Summary

This chapter introduced Deployment Designer, which enables applications defined using Application Designer to be bound to logical servers defined using Logical Datacenter Designer.

Initially, we used the Define Deployment feature of Application Designer to demonstrate this binding process for a default system based on the application design. We indicated some of the errors that could occur when binding applications to servers and told you how the final deployment could be validated.

We highlighted the difference between default deployments and (explicit) system deployments, leading into a discussion about grouping applications into systems explicitly for deployment to the logical data- center. In the context of user-defined systems, we discussed the role of the Settings and Constraints Editor and the idea of nested systems.

We demonstrated how to generate deployment reports in human-readable HTML format and in machine-readable XML format. We also offered a head start on how to navigate the structure of the XML file, suggesting that this format lends itself to automated deployment through scripting.

Finally, we contrasted the Visual Studio 2005 Deployment Designer with the UML deployment diagram, noting the one-to-many correspondence between the UML notation and the set of Visual Studio notations.

This chapter concludes our coverage of the four Distributed System Designers: Application Designer, Logical Datacenter Designer, System Designer, and Deployment Designer. One more visual designer is included for the first time in the Visual Studio 2005 Edition for Software Architects, as well as in some of the other Visual Studio 2005 editions. Though not strictly one of the Distributed System Designers, Class Designer operates in a similar way and is complementary in its usage. If you have a visual modeling background—for example, using UML—our coverage of visual design would be incomplete without a discussion of Class Designer, so that's the topic of Chapter 5.