Summary
Electric Cloud is pleased to announce the general availability of the ElectricFlow 6.3 FR. This release is of the “Feature Release” type. For more information about types of releases, please go to ElectricFlow Release Strategy.
ElectricFlow 6.3 FR enhances the solution across the board with several key updates to the Platform as well ElectricFlow Deploy and Release modules.
Some of the highlights are:
Artifact Staging in ElectricFlow Deploy Module to reduce production maintenance windows
With ElectricFlow 6.3 it is now possible to have all the required artifacts downloaded and available locally on the target machines automatically before the deployment begins. This push button capability significantly reduces production downtime as no time is spent in downloading large artifacts when servers are down.
Native Rollback support in ElectricFlow Deploy Module for ease of authoring
ElectricFlow 6.3 introduces is a new native “Rollback” Step in the Application and Component Processes. This allows an automatic rollback to the Environment present before an erroneous deployment was attempted, or to any Environment Snapshot from the past. This significantly shortens time to author the rollback logic to aid faster time to value.
Manual Steps with parameters in ElectricFlow Deploy and Release Modules to enforce compliance
In addition to all the automation capability, ElectricFlow 6.3 now has a new native Manual Step with parameter support in the Application and Component processes. This permits the ability to include human intervention easily at various points during the deployment. With the support of parameters it is also possible to take different paths based on user input during an active deployment. Parameter support has also been added to the Manual Tasks in the Pipelines. This enhances the ability to achieve compliance and governance during automated deployments.
Utility Steps in ElectricFlow Deploy and Release Modules for faster time to value
ElectricFlow 6.3 introduces a framework to add Utility functions to the Application and Component process steps as well as the Pipeline Tasks. This allows to easily extend Step and Task types so that automation for common activities can be reused, which helps to drive standardization and best practices. ElectricFlow 6.3 introduces a first Utility Step to “Decommission Environments” with a potential for more to follow in future releases.
Performance and Stability Improvements
This release features performance updates to artifact management for large scale deployments. Artifact Repository now also supports Amazon S3 as a backing store. Clustering capability has been strengthened for reliable operations. Additionally for improved security, the PHP library is updated to a newer version and ec-perl supports TLS v1.1 and TLS v1.2 as well.
Download Instructions
Download ElectricFlow 6.3 FR from the Electric Cloud Sharefile site.
- Login using your personalized account to the Electric Cloud Sharefile at https://electric-cloud.sharefile.com
- Navigate to: /products/flow/release_6.3/6.3.0.106016 or click here: 6.3.0.106016
- Server and agent installers are located in the directory corresponding to the operating system (for example, windows)
- IDE plug-in installers are located in the /products/commander/integrations directory
- Release notes and product documentation are available online: ElectrircFlow Documentation
Supported Configurations
See the “System Requirements and Supported Platforms” section in the ElectricFlow Installation Guide for a complete list of supported platforms and configurations.
Upgrade
Upgrades to ElectricFlow 6.3 FR are supported from ElectricCommander 4.2.x, ElectricFlow 5.x, ElectricFlow 6.2, 6.1, 6.0 LTS, 6.0.1 to 6.0.4. Systems that are pre-4.2 must be upgraded to ElectricCommander 4.2.x before upgrading to ElectricFlow 6.3 FR. For complete upgrade requirements and instructions, please see the ElectricFlow Installation Guide.
Support
Contact Customer Support with questions related to this release at support@electric-cloud.com.
Feedback
Contact the product management team at Electric Cloud for this or any ElectricFlow releases at productmanagement@electric-cloud.com
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