More on TeamSite Comparison deployment

Hi!!

OK... here goes... this is a rather long message....!!!

We are using the Teamsite comparison deployment for our deployment purposes. At this stage, we do not require to use a previous area for comparison. We are using the Teamsite’s “Staging” area as the source host’s deployment area. This would mean that all the files on the target host will be overwritten by the source host during each and every deployment.
However we would like the files on the target source to be deleted if there is no copy of the file on the source host. For this we are using the “doDeletes” attribute in the “transferRules” element in the deployment config file. The files do not get deleted on the target though.

We have noticed that the “deDeletes” works only when a previous area is mentioned in conjunction with the “sourceTeamsite”.

Another query: We have noticed that the “doDeletes” also works when a directory comparison is used. Hence, as a workaround … could we mention the teamsite area as part as the directory comparison???
Heres a snippet of the deployment file....
<source>
<sourceFilesystem area="\\10.0.21.62\IWSERVER\default\main\NKNOV\STAGING">
<pathSpecification>
<path name = "." />
</pathSpecification>

Any suggestions??
Thanx v.much!!

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Comments

Migrateduser

To be honest, I don't see why you're even using OD to do this. OD's strength is in letting you intelligently deploy only what is needed. If you're going to always deploy all the content, why not just FTP it?

Also, I think you're exploiting a bug here. the TeamSite Comparison mode expects 2 areas for source compare, and if it doesn't get the previousArea, it defaults to a full deployment. But I'm not at all confident that that is a feature; it might change in later versions of OD.

The fact that doDeletes does not function correctly in this undocumented, unsupported configuration is not at all suprising.

Now, to be positive for a moment: :-)

If you really need to deploy all the content from STAGING to the target server, and delete anything that's already there, there's 2 approaches I would use:

1: use DNR to run a "delete everything" script on the receiver at the start of the deployment.

2. change your config to a sourceFilesystem deployment using a file list that identifies all the files in staging, generated by a script, and use the doDeletes transferRule. It should then properly delete anything that's not deployed.

bw

Bob Walden [bob.walden@interwoven.com]
Interwoven Education Group
IM: Yahoo, MSN bob_walden

Migrateduser

You should be able to use TeamSite areas in directory comparison deployments. Note that you need at least OD 551 SP1 if you want to use the magic path values EDITION or IW_PREV. (SP2 is the latest service pack, and includes all SP1 fixes.)

Todd Scallan
Senior Product Manager
Interwoven
t: 408-530-7167
e: tscallan@interwoven.com

Migrateduser

When using directory comparison you can always deploy from a TeamSite STAGING area. Note however that the source path needs to be a valid filesystem path, normally starting with Y:\ on a Windows server. The UNC notation you show in your snippet (\\10.0.21.62\IWSERVER\default\main\NKNOV\STAGING) won't work. It should be Y:\default\main\NKNOV\STAGING.

This will work, and the end result will be what you want, but it still won't be doing a full deploy of the entire staging area. It will only deploy the differences between staging and the target directory on the receiver, as well as deleting any files on the receiver that are not in the staging area.

bw

Bob Walden [bob.walden@interwoven.com]
Interwoven Education Group
IM: Yahoo, MSN bob_walden

nk_sc

thank you for the response...

We will stick to using a directory comparison with the Teamsite Staging as the source.
I guess my earlier mail was not very clear ... but we did NOT want to have the content moved without a comparison. We didn't want to use the editions for deployment and weren't too sure whether we could use a TS area during a directory comparison....

Neeways... things are work fine.... thanks for all the options...!!!

Migrateduser

Ah, I see. When using directory comparison or file list deployment, the TS IFS (Y: or /iwmnt) is just another file system. You can treat any TS area as a source directory, including STAGING.

And as Todd pointed out, in 551 SP2 you can also use the "magic editions" "EDITION" and "IW_PREV", which stand for the latest and next-to-latest editions on a branch, respectively. Prior to SP2 these magic editions only worked with TeamSite-based deployments.

bw

Bob Walden [bob.walden@interwoven.com]
Interwoven Education Group
IM: Yahoo, MSN bob_walden

Adam Stoller

I realize this has been resolved, but there seem to be a few misconceptions in this thread - and I'd like to try to clear them up - at least a bit...

If you are using `sourceTeamsite`

You must provide both an area and a previousArea
If you want to deploy everything (as you indicated) you would need to set the previousArea to an "empty" TeamSite area - most easily done with something like: //IWSERVER/default/main/EDITION/INITIAL
NOTE: using sourceTeamsite performs the comparison between the two specified areas and not between the TeamSite server (source) and target server - thus the doDeletes="yes" option will only attempt to delete files on the target machine IFF they existed in the previousArea and not in the area on the TeamSite server - and this doesn't sound like what you were looking for.

If you are using `sourceFilesystem`

You only need to specify a source area
You need to specify a file system path for the above mentioned area which, if the area is within TeamSite needs to include an existing mount-point (e.g., Y:\ or /iwmnt or /default [exists on Unix with or without the /iwmnt prefix])
If you do not specify a filelist then a full comparison will be performed with the targetFilesystem's area and doDeletes="yes" will delete anything (unless filtered) in the target area that does not exist / no longer exists in the source area
If you do use a filelist then any file listed in that filelist that does not exist in the source area will be deleted from the target area

So - in your case, as I believe you did in fact resolve this - you used a sourceFilesystem pointing to a STAGING area in TeamSite for your source area with doDeletes="yes" enabled. In this case a full comparison will be performed for each deployment, but only those files which differ will be deployed (and/or deleted if they do not exist on the source side).

Hope that helps.

--fish
(Interwoven, Curriculum Development)