Original content sourced from smlcodes.com. Expanded and edited for accuracy and clarity.
What Is IBM UrbanCode Deploy?
IBM® UrbanCode™ Deploy (commonly abbreviated as uDeploy) is an application-release automation tool that orchestrates and automates application deployments, middleware configurations, and database changes across on-premises or cloud-based development, test, and production environments. Teams can deploy on demand or on a schedule, with built-in role-based access control and self-service release management.
UrbanCode Deploy is available in several licensing tiers and as a hosted service. For current purchasing options, see the IBM Marketplace.
Core Capabilities
- Automated, consistent deployments and rollbacks of multi-component applications
- Automated provisioning, updating, and de-provisioning of cloud environments
- Orchestration of changes across servers, tiers, and components
- Environment-specific configuration and security management
- Clear inventory visibility: what version is deployed where, and who changed what
- Pre-built integrations with middleware, provisioning tools, and service virtualization platforms
Typical Use Cases
- Continuous Delivery: Integrate with build and test tools to automatically deploy, test, and promote new builds through the pipeline.
- Production Deployments: Orchestrate complex production deployments of applications and their configuration in the correct order and with appropriate approvals.
- Self-Service Releases: Grant individual teams the rights to trigger deployments for specific applications and environments without requiring centralized operations involvement.
- Incremental Updates: Deploy only changed components or missing incremental (patch) versions, rather than full application re-deployments.
Key Features of IBM UrbanCode Deploy
1. Multi-Tier Application Models
Modern applications typically consist of many interdependent components — for example, a three-tier application with database, application server, and content layers. UrbanCode Deploy tracks which components make up an application so they can be deployed and tracked as a unit. Snapshots allow teams to capture the exact versions of all components at a point in time, ensuring that what was tested together is released together.
2. Visual Drag-and-Drop Process Designer
Deployment processes are defined in the browser using a drag-and-drop graphical designer — no scripting required for common workflows. Component processes are assembled from automation steps delivered by integration plugins. Application processes then compose those component processes. Steps can run sequentially or in parallel, and transitions between steps are governed by conditional rules (for example, proceed on success, branch on failure). This makes it straightforward to convert a manual runbook into a repeatable automated flow.
3. Hybrid Cloud Deployment
The blueprint designer lets you model cloud environments graphically — connecting to cloud providers, modeling virtual images, and mapping application components to those images. Environments can then be provisioned and components deployed automatically and on demand. The blueprint designer supports public and private clouds including IBM Bluemix (now IBM Cloud), IBM SoftLayer, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, VMware vCenter, and OpenStack-based clouds.
4. Inventory Tracking
UrbanCode Deploy maintains a real-time inventory of what component versions are deployed to each target environment. The inventory system tracks both the desired state and the actual deployed state, and raises graphical alerts when an environment is out of compliance. This is valuable for audit, for testers who need to know exactly what build they are testing against, and for troubleshooting environment discrepancies.
5. Scalable Distributed Automation
UrbanCode Deploy is designed for mission-critical deployments at scale. Master server clustering provides high availability and horizontal scalability. Lightweight deployment agents are installed on or near target servers and communicate back to the master. Remote agents can connect through an agent relay — a communication proxy that simplifies firewall management and manages load for large, distributed environments.
6. Quality Gates and Approval Processes
Deployments to sensitive environments can be gated by conditions — for example, requiring that a component version has passed a defined test suite, or that multiple stakeholders have approved a change window. UrbanCode Deploy provides configurable Environment Quality Gates and Approval Processes per application and per environment. Early test environments can be configured with no approvals for speed, while production environments enforce full governance.
7. Plugin Integrations Replace Custom Scripting
IBM provides tested integration plugins for a wide range of tools, covering application servers, load balancers, databases, testing tools, and build servers. Utilities for managing configuration files and registry settings are also available. Teams with existing deployment scripts can still use them — either by calling them directly within a process step, or by wrapping them in a custom plugin. Plugins are available through the IBM UrbanCode Plugins Portal.
Installation and Configuration Overview
The following is a high-level walkthrough of the UrbanCode Deploy installation sequence. Consult the official IBM documentation for version-specific details and exact commands.
Step 1: Obtain the Software
Log in to your IBM account and navigate to the UrbanCode Deploy trial or licensed download page. Select the package appropriate for your operating system and download the installer archive.
Step 2: Review System Requirements
IBM UrbanCode Deploy runs on both Windows and UNIX/Linux systems. Before installing, review the official system requirements documentation for your specific version — including supported Java versions, minimum RAM and disk space for the server, and network port requirements. Following IBM’s sizing guidelines can significantly improve server and agent performance at scale.
Step 3: Install the Database
UrbanCode Deploy requires a relational database to store its configuration and audit data. Supported databases include Apache Derby (for evaluation only), Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL. For production use, Derby is not recommended. Install and configure your chosen database server and create a dedicated database and user for UrbanCode Deploy before running the server installer.
Step 4: Install the Server
The UrbanCode Deploy server provides the web-based user interface, the workflow engine, the security service, and the artifact repository. During installation, you will specify configuration parameters including:
- Server hostname and HTTPS port
- Agent communication port
- Database connection details and JDBC driver location
- Initial administrator credentials
Step 5: Configure Cloud Systems (Optional)
If you plan to provision dynamic cloud environments using the blueprint designer, you must install the appropriate script package on your cloud system and configure the connection from the UrbanCode Deploy server to the cloud provider’s API endpoint.
Step 6: Install Agents
Agents must be installed on each target server where deployments will run. Agents can be installed:
- From the command line: Run the installer batch file (Windows) or shell script (UNIX) and provide the server hostname and communication port.
- Remotely from the UI: The server can push agent installations to remote targets if SSH or WinRM access is available.
Step 7: Install Agent Relays (Optional)
For agents located behind a firewall or in a separate network zone, deploy an agent relay. The relay acts as a communication proxy between the agents and the server, reducing the number of firewall rules required and helping manage network load in large deployments.
Step 8: Configure SSL
UrbanCode Deploy uses SSL/TLS to encrypt all communications between the server, agents, and the browser-based UI. By default the installer creates a self-signed certificate. For production environments, replace this with a certificate signed by a trusted certificate authority and configure the server’s keystore accordingly.
Step 9: Start and Verify the Installation
Both UNIX and Windows installations require the server and at least one connected agent before you can run a deployment. If you are using Oracle or MySQL, ensure the appropriate JDBC driver JAR is placed in the server’s library directory before starting the server. Once the server is running, log in to the web UI, verify that your agent appears as Online, and run a simple test process to confirm end-to-end connectivity.
Next Steps
After a successful installation, the typical next steps are:
- Define your first Component and configure its source configuration (artifact repository, build tool, or file system).
- Build a Component Process using the drag-and-drop designer to install, start, and stop the component.
- Create an Application that groups your components and define an Application Process that coordinates their deployment order.
- Create Environments (Dev, QA, Production) and map your agent resources to them.
- Trigger your first deployment and review the inventory to confirm the component version is recorded correctly.
For full documentation, tutorials, and plugin downloads, refer to the official IBM UrbanCode Deploy documentation.