Understanding Software Stacks

You can use Command Central to create, monitor, and maintain multiple product installations using bulk operations by provisioning those product installations as software stacks. A software stack is a set of product runtimes and related database components that serve one or more purposes, such as business process management, application integration, or API management. For information on types of software stacks you might create, see Understanding Software AG Products.

An additional benefit of using stacks is to simplify future upgrades, as the upgrade procedure for stacks is simpler than the procedure for standalone product installations.

Note:
The new stacks feature is available as an early iteration for you to investigate. Stacks you create cannot yet be updated. Software AG welcomes feedback on this new feature at Software AG TECHCommunity.

Stacks are made up of at least one of each of the layers described below. You create each layer based on micro templates you develop.

The Infrastructure layer type contains Platform Manager. The template identifies the physical machines, virtual machines, or Docker containers that host Platform Manager.

The Runtime layer type contains instances of one type of runtime. The template specifies instance creation, configuration, and licensing. The runtime instances in one stack cannot be used in any other stack.

The Database layer contains the database components you are using with the runtimes. The template specifies the database name, the location of the Database Component Configurator, and the database connection parameters.

In development, you can create all layers of a stack on the same machine. In production, you distribute the layers across machines. You can install different types of runtime instances on the same machine, but if you install on multiple machines, the installations must be identical. For example, if you install product A on machines 1 and 2, you can install product B on machines 1 and 2, but you cannot also install product B on machine 3.

You create a layer based on micro templates you develop using domain specific language (CC DSL). Micro templates can provision new stacks on empty host machines. They are modular and reusable.

You can create the stacks from the Command Central GUI or by running Command Central commands.

You can easily monitor and maintain the runtime instances in a software stack using bulk operations. You can:

Monitor the overall status of the stack to see whether all instances are running, some instances are down, or all instances are down.

You can also upgrade the runtime instances in software stacks. For more information about upgrading products using Command Central stacks, see Upgrading Software AG Products On Premises.

The set of software stacks that are managed by a particular Command Central is called a landscape.

Note:
The term "instance" as used in this section includes both runtime instances and runtime instance components. The latter are independent modules that run within a runtime instance but have their own configurable elements. For example, Task Engine is a runtime instance component on My webMethods Server.

To watch a video that provides a detailed description of the stacks and layers concepts in Command Central, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPyNpOzzrjA.