The Deployment of Software Products

The Deployment of Software Products
An Introduction

Computer Science Department

bernstdh@jmu.edu

An Important Distinction

Development Environment:
- The hardware and software that are used to (design and) implement a software product
Testing Environment:
- The hardware and software that are used to test (usually integration testing and system testing) a software product
Production Environment:
- The hardware and software system that the user interacts with through the software product

An Example of this Distinction You're Familiar With

An Example of this Distinction (cont.)

A Problem You May Have Bumped Into:
- Your submissions didn't compile on the submission system
What You Should Have Done:
- Created a testing environment that looked more like the production environment (e.g., copy the .zip file to another directory, unzip it, and compile from the command line)

Physical Architectures

Definition:
- A physical architecture is a realization of a software product as artifacts (e.g., files) residing on and executing on computational resources
An Important Note:
- A product's physical architecture is distinct from its logical architecture (i.e., the software's major components and the relationships between them)

Characteristics of Physical Architectures

Where is the software installed?:
- Local device
- Central device(s)
- Hybrid
Where is the software executed?
- Local device
- Central device(s)
- Hybrid
Where are user configurations and data stored?
- Local device
- Central device(s)
- Hybrid

Archetypal Physical Architectures

An Observation:
- Ignoring the hybrids, there are three characteristics each of which has two possible values, so there are $2^3 = 8$ archetypal physical architectures
The Rare Archetypes:
- Mobile Agents - The software is stored on the user device and executed on the shared device (using data from one or the other)
- The software is stored and executed on one device (either the user device or the shared device) but the user data is stored on another

Archetypal Physical Architectures (cont.)

Mainframe:
- The software product is installed on and executes on a central device, and is accessed from the user's device (which behaves as a generic "terminal")
- Configuration information for each user and user data is stored on the central device
Personal:
- The software product is "permanently" installed on the user's device (e.g., personal computer, phone, tablet) and executes on that device's processor
- If the device has multiple users, configuration information and user data are associated with each user
Shared:
- The software product is "permanently" installed on a shared storage device but executes on the user device's processor
- Configuration information for each user and user data are stored on the user's device
Cloud:
- The software product is temporarily delivered to the user's device and executes on that device's processor (e.g., applets, WWW apps)
- Configuration information for each user and user data is (mostly) stored "in the cloud"

Archetypal Physical Architectures (cont.)

The Hybrid Architectures:
- Some components of the system (e.g., classes) may be stored/executed on one device while others might be stored executed on another
- Some data may be one one device and some data may be on another
Some Important Examples:
- A product with a logical client-server architecture in which the client is on the user's device and the server is on a central device
- A product with sensitive/personal data stored on the user's device and common data stored on a central device

Activities in the Deployment Process

Release:
- Prepare the product for the subsequent steps (i.e., assemble the parts/resources/artifacts and create a distributable package)
Install:
- Transfer the product from the development environment to the production environment
Activate:
- Start all of the executable components
Deactivate:
- Stop the executable components
Uninstall:
- Remove the product from the production environment

Adding Updates to the Idealized Process

The Issue:
- All or part of an installed product may need to updated
Some Complications:
- It may or may not require deactivation and reactivation
- It is important to be able to "undo" an update and return the product to its previous state
An Implication:
- Design and implement with updates in mind

Some Other Issues Related to Deployment

Protecting Digital Information:
- Copy Protection
- Digital Rights Management
Integrity:
- Digital Signatures
Distributable Packages:
- Installers (e.g., InstallShield, Installer VISE)
- "Stores" (e.g., Apple Store, Play Store, Windows Store)
- Virtual Machines (e.g., VMWare, VirtualBox)
- Containers (e.g., Docker)

There's Always More to Learn