Types of application environments

Configuring the application requires an installed development instance of the application (often called a configuration environment). You use Guidewire Studio to edit the configuration files. Then, you create a .war or .ear file and copy it to the production server. This section describes some of the particular requirements of these two environments:

The development environment

The development environment for PolicyCenter has the following characteristics:

  • It includes an embedded development QuickStart server and database for rapid development and deployment.
  • It includes a repository for the source code of your customized application files. Guidewire expects you to check your source code into a supported SCM (Source Control Management) system.
  • It includes directories for the base configuration application files and your modifications of them.
  • It provides command line tools for creating the deployment packages. (These are new, customized, versions of the server application files that you use in a production environment.)

Guidewire provides a development environment (Guidewire Studio) that is separate from the production environment. Guidewire Studio is a stand-alone development application that runs independently of Guidewire PolicyCenter. You use Studio to build and test application customization in a development or test mode before deploying your changes to a production server. (You can for example, modify a PCF file or add a new workflow.)

It is important to understand that any changes that you make to application files through Studio do not automatically propagate into your production environment. You must specifically build a .war or .ear file and deploy it to a production server for the changes to take effect. Studio and the production application server—by design—do not share the same configuration file system.

The production environment

The deployed production application server for PolicyCenter has the following characteristics:

  • It runs as an application within an application server.
  • It handles web clients, or SOAP message requests, for policy information or services.
  • It generates the web pages for browser-based client access to PolicyCenter.