Project Build, Deployment, Maintenance

Lecture 9-1 Bart Massey 2015-11-25

Today, Let's Think Big

• Talk about problems that mostly arise

  • In really large projects
  • With really large userbases
  • Over really long timescales

• Really, the problems here start about at delivery

  

Delivery

• Pass acceptance tests

• Build release versions

• Package software with ancillary materials

• Deploy the software

  • Remember, most software is in-house
  • The Internet is not enough

  • Don't invent deployment methodologies

    

Pre-Maintenance

• Maintenance plan includes

  • Instrumentation to diagnose defects
  • Methodology for updates
  • Preservation of software and artifacts

• Best is living continued development

• Maintenance will go beyond product end-of-life

  

Tools

• Maintained SCMS

• Regular builds and continuous integration

  • State of the art is Travis CI

• Automated frameworks are key for management

  • Able to build and test all versions automatically
  • Able to track configurations and config change history

• Tools are not enough

  • Must capture knowledge and process

  • Knowledge stored in people is fairly useless

    

Large Scale Deployment

• Number one rule: customer contact is... expensive

• Number two rule: "Out-Of-Box Experience" must be flawless

• Risk management is key

  • Incremental deployment
  • Parallel deployment

  • Deployment team resource management

    

Versioning

• Large projects rarely have a single product even at one point in time

  • Multiple simultaneous development threads
  • Multiple configurations

• Large products must be built for size (c.f. Brooks' "Programming Systems Product"

  

Software Product Lines

• Sometimes projects are built with a great deal of project-specific infrastructure

• Keeping track of interrelationships and "soft SKUs" requires its own infrastructure

  

Software Maintenance

• Only one kind of unmaintained software

• Perhaps biggest effort in software life cycle

• Infrastructure is crucial

  • Adequate staffing
  • Adequate knowledge transfer

  • Workable issue tracking system

    

Kinds Of Maintenance

• Corrective

• Perfective

• Preventative

  

End-Of-Life Decisions

• Have clear criteria for end

• Have an endgame in mind