Skip to main content
Version: Early Access

Live Deployments in Release

The Live Deployments feature enables you to track deployments from various sources and embed them in your release process. Previously, only deployments that were started from a task in the release process were known in Release. You can now listen to deployment events from external tools like Digital.ai Deploy and ArgoCD and view live updates in Release. All the deployment activities are on the same page, whether it comes from cloud-native Kubernetes environments or classic middleware. Additionally, you can make the external deployments part of the release flow, even when they are not orchestrated by Release.

  • The Live Deployments dashboard helps you track "what is deployed where" and "what is the status of the deployed applications".
  • Listen to deployment events coming from Digital.ai Deploy and ArgoCD.
  • Embed live deployment event in your release process using the Webhook Event Triggers and the Webhook: Wait for Deployment Event task.

Prerequisites​

  • Release 24.3 (or later) with Release runner
  • Argo CD and Deploy container plugins for Release (installed by default)
  • Deploy 24.3 (or later) or Argo CD

In the case of Argo CD, you must also have administrator permissions on the Argo CD server to enable webhook events for applications using the config map generated during the Live Deployments configuration. For more information, see Argo CD Notification Services—Webhook.

Understanding Live Deployments in Release​

The Live Deployments feature in Release offers a comprehensive way to manage and monitor your deployments. Before diving into the setup and configuration, it's important to understand the two main approaches available:

  • Onboard new deployments—This option is ideal when starting fresh. It guides you through setting up new deployments directly in Digital.ai Deploy or Argo CD using intuitive step-by-step workflows. Choose this if you're setting up a new deployment pipeline.

  • Connect to existing deployments—This approach lets you integrate existing application deployments from Digital.ai Deploy or ArgoCD into Release. This is perfect when you already have working deployments that you want to monitor and manage through Release.

Required Setup and Preparations​

Before proceeding with either approach, ensure you have:

  • The necessary credentials for your Deploy or Argo CD servers
  • Access to the Release Runner instance
  • Administrative permissions (especially important for Argo CD webhook configurations)
  • A clear understanding of which applications and environments you want to monitor

Working with the Live Deployments Dashboard​

The Live Deployments dashboard serves as your central command center for monitoring deployments. To accommodate different viewing preferences and use cases, it offers two distinct views:

Live Deployments Dashboard—List View​

alt text

Live Deployments Dashboard—Tile View​

alt text

The Live Deployments dashboard shows the following information for every deployed application:

  • Name of the application
  • Version of the deployed application
  • Status of the deployed application
  • The environment to which the application was deployed
  • Duration since the application was last updated

Action Menu to Manage Deployed Applications​

alt text

You can do the following for every deployed application in the Live Deployments dashboard.

  • View in deployment system—lets you open the application in the external deployment provider. Here's an example application in Argo CD.

    alt text

  • View Configuration details—lets you view the application configuration details.

    alt text

  • Delete application—lets you undeploy an application. For more information, see Delete Applications.

Filter Applications​

You can filter applications by name to find the application you want in a long list of applications in the dashboard.

alt text

Resync Deployed Applications​

Click Resync in the Live Deployments dashboard to manually refresh the current state of applications in Release.

For example, when you do not want to see cached deployments in the dashboard or if something went wrong, you can click Resync to refetch the current state of all the deployed applications.

Setting Up Connections in Release​

Before you can start tracking deployments, you'll need to establish secure connections between Release and your deployment servers. This section guides you through connecting to both Digital.ai Deploy and Argo CD servers.

  1. Click Connections > Digital.Ai Deploy Server.

    The New Digital.ai Deploy Server settings page appears.

    picture 1

  2. Type the required details to create a connection between the Digital.ai Release and Digital.ai Deploy servers.

  3. Click Test to check the connection and save the changes if the connection is successful.

  4. Click Connections > ArgoCD: Server.

    The New ArgoCD: Server settings screen opens.

    picture 2

  5. Type the required details to create a connection between the Digital.ai Release and Argo CD servers.

  6. Click Test to check the connection and save the changes if the connection is successful.

Your Digital.ai Release server is now successfully connected to Digital.ai Deploy and Argo CD servers.

Live Deployments - Step-by-Step​

📄️ Live Deployments in Release

The Live Deployments feature enables you to track deployments from various sources and embed them in your release process. Previously, only deployments that were started from a task in the release process were known in Release. You can now listen to deployment events from external tools like Digital.ai Deploy and ArgoCD and view live updates in Release. All the deployment activities are on the same page, whether it comes from cloud-native Kubernetes environments or classic middleware. Additionally, you can make the external deployments part of the release flow, even when they are not orchestrated by Release.