Application management

Application definition

An application is an independently deliverable service unit and the smallest logical unit for development, deployment, release, and operations. It typically corresponds to one or more functional modules and code repositories. For example, in an e-commerce system, the shopping cart is an independent application. Development, delivery, and operations tasks revolve around the application. We recommend that each application has a designated owner, a dedicated code repository, and defined processes for deployment, monitoring, and incident accountability.

Create an application

• Go to the App Delivery AppStack page and click New Application in the upper-right corner.

  • Specify the application name, application template, tags, description, and owner.

    • Application name: A unique identifier for the application that cannot be changed after creation. It must contain 1 to 63 characters, which can only be lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. It cannot start or end with a hyphen. This constraint ensures the application name is valid for use in Kubernetes component deployments. For more information, see Kubernetes Object Names.

    • Application template: Choose from the predefined application templates in Alibaba Cloud DevOps or start without a template.

    • Tag: Optional. You can define and use tags to categorize and identify applications.

    • Owner: The default owner is the current user, who has all permissions. After an application is created, you can add more members for collaborative development in Settings > Member Management.

    • Description: Optional. Used to describe the service capabilities of the application.

• Complete the application creation process.

View applications

• Go to the App Delivery AppStack home page. By default, it displays My Participated applications and all applications within your permission scope. You can also switch the view to My Favorites or All Applications.

  • The application list displays the Application name (Description), Tags, Application template, Owner, and Actions (use the star icon to favorite an application).

  • Click the star icon in the application list or on the application details page to favorite an application. The application will then appear in the My Favorites list. Click the star icon again to unfavorite it.

Application overview

A complete application can be set up by following these steps in order: Code source settings -> Deployment orchestration -> Environment planning -> Development process configuration -> Application release. This completes the release and go-live workflow for a new application.

• Code source settings: Configure a code source for your application. Both Codeup and general Git repositories are supported.

• Deployment orchestration: Orchestrate the deployment architecture for your application. Kubernetes YAML and host scripts are supported. You can use variables to manage environment-specific differences with a single orchestration setup.

• Environment planning: Configure the environments and resources required for application deployment. These are typically divided into development, testing, and production environments.

• Development process configuration: Configure the development process for your application, which is typically divided into stages such as development, testing, and production. It supports admission rules and manual gates.

• Application release: Create a new change and run the development process to complete the application delivery.

Recent deployment tickets

Displays information about recent deployment tickets for the application.

Application members

Displays the application owner.

Application settings

Go to your application, and in the navigation bar in the lower-left corner, click Settings > Application Settings, which includes Basic Settings, Associated Code and Artifacts, Orchestration Configuration, Development Process Configuration, Webhooks, and Member Management.

Basic settings

View and manage basic information about the application. You can modify tags, the application template, and the description.

Delete an application

• If the application has deployed environments, you must delete them before deleting the application.

• If the application has no environments, or if its environments are unused, you can delete the application directly.

  Warning

  Deleting an application removes all its associated data, including orchestrations, variable groups, environments, tickets, and versions. It also unlinks the application from any release pipelines. This action is irreversible. Proceed with caution.

Associate code and artifacts

Artifact sources support general artifacts and images. Code repositories support Codeup, self-hosted GitLab, and general Git.

• Associate code repository: You can add a maximum of one repository to an application. For more information, see Create service connection > Code Service. In the Add code source dialog box, select Codeup as the code repository type. Configure the service connection, code repository (for example, Ruby), default branch (for example, master), and code source identifier. Click OK to complete the association.

• Associate artifact repository: You can associate a private image repository. For more information, see Create service connection > Other Services. In the Modify Association Information dialog box, select Private image repository as the artifact source, and select a service connection (for example, LH's private image repository service connection). Then, enter the image repository address (for example, registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/<namespace>/cr_pro), set the default version number to 0.0.1, set the artifact source identifier to app_springai, and click Save.

Orchestration configuration

Orchestration configuration primarily uses YAML files to define and manage various resources in a cluster.

On the Orchestration Configuration page, click the more options icon (···) in the upper-right corner. From the dropdown menu, click Delete this deployment method. This menu also includes the Add host deployment orchestration and Export orchestration configuration options.

Development process configuration

Configure the development process for application changes. This process is typically divided into stages such as testing, staging, and production. It supports admission rules and manual gates. AppStack provides built-in variables to help you customize the process. See Continuous delivery modes for changes.

On the Development process configuration page, click the ··· button in the upper-right corner of a stage card. In the pop-up menu, you can select Edit pipeline, Edit basic information, or Delete stage.

Webhooks

Webhooks allow developers to integrate with third-party platforms by subscribing to application events, such as environment deployment completion, change releases, and successful development process runs. These platforms can include third-party project management tools, internal CMDB platforms, or external deployment and operations systems. For details, see webhooks.

When creating a new webhook, you must configure a URL (required), a secret token, and a description. Under Trigger events (required), you must select the event categories and specific events to which you want to subscribe. These include Environment (New environment), Deployment ticket (Deployment ticket status update), Application orchestration (New orchestration, Orchestration update), Variable group, Change (Change status update), and Development Stage (Development process stage run status update). After completing the configuration, click OK.

Member management

You can manage application members and assign them different roles in this section.

• Add member: Use application role permissions to establish fine-grained control over resources like orchestrations, environments, variable groups, changes, and development processes within the application. Click Add Member. In the Add Member dialog box, browse the department tree to select target members. From the Add as dropdown menu at the bottom, select a role (for example, Developer), and then click Add.

• Modify member role

  In the member list, click the Role column for the target member to open a dropdown menu. Available roles include Owner, Developer, Tester, and Ops. Select the desired role and click OK.

• Remove member: In the member list, click the delete icon in the Actions column for that member. In the Remove member confirmation dialog box, click Remove.