Pipelines and Deployments configuration tasks

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Pipelines and Deployments configuration tasks

    This guide outlines the essential configuration tasks for setting up Pipelines and Deployments in ServiceNow's App Engine Studio (AES) and App Engine Management Center (AEMC). Completing these tasks in the prescribed order during the Guided Setup ensures that your pipeline environments, deployment flows, testing, and Change Management integration work correctly across production, testing, and non-production instances.

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    Key Configuration Tasks for Production Instances

    • Configure environment credentials: Set up credentials for each instance in your pipeline to enable AEMC flows to access them securely.
    • Configure environments: Add URLs and credentials for both production and non-production environments (development, test, staging) to define your deployment targets.
    • Configure pipelines: Define pipelines by naming them, associating environments, and specifying the deployment order of applications across environments.
    • Add users to the App Engine Admin group: Assign users involved in pipeline tasks to the App Engine admin group unless already done in previous setups.
    • Add Automated Test Framework (ATF) and Instance Scan suites: Incorporate custom test suites and standard ATF and instance scan tests into your deployment process to ensure application quality.
    • Enable Change Management integration: Link your existing Change Management program with AEMC to automate deployment scheduling based on Change request states and planned windows.
    • Configure Change Management properties: Optionally customize change models, templates, and CI creation subflows to tailor integration to your company’s processes.

    Key Configuration Tasks for Testing Instances

    • Configure environment credentials: Similar to production, set up access credentials for testing instances.
    • Configure the controller instance: Identify your production instance as the controller that manages pipeline deployment flows and communication.
    • Enable ATF properties: Turn on system properties to allow ATF suites to run during deployments, which helps maintain deployment quality. This is especially important if cloning production to non-production instances.
    • Configure ATF and Instance Scan suites: Ensure testing suites are properly configured to validate application deployments.

    Key Configuration Tasks for Non-Production Instances (Non-Testing)

    • Configure environment credentials: Provide necessary credentials for non-production instances to participate in the pipeline.
    • Configure the controller instance: Ensure Change Management integration properties are set appropriately in these instances.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Establish secure, automated pipelines that move applications efficiently from development through production.
    • Ensure consistent, quality deployments with integrated automated testing (ATF and Instance Scan).
    • Leverage Change Management integration to align deployments with organizational change processes, reducing risk and improving governance.
    • Centralize deployment control via a designated controller instance, simplifying pipeline management and communication.
    • Customize deployment and Change Management behavior to fit your company’s unique workflows and requirements.

    As you work through the Pipelines and Deployments guided setup, you must perform different configuration tasks on each of your instances.

    Setting up environments, pipeline records, and user access

    The tasks for configuring Pipelines and Deployments are listed below, along with links to detailed instructions for completing them. These tasks build on each other, so it's important to complete them in the sequence listed in the Guided Setup.

    Table 1. Pipelines and Deployments configuration tasks
    Instance Task Description
    Production Configure environment credentials. Configure credentials for each instance in your pipeline so that the flows used by AEMC can access the instances in your pipelines.

    For more information, see Configure environment credentials.
    Configure environments. Set up your production and non-production (that is, development, test, and/or staging) environments by adding the URLs and credentials used to access each instance.

    For more information, see Configure your pipeline environments.
    Configure pipelines. Set up and configure each pipeline by naming the pipeline, identifying each of the environments associated with the pipeline, and specifying the order in which apps are deployed between the environments in that pipeline.

    For more information, see Configure your pipeline.
    Add users to the App Engine admin group. Add users involved with this flow of tasks to the App Engine admin group.
    Note:
    If already added users on the production instance using AES guided setup or Configure Application Intake guided setup, you can skip this step.

    For more information, see Add users to the App Engine Admin group.
    Add Automated Test Framework (ATF) and Instance Scan suites.

    Add your customized test suites as part of an application deployment in addition to the instance scan and ATF testing suites that are standard in AEMC.

    For more information, see Add ATF and instance scan suites for testing.
    Enable Change Management integration

    Connect an existing Change Management program with AEMC so that deployments through the pipeline to the production environment are automatically scheduled based on the Change request state and planned change window.

    For more information, see Enable Change Management integration.
    Configure properties to integrate Change Management

    Change requests and configuration items (CIs) are created using specifications set up in your existing Change Management program. If you want to change the change model, change template, or CI creation subflows used during app deployments, you must configure these properties during Guided Setup.

    For more information, see Configure properties to integrate Change Management.
    Testing Configure environment credentials For more information, see Configure environment credentials.
    Configure the controller instance Identify the controller instance that contains the pipeline deployment flows, as well as all of the data associated with the pipeline. As each instance completes its assigned tasks, it communicates with the controller instance to determine where the next stage of deployment takes place.
    Note:
    Your production instance should be identified as the controller.

    For more information, see Configure your controller instance.
    Enable ATF properties on instances of type Testing. Enable system properties that allow the ATF suite to run during the deployment process. If you do not enable these properties, a warning displays during the deployment process, but you can continue with the deployment.
    Note:
    If you plan on cloning your production instance to one or more non-production instances, you should either create a data preserver for these settings or enable these settings on your production instance. For more information, see System clone.

    For more information, see Enable Automated Test Framework (ATF) properties.
    Configure Automated Test Framework (ATF) suite For more information, see Test your apps with the ATF.
    Configure Instance Scan suite For more information, see Configuring Instance Scan.
    Non-production instances that aren’t of type Testing Configure environment credentials For more information, see Configure environment credentials.
    Configure the controller instance in your non-production instances For more information, see Configure properties to integrate Change Management.