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Managing Releases with the Vendor Portal

This topic describes how to use the Replicated vendor portal to create and promote versions of your application, edit releases, edit release properties, and archive releases.

Create a Release​

A release contains one or more Helm charts. Alternatively, vendors that support Replicated KOTS installations can create a release with standard Kubernetes manifests only or use a combination of standard manifests and Helm charts. KOTS releases also support the use of Kubernetes Operators.

note

You must package each Helm chart that you want to include in a release and its dependencies to a .tgz file before you can add it to the release. For more information, see Packaging a Helm Chart for a Release.

To create and promote a release in the vendor portal:

  1. From the Applications dropdown list, select Create an app or select an existing application to update.

  2. Click Releases > Create release.

    Create Release

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  3. If a drop down is displayed, select one of the following options:

    • Create Helm-only release: Create a release with one or more Helm charts. Supports installations with the Helm CLI only.
    • Create KOTS release: Create a release with one or more Helm charts or standard Kubernetes manifests. Supports installations with Replicated KOTS. For Helm charts, supports installation with KOTS and installation with the Helm CLI in the same release.

    If no drop down is displayed, continue to the next step.

  4. Add your files to the release:

    • For Helm-only releases, in the Upload Helm Chart dialog, drag and drop or select a Helm chart .tgz file.

      upload helm chart dialog

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    • For KOTS releases, drag and drop your application files to the file directory in the YAML editor. You can also click the plus icon to add a new, untitled YAML file.

      For any Helm charts that you add, in the Select Installation Method dialog, select the version of the HelmChart custom resource that KOTS will use to install the chart. kots.io/v1beta2 is recommended. For more information about the HelmChart custom resource, see Configuring the HelmChart Custom Resource.

      select installation method dialog

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  5. Click Save release. This saves a draft that you can continue to edit until you promote it.

  6. Click Promote. In the Promote Release dialog that opens, edit the fields:

    For more information about the requirements and limitations of each field, see Properties in About Channels and Releases.

    FieldDescription
    Channel

    Select the channel where you want to promote the release. If you are not sure which channel to use, use the default Unstable channel.

    note

    For vendors that support both KOTS and Helm CLI installations, Replicated prevents releases from being promoted to a channel if the customers assigned to the channel cannot install the release. For more information, see Promoting KOTS-Only and Helm CLI-Only Releases in About Channels and Releases.

    Version label

    Enter a version label.

    If you have one or more Helm charts in your release, the vendor portal automatically populates this field. You can change the version label to any version specified in any of the Chart.yaml files included in the release.

    Requirements(KOTS Only) Select the Prevent this release from being skipped during upgrades to mark the release as required for KOTS installations. This option does not apply to installations with Helm.
    Release notesAdd release notes. The release notes support markdown and are shown to your customer.

  7. Click Promote.

    The release appears in an Active state on the Releases page.

Edit a Draft Release​

To edit a draft release:

  1. From the Applications dropdown list, select an existing application to update.

  2. On the Releases page, find the draft release you want to edit and click Edit YAML.

    Edit YAML button for a draft release in the vendor portal

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  3. Click Save to save your updated draft.

  4. (Optional) Click Promote.

Edit Release Properties​

You can edit the properties of a release at any time. For more information about release properties, see Properties in About Channels and Releases.

To edit release properties:

  1. Go to Channels.

  2. In the channel where the release was promoted, click Release History.

  3. For the release sequence that you want to edit, click Edit Release.

  4. Edit the properties as needed.

    Release Properties dialog in the vendor portal

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  5. Click Update Release.

Archiving Releases​

You can archive releases to remove them from view on the Releases page.

Archiving a release that has been promoted does not remove the release from the channel's Release History page or prevent KOTS from downloading the archived release.

To archive one or more releases:

  1. From the Releases page, click the trash can icon in the upper right corner.
  2. Select one or more releases.
  3. Click Archive Releases.
  4. Confirm the archive action when prompted. Alternatively, click Cancel to cancel the archiving action.