You can use the CLI commands to write scripts to automate configuration and administration operations in an environment, such as stopping or restarting a large number of run-time components and updating configuration settings.

With the composite templates you can automate creating a whole new Software AG product infrastructure by applying one composite template on a large number of nodes to create new product installations. In a Command Central composite template, you can describe all elements of the product environments, such as products, instances, fixes, and configuration. The composite template also groups the products into functional layers, and lists the configuration settings and database details for each product instance. You store composite templates as zip archives, which you include in a single CLI command or script to create new installations on remote machines. You select which environments to install on which nodes by either creating a map in the template or adding parameters in the CLI-based script. You should put composite templates under version control and test them in the same way you test an application.

You can also use composite templates to automate the upgrade process for Software AG product environments. When applying a composite template with the apply composite template CLI command, you just add a parameter that indicates that Command Central must migrate the environments defined in the template. You can use the default migration flow supported by Command Central, or customize the migration settings in the template definition. For example, you can specify whether to create an archive of the old installation directory, or whether to migrate to the same or a different host.