions, you can shut down the server using the command-line interface (CLI) command:

    deployit.shutdown()
    

    Lock files left by unclean shutdown

    If the server is not shut down cleanly, the following lock files may be left on the server:

    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/.lock (ensure that XL Deploy is not running before removing this file)
    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/index/write.lock
    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/workspaces/default/write.lock
    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/workspaces/security/write.lock (server start-up will be slower after this file is removed because the indexes must be rebuilt)
    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/version/db/db.lck
    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/version/db/dbex.lck
    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/workspaces/default/db/db.lck
    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/workspaces/default/db/dbex.lck
    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/workspaces/security/db/db.lck
    • XLDEPLOY_HOME/repository/workspaces/security/db/dbex.lck

    Maintaining XL Deploy

    This section describes how to maintain the XL Deploy server in your environment.

    Creating Backups

    To create a backup of XL Deploy, several components may need to be backed up depending on your configuration:

    • Repository.
      • Built-in repository: Create a backup of the built-in JCR repository by backing up the files in the repository directory.
      • Database repository: Create a backup of both the files in the repository directory, as well as the database (using the tools provided by your database vendor).
    • Configuration. Create a backup of the XL Deploy configuration by backing up the files in the conf directory in the installation directory.
    • Customization. Create a backup of the XL Deploy customizations by backing up the files in the ext and plugins directory in the installation directory.

    Note: XL Deploy must not be running when you are making a backup. Schedule backups outside planned deployment hours to ensure the server is not being used.

    Restoring Backups

    To restore a backup of XL Deploy, restore one of the following components:

    • JCR repository.
      • Built-in repository: Remove the repository directory and replace it with the backup.
      • Database repository: Remove the repository directory and replace it with the backup. Next, restore a backup of the database using the tools provided by your vendor.
    • Configuration. Remove the conf directory in the DEPLOYIT_SERVER_HOME directory and replace it with the backup.
    • Customization. Remove the ext and plugins directories in the DEPLOYIT_SERVER_HOME directory and replace them with the backups.

    Note: XL Deploy must not be running when you are restoring a backup.

    Freeing up disk space

    The repository is the place where XL Deploy stores all of it's data. If you deal with lots of large binary artifacts, this can be problematic since the disk space they consume is not reclaimed when the are deleted. To reclaim the disk space after deleting a CI, use the following CLI snippet:

        deployit.runGarbageCollector()