Using CA AppLogic® › Grid User Guide › Operating Grids › Provisioning an Application

Provisioning an Application

Several use cases, such as providing software-as-a-service (SaaS) or internal testing, require multiple instances of a single application. CA AppLogic® enables you to create multiple unique instances of a single application template An application template is a partially configured application that is used as a template for provisioning application instances.. Provisioning is the process of creating such a unique instance.

A template application is not fully configured. Configuration details that are specific to an application instance are unspecified in the template application. If the template application is not created for your grid, it probably is also missing grid details, such as DNS addresses. When you provision the application, you provide the missing configuration details.

Provision an application either by using the Application Provisioning wizard or the app provision command. After provisioning completes, you can add configuration details to customize the application.

Note: This procedure assumes that you have the appropriate template application on your grid. This product comes with a number of preconfigured template applications. You can also create template applications or migrate them between grids.

Follow these steps:

1. Log in to the grid. Open the system dashboard.
2. (Optional) Open the Applications tab. Right-click the template application that you want to provision and select Copy. Work with the copy, leaving the original template unchanged.
3. (Optional) Right-click the template application copy and click Configure. When the configuration dialog opens, select the Resources tab. Set the netmask, gateway, and DNS values. These values are the same for all instances you create on this grid. Copy these values from the Dashboard tab of the system dashboard.
4. Do one of the following:
   • Right-click the template application (or copy) and select Provision. The Provisioning wizard opens. Complete the wizard, specifying the instance parameters. For more information, see the Application Provisioning Wizard section of the User Interface Reference Guide.
   • Run the application provision command. Specify the template application that you want to provision. Type the other instance parameters in the command line. For more information, see the application provision section of the Command Line Shell Reference Guide.

This section contains the following topics:

Use the Provision Wizard

Parameters for Provisioning

Example Application Provisioning Commands

How to Provision an Application

Use the Provision Wizard

The Application Provisioning wizard allows you to provision, configure, and optionally start an application using an application template.

Follow these steps:

1. From the dashboard, select the Applications tab
2. Right-click the template application and select Provision.

   The General page displays.

3. Complete the following fields:

   Name

   Unique name of the provisioned application

   Description

   Human-readable description of the application

   User 1

   Free-form user-defined text intended for specifying billing code

   User 2

   Free-form user-defined text intended for specifying billing code

   Documentation URL

   URL where the documentation for the application can be found.

4. Click Next.

   The Configure Resources page displays.

5. Complete the following fields:

   Constrain by Resources

   Specify the amount of resource for each hardware resource

   To specify the volume size or store, click the corresponding field for the App Volume you want to change.

   The following resource types and volume information can be specified:

   CPU

   Portion of CPU or number of CPUs to be allocated for the application.

   Specify fractional amounts as a decimal number, such as 0.5 or 3.5. Whole CPUs are specified simply as an integer, such as 12.

   Memory

   Amount of memory allocated for the application.

   Specify the amount as an integer value in megabytes, such as 512M, or in gigabytes, such as 9G.

   Bandwidth

   Amount of network bandwidth allocated for this application.

   Specify the amount as an integer value in megabits/sec, such as 10M, or in gigabits/sec, such as 1G.

   Volumes

   Specify the volume size by clicking the Size field for the App Volume you want to change. The default size of the volumes are shown in normal font weight. Volume sizes explicitly configured for this application are in bold.

   App Volume

   The storage location, such as code and mon.

   Size

   Volume size can be specified as an integer value in megabytes, such as 50M or gigabytes, such as 2G.

   Filesystem

   Indicates where CA AppLogic® stores the volumes.

   If the grid is configured in the Backbone Fabric Controller to use a SAN, the following displays:

   Local: Stores the volumes locally, such as a hard drive on a server, on the grid

   SAN: Stores the volumes on the SAN. You may specify the default location of the volume store in the BFC.

   Size

   The volume size specified as an integer value in megabytes, such as 512M, or in gigabytes, such as 2G.

   The default size of the volumes display in normal font weight. Volume sizes explicitly configured for this application display in bold.

   Store

   The location where CA AppLogic® stores the volumes. This option displays only when the grid is configured in the Backbone Fabric Controller to use a SAN.

   For information about configuring a grid to use a SAN, refer to the BFC User Guide

   The following is a list of available options:

   Local: Stores the volumes locally on the grid, such as a hard drive on a server.

   SAN: Stores the volumes on the SAN. You may specify the default location of the volume store in the BFC.

6. Click Next.

   The Configure Interface page displays.You edit the parameters of any raw interfaces that belong to the application. If the application has no raw interfaces, this page is empty.

   Name

   Specifies the interface name.

   Network

   Specifies the network.

   IP Address

   Specifies the IP address. Click the cell to open a drop-down menu that lists the available IP addresses. This menu is limited to 256 items. If more than 256 IP addresses are configured for a selected network, this field becomes a text input field and you must enter the IP address as typed text. Use the Info tooltip to display the available ranges of IP addresses for the selected network.

   Info

   Lists the name server and IP range.

7. Click Next.

   The Configuration Properties page displays.

8. Set values for application properties and specialize this instance of the application.

   This is useful for configuring location-specific parameters, such as IP addresses, and for configuring tuning parameters, such as cache sizes.

   The default values of the properties display in normal font weight. Property values explicitly configured display in bold. Mandatory property volumes that have not yet been configured are highlighted in red.

   To view information about the property, its type and allowed values, click the info icon.

   To restore the default value of a property, click the restore icon.

   To reset the values of all properties to their defaults, click the reset all icon.

9. To complete the provisioning, click Next.

   The provisioning begins. The application launches when provisioning is complete.