Deployment Platform

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A Deployment Platform is a Platform that provides the technical capabilities required to receive, host, configure, operate, and manage deployed software, Machine Images, services, or infrastructure components.

A Deployment Platform can provide capabilities for:

• Compute
• Storage
• Networking
• Identity and access management
• Security enforcement
• Configuration management
• Monitoring and observability
• Orchestration
• Deployment Validation
• Deployment Rollback
• Operational lifecycle management

A Deployment Platform identifies a technology or platform category. It does not identify a specific configured destination.

A Deployment Target identifies a specific destination that uses a Deployment Platform. Multiple Deployment Targets can use the same Deployment Platform.

Examples include:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud Platform
• VMware vSphere
• Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform
• Bare-Metal Infrastructure

A Deployment Platform can operate within a:

• Connected Environment
• Disconnected Environment
• Air-Gapped Environment

The connectivity classification describes the operating conditions of a Deployment Target or Target Environment. It does not define the Deployment Platform itself.

A Deployment Platform forms part of a Target Environment. The Target Environment identifies the broader destination and operating context, including its organizational, operational, security, compliance, connectivity, and resource boundaries.

A Deployment Platform can host one or more Execution Environments. An Execution Environment provides the runtime conditions in which deployed software or services execute.

Within the Crucible architecture:

• A Deployment Description identifies the requirements for a Deployment
• A Deployment Target Catalog identifies the available Deployment Targets
• A Deployment Target identifies a specific configured destination
• The Deployment Target identifies the Deployment Platform that provides its platform capabilities
• A Provider Implementation maps provider-independent deployment requirements to the interfaces and resource model of the Deployment Platform

platform that provides the technical capabilities required to receive, host, configure, operate, and manage deployed software, Machine Images, services, or infrastructure components

Generalized from software deployment, platform engineering, infrastructure automation, virtualization, container orchestration, and cloud-computing usage and specialized for the Crucible architecture and operational model.

A Deployment Platform identifies a platform type or technology. A Deployment Target identifies a specific configured destination that uses the Deployment Platform.

For example:

• Amazon Web Services is a Deployment Platform
• An identified AWS account, region, virtual private cloud, and resource boundary form a Deployment Target
• VMware vSphere is a Deployment Platform
• An identified vCenter instance, data center, cluster, resource pool, datastore, and network form a Deployment Target
• Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform is a Deployment Platform
• An identified OpenShift cluster and its deployment boundary form a Deployment Target

A Deployment Platform can itself operate on another Deployment Platform.

For example, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform can operate on:

• Amazon Web Services
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud Platform
• VMware vSphere
• Bare-Metal Infrastructure

In this case, OpenShift provides the container platform, while the underlying platform provides the compute, storage, and networking infrastructure.

The Deployment Platform does not identify:

• A specific account, tenant, subscription, project, cluster, or site
• A specific geographic region or facility
• A specific network or resource boundary
• A specific security or compliance authorization
• A specific set of deployment credentials
• A deployed Infrastructure Environment

Those characteristics belong to the Deployment Target, Target Environment, or Infrastructure Environment.

VMware vSphere acts as a Deployment Platform.

A Deployment Target based on VMware vSphere identifies:

• A specific vCenter instance
• A data center
• A cluster
• A resource pool
• One or more datastores
• One or more networks
• The authorized identity used for Deployment
• The security and compliance constraints
• The operational and connectivity environment

Crucible uses a Provider Implementation to translate a Deployment Description into the platform-specific operations required to create an Infrastructure Environment on that Deployment Target.