The document discusses the benefits of automating various IT projects and processes using automation tools. It describes how automation can speed up middleware upgrades, application migrations, building private clouds, core application upgrades/migrations, platform migrations, and rearchitecting IT environments. It then provides details on an Apache plugin for RapidDeploy, an automation tool, which allows for deploying and managing Apache configurations, taking snapshots of environments over time to detect configuration changes, and deploying WAR files.

1. Compelling Events for Automation
• Middleware Upgrades It’s great when new vendors
bring out new features - but often taking advantage of
them takes a good deal of time and effort to upgrade
the new infrastructure - and introduces risk. Automating
the upgrade project speeds it up, reduces the risk and
builds a more manageable platform in the future.
• Migrating off ‘Premium Product’ With the economy
as it is, more organizations are forced to tighten their
belts, and one area that has come under particular
scrutiny is the annual cost of maintaining installed
software. Some organizations have made the decision
to move less business critical applications off more
expensive middleware onto open-source platforms
such as JBoss and Tomcat. This type of project is
accelerated when it’s automated and an automation
tool makes managing hybrid or heterogeneous
environments much easier.
• Building a PAAS or a private cloud With pressure
on businesses to deliver more innovation to their
customers, faster, we see many of our customers
building Platforms As A Service and private clouds.
These are a lot faster and quicker to set up using an
automation tool, and a lot quicker to manage demand
once they are up and running.
• Core business application upgrades or migrations
Many of our customers occasionally need to upgrade
or even replace their core business applications - often
complex, multi-layered, integrated systems that have
evolved over time and have many integration points
and are absolutely critical to the minute by minute
operations of the business. Using an automation tool
can reduce the risk and time associated with such
a project.
• Platform migrations Sometimes it’s time to move
from one platform to another - for instance, customers
sometimes feel that a UNIX based platform will
offer them performance advantages over an OS400
platform. But moving hundreds of middleware
applications might seem like a challenge too far -
without automation.
• Rearchitecting Change is a constant and businesses
need to continually evolve their IT infrastructure
and operations, build new environments for things
like Disaster Recovery and automating the build
and deployment of these new environments means
delivering them faster.
Apache Insights
• This plugin allows for the snapshot of Apache
configuration at a point in time and comparison
with other snapshots to compare changes in
configuration over time and manage/identify
configuration drift. The snapshot may also be
used as the basis for a template which can then
be deployed to further downstream Apache
environments applying environment specific
changes by use of a data dictionary file.
• The plugin also allows for the controlled deployment
of WAR files to target Apache environments.
RapidDeploy™ Plugin for Apache
RapidDeploy™ provides organizations with Application Release Automation capabilities
to reduce costs, improve productivity and time to value and assure compliance. There
is a range of plugins available to extend the core automation framework capabilities to
most available platforms and perform integrations throughout the DevOps toolchain.
This datasheet refers to the Apache plugin.
Plugins are downloaded through the Plugin Manager console in RapidDeploy™, or from the MidVision
website at www.midvision.com.
RapidDeploy™TargetPlugins

2. Apache Plugin Overview
RapidDeploy™’s Apache plugin provides automated
deployment and configuration management of Apache
web servers and content.
Additionally, the plugin provides the capability to:
• Install Apache web server
• Snapshot Apache configurations and environments
• Create templates from the snapshots
• Compare snapshots enabling the detection of triage
of configuration drift by comparing environment
configurations
• Promote templates to create new configurations
downstream. The promote function is undertaken
through the RapidDeploy™ Snapshot / Template /
Promote framework and doesn’t rely on any scripts
Apache Tasks
• BinaryInstallTask - Install Apache binaries on Windows
or Linux/Unix
• MsiPackageInstallTask - Install Apache binaries via an
MSI package on Windows
• DeployConfigurationTask - Deploy Apache template
configuration file(s) that was collected via a snapshot
or manually added to the SCM tool.
• StartApacheTask - Start the Apache servers
• StopApacheTask - Stop the Apache servers
Apache Plugin Versions
The Apache plugin supports Apache HTTP server V2.x.
If you use a version of Apache that is not listed here
and you would like to manage it using RapidDeploy™
please email sales@midvision.com with the details.
For future versions, we aim to have support within two
quarters of the vendor announcing general availability,
although customer demand can accelerate our
development roadmap.
RapidDeploy™ Plugins
The RapidDeploy™ plugins extend the functionality of
the core automation framework and are categorised in
the following way:
• Toolchain plugins enabling integration with Build
Engines, Artifact repositories and Source Control
Management tools
• Transport plugins enabling use of SSH and
Agent capability
• Target plugins enabling connectivity with broad
range of Middleware Applications and Databases
• Cloud plugins enabling connectivity to cloud providers
• Business Intelligence plugins to extend the
CAF including for example, enhanced comparison
functionality and additional reporting capabilities
Plugins ship with:
• A Library of commonly used tasks
• Wizards extensive help information
• Predefined automation library elements
Want this plugin? Getting hold of it’s easy - either:
1) Go to the Plugin Manager in your installation of RapidDeploy™ and pick your plugin from the list or
2) Go to www.midvision.com Support Downloads RapidDeploy Plugin Downloads and select your
plugin from there. If you have any problems, please call or email your MidVision Account Manager.
You must license your plugin separately - please speak to your MidVision Account Manager
or email sales@midvision.com. If you are an IBM Rational Automation Framework customer and
would like access to this plugin, please contact us at www.midvision.com.
www.midvision.com©MidVision2013.Allrightsreserved.RapidDeploy™TargetPlugins