Batch processing overview
Theme: Overview | Who is it for? System administrators and automation engineers who automate OpCon Deploy operations through the command line, scheduled jobs, file-based triggers, or DevOps pipelines
What is it?
The Batch Processing section covers all of the ways to drive OpCon Deploy operations without using the interactive client UI. The core batch application (Batch.SMAOpConDeployClient.exe) supports deploy, import, simulate, and init operations from the command line. On top of that, OpCon Deploy provides four integration patterns: scheduled deployments triggered by an OpCon job, file-based deployments triggered by placing a definition file in a watched folder, DevOps pipeline integration for CI/CD workflows, and diagram generation triggered in batch.
When would you use this section?
- Automating deployments as part of a nightly or release-cycle schedule in OpCon
- Integrating OpCon Deploy into a CI/CD pipeline so that schedule definitions are deployed automatically after a build
- Triggering a deployment by dropping a definition file into a monitored directory
- Performing a mass import of schedule definitions from an existing production system during initial setup
- Generating schedule or package diagrams from a batch process rather than the UI
What is in this section?
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Batch processing | Reference for the Batch.SMAOpConDeployClient.exe command-line application — supported functions (DEPLOY, IMPORT, SIMULATE, INIT), all arguments, and usage examples |
| Scheduled batch deployment | How to trigger batch deployments from an OpCon job using the BATCH_DEPLOY schedule, including job definition and scheduling considerations |
| Batch deployment implementation | Implementation requirements and setup steps for enabling scheduled batch deployments, including the BatchScheduleServer configuration |
| Batch file integration | How to trigger deployments by placing a deployment definition file in a directory monitored by OpCon Deploy |
| Batch DevOps integration | How to integrate OpCon Deploy operations into a DevOps CI/CD pipeline using the batch application |
| Batch diagram processing | How to generate schedule and package diagrams from a batch process |
Glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Batch processing | The capability to perform OpCon Deploy operations (deploy, import, simulate, init) from the command line using Batch.SMAOpConDeployClient.exe, without the interactive client UI. |
| DEPLOY function | The batch action that deploys a defined schedule or package from the central repository to a target OpCon system. |
| IMPORT function | The batch action that imports schedule definitions or transformation rules from a source OpCon system into the central repository. |
| SIMULATE function | The batch action that performs a deployment validation check against the target system without making any changes, returning a report of warnings or confirmation that deployment can proceed. |
| INIT function | The batch action used during initial environment setup to populate the OpCon Deploy repository from an existing production OpCon system, setting all schedule definitions to version 1 and marking them as currently deployed. |
| BATCH_DEPLOY schedule | An OpCon schedule that OpCon Deploy uses to run scheduled batch deployments. Jobs representing pending batch deployments are injected into this schedule at the specified deployment time. |
| BatchScheduleServer | The OpCon server definition configured in OpCon Deploy to host the BATCH_DEPLOY schedule. This server must have the batch deployment capability enabled. |
FAQs
Q: What is the difference between batch processing and scheduled batch deployment?
Batch processing refers to running Batch.SMAOpConDeployClient.exe directly from the command line or a script. Scheduled batch deployment is a higher-level capability where OpCon Deploy submits a deployment request to an OpCon job that runs at a future date and time, using the BATCH_DEPLOY schedule on the configured BatchScheduleServer.
Q: Can I run a simulate check in batch before deploying?
Yes. Run the batch application with -a SIMULATE using the same arguments as a DEPLOY call. If no warnings are returned, you can proceed with the DEPLOY call. In a CI/CD pipeline, this is typically done as a gate before the deployment step.
Q: How do I encrypt the password used in batch command arguments?
Use the batch application with the -ep argument to encrypt a password value. The encrypted value can then be used in the -p argument for subsequent batch calls, avoiding plain-text passwords in scripts or pipeline definitions.