Deployments

A Deployment is the execution of a Solution, Sequence, or Action on one or more target machines. Deployments are the mechanism that turns your automation definitions into real-world changes.

What is a Deployment?

When you trigger a deployment, Mantis:

1. Resolves the solution/sequence/action to specific versions
2. Identifies target machines based on your selection
3. Creates an execution plan with ordered steps
4. Executes steps on each target
5. Monitors progress and collects logs
6. Reports success or failure

Deployment States

Deployments progress through a state machine:

State	Description
Pending	Deployment created, awaiting processing
Queued	In the dispatch queue
Running	Actively executing on targets
Success	All steps finished successfully
Failed	One or more steps failed
Cancelled	User cancelled the deployment
RollingBack	Automatic rollback in progress
RolledBack	Successfully rolled back after failure

Deployment Types

Standard Deployment

Regular deployment of a solution, sequence, or action.

Promotion

Moving a solution from one environment to the next:

• Development -> Test
• Test -> Staging
• Staging -> Production

Rollback

Reverting to a previous version:

• Standard Rollback - Deploy a specific previous version
• Point-in-Time Rollback - Restore to a specific timestamp

Creating a Deployment

Step 1: Select What to Deploy

Choose from three sources:

Source	Use Case
Solution	Complete application deployment
Sequence	Specific workflow (e.g., just database migration)
Action	Single operation (e.g., restart a service)

Step 2: Select Targets

Choose targets by:

Method	Description
Tags	Targets matching specific tags
Individual	Specific target machines

Step 3: Configure Execution

Option	Description	Default
Execution Mode	How to run across targets	Sequential
Failure Strategy	What to do when a step fails	Stop on first failure
Priority	Deployment queue priority	0 (normal)
Timeout	Maximum time per step	300 seconds
Max Retries	Retry count for failed steps	3

Step 4: Review and Deploy

1. Review the deployment summary
2. Verify target selection
3. Click Deploy

Execution Modes

Parallel

Execute on all targets simultaneously. Best for:

• Independent targets
• Fast deployments
• Stateless services

Sequential

Execute on one target at a time. Best for:

• Stateful services
• Database servers
• Ordered updates

Rolling

Execute in batches. Best for:

• Large deployments
• Maintaining availability
• Gradual rollouts

Rolling Configuration:

• Batch Size - Number of targets per batch
• Example: 10 targets with batch size 3 = 4 batches

Failure Strategies

Strategy	Behavior
Stop on First Failure	Halt deployment on any failure
Continue on Failure	Move to next target, continue other targets
Ignore Failures	Complete all steps regardless of failures

Rollback Strategies

Configure automatic rollback behavior:

Strategy	Behavior
None	No automatic rollback
Failed Target Only	Rollback only the failed target
All Executed	Rollback all targets that received changes

Monitoring Deployments

Real-Time Progress

The deployment detail page shows:

• Overall Progress - Percentage complete
• Step Counts - Total, completed, failed
• Duration - Elapsed time
• Per-Target Status - Each target’s current state

Log Streaming

View logs in real-time:

1. Click on a deployment
2. Expand a target row
3. View stdout/stderr output as it streams

Step Details

Each execution step shows:

Field	Description
State	Pending, Queued, Running, Completed, Failed, Skipped, Cancelled
Exit Code	Process exit code (0 = success)
Duration	Execution time
Output	stdout and stderr
Error	Error message if failed

Cancelling Deployments

To cancel a running deployment:

1. Navigate to the deployment detail page
2. Click Cancel
3. Confirm cancellation

When cancelled:

• Running steps complete (not killed)
• Queued steps are skipped
• State changes to “Cancelled”

Note

Cancellation is graceful. If you need immediate termination, contact your administrator.

Deployment Freezes

Administrators can create deployment freezes to prevent deployments during:

• Maintenance windows
• Holiday periods
• Critical business events

If a freeze is active:

• Standard deployments are blocked
• Administrators can override with a reason
• Override is logged for audit

Deployment History

All deployments are recorded with:

• Who triggered the deployment
• What was deployed (version, targets)
• When it ran
• How it completed (success, failure, cancelled)
• Complete execution logs

Access history from:

• Deployments page - All deployments
• Solution page - Deployments for that solution
• Target page - Deployments to that target

Best Practices

Pre-Deployment Verification

Before deploying to production:

1. Deploy to lower environments first
2. Verify functionality in each environment
3. Monitor for issues during soak time
4. Get required approvals

Monitoring During Deployment

Watch for:

• Unusual execution times
• Unexpected failures
• Resource utilization spikes
• Application health degradation

Post-Deployment Actions

After deployment:

1. Verify application health
2. Check error rates in monitoring
3. Review deployment logs
4. Document any issues encountered

Next Steps

• Creating Deployments - Step-by-step guide
• Target Selection - Choosing targets
• Execution Modes - Parallel vs sequential
• Monitoring - Real-time observation
• Troubleshooting - Common issues