A Version to Rule Them All

Strong Version Control as a Foundation to System Management

A Version to Rule Them All

Strong version control has become a key part of the software development process because it enables developers to collaborate in the construction of large-scale, complicated projects. Strong version control manages complex software artifacts, transforming a maze of individual fileswhich often change independentlyinto a single version number that represents the state of the entire source tree. At any time, you can query a version number and know exactly what revisions of which source files it included. You can also control changes between versions and go back in time because you have a complete representation of the version history. Its a controlled and automated approach to an inherently complex process. But the techniques weve developed for software development have rarely been applied to the world of IT operations. Today, managing deployed systems is highly manual and often inconsistent and chaotic, which creates costs, risks and delays for businesses. A core reason for this is that there is typically no authoritative way to manage the versions of deployed systems. At any point in time, a deployed system comprises several hundred packages, which are all versioned independently. This means that managing a system actually means managing the hundreds of individual versions that comprise the systemwith no single version to define the system itself. This makes it difficult or impossible to answeror even askquestions like: What version of our validated software stack is running on this system? How has this system changed from our original specification? How old is this system compared to newer installs? What would happen if we upgraded this system to a later build?

Asking these questionsand getting answers which can be understood and acted uponrequires an explicit and authoritative understanding of a detailed version history over time. This information simply doesnt exist for most organizations today. The reality is that IT operations are arguably more complex and more business critical than software development. But IT operations groups completely lack a comprehensive version control infrastructure for their deployed systems.

A Version to Rule Them All

Version control systems provide the right model for capturing and utilizing the underlying version relationships between the hundreds of packages that comprise a single running system, as well as for managing system software deployments across thousands of machines. rPath provides strong version control for deployed systems. It represents software components and sets of components in a distributed version control system which can be used to control provisioning, maintenance, and reporting for large numbers of individual machines. This approach offers a number of key benefits to IT operations: S y s t e m c h a n g e s c a n b e a u t o m a t e d deep dependency tracking codifies the impact of change, allowing updates to be delivered automatically to running systems without the risk of conflicts or collisions and without any human intervention. The result is a dramatically lower-overhead model for managing deployed systems. U p d a t e s a n d p a t c h e s c a n b e d e l i v e r e d i n c r e m e n t a l l y fine-grain control of system components allows each element to be managed independently. As system elements require updates, they can be incrementally delivered to the running system, eliminating the need for costly and disruptive forklift upgrades. S y s t e m s c a n b e c o n t r o l l e d t h r o u g h t h e l i f e c y c l e ensuring that development, QA and production teams are working with the exact same build, eliminating the possibility of configuration drift that can cause failed deployments and system outages. S y s t e m c h a n g e s c a n b e r o l l e d b a c k when collisions do occur, strong version control makes it easy to isolate the source of conflict and to roll back the changes. L o c a l c h a n g e s a r e e a s i l y i d e n t i f i e d comparisons between running systems and the version they are supposed to be running is a simple task with results that are easy to understand. S y s t e m s c a n b e e a s i l y a u d i t e d o r r e p r o d u c e d strong version control enables IT to go back in time and determine the precise system definition used at any point in history and to reproduce a system based on that definition for compliance or audit purposes.

A Version to Rule Them All

Without strong version control for deployed systems, IT operations groups are exposed to excessive cost and risktheyre effectively flying blind. This is particularly true as systems become increasingly diverse, interdependent and distributed in nature. In todays complex and cost-conscious IT environments, strong version control is essential for well-functioning, efficient, and compliant application delivery and systems management.

About rPath
rPath is widely known as an innovator in solutions that automate system provisioning and maintenance across physical, virtual and cloud environments. Our innovative release automation platform is based on the industrys only commercial version control repository for managing deployed software systems. The result is a complete automation solution for low-overhead and compliant system deployment and maintenance. rPath customers include leading enterprises and ISVs who rely on rBuilder and the rPath Release Automation Platform for rapid deployment and low-overhead maintenance of complex software systems.

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Copyright 2010 rPath, Inc. All rights reserved. rPath, rBuilder, rPath Lifecycle Management Platform and the rPath logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of rPath, Inc. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information supplied by rPath is believed to be accurate and reliable. rPath assumes no responsibility for any errors in this document. rPath reserves the right, without notice, to makes changes in product design or specifications.