Force.com Migration Tool is a Java- or Ant-based command-line utility for scripting deployments to move metadata between a local directory and a Force.com organization. This tool can be downloaded from your Salesforce org. Navigate to Your Name | Setup | Develop | Tools and then click on Force.com Migration Tool.
Consider using this tool in the following scenarios:
When you need to populate a test environment with frequent and large volumes of setup changes where the web interface could consume a lot of time
Where there is a multistage release process, the scripted deployment process is much more time efficient
When there is a repetitive process for retrieving and deploying a fixed set of metadata components with the same parameters
When you are already familiar with the scripted deployment process using Apache Ant
The tool uses the configuration file build.properties
for determining org connections and the package.xml
file for determining the deployment components. The...