README.md

Lab 04 - Deploy the solution to test and production environments

In this lab, you will work on the outer loop. You will perform the following tasks:

• Deploy the pipelines solution to your Prod environment
• Setup your first pipeline
• Run the first deployment to the Test environment
• Install the Creator Kit solution in Test environment
• Install the Creator Kit solution in Prod environment
• Retry the deployment to the Test environment
• Deploy to the Prod environment

Task 1: Deploy the pipelines solution to your Prod environment

In this task, you will learn how to install the pipelines for Power Platform solution in your Prod environment. This solution is needed to configure pipelines.

NOTE:
Normally, it's a best practice to install the pipelines solution on a separate "Pipelines Host" environment. In this lab, you will install it in the Prod environment because a you can have three free developer environments, so you don't have space for another Pipelines Host environment next to Dev, Test, and Prod environments.

This is a best practice because you will avoid people accidentally using dependencies on the pipelines tables, or having issues with sharing pipelines and giving people the right security roles. Take a look at the FAQ on Microsoft Learn to learn more best practices.

1. Go to the Power Platform Admin Center
2. Select the Prod environment you created before
3. In the command bar at the top, select Resources and Dynamics 365 apps
4. Here you can find the apps that are installed on your Prod environment by default. Select the Install App button in the command bar at the top
5. In the sidebar that opens, scroll all the way down select the Power Platform Pipelines app and select the Next button at the bottom of the sidebar
6. Next, make sure to agree to the terms and select the Install button at the bottom of the sidebar

This process will take a couple of minutes, you can refresh the page by selecting the Refresh button in the command bar at the top.

When finished, you can go to the maker portal and select the right environment (Prod). If all went well, you should be able to see the Deployment Pipeline Configuration app in the Apps section in the maker portal.

Task 02: Setup your first pipeline

In this task, you will create your first pipeline. The Deployment Pipeline Configuration app will be used for that.

Make sure to select that app in the maker portal and make sure to play the app.

This will open the app in a new tab:

Make yourself familiar with the app, by looking around which menu items there are:

First, there is an Overview section, where you land when you open the app. This is the Pipelines Dashboard, which will show you the latest info about runs and pipelines that are active. When you open this for the first time, it's supposed to be empty, so don't worry!

There is also a Pipeline Setup section where you can view your environments and pipelines.

Last but not least, there is a Deployments section which enables you to view the run history and find solution artifacts.

Create a new pipeline

Let's create a new pipeline, by selecting the new button on the Pipelines Dashboard.

This will lead you to a form where you can enter details about your pipeline:

1. Use My first pipeline as the name
2. In the owner field, make sure to look for the email address of your account and select your user
3. Save the pipeline

Some components of the form only appear after the first save, so that's why we save the pipeline. After saving, scroll down and you will see the following content below the owner field:

As you can see there are two sections: Linked Development Environments & Deployment Stages.

Linked Development Environments

A pipeline can be available for multiple development environments. This is very convenient when you want to use multiple development environments and use shared test and shared production environments.

In this lab, we will only add one development environment to the Linked Development Environments, but when you use this at your company later on, remember that it can be more than one environment here.

Deployment Stages

The Deployment Stages section will give you the option to add stages after your development environment. So for instance, in our lab today, we are going to add a stage called Deploy to Test and another stage called Deploy to Prod. The cool thing is that we can set previous stages for these stages. This gives us the ability to make sure Deploy to Test goes first, and Deploy to Prod comes second.

Create a development environment

Let's continue our lab and start by adding a new development environment by selecting the New Development Environment button in the Linked Development Environments section.

A sidebar will be opened, where you can enter the details of the Dev environment you created in lab 01.

1. Add Dev as the Name

2. Set the Environment Type to Development Environment

3. For the next step, make sure to grab the Environment Id from the Power Platform Admin Center

   • Open a new tab and go to the Power Platform Admin Center

   • Select Environments in the menu on the left

   • Select the environment named Dev

     

   • Copy the environment ID from there and paste it in the Deployment Pipeline Configuration app.

4. Select yourself as the owner by focusing on the owner field and adding the email address of your account.

5. Select the Save and Close button on the bottom of your sidebar

If all went well, you'll see the following screen (Refresh the page if you don't see it):

Make sure to select the New Deployment Stage button now to add the first deployment stage.

Add the first deployment stage

This will open a new sidebar, where you can enter details about your first deployment stage.

1. Add Deploy to test as the Name
2. We're leaving the Description and Previous Deployment stage empty, because we don't have a previous deployment stage, since this is our first stage
3. Set focus to the input box next to target deployment environment. This will open up a small popup which enables you to add a new deployment environment
4. Select New Deployment Environment

This will open another sidebar where you can add details about your test environment.

Add the test environment

In the sidebar, make sure to add the following details:

1. Add Test as the Name

2. Add Target Environment as the Environment Type

3. Add the environment ID of the test environment

   • Open a new tab and go to the Power Platform Admin Center

   • Select Environments in the menu on the left

   • Select the environment named Test

     

   • Copy the environment ID from there and paste it in the Deployment Pipeline Configuration app.

4. Select yourself as the owner by focusing on the owner field and adding the email address of your account.

5. Select the Save and Close button on the bottom of your sidebar

6. Select Save and Close again to save the deployment stage as well

Make sure to select the New Deployment Stage button again to add a second deployment stage: Deploy to prod.

Add the Deploy to prod deployment stage

1. Add Deploy to prod as the Name
2. Leave the Description empty
3. Focus on the Previous Deployment Stage and search for the Deploy to test stage. After you have found that stage, select it
4. Set focus to the input box next to target deployment environment. This will open up a small popup which enables you to add a new deployment environment
5. Select New deployment Environment

Note:
There is a setting field called Pre Deployment Step Required. We're not using that in this case, but think about what could that be used for. During the workshop, the trainers will show an example of it.

Add the Prod environment

1. Add Prod as the Name

2. Set the Environment Type to Target Environment

3. For the next step, make sure to grab the Environment Id from the Power Platform Admin Center

   • Open a new tab and go to the Power Platform Admin Center

   • Select Environments in the menu on the left

   • Select the environment named Prod

     

   • Copy the environment ID from there and paste it in the Deployment Pipeline Configuration app.

4. Select yourself as the owner by focusing on the owner field and adding the email address of your account.

5. Select the Save and Close button on the bottom of your sidebar

   

6. Select Save and Close again to save the deployment stage as well

Task 03: Run the first deployment to the Test environment

In this task, you will deploy the solution we imported in lab 02 to the test and production environments. Let's start by our first deployment to test:

First deployment to test

In this lab, you have installed the pipelines for Power Platform solution and you have configured a pipeline and the stages that belong to it. But how does a maker deploy a solution from the Dev environment to the Test and Prod environments?

1. Go to the maker portal
2. Make sure to select the Dev environment
3. Go to Solutions via the left menu
4. Select the Mixed Reality Workshop solution by selecting the display name
5. Select the rocket icon on the left This will show you a new screen where you can see an overview of all stages you just configured in the last task
6. Select the purple Deploy here button. This will open a new sidebar which will give you the option to start your deployment now or plan your deployment for later
7. Leave it on the default (Now) and select the purple Next button on the bottom of the sidebar
8. This will lead you to the next screen where pipelines for Power Platform will validate if the solution needs some configuration steps and/or there are dependencies that are missing. Wait for the validation to finish
9. As you can see in the screenshot above, the validation failed due to missing dependencies. Select the Show missing dependencies button at the top-right corner
10. In the next sidebar that will show up, you will see which dependencies are missing. In this case, it's the CreatorKitCore solution: You might remember installing the Creator Kit in lab 01. This is what we need to in the test and prod environments as well.
11. Select the purple Close button at the bottom of the sidebar
12. Select the Close button on the bottom-right side of the sidebar
13. In the following dialog, select the purple Discard button to discard changes
14. This will lead us back to the pipeline overview, where we can start our deployment. Now, lets go to the environment by selecting the Go to the environment button in the Deploy to test stage
15. It will open a new tab which will open the environment homepage where you can go to the Solutions menu item to see which solutions are installed in that environment
16. The Creator Kit solution is not part of the list of solutions, so we need to install the Creator Kit solution

You will have to install the Creator Kit in both the test and prod environments.

Task 04: Install the Creator Kit solution in Test environment

The Creator Kit app is now only available in the Dev environment, so let's add the app also to the Test environment.

1. Go to the Power Platform Admin Center, select Environments in the left menu, and select the Test environment by selecting the environment display name
2. Next, select Resources in the command bar at the top and select Dynamics 365 Apps. This will lead you to the installed apps in the Test environment. There might be some updates available, but you can ignore that for now
3. Select the Install app button in the command bar at the top
4. Select the Creator Kit app and select the purple Next button at the bottom of the sidebar
5. Select the I agree to the terms of service checkbox and select the purple Install button
6. In the next screen, you will see a message at the top that the installation of the Creator Kit has been started. Select Environments in the breadcrumb at the top

Next, you have to install the Creator Kit app in the Prod environment.

Task 05: Install the Creator Kit solution in Prod environment

The Creator Kit app is now only available in the Dev and Test environments, so let's add the app also to the Prod environment to avoid missing dependencies there.

1. Go to the Power Platform Admin Center, select Environments in the left menu, and select the Prod environment by selecting the environment display name
2. Next, select Resources in the command bar at the top and select Dynamics 365 Apps. This will lead you to the installed apps in the Test environment. There might be some updates available, but you can ignore that for now
3. Select the Install app button in the command bar at the top
4. Select the Creator Kit app and select the purple Next button at the bottom of the sidebar
5. Select the I agree to the terms of service checkbox and select the purple Install button
6. In the next screen, you will see a message at the top that the installation of the Creator Kit has been started. Select Environments in the breadcrumb at the top

Now that you have triggered the install of the Creator Kit in both the Test and Prod environments, you can move on to task 06, retrying the deployment to the Test environment.

Task 06: Retry the deployment to the Test environment

To make sure your deployment goes well, lets check if the Creator Kit solution has been properly installed in the Test environment.

Check if the Creator Kit app is correctly installed

1. Go to the maker portal
2. Check if you are in the Test environment and if not, switch to that environment
3. Select Solutions in the left navigation and check if the Creator Kit (Name: CreatorKitCore) solution is installed
4. If that's the case, you are ready for deployment. If not, you probably have to wait a little bit until the Creator Kit is installed

Deploy the solution to the Test environment

For the deployment to test, you have to switch to your Dev environment. Make sure to do that and verify that you are in the right environment:

1. Go to Solutions via the left menu
2. Select the Mixed Reality Workshop solution by selecting the display name
3. Select the rocket icon on the left
4. Select the purple Deploy here button.
5. This will open a new sidebar which will give you the option to start your deployment now or plan your deployment for later. Select the purple Next button to go to the next screen
6. The next screen will be a bit different from our last try, it will now show a summary of the deployment. Fill in some deployment notes, like for instance: First deployment of the Mixed Reality solution and select the purple Deploy button
7. This will trigger the Deploy to test stage
8. When it's done, you will see that the deployment has been finished

Test if the solution was correctly deployed

1. Of course, you want to see for yourself if the deployment was successful, so select the Go to this environment button in the Deploy to test stage
2. Select Solutions in the left navigation
3. Check if the Mixed Reality Workshop solution with version 1.0.0.1 is installed in the Test environment
4. Open the Mixed Reality Workshop by selecting the display name
5. Select the Mixed Reality App canvas app and select the Play button in the command bar at the top
6. When the app is opened, you will have to allow the connections to connect to both OneDrive for Business as well as the Smithsonian 3D connector. Make sure to select the purple Allow button
7. In the app, you will find three buttons: Corals and Coral Reefs, Smithsonian 3D Search, and Tutorial Screen. Select the Corals and Coral Reefs button
8. Next, select the first coral to check if the coral 3D object works
9. The next screen should show a 3D object of the coral you just selected

Now you know the app works in test, let's deploy it to production.

Task 07: Deploy to the Prod environment

To make sure your deployment goes well, lets check if the Creator Kit solution has been properly installed in the Prod environment.

Check if the Creator Kit app is correctly installed

1. Go to the maker portal
2. Check if you are in the Prod environment and if not, switch to that environment
3. Select Solutions in the left navigation and check if the Creator Kit (Name: CreatorKitCore) solution is installed
4. If that's the case, you are ready for deployment. If not, you probably have to wait a little bit until the Creator Kit is installed

Deploy the solution to the Prod environment

For the deployment to prod, you have to switch to your Dev environment. Make sure to do that and verify that you are in the right environment:

1. Go to Solutions via the left menu
2. Select the Mixed Reality Workshop solution by selecting the display name
3. Select the rocket icon on the left
4. Select the purple Deploy here button.
5. This will open a new sidebar which will give you the option to start your deployment now or plan your deployment for later. Select the purple Next button to go to the next screen
6. Fill in some deployment notes, like for instance: First deployment of the Mixed Reality solution and select the purple Deploy button
7. This will trigger the Deploy to prod stage
8. When it's done, you will see that the deployment has been finished

Test if the solution was correctly deployed

1. Of course, you want to see for yourself if the deployment was successful, so select the Go to this environment button in the Deploy to prod stage
2. Select Solutions in the left navigation
3. Check if the Mixed Reality Workshop solution with version 1.0.0.1 is installed in the Prod environment
4. Open the Mixed Reality Workshop by selecting the display name
5. Select the Mixed Reality App canvas app and select the Play button in the command bar at the top
6. When the app is opened, you will have to allow the connections to connect to both OneDrive for Business as well as the Smithsonian 3D connector. Make sure to select the purple Allow button
7. In the app, you will find two buttons: Corals and Coral Reefs and Smithsonian 3D Search Select the Corals and Coral Reefs button
8. Next, select the first coral to check if the coral 3D object works
9. The next screen should show a 3D object of the coral you just selected

Now you know the app works in prod as well and you have successfully deployed the solution to the Test and Prod environments.

Next lab

This is the end of lab 04, select the link below to move to the next lab.

⏭️ Move to lab 05