Why using the deployment service?

There is more than one way to get the project files stored in PureCM to a target machine:

1. Use the PureCM GUI and create a workspace in your target location
2. Use the command line client to create a workspace in your target location

Both options will create a local copy of the project files on your target machine; so that looks like a perfect way to achieve your goal. In fact, most build tools pull the latest project version that way.

However, both solutions involve installing at least one of the above clients on your target machine, and somehow triggering “update to latest”. ‘Mhmmm, I might not like that for my production environment,’ you say. ‘But I can see that this might be useful for my web developers.’

So this is where the FTP deployment service comes in. Instead of pulling the files to your target location, the deployment service pushes them there. Because it can listen to changes submitted against a stream, it’s capable of deploying them automatically. Stephen has already wrote a nice article on how you could use this service for web development.

How does it work?

The example below shows a possible setup using the FTP deployment server:

1. A developer submits a change to project 1, which is under source control in PureCM
2. The development manager merges the change to the deployment stream, which is the base stream for the FTP deployment service. Note that the deployment service can run on the same or a different machine as the PureCM server.
3. The FTP deployment service listens for changes and gets the change into his workspace.
4. Only changed files and folders are sent via FTP/SFTP to the target location.

Of course, this is only an example, but I’m sure you get the idea.

Getting the beta download

So now you know about the FTP Deployment Service, why not download the beta and tell us what you think? Is there a feature you miss, or a bug you found? Simply comment this blog or email us your comment to support@purecm.com.

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Download the FTP deployment service >>