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Managing Releases with the Vendor Portal

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

For information about creating and managing releases with the CLI, see Managing Releases with the CLI.

For information about creating and managing releases with the Vendor API v3, see the releases and channelReleases sections in the Vendor API v3 documentation.

Create 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 that supports installations with Replicated KOTS. KOTS releases can contain Kubernetes manifests and one or more Helm charts. KOTS releases that contain Helm charts can also be installed with the Helm CLI.

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

  4. Add your files to the release:

    • Helm-only: For Helm-only releases, follow the steps in the Add the Replicated SDK to your Helm Chart dialog to package your chart and upload a .tgz chart archive.

      upload helm chart dialog

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    • KOTS: For KOTS releases, drag and drop your release 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, 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.

    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.