Configuration Management of Web Application Development – Where did you go? Does your ad agency or web design firm use the right processes and tools that aid in the design, development, and deployment of your website, or app?

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Configuration Management of Web Application Development
–Where did you go
Does your ad agency or web design firm use the right processes and tools that
aid in the design, development, and deployment of your website, o rapp?
By Marc Piparo, VP Technology, Intellavia LLC
© Intellavia, 09/23/2010. Permission to share if source is fully credited.
Configuration Management (CM) of software development has its roots in the earliest days of software
development practices. Even the Countess Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, is recognized as the
very first computer programmer, used configuration management practices and procedures in her work
with Charles Babbage – and this was back in the 1840s. So with such a long history, it’s ironic that web
application development, arguably the most modified and heavily updated software, continues a
downward trend when it comes to configuration management.
It’s amazing how increasingly rare it is becoming for web developers to work in any type of
configuration managed environment of their software, especially when it comes to version control. It’s
also glaring that the majority of open-source tools that web developers use to build their web
applications are typically under some form of a team environment and versioning control, so why the
disconnect with the web app itself?
The primary reason is typically a lack of discipline that exists today in web application development.
While software engineers with a solid background in CM and an understanding and the respect of the
importance of these processes still thrive, the web application landscape is increasingly lacking this
discipline. It appears the vast proliferation of web development tools have enabled the explosion of web
application development activity along with the exponential expanse of the World Wide Web, hence,
web application development has become a victim of its own success. It has come at the cost of the loss
of software engineering discipline. No longer are software engineers, along with their discipline and
practices, a required resource on an increasing number of web application projects–the reason many
projects increasingly continue to omit configuration management processes.
So what exactly is Software Configuration Management or SCM? To put it simply, it’s a set of
processes and tools that aid in the design, development, and deployment of software. Without it,
especially in the quickly changing world of web application development, source code and supporting
documents become nothing more than a mutation of its previous state, unable to be tracked or
explained. And unfortunately, this is the world we live in today. Web files are being updated and
modified on the local desktops of a developer, only to be uploaded directly to the web server, replacing
its former version of itself, with all history lost. And it’s that important history, containing the
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information about what was modified, by who, when, and why, that is vital to maintaining a solid
development environment.
While the depth of CM processes that should be implemented can certainly be measured based upon the
complexity of the application and number of developers involved, one vital part of CM that must not be
overlooked, is versioning control. Version control is vital to every…yes, “EVERY”…artifact created
for the project. This includes not only the source code and supporting files, but documents as well.
Documents relating to requirements, design, or even a sketch on a napkin should be scanned in.
Basically any bit of information that is relevant to the application being built should be captured in
version control. Since the ability to simply view a document is not enough, the ability to view past
revisions of these documents is an essential necessity, especially in environment with ever changing
requirements, such as a web site.
So, while I certainly do not expect every web app to be developed in a fully fledged process driven
environment, (though I personally would never work outside of one) the use of some components,
specifically version control, is enough to at least have a level of CM in your project.
The following suggestions are some final food for thought:
1. Implement a versioning control system (VCS), such as SubVersion (SVN), CVS, or if $$$ is not
issue, proprietary systems such as Perforce and Visual Source Safe.
2. Create a build and deployment process, even if it’s just a single page. This process can be highly
effective and should discourage uploading or modifying files directly on any deployment server,
including a test server.
3. Block or disable FTP access to host servers, (both test and production). This will eliminate the
instinct (and ability) to change files directly on the server.
4. Always commit your files, including documents, to the project repository to maintain version
control.
5. Make use of version control systems deployment and version mechanisms, and ‘diff’ and
history functionality to determine changes from one revision to the next.
6. All builds and deployments to test, staging, production, or any platform should be built from the
repository, create branches where specific modifications unique to a server or web app instance
are needed.
7. Choose a versioning control system that your IDE supports either inherently or through an add-
on or plug-in. This makes working with the VCS very convenient and many times seamless.
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8. Do not dismiss following a formal development process as an unnecessary burden, even for
small scale projects. Most development processes, such as RUP, will scale to your project size
and contain invaluable disciplines.
9. Tag release versions within the VCS, including beta or user acceptance testing versions, so a
baseline can be established for these releases.
10. Implement a backup procedure for your VCS repositories, preferably off-site, with a
documented recovery plan.
As a Director of Marketing or Brand Manager, how many times have you heard "we must have
overwritten some files" as an excuse for your website not working?
Or, what about needing information as to when your website was changed, and who changed it?
Bet you'd love to easily replace those files that were incorrectly edited or *gasp* deleted by the intern...
Wouldn't you love to have those requirements and brainstorming documents from your iPhone app
project stored and tracked? ("I thought it was going to do _______, remember?")
Let Intellavia show you the love, and how many agencies #fail when it comes to configuration
management.
We'd like to hear your comments, even project horror stories.
© Intellavia, 09/23/2010. Permission to share if source is fully credited.
29 S. Orange Ave. 3rd Floor, Orlando, FL 32801 | 407.412.7244 | www.intellavia.com | 3