Administer tiers

As the Application Deployment administrator, you can manage the tiers available for creating and deploying applications. You can do the following:

• Creating a new tier
• Creating a new tier group
• Modifying the tier hierarchy
• Deleting a tier or tier group

Each of these processes is described briefly below—all topics assume that you have Application Deployment administrator privileges.

Creating a new tier

You must have permission to Manage Application Deployment in order to administer tiers.

You can create a new tier and place it anywhere in the existing tier hierarchy. Once a tier has been created, any user with Edit permission for an application and an environment can use that tier.

To create a new tier:

1. Go to the Administration screen (click Administration in the lower left corner).
2. In the left panel, click Tiers.
3. In the right panel, click Create Tier. The New Tier dialog opens.
4. Specify the following properties:
   • Name – enter a unique name (see Naming rules).
   • Group – locate and select the group in the tier hierarchy where you want to create the new tier.
   • Platform – select Windows or UNIX.
   • Backup Directory – optionally specify the location where components in this tier will store their backup files on the target server in the event that a rollback is required.
   • Optional: Associated Policy – click Select Policy, and select a software policy from the Library. This ensures that the middleware required to support the function of this tier is in place on the target servers.
   • Deploy Behavior – specify what Application Deployment should do if the associated policy is not yet attached to a server at deployment time.
   • Optional: OS Provisioning – click Select OS Sequence, and select an OS Sequence from the Library. This will be used to install and configure the appropriate operating system on any unprovisioned servers included in the target. See Provision servers at deployment time for more information.

   You can also modify these properties for any existing tier

5. Click OK.

Creating a new tier group

You must have permission to Manage Application Deployment in order to administer tier groups (see Set permissions).

You can create a new tier group in the tier hierarchy. You can then move existing tiers into the new tier group or create new tiers for it.

To create a new tier group:

1. Go to the Administration screen (click Administration in the lower left corner).
2. In the left panel, click Tiers.
3. In the right panel, click Create Tier Group. The New Tier Group dialog opens.
4. Specify the following:
   • Name – enter a unique name (see Naming rules).
   • Group – locate and select the “parent” group in the tier hierarchy under which you want to create the new tier group.
5. Click OK.

Modifying the tier hierarchy

You must have permission to Manage Application Deployment in order to administer tiers (see Set permissions).

You can move an existing tier or a tier group into any other existing tier group.

To move a tier into a different tier group:

1. Go to the Administration screen (click Administration in the lower left corner).
2. In the left panel, click Tiers.
3. In the right panel, double-click any tier or tier group.
4. Locate and select the “parent” group in the tier hierarchy where you want to move the selected item.
5. Click OK.

Deleting a tier or tier group

You must have permission to Manage Application Deployment in order to administer tiers (see Set permissions).

You can delete any existing tier or tier group that is not In Use (used in a version that is currently deployed to a target server or part of a release or target). If any tiers in a tier group are In Use, you cannot delete the tier group.

To delete a tier or tier group:

1. Go to the Administration screen (click Administration in the lower left corner).
2. In the left panel, click Tiers.
3. In the right panel, select the tier or tier group that you want to delete.
4. Click Delete.
5. Click Yes to confirm.

If you want to delete a tier that is In Use, you must first do the following:

• Undeploy and delete all versions that use the tier.
• Delete any releases that use the tier.
• Delete any targets that use the tier.
• Only empty tier groups can be deleted.

It is very difficult to delete a tier after it has been used.