Upgrade a ServerTemplate

Objective

To understand the best practices for updating a cloned and customized Chef-based ServerTemplate when a newer revision of the original ServerTemplate is published. 

Overview

This document explains how to take upgrade a customized ServerTemplate when a newer revision of the original ServerTemplate (from which you previously cloned and customized) is published to the MultiCloud Marketplace. For example, if you started your development of a custom PHP Application ServerTemplate by cloning and modifying rev 1 of the PHP App Server (v13.5 LTS) ServerTemplate and a few months later RightScale publishes a revised version of that ServerTemplate (e.g. rev 3)  that includes a few bug fixes, security updates, and or enhanced functionality that you want to include in your modified version, you can follow the steps outlined below to properly update your cloned version.

Prerequisites

• 'designer', 'actor', and 'library' user role privileges in the RightScale account
• An existing ServerTemplate that you want to modify
• Understanding of the Wrapper Cookbook Pattern

Steps

1. (Optional) Import a ServerTemplate from the MultiCloud Marketplace
2. Find a ServerTemplate that you want to modify.  (App; rev 1)
3. Clone the ServerTemplate to create an editable version. Rename the cloned ServerTemplate appropriately.  (My App1)
4. (Recommended) Commit the ServerTemplate before you make any changes to it, which will make it easier to perform differentials against the "original" version. 
5. Modify the cloned ServerTemplate accordingly. (Recommended) Use the Wrapper Cookbook Pattern to make changes.
   • Attach new cookbooks
   • Add new recipes/RightScripts
   • Define any default values for inputs at the ServerTemplate level
   • Add/Remove/Modify Alerts 
6. Test modifications and commit new revisions of the ServerTemplate, as necessary.
7. A newer revision of the original ServerTemplate is published to the MultiCloud Marketplace. To determine if a newer revision is available, go to Design > Account Library > Your Imports. (Requires 'designer' user role privileges.)
8. Import newer revision of the original ServerTemplate from the MultiCloud Marketplace. (Requires 'library' user role privileges.)
9. Clone the newer revision of the ServerTemplate to create an editable version. Rename the cloned ServerTemplate appropriately.
10. Perform a differential between the HEAD version of the first cloned ServerTemplate and the original version of the ServerTemplate that was import from the MultiCloud Marketplace to identify all changes. Assuming that the first revision of your cloned ServerTemplate (rev 1) matches the original version of the ServerTemplate (that it was cloned from) you can perform a differential between rev 1 and the HEAD version.
11. Add all of your changes to the HEAD version of the newly cloned ServerTemplate (My App2).
12. Test modifications and commit new revisions of the ServerTemplate, as necessary.
13. (Optional) Update servers to use the new version of the cloned ServerTemplate (My App2). Note: To change the ServerTemplate of an operational server, you must change the ServerTemplate under the "Next" server and relaunch it.