Deployment Channels

In this article:

Introduction - Overview of Deployment Channels

General Settings - General Approval Chain settings

Deployment Process Settings - Define the process workflow and schedule on which to run

Deployment Control - Set the scope of the Deployment Channel deployment

Approval Chain - Control how Approvals are handled

Notifications - Define who should be notified and how

Content Prestaging Settings - Whether content gets predownloaded on devices

Further Information - Where to go for further information

 

Introduction

Deployment Channels serve as a virtual queuing system for updates, which can prevent constant disruptions to end-users. Rather than immediately deploying updates upon release, updates are added to Deployment Channels, where they will be queued until a more suitable time for installation. This approach combines process terminations, notifications, and device reboots into a single cycle, reducing the impact and disruption to users.

Different patches can be classified and added to various Deployment Channels based on their desired execution schedule. Severity could drive this criteria; for example, critical updates could be added to a Daily channel that deploys critical patches within 24 hours, while less critical updates could be added to a monthly channel, which deploys all queued updates in line with Microsoft Patch Tuesday. The scheduling and frequency are completely customizable. Although multiple Deployment Channels are pre-configured, new Deployment Channels can be created, or existing ones modified as necessary.

 

General Settings

The general settings section is for basic identifiable information, Name and Description.

Name: The name used to identify this Deployment Channel

Description: (Optional) A description used to describe the purpose or functionality of the channel.

 

 

Deployment Process Settings

The Deployment Process Settings section is an essential component used to configure the Deployment Channel Process, which is responsible for deploying patches to Business Units, and specifying the execution schedule.

When a patch is ready for deployment, it will be queued and held until the next scheduled execution. At that point, the Deployment Channel Process will activate, process all queued patches, and deploy them to the appropriate Business Units.

 

Schedule

The schedule on which to execute the Deployment Channel Process workflow.

To create one or more schedules, select the Add Schedule button, and choose the desired schedule(s) to add.

 

Deployment Channel Process

The primary purpose of the Deployment Channel Process is to process and deploy queued updates to the appropriate Business Units using an Adaptiva Workflow. By default, a standard process is included that should meet the needs of most users. However, in cases where the default process is inadequate, users can create custom Deployment Channel Processes that address specific needs by either authoring a new process or extending the existing one.

To select an existing Deployment Channel Process or create a new one from an existing workflow, click on the Browse button.

For help creating or extending Deployment Channel Processes, please log a support ticket and a member of the Adaptiva Support Team will be happy to provide assistance.

 

Deployment Control

The Deployment Control feature enables the restriction of patches to a single Deployment Wave, consisting of only those Business Units that are authorized to receive updates through the selected Deployment Channel.

When the Restrict Patches to Deployment Wave option is not enabled, updates can be deployed to any device in any approved Business Unit. On the other hand, when this option is enabled, an associated Deployment Wave object must be selected, restricting the update deployment to that specific wave.

 

Approval Chain

If desired, an Approval Chain can be assigned to the Deployment Channel Process to request approval before deploying patches to Business Units.

To assign an Approval Chain, click the Browse button and either select an existing chain or create a new one.

 

Notifications

Because Deployment Channels are designed to queue patches until a date and time in the future, it may be appropriate to notify users or administrators that a patch deployment is about to occur. Notification handling can be configured here to control what notifications are sent, and how.

 

Notification Chain

The Notification Chain is the roles containing the administrators that should be notified about the patch.

Select the Browse button to either add an existing Notification Chain, or create a new one.

 

Notification Settings

Notification Settings provide a way of allowing different handling of notifications based on the urgency level defined in the Notification Bot.

Click Create Notification Setting to create a new Notification Setting.

 

The Notification Setting has the following properties:

 

Notification Urgency: If a Notification Bot processes an update that matches it's filter expression, and the urgency level defined in the bot matches the urgency level defined in the Notification Settings, the Notification Cycle Workflow will process that notification.

Execution Schedules: One or more schedules on which the Notification Cycle Workflow should run. This should be set to a schedule that is appropriate to how frequently Notifications should be sent. E.g. this could be set to 'ASAP' and Notifications would be sent immediately, or it could be set to 'Every Week' and Notifications would be queued and only sent out once per week.

Notify Patching Strategy Chains: If this option is selected then Notifications will be sent to the roles contained in the Patching Strategy Notification Chains.

Notify Business Unit Chains: If this option is selected then Notifications will be sent to the roles contain in the target Business Unit Notification Chains.

Notification Cycle Workflow: The workflow that will perform the Notification. This should be set to an Adaptiva Workflow that has the WorkflowPurpose setting set to NotificationCycle. It is the Notification Cycle Workflow that performs the actual sending of the Notification to the appropriate users.

For help creating or modifying existing Notification Cycle Workflows, please raise a support ticket and a member of the Adaptiva Support Team will be happy to provide assistance. 

Time Limit: The maximum length of time that the Notification Cycle Workflow is allowed to run for before timing out. If set to 0s, the workflow can run indefinitely.

 

 

Patch Notification Bots

The Patch Notification Bot's primary function is to generate Patch Notifications for new patches, while filtering them in or out based on metadata properties. If the Patch matches the specified filter expression(s), a Patch Notification will be generated and sent to the Patch Notification Cycle that has been executed via this Deployment Channel.

The Patch Notification Bot will generate Notifications with the specified urgency level. This urgency level will be matched to any Notification Settings present in this Deployment Channel, and the corresponding Notification Cycle workflow will process the Notification and send it via the Communication Channels specified in the Bot.

 

Channel Merging Rules

Channel Merging Rules enable the merging of patch deployments from multiple Deployment Channels, which is useful when two or more channels coincide, such as a daily, weekly, and monthly channel. The daily channel would overlap with the weekly channel once per week, and the weekly channel would overlap with the monthly channel once every 4 or 5 weeks. To prevent multiple channels from executing, merging rules can be setup to merge the channels together.

The rules are evaluated in the sequence in which they are specified, so higher priority rules should be added before lower priority rules. Each rule is evaluated in turn and once one rule matches, evaluation stops and all submitted patches in this Deployment Channel will be merged with the target channel specified.

To add a Channel Merging Rule, select Create Channel Merging Rule. Select the Target Channel to merge patch deployments into and choose the overlap Merging Duration. If any execution times of the target channel fall within this amount of time of the next execution of this channel, all the deployments will be transferred to the target channel, and this channel will skip that execution.

 

 

Content Prestaging Settings

Content Prestaging is a feature that enables sending the deployment content to devices ahead of time. By doing so, the content is available on the device locally when the deployment time arrives, eliminating the need to transfer the content over the network at the time of deployment. This reduces the deployment time and minimizes the chances of service windows being missed or devices going offline before the content is downloaded.

There are two independent options available for Content Prestaging:

1. Server Content Push: This option is similar to OneSite's IntelliStage. The Adaptiva Server will send the content to the best-suited sources in all locations where the content is needed. This type of prestaging is recommended when the deployment targets only a subset of devices. High-availability machines will receive the content and act as local sources during discovery and deployment.
2. Client Content Pull: This option enables any client that requires the content to download and cache it before deployment. This option is suitable when the deployment targets all clients that need the updated content. It is recommended that Server Content Push should not be used when Client Content Pull is enabled.

There are three options available for both of these settings:

1. Not enabled
2. Handled by System (Recommended): The Adaptiva Autonomous Patch system will handle the prestaging automatically.
3. Handled by Workflow: Prestaging will only occur if the Deployment Channel Process Workflow handles it. The Workflow must perform the prestaging in this case.

 

Further Information

For further information, please see the other resources in the Technical Reference Library or speak to a member of Adaptiva Support.

If you experience any issues or suspect there is a bug in Patch Deployment Bots, please log a support ticket and a member of the Adaptiva support team will be touch as soon as possible.