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Modeling software deployment
Modeling software deployment in HCL Launch includes configuring components and component processes and adding those components to applications. Then, you use processes to deploy the components to environments.
Components
Components represent deployable items along with user-defined processes that operate on them, usually by deploying them.
Component templates
With a component template, you can save and reuse component processes and properties and create components from them; template-based components inherit the template's properties and process.
Importing component templates
When you import a template, you can create an entirely new template or upgrade an existing one.

Modeling software deployment
Modeling software deployment in HCL Launch includes configuring components and component processes and adding those components to applications. Then, you use processes to deploy the components to environments.
- Components
  Components represent deployable items along with user-defined processes that operate on them, usually by deploying them.
  - Creating components
    A component consists of artifacts of a single source type and one or more processes. Component creation is the same for all source types, however; the content can be different.
  - Component processes
    A component process is a series of user-defined steps that operate on a component's artifacts.
  - Component versions
    Each time a component's artifacts are imported into the repository, including the first time, a separate version is stored in CodeStation. Versions can be assigned automatically by HCL Launch, applied manually, or come from a build server.
  - Component properties
    Components can have several types of properties. The server keeps track of changes to component properties as property versions.
  - Creating component manual tasks
    A component manual task interrupts a component process until manual intervention is done. To create a component manual task, add a manual step to a component process, and select a notification template.
  - Component templates
    With a component template, you can save and reuse component processes and properties and create components from them; template-based components inherit the template's properties and process.
    - Creating component templates
      To create a component template, specify information about the template, such as which plug-in it is related to.
    - Importing component templates
      When you import a template, you can create an entirely new template or upgrade an existing one.
    - Exporting component templates
      Exporting a template creates a JSON file (file extension json) that contains the template's configuration information, properties, and processes.
    - Component template properties
      Component template properties ensure that every component created from a template has the same properties. The types of available properties are described in the following table.
    - Using component templates
      When you create a component from a template, the component inherits the template's process and properties, if any.
  - Component change logs
    Change logs provide information about modifications to components.
  - Deleting components
    When a component is deleted, it cannot be activated later.
- Resources
  A resource is a logical deployment target that typically resolves to an agent and a user-defined construct that is based on the architectural model of HCL Launch.
- Applications
  Applications are responsible for bringing together all the components that must be deployed together.
- Application environments
  An environment is a user-defined collection of resources that hosts an application.
- Application templates
  With an application template, you can save and reuse a collection of resources, environments, processes, and tagged components or component templates to create a standardized application.
- Application processes
  Application processes, like component processes, are created with the process editor. You use application processes to deploy or to roll back components.
- Application blueprints
  An application blueprint maps application components to a resource template. When you create an environment or provision one from the cloud, you can use the blueprint as a model.
- Snapshots
  A snapshot is a collection of specific versions of components and processes. Typically, a snapshot represents a set of component versions that are known to work together. In most cases, snapshots include all of the components in an application.
- Creating manual application tasks
  A manual application task interrupts an application process until manual intervention is done. To create a manual task, add a manual step to an application process and select a notification template.
- Approval process
  You can add approval requirements to deployments. Deployments with approvals cannot be completed until all approvers respond. Approvers can respond to requests on the Work Items tab, or by email.
- Inventories
  You use different inventories to track installed components and properties in HCL Launch elements.
- Processes
  Processes are automated tasks that run on agents.
- Statuses
  Create and apply statuses to track component inventory states or to track component versions in environments and resources.
- Properties
  Properties are variables that store information about many different elements, including components, environments, processes, and applications. You can also set global properties for the system.
- Tags
  A tag is a user-defined, shared, short label that you use to classify, view, and conduct operations on objects such as applications, components, agents, and resources.
- Webhooks
  Using the webhooks, you can send text-based responses to users in messaging platform such as MS Teams and Slack when a specific event occurs during deployment process.
- Secret Stores
  Allows HCL Launch to retrieve credentials of individual servers from the Vault and authenticates a plug-in step in the deployment process.

Importing component templates

When you import a template, you can create an entirely new template or upgrade an existing one.

About this task

When you export components, applications, processes, or templates, and then import them on a different computer, the same versions of the same plug-ins must be installed on both computers.

Procedure

Display the Import Template dialog (Components > Templates > Import Template).
Click Choose File, and then select the JSON file that contains the template.

Note: You must create the JSON file that contains the template on a server that uses the same version of HCL Launch as the destination server.
If you want to upgrade an existing template, check the Upgrade Template check box. To create a template, leave the box cleared.
If the template's name in the JSON file (not the name of the file itself) matches an existing template, the template is upgraded. If the name is not found, the command has no effect.
Note: The template's name is the first parameter in the JSON file; for example,
```
"name": "helloWorldTemplate",
```
In the Generic Process Update Type list, specify how to handle generic processes that are being imported along with the component template and that have the same names as existing generic processes.

Note: This field affects only generic processes, not component template processes.

Use Existing Process

Select this option to ignore generic processes in the imported component template when those processes have the same name as existing generic processes.

Create Process

Select this option to rename any generic processes that have the same name as existing processes.

Fail If Process Exists

Select this option to cancel the import if the imported component template references any generic processes that have the same name as existing generic processes.

Fail If Process Does Not Exist

Select this option to cancel the import if the imported component template references any generic processes that do not have the same name as existing generic processes.

Upgrade If Exists

Select this option to update generic processes to match the imported generic processes.
Click Submit.