July 2017 Summaries

Matthew Casperson's blog post from July 11, 2017, outlines a method for deploying infrastructure using Ansible scripts managed by Octopus Deploy, particularly focusing on creating instances in AWS. By integrating Ansible with Octopus, users can treat infrastructure deployments with the same rigor and tracking as application code, allowing for progression through different environments, auditing deployments, and reverting to previous states with ease. The process involves setting up an initial Linux instance to run Ansible scripts, which are not natively supported on Windows control machines, and creating an IAM role with necessary permissions for EC2 operations. The guide walks through the creation and configuration of both Linux and Windows EC2 instances, illustrating the use of Ansible for automation and detailing the setup of the necessary AWS resources and Octopus configuration. It concludes by demonstrating how to package and deploy the Ansible scripts via Octopus, showcasing the advantages of managing infrastructure as code and leveraging Octopus's management features.

The July 2017 release of Octopus 3.15 introduces significant enhancements, including the integration of Let's Encrypt for automated SSL certificate management, facilitating a seamless transition to HTTPS for Octopus Server users. This update also addresses user feedback by allowing un-tenanted projects to be deployed to tenanted machines, enhancing flexibility in deployment scenarios. Improvements to the command-line interface include refined logging, error management, and the introduction of a --format=json option, along with deprecated switches ahead of Octopus 4.0, urging users to test automation scripts for compatibility. Additionally, a post-install data fix may require extra time, especially concerning the Events table, and users should follow standard upgrade procedures while ensuring the watchdog service is stopped during the process.