Endpoints are the FlexDeploy representation of a device or virtual machine where plugins can be run. They hold connection and host details that allow FlexDeploy to connect to and perform commands on the server.

FlexDeploy utilizes an agentless architecture to connect to computers across private or public networks/clouds to execute build and deploy operations. This architecture uses a secured communication protocol (SSH) and eliminates the need for installing and managing software on every build and deployment target. In many cases no setup is required on an Endpoint prior to configuring it within FlexDeploy.

Endpoint Requirements

Requires a Unix or Microsoft Windows operating system.
- For Microsoft Windows, must have Cygwin installed, along with the openssh package. See the Cygwin Installation Guide for more information.
Requires JDK 1.6 or higher to be installed.
Requires a user account which FlexDeploy can connect with.
Requires a directory which is writable by the user account that FlexDeploy connects with.
The FlexDeploy server must be able to access the SSH port (default is port 22) on the Endpoint.

Viewing Endpoints

To view the configured Endpoints, select Topology -> Endpoints from the menu. Enter any optional search criteria and click the Search button.

Creating/Editing Endpoints

See the following links for information on creating Endpoints.

See Endpoint Defaults to setup default values for new Endpoints to save time.

Activating and Inactivating Endpoints

To inactivate an Endpoint select an existing Endpoint and click the Inactivate button. The Endpoint will not be displayed if the criteria for Active is set to "No". To reactivate an Endpoint, select the desired Endpoint and click the Edit button. Then change the drop down menu for active to "Yes" and click Save. This Endpoint is now active in the system again and ready for use.

Endpoint Directory Structure

The structure of the configured base directory on an Endpoint is as follows:

plugins
The plugins directory holds each version of a plugin that has been utilized on the Endpoint. There can be several different plugins loaded and many versions of a given plugin.

security
The security directory holds information related to the SSH connection between the FlexDeploy server and the Endpoint server and is used for secure communications.

work
The work directory contains every invocation of a plugin operation that has occurred on the Endpoint. There is additional file structure under the work directory based on the execution project id and the current execution id of the given project.

<projectId>/<executionId>/temp
Directory for plugin execution to checkout and manipulate data or files until moved to the artifacts directory for storage.

<projectId>/<executionId>/artifacts
Directory where artifacts are stored so they can be transferred back to the FlexDeploy server and stored permanently in the artifact repository.

<projectId>/<executionId>/internal
Directory where all internal FlexDeploy scripts are stored to execute the plugin step.

<projectId>/<executionId>/reports
Not currently utilized.

<projectId>/<executionId>/test-results
Directory for test plugins like Junit to place the test result to be processed.