CrossVista TEAM Server for WebMethods

Scriptless DevOps with CrossVista TEAM Server removes the need for you to write and maintain a bunch of scripts to enable your DevOps processes for SoftwareAG’s WebMethods Platform… but it’s a bit more than that.

CrossVista TEAM Server is designed to improve the efficiencies of your end-to-end development process regardless of your chosen development methodology… i.e. waterfall, continuous integration, agile, or any other new paradigm that might come up tomorrow. It allows each of your team members to work more effectively in their own focus area while constructively sharing information automatically with other members of the team as part of a managed process.

Most “script-based” DevOps tools today are basically script automation utilities. They all generally have one thing in common… they tend to gloss over how much expertise, time, and effort is required to develop and maintain each of those custom scripts for each action and for each individual project. CrossVista removes the need for those custom scripts and much, much more.

So, exactly “how” does CrossVista remove the need for those scripts?

To put it simply, we’ve created a “smart” DevOps Engine which hides the complexity of this logic within CrossVista TEAM Server for WebMethods.

First, CrossVista TEAM Server is architected so that it “understands” the asset types being managed. If you checkin a Processing Rule from SoftwareAG’s webMethods Trading Networks via TEAM Server, then the embedded DevOps Engine “knows” that it is a Processing Rule from SoftwareAG’s webMethods Trading Networks. Furthermore, it knows the physical location “where” the asset came from, “what” the TEAM Server can do with that particular asset type, and “how” to do things with that asset type like performing a Diff, Deploy, Rollback, etc. No need to look up an API or write a script to enable this, it is all abstracted away within the Scriptless DevOps Engine. You don’t even have to know the API of the enterprise application you are managing because that knowledge is all programmed into TEAM Server’s DevOps Engine. This is true of every asset type that CrossVista TEAM Server supports.

Second, CrossVista TEAM Server manages both code and configuration. One of the key challenges with using traditional VCS (along with Script-based DevOps tools) for developing on enterprise applications is those VCS were designed for traditional Object Oriented development. With enterprise applications, there is often a blurry line between what is “code” and what is “configuration”. CrossVista TEAM Server for WebMethods addresses this problem within the DevOps Engine by managing both code and configuration the same way as part of the end-to-end lifecycle.

All of the program logic for a Project, both code and configuration, is organized within a VCS repository as a Release. When any changes are made, they are captured in the VCS repository within the context of a Project Release. This tracking of “context” is maintained by the DevOps Engine within TEAM Server for WebMethods throughout the lifecycle. When an asset is “deployed”, it is always deployed by the DevOps Engine within the context of the baseline release which exists on the physical server as well as the VCS repository. Similarly, it can be rolled back in context as well. All of this is managed by the DevOps Engine within TEAM Server for WebMethods without writing a single script.

Before you ask, CrossVista TEAM Server ships with its own internal VCS but also supports storing assets in SubVersion, CVS, ClearCase, TFS, Borland StarTeam, Git, and GitHub, and more.

Finally, CrossVista’s own Workflow layer operates much like orchestration layers of other tools. This is the part where some of our critics might say, “Look, you DO use scripts.” To them we say, “Yeah… take a closer look. We all know it’s not the same thing.”

The fundamental difference is TEAM Server’s DevOps Engine takes care of the messy stuff for managing SoftwareAG WebMethods projects. When we want to deploy a single Integration Server flow service within a package, we just “deploy” and we know it is being deployed within “context. If we need to “rollback”, we “rollback”… no need to tweak a script to make it work. And, because all of the complex work is taken care of within TEAM Server’s DevOps Engine, TEAM Server can also reuse the same exact workflow for all of our projects. No additional scripting is required.

If your organization has standardized on a script automation tool like Jenkins, IBM UrbanCode, or CA Release Manager, then you can keep using those tools with TEAM Server for WebMethods. TEAM Server for WebMethods offers a robust API which TEAM Server’s own Workflow leverages to perform it’s orchestration functions. This means that TEAM Server’s processes can be called to/from these other script automation tools… or even implement your entire process using those other orchestration engine calling out to CrossVista’s API. These other script automation tools can be very useful to your organization, CrossVista just adds a DevOps Engine for working with enterprise applications.

CrossVista’s Workflow (and all of CrossVista’s functionality) also integrates and can be driven by a ticketing solution. CrossVista bundles it’s own lightweight ticketing into TEAM Server but also supports integrating with Jira, ClearQuest, HPQC, TFS, and more. This Workflow provides an extension for incorporating automated Test Tools, Governance, Program Management, and more. This results in a fully auditable, enforceable, and extensible end-to-end process.

By bundling together the functions of Version Control, Change, Configuration, and Release Management, CrossVista TEAM Server for WebMethods provides one solution for managing your end-to-end DevOps lifecycle for SoftwareAG WebMethods projects.

Please contact MakeItEasy@crossvista.com for more information.