August 2017 Summaries

In the August 2017 release of Octopus Deploy, several enhancements were introduced, notably the removal of the Mono framework requirement for deploying to SSH targets, which simplifies deployment to platforms like Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and macOS. This change is facilitated by the introduction of a self-contained Calamari built with .NET Core 2.0, although it's marked as a beta feature due to .NET Core's preview status. The release also includes an upgrade of ScriptCS to version 0.17.1, offering modernized scripting capabilities in C#, albeit with some breaking changes. Additionally, an Okta authentication provider was added to streamline identity management integration, thanks to a community contribution by Brent Montague. A necessary update for Let's Encrypt integration was also highlighted, addressing issues with API call handling that affected certificate renewals. Users are advised to check release notes for breaking changes, especially those using C# scripts, and to allocate time for post-install data fixes during the upgrade process.

Octopus Deploy is developing support for Java applications, including a feature for Tomcat that enables parallel deployments, allowing multiple application versions to run simultaneously. This approach helps maintain user sessions during updates by directing new traffic to the updated version while allowing existing sessions to finish naturally. However, it does not resolve issues with changes to shared resources like databases. To utilize parallel deployments, administrators need to configure the Deployment Version field, ensuring that newer versions have higher numbers. Once an application version is no longer in use, Tomcat can automatically undeploy it if configured, aiding in the management of rolling deployments.