Introduction

This document describes the hardware, software, and network configuration that needs to be in place before MettleCI can be deployed and configured in your environment. The platform delivered will include all MettleCI software, and will interface with your nominated non-production Information Server environment to enable the demonstration of all of MettleCI's capabilities.

The deployment topology of a MettleCI platform, whether being used for evaluation or production purposes, has been deliberately designed to be as simple as possible. The biggest difference between evaluation and production deployments of MettleCI is the selection of software components residing on the dedicated MettleCI Host that would be better deployed to separate servers. Alternatively, some components of the MettleCI stack could be delivered by integrating with existing solutions already in place in your organisation. While MettleCI is easily integrated with Customers' existing Jira, Git, and Bamboo instances, describing the full range of integration options available is beyond the scope of this document.

The delivered architecture will focus on evaluation purposes only, and has been designed for ease and speed of deployment. The evaluation will validate which parts of this architecture could be re-used for a MettleCI production deployment, and which may need to be re-deployed or reconfigured to meet your organisational requirements.

Whilst not representing our recommended production deployment of MettleCI, this MettleCI architecture assembles all of the software forming MettleCI's DevOps platform for Information Server into a single, pre-configured, easily deployed package. This optimises the time spent on the evaluation process.

See also

MettleCI Platform Components

The following high-level MettleCI architecture shows the key software components to be installed, and their communications between hosts. 

In-scope Hosts

Developer's Workstation: Where the Windows DataStage Designer client is typically run

Application Lifecycle Management Tools: One or more hosts running Work Item Management, Git, and Build services

Information Server Development Environment: Your development instance of Information Server, which may be deployed in any topology, and on any number of hosts.

Other Information Server Test Environment(s): Downstream Information Server environments sitting between Development and Production., including testing and (optionally) Production.  These environments can be MettleCI deployment targets without requiring the deployment of any MettleCI components. 

MettleCI Host: A MettleCI-dedicated Windows server hosting an IBM DataStage client Client tier which is used by your Azure AgentBuild system's agent, in conjunction with the MettleCI Command Line Interface, to automate build and deployment activities.

Connections

1. here
2. The Developer Workstation provides data engineers with access to the ALM tools' user interfaces via a supported web browser.
3. Your regular DataStage client tier access to the development environment's DataStage Engine and Services tiers.
4. here
5. here
6. here
7. here
8. here
9. hereThe MettleCI Workbench application running on your DataStage Engine tier needs to performs a commit to your Git platform.
10. The MettleCI Workbench application running on your DataStage Engine tier needs to performs a dynamic lookup of Work items when displaying the Git Commit page.
11. The Developer Workstation provides data engineers with access to the

1. ALM tools' user

1. interfaces via a supported web browser.  This should cover...
   1. the Git host, 
   2. the Work item Management host, and
   3. the Build Host
2. The Developer Workstation provides data engineers with access to the following components via a supported web browser:
   1. OPTIONAL The MettleCI Scheduler (Azkaban) user interface
   2. OPTIONAL The MettleCI Wallboard  
3. Your regular DataStage client tier access to the development environment's ...
   1. DataStage Engine tier, and
   2. DataStage Services tier.
4. Your Build system performs its duties via its agent installed on the MettleCI Host
5. The MettleCI Host requires regular access to the development environment's DataStage Engine tiers, identical to that of Developer Workstations.
6. The MettleCI

1. Host requires regular access to the development environment's DataStage

1. Services tiers, identical to that of Developer Workstations.
2. The MettleCI

1. Host requires regular access to the downstream test environments' DataStage Engine and Services tiers, to affect automated deployment.

Some points to note:

• MettleCI works with all Information Server deployment topologies, including High Availability, Grid, and Cluster environments, For clarity, this diagram shows each tier residing on its own, dedicated host.
• Application Lifecycle Management components can be co-hosted with the other tools on the MettleCI Host or located on another host (on-premise, cloud or SaaS).

Component Connections

The following table describes which interactions take place between the software components listed above, and which functions those interactions support.  Note that if a component or protocol isn't specified then it’s either irrelevant to MettleCI, or MettleCI can re-use whatever your infrastructure dictates.

MettleCI Scheduler (Azkaban)

• Automated execution monitoring
• Ad hoc execution
• Execution Failure Recovery

MettleCI Wallboard

• Solution health monitoring
• Build/Delivery metric monitoring

• Filesystem asset version control
• Non Information Server (ISX) asset version control

• Administration of Azkaban Software
• Detailed debug log access

• Check-In

• Sprint Health Metrics
• Build/Deployment Health Metrics

• )

• DataStage Engine Tier CPU load
• Job execution statistics

DataStage Client

(via a CI/CD Agent)

• Check-In
• Compilation
• Deployment
• Compliance
• Execution
• Testing

• Deployment (via SCP)
• Script Execution (via SSH)

• Check-In
• Compilation
• Deployment
• Compliance
• Execution
• Testing

The MettleCI solution will use the same ports and protocols that the customer uses for its standard installation of the DataStage Client on end-user hardware.

MettleCI CLI Plugins

(via a CI/CD Agent)

Information Governance Catalog REST API

• Execution
• Testing

• .