Compare two snapshots of a deployable

Use the Config Data Analyzer tool to find changes between two snapshots of a deployable of an application.

Before you begin

Important:

Starting with the Washington D.C. release, DevOps Config is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer activated on new instances but will continue to be supported.

There must be more than one snapshot available in a deployable to compare and the target snapshot must not be the first snapshot in the deployable.

Role required: cdm_viewer, cdm_editor, or cdm_admin

About this task

To compare snapshots from different deployables or applications, see Compare snapshots from the same or different applications.

Procedure

1. While viewing an application, select the Snapshots tab.
2. Open a snapshot of a deployable.
3. In the Snapshot record page, select the Config data changes tab.
   The current snapshot is auto-populated in the Target snapshot field.

   

4. Select another snapshot in the Reference snapshot field.
   The Reference snapshot field lists all snapshots that are older than the target snapshot. The Reference snapshot field is inactive when older snapshots are not available. Even if newer snapshots created after the target snapshots exist in the deployable, they are not listed.
5. Optional: If you've the cdm_secrets role, you can select View encrypted data to view encrypted values in clear text in the comparison results.
   Note:

   The check box is inactive for users who don’t have the cdm_secrets role. When the values in the target and reference differ, the comparison results indicate that the values differ, but the data itself still appears as ********.
6. Select Compare.
   The Config data changes section displays the comparison results. It shows the changes between the selected reference and target snapshots.

   The following image displays the Config data changes section that contains the comparison result that you can use to analyze the data.

   

   A: Navigation panel

   The navigation panel displays the node structure of the deployable.

   • Nodes that include changed CDIs (either directly or in descendent nodes) are annotated with Edited.
   • Nodes that include newly added CDIs (either directly or in descendent nodes) are annotated with Added.

   You can search for a node name in the Search field. Select a node to view its contents in the Changes panel.

   B: Changes panel

   The panel displays a list of changes to individual CDIs for the node that is selected in the navigation panel.

   • By default, the root node is selected and the data panel includes all CDIs for both snapshots. Select a node in the navigation panel to display data for only that node and its descendents.
   • Node paths are displayed in gray. Use the expansion icon () to view CDIs in a folder.
   • When Changes only is selected, the number of CDIs that have changes appears after the node path.
   • When Script view is selected, the list view toggles to editor view.

   Table 1. List columns in the Changes panel

   Column	Description
   Action	Indicator to show what was the change type. Added: A CDI appears only in the target snapshot. Deleted: A CDI appears only in the reference snapshot. Edited: For the specified CDI, the values in the target and reference snapshots differ.
   Name	Name of the CDI.
   Reference snapshot	Value of the CDI in the reference snapshot.
   Target snapshot	Value of the CDI in the target snapshot.

   If a file node is selected in the tree, the comparison result displays the changes in the file between the selected reference and target snapshots.

   Table 2. List columns for a file node comparison

   Column	Description
   Action	Indicator to show what was the change type. Added: The file node is available only in the target snapshot. Deleted: The file node is available only in the reference snapshot. Edited: The file node data differs in the target and reference changesets.
   File metadata	Metadata of the file attached to the file node. File name: Name of the attached file in the file node. Content type: Content type of the file. Content: Content of the attached file. Preview is not available on the list, but you can download the file to preview it. File URL: Folder path where the file exists.
   Reference snapshot	Details of the file present in the reference changeset.
   Target snapshot	Details of the file present in the target changeset.