Uploading your config data

Release version: Washingtondc

Updated February 1, 2024

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Summary of Uploading your config data

In the Washington DC release, customers can create a new Configuration Data Management (CDM) application structure and upload existing configuration data. Note that DevOps Config will be deprecated but will continue to be supported. For further information, refer to the Deprecation Process article.

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Key Features

Creating CDM Applications: Start by creating a new application in the CDM interface, such as a Bookstore application, to organize your config data.
Modeling Data Structure: Generate a changeset where you define the data structure including nodes for components, collections, and deployables.
REST API Utilization: Use the REST Explorer to upload configuration data by specifying parameters such as application name, data path, and format (e.g., JSON).
Data Limits: An application can hold a maximum of 100,000 Configuration Data Items (CDIs), while each deployable can contain up to 10,000 CDIs.
Automated Uploads: Each POST request generates an upload script that can be utilized in your pipeline system for future uploads.

Key Outcomes

Once the application is set up and data is uploaded, you can manage and update configuration settings, validate data with policies, and export valid snapshots. The system also allows generating API code for automating export processes.

You first create a new CDM application structure and then upload the existing config data into the structure.

Important:

Starting with the Washington DC release, DevOps Config is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer installed on new instances but will continue to be supported. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

How it works: Performing the initial upload of your existing config data into CDM data tables

Uploading config data into a new CDM application

Open the CDM user interface and create a new application. For example, let's create the Bookstore application to support an online bookstore. An application in CDM is the full collection of config data for an application service, application model, or dynamic CI group [infrastructure] in the CMDB.
Now open the Bookstore application and generate a new changeset so you can begin to put the data structure in place. (A more detailed overview of this process appears in Preparing an application for config data upload.)

In the changeset, define the data structure that includes a node for each set of config data that you will upload. This process is called modeling the data. You add components, collections, deployables, and CDIs as needed. For information on each of these items, see CDM data model. For additional information on adding nodes to an application, see Preparing an application for config data upload.

In this example, two components and two collections have been added. Now, the PaymentSvc-1.0 component is included in the Release-1.0 collection. As with all collections, this means that any data in the PaymentSvc-1.0 component is now included in the Release-1.0 collection.

When you are satisfied with the structure (you can update at any time), you open the REST Explorer to begin the process of uploading the source config data into the CDM data tables. Do not commit the changeset — it remains open so you can upload data.
Using the REST APIs or the config data editor, set parameter values that specify the name of the application to upload to, the path within the CDM application data structure to place the data, the format of the source data (JSON in the example), and so on.
Note:
When you upload your existing config from an XML file and the ignoreAttributes is set to false, the CDM XML Parser retains the attributes in JSON using identifiers. For more information, see Parsing of XML files in CDM.
This example shows the REST API Explorer platform utility for clarity. This is an example of how you might construct an Upload to components REST POST request that creates a dbProperties.json node in the PaymentSvc-1.0 component and then adds the source data to the new node. (You specify the source data to upload in another field.) The APIs are described in CdmApplicationsApi, CdmChangesetsApi, and CdmSnapshotApi.
When you select Send, the API reads the original config data, uploads it and aligns it into the CDM data structure.
Note:
Uploaded data items are sorted alphabetically within the structural folders to enable you to locate particular items quickly.
The system places the following limits on the count of config data items (CDIs):
- An application can contain a maximum total of 100,000 CDIs.
- Any single deployable can contain a maximum of 10,000 CDIs.
See CDM system properties for information on configuring the sn_cdm.max_allowed_cdi_per_application and sn_cdm.max_allowed_cdi_per_deployable property settings.
Important:
Each time you submit a POST request, the API performs the POST and also generates an upload script. You can specify one of several script languages. The purpose is for you to use the code in your pipeline system to automate the upload process for this application in future uploads.
Back to CDM: Review and update the config data as described in Preparing an application for config data upload.
When you are satisfied that the application is a full and correct representation of the config data, you can commit the changeset. The commit action generates a snapshot of each deployable and causes the API to store the data in CDM tables.
Now that the application is fully in place, you can manage the data as needed: Update config settings, apply policies to validate the data, export valid snapshots of config data, and so on.

While you export any snapshot, the system can generate API code that you can use to automate the export process. See Generate API invocation code for an exporter for details.