Changing Connections When Migrating between environments?

We are going to be creating a library that contains a connection to a specific database that is used by multiple groups and applications within our organization so that we can attach this library to processes that need access to this information. The concern I have is that this database exists within our Dev, QA, and Production Environment on servers that are specific to that environment and so when we deploy this library we need to be able to specify which Database to connect to.

From what I can see when I create a connection I have to specify which server I am going to connect to and so this will need to be changed based on which environment I am deploying to everytime I deploy or I have to keep three versions of the library (one for each environment) so that the connections are set correctly.

Is there a way to configure it so that the connection can be dynamically set based on the environment (i.e. Can I safely manipulate the Connections.Connection file as part of the release process or keep multiple versions of this file and select the correct one based on where we are deploying the release.)

-Matt

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Comments

Jerome_Pearce

There are two ways. You can maintain separate connection libraries (we prefer this if the library can be restricted to just connnections), or you can go into the Admin Tools and reconfigure connections in a repository manually. As I understand it, once manually altered, deploying will not overwrite the altered values.

The reason the manual approach is not welcomed by us is that it is a manual step, and involves much documentation and more risk. As we often have no access ourselves to customers' UAT and Production environments (let alone passwords etc) we prefer a separate library where we can.

Michael_Turek

Jerome, can you explain the seperate connection libraries a bit more? And I suppose you would overwrite the Metastorm Default connection as well with the connection string from the library?

Also, can you do the same with web services? Either in your library or via the admin tool?

Jerome_Pearce

You go into the 'repository' section of the admin tools, and then you expand the project or library (I think) node, and select the connection. You can then edit the details.

To maintain a separate library, you just have separate libraries deployed to each repository. As long as you do not make the mistake (documented hereabout pretty extensively by myself) of having multiple repositories/deployment services connected to any one instance of the Designer, you cannot go wrong. If you do make that mistake, all bets are off, and you are on your own, I'm afraid. it is too easy to completely stuff it up.

Regarding web service connection, I must admit I am not sure if these can be edited in the same way. I would certainly keep separate libraries for these if possible.

As for the default repository, that is not a configurable connection at all. it will be handled by the engine and you have no contro over it. It always represents the local Metastorm database.

Jacob_Eastman

You can edit any connections (besides the MetastormDefault as Jerome mentioned) after deploying in the Admin Tools. However, web service connection changes have a defect assigned:

Bug #23393: Unable to edit Web Service Connection details in Admin tools

As Jerome mentioned, the MetastormDefault connection is whatever is used by the engine (specified in the registry). In Designer, you can change what connection you are testing with under Metastorm Eye -> Options -> Default Connection. However, this is only a placeholder while testing and after deploying the engine will use it's own connection for the MetastormDefault.