XL Deploy v7.0 Speeds Up Software Deployment with New UI

Companies of all kinds, from large financial firms to major airlines and retailers, have used XL Deploy for years to dramatically increase their production speed. The latest release of XL Deploy, version 7.0, further speeds up the software deployment process with a new user interface that’s easy to install, easy to learn, and easy to use for your everyday work.

Let’s take a look at some of the cool new features of this release.

Configuration Management and Deployment in a Single Screen

The new XL Deploy user experience starts with the Explorer, a single screen that lets you work with configuration data and perform deployments. No need to switch between different screens to perform your daily tasks. In the Explorer, you can define infrastructure and environments, create and import applications, and kick off a deployment with just a few clicks.

The Explorer also offers powerful search functionality, so you can easily find the configuration items you need to work with.

Deployment — Pick a Target and Go!

With XL Deploy, starting a deployment is always easy: just select what you want to deploy and where you want to deploy it, and XL Deploy does the rest! You don’t have to build a workflow or script out the process; XL Deploy’s model does the work for you.

And the new user interface walks you through the steps. After you choose a deployment package in the Explorer, you can quickly pick the right target environment and go!

The new user interface streamlines tasks and shows the information that you need, when you need it — like dependencies between application versions, the relationship between the parts of an application and the target environment, and any deployment errors that need to be addressed.

And of course, you can still adjust the deployment to meet your requirements. For example, you can change the mapping of deployables to containers, edit properties of deployed items on the fly, and set deployment properties such as orchestrators.

Starting the deployment is as easy as a single click, but if you’re not ready to go, you can always review the deployment plan first, or have XL Deploy automatically execute the deployment at a later time.

While the deployment is running, you’ll see the status of each step, including a real-time log of the actions that XL Deploy is executing on remote hosts. It’s the same concept as the old GUI, but with a fresher, more streamlined look and feel.

New Task Monitor Lets You Stay on Top of Your Deployments

In the new XL Deploy user interface, the Task Monitor helps you stay continually aware of everything that’s happening in your system. It lets you keep an eye on active deployments and assign them to users who need to pick them up for troubleshooting — for example, if a deployment fails due to an infrastructure issue or a network outage.

In addition to deployment tasks, the new Task Monitor also shows the status of active control tasks, which are tasks that perform useful admin actions such as checking the connection to a host or synchronizing plugins to a satellite.

With the new Task Monitor, you always get a complete picture of what’s running now and what’s scheduled to run next.

Deployment Reports at Your Fingertips

Why scramble at the last minute to gather data for auditors? The new user interface includes a deployment report that details what was deployed, when and where it was deployed, who performed the deployment, and exactly what actions were taken in the process. You’ll see the exact plan that was executed, even if it includes groups of steps that ran in parallel. And of course, the same goes for undeployment and rollback actions.

Easily Configure Role-based Permissions

Without granular control over who is allowed to do which tasks, you compromise the security of your entire process. For administrators, setting up and managing user roles, global permissions, and local permissions can be time-consuming work. The new XL Deploy user interface makes the process faster and smoother, with fewer clicks and more intuitive interactions. New User Management screens make it easy to review permissions settings at a glance, so you can be sure that the right access controls are in place.

What’s Next?

The new XL Deploy user interface gets more powerful with each release. Future releases will introduce valuable features, such as an improved way of viewing deployment pipelines, the ability to discover middleware infrastructure, and more.

Get the New UI

When you upgrade to XL Deploy 7.0, you’ll log into the new user interface by default. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Not ready to switch? That’s okay. Visit the XL Deploy 7.0 release manual to learn how to continue using the legacy user interface.