Content Lifecycle Management with SUSE Manager 4 | SUSE Communities

Content Lifecycle Management with SUSE Manager 4

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With the help of a new Content Lifecycle Management (CLM) user interface, SUSE Manager 4 makes it possible to clone software channels (Figure 1) through a lifecycle of several environments.

 

Figure 1: Software channels help you keep control of software installation.

 

This new tool allows you to create content projects, select a custom set of software channels as sources  and whitelist specific packages and patches. With your sources chosen, you can build the selected set, which will then populate your first environment. That environment can then be promoted through the environment lifecycle.

 

With SUSE Manager 4, the process cycle looks like this:

  1. Create a Content Lifecycle Project.
  2. Add sources to your project.
  3. Add environments (stages).
  4. Attach filters.
  5. Build your first version.

 

SUSE Manager’s Content Lifecycle Management helps you encourage and support DevOps-based development techniques. Content Lifecycle Management lets you promote software channels through a lifecycle of different environments (see Figures a – c). For instance, suppose your production pipeline consists of Development, QA and Production phases (as shown in the figures). Each of these phases is served by software channels tuned and carefully selected for the environment. When a package is promoted (say from Development to QA), what that really means is that the software channels that used to feed the Development environment are now assigned to the QA environment. Content Lifecycle Management lets you clone the software channels that point toward Development to direct them to QA (Figure b.). When it is time to promote the package to Production, you can clone the channels directed at QA to the production environment.

 

Content Lifecycle Management is a powerful tool for managing the package development process, offering tight control and convenience and reducing the need for custom scripts and repetitive procedures.

 

Figure a. The Content Lifecycle Management process: A software project passes through several development phases. Each phase is associated with a collection of software channels.

Figure b. When the software is promoted to a higher phase, the Content Lifecycle Management feature lets you clone the software channels to follow the package, rather than manually rebuilding the channel system at the new level.

 

Figure c. After the promotion, the Dev environment starts again with new software sources, and subsequent cloning steps mean the package progresses through higher phases with minimal need for channel reconfiguration.

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