Getting Ready › Release Notes › Installation Considerations › What's Included

What's Included

This section contains the following topics:

Distributed Kernel

Grid Dashboard

Application Configurator

Infrastructure Editor

Command-Line Shell

Application Programming Interface

Application Infrastructure Build System

Application Monitoring System

System Catalog

Sample Applications

Backbone Fabric Controller (BFC)

This release of the CA AppLogic® grid operating system includes the aforementioned key components. Each of them is described in a section that follows.

Distributed Kernel

The CA AppLogic® distributed kernel provides a set of system services required to support the distributed infrastructure and application model of CA AppLogic®. The four most important system services include:

• Global volume store: a scalable, distributed volume store using either the embedded virtual SAN on the grid servers or external remote SAN.

  If you are using the embedded virtual SAN, the volume store keeps volumes mirrored across two servers, ensuring high availability and improved read performance. If you are using external remote SAN, you must implement the mirroring on the external SAN.

• Distributed virtual machine manager: a run time component that virtualizes the hardware resources used by applications.
• Logical connection manager: a run time component that provides the virtual network bindings between components of an application without the need to configure any IP addresses and network settings for distributed applications
• Application scheduler: a run time component that selects and assigns hardware resources to applications, based on available grid resources, application constraints and user-provided configuration

Grid Dashboard

The grid dashboard provides the following features:

• At-a-glance summary of the grid state, including grid name, version, state summary, resource use, messages, settings, and so on.
• List of currently installed applications, with the ability to create new applications, copy existing applications, start and stop applications, and so on.
• Log viewer to view the grid controller logs, and also search, filter, and export functionality.
• Support page with links to user documentation, release notes, support forums, the Grid University, and so on.

Application Configurator

The application configurator is a control panel for configuring application parameters including setting their hardware resources, network resources, tuning, and other parameters. It is a single property sheet that includes all configurable parameters.

The application configurator can also be accessed through the command-line shell or scripts using the app configure command.

Infrastructure Editor

The infrastructure editor is a visual tool that makes it easy to create, assemble, and troubleshoot disposable infrastructure for CA AppLogic® applications.

The user interface of the editor is modeled after popular drawing programs where you assemble infrastructure by dragging components onto the canvas, connecting them together, and configuring each component using a property sheet.

For running applications, the editor can be used to open the monitoring dashboard for the application, and to start the grid shell for the application or login to individual appliances.

Command-Line Shell

The command-line shell gives you control of all aspects of a CA AppLogic® grid. The shell runs on the CA AppLogic® controller and can be accessed either through a browser, using the new web-based shell, or over SSH using any suitable SSH client package.

The shell commands are designed with the following objectives in mind:

• Make the shell easy to use
• Provide simple means for scripting automation

All commands have a batch form of their output that makes it easy to parse programmatically, while the command's default output is structured for convenient interactive operation.

Note: The CA AppLogic® application programming interface is also available. It provides a web service interface to one or multiple CA AppLogic® grids through a Representational State Transfer (REST) based service. The CA AppLogic® web srvices API enables developers of RESTful client software to directly interface with CA AppLogic® based Virtual Data Centers (VDC) (that is, a CA AppLogic® grid). The API allows for programmatic control of large pools of virtualized infrastructure to be available within each VDC. To use the Web Service API, the WS_API application should be running on a grid. The WS_API application provides HTTP, HTTPS and VPN based access to the API.

Application Programming Interface

The CA AppLogic® Application Programming Interface provides a web service interface to one or multiple CA AppLogic® grids through a Representational State Transfer (REST) based service. The API enables developers of RESTful client software to directly interface with CA AppLogic® based Virtual Data Centers (VDC) (that is, a CA AppLogic® grid). The API allows for programmatic control of large pools of virtualized infrastructure to be available within each VDC. To use the Web Service API, the WS_API application should be running on a grid. The WS_API application provides HTTP, HTTPS and VPN based access to the API.

Application Infrastructure Build System

The infrastructure build system compiles the application infrastructure, producing a single entity for the application. It verifies resource and configuration constraints for each appliance and for the application as a whole, builds instance images and enforces the integrity of the application infrastructure. The infrastructure linker binds the application instance to the grid hardware resources just in time for application start, producing a ready-to-run application from the portable application format.

The infrastructure build system is automatically invoked when starting applications and is transparent for the grid operator.

Application Monitoring System

The application monitoring system provides a visual interface for monitoring performance and resource usage statistics of running CA AppLogic® applications. The user interface of the Monitor is highly interactive and is accessible with a web browser.

System Catalog

The system catalog contains 30 appliance classes, ready to use in applications.

• TOMCAT/TOMCAT64: Tomcat application server (Sun Java machine and Apache Tomcat); 32-bit and 64-bit
• JBOSS/JBOSS64: Java EE-based application servers (32 and 64-bit)
• ROR: Ruby on Rails
• WEB5/WEB64: Apache-based web server with plug-in content/scripts volume
• WEBx4, WEBx8: Scalable web servers
• MYSQL5: MySQL-based database server
• MYSQLR/MYSQLR64: 32/64-bit MySQL-based database servers suitable for replication
• PGSQL64: PostgreSQL database server 64-bit appliance
• ORACLE: Oracle Express database server
• NAS: Network attached storage / file server appliance (HTTP and CIFS file access)
• NASR: Replicated network attached storage / file server appliance (HTTP and CIFS file access)
• LOAD: Load Generator that can be used to test various load scenarios in your CA AppLogic® applications
• SQUID: SQUID proxy (web cache)
• HALB: Session-aware HTTP load balancer based on HA Proxy
• L3LB: TCP/UDP load balancer based on HA Proxy
• PS8: Scalable port switch for distributing TCP and UDP traffic to different appliances
• RPL: Event replicator that replicates incoming HTTP requests to different appliances
• URLSW: URL port switch for distributing HTTP requests to different appliances based on a regular expression
• MTA: Mail transfer agent
• INSSL: HTTP Input Gateway with SSL Support
• INSSLR: Redundant HTTP Input Gateway with SSL Support (useful for disaster recovery purposes)
• IN, OUT, NET: Firewalled network gateways based on iptables
• VPN: Virtual Private networking appliance
• MON: Application Monitor used to monitor running applications (collects and displays counters using visual graphs)
• LUX5/LUX64, LINUX5/LINUX64: A tiny and a minimal Linux appliances that can be used as basis for new appliances

Use the following best practices to update your applications (if they are using any of the obsolete classes mentioned above):

• It is best to replace these appliances in your applications before the applications are migrated to your new 3.5 grid (assuming you are using 2.4/2.7/2.8/2.9/3.0/3.1 and these appliances exist on your grid). In this case, the appliances can be replaced by opening the application in the infrastructure editor, hold the SHIFT key and drag/drop the new appliance class over the existing appliance class on the canvas. The editor will prompt to verify you want to replace the class. Repeat this for all of the obsolete appliance classes in all of your applications. Doing it this way will preserve all property settings and connections within the applications. Afterwards, save your application and the updated application is ready to be used. Note that this will work for all of the obsolete appliances above except for HLB. For HLB, use the following recommendation.
• If you are migrating applications from an older grid such as CA AppLogic® 2.1 or do not have access to the newer classes mentioned above, you will have to update your applications after they are migrated to your new 3.5 grid. When you open your application in the editor, the editor will display a message stating that the appliance class is missing, and the appliance will disappear from the canvas. In this case, you will need to drag the new appliance class instances onto the canvas and re-parameterize/re-connect the appliances. Afterwards, save your application and the updated application is ready to be used.
• If you do not replace the obsolete classes within your applications, the applications will fail to start. If you open such an application in the infrastructure editor, the editor will display a message stating that the appliance class is missing. To resolve these issues, follow the recommendations mentioned in this section above.

Note: INSSL, the HTTP Input Gateway with SSL Support, is now assembled out of INSSLR instead of being a stand-alone appliance.

You can create windows-based appliances on your CA AppLogic® grid, but they are not included with CA AppLogic®.

• WIN03S/WIN0364S/WIN08S/WIN0864S: Windows 2003/2008 Server Standard Editions 32/64-bit
• WIN03E/WIN0364E/WIN08E/WIN0864E: Windows 2003/2008 Server Enterprise Editions 32/64-bit
• WIN03DC/WIN0364DC/WIN08DC/WIN0864DC: Windows 2003/2008 Server DataCenter Editions 32/64-bit
• WIN03W/WIN08W: Windows 2003/2008 Server Web Edition 32-bit
• IIS03x/IIS08x: Microsoft Internet Information servers (Standard/Enterprise/DataCenter/Web editions)
• IIS03yx4/IIS08yx4: Scalable Microsoft Internet Information servers (Standard/Enterprise/DataCenter/Web editions)
• IIS03yx8/IIS08yx8: Scalable Microsoft Internet Information servers (Standard/Enterprise/DataCenter/Web editions)
• SQL08x: Microsoft SQL Server database appliances (Web/Standard/Enterprise/Developer/Workgroup/Express editions)

The system catalog is a global catalog, containing appliance classes that can be used by all applications on the grid. You can see the full documentation for each appliance in the catalog reference. The system catalog is read-only for CA AppLogic® users and can be changed only by the grid maintainer.

CA AppLogic® also includes the following global catalogs:

• Dynamic: used for storing CA AppLogic® dynamic appliances, currently this catalog contains 3 classes:
  • MIG: enables the containing application to migrate or snapshot (non-live) itself to another grid
  • BCK: enables automatic application backup to external services
  • SLA: enables dynamic scaling of an application by starting and stopping other appliances within the application in accordance with a user-defined policy
• User: used for your own production-level appliances, freely modifiable by CA AppLogic® users, by default this catalog is empty

See the Appliance Catalog Reference Guide for a list of all appliances and their data sheets.

Notes:

• We removed the OpenSolaris appliances OSOL and OSOL64 (as well as the VDSes VDS_OSOL and VDS64_OSOL) from the catalog and no longer distribute them with CA AppLogic®. However, the OpenSolaris filer is still distributed with CA AppLogic®, and CA Technologies still supports these appliances and applications. CA Support can provide you access to the original OpenSolaris appliances and applications.
• OpenSolaris-based appliances only work on Xen-based grids currently and do not work on ESX-based grids.
• The Aldo ci and Aldo ai commands are no longer supported in CA AppLogic® 3.x. To import catalogs and applications into your grid (that is, system_ms that is shipped with CA AppLogic®), copy the catalog/application to your grid's impex volume and use the cat import and app import CA AppLogic® commands.

Sample Applications

This CA AppLogic® release includes 16 ready-to-use application templates.

The CA AppLogic® release includes the following Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS) application templates:

• Linux
  • VDS_CentOS55: 32-bit CentOS 5.5 VDS
  • VDS64_CentOS55: 64-bit CentOS 5.5 VDS
• Windows
  • VDS_Win03S/VDS_Win08S: 32-bit Windows 2003/2008 Server Standard Edition VDS
  • VDS_Win0364S/VDS_Win0864S: 64-bit Windows 2003/2008 Server Standard Edition VDS
  • VDS_Win03E/VDS_Win08E: 32-bit Windows 2003/2008 Server Enterprise Edition VDS
  • VDS_Win0364E/VDS_Win0864E: 64-bit Windows 2003/2008 Server Enterprise Edition VDS
  • VDS_Win03DC/VDS_Win08DC: 32-bit Windows 2003/2008 Server DataCenter Edition VDS
  • VDS_Win0364DC/VDS_Win0864DC: 64-bit Windows 2003/2008 Server DataCenter Edition VDS
  • VDS_Win03W/VDS_Win08W: 32-bit Windows 2003/2008 Server Web Edition VDS

  Notes:

  • You can create windows-based appliances on your CA AppLogic® grid, but they are not included with CA AppLogic®.
  • We removed the OpenSolaris appliances OSOL and OSOL64 (as well as the VDSes VDS_OSOL and VDS64_OSOL) from the catalog and no longer distribute them with CA AppLogic®. However, the OpenSolaris filer is still distributed with CA AppLogic®, and CA Technologies still supports these appliances and applications. CA Support can provide you access to the original OpenSolaris appliances and applications.
  • OpenSolaris-based appliances only work on Xen-based grids currently and do not work on ESX-based grids.

The CA AppLogic® release also includes the following preconfigured Linux-based infrastructure templates:

• Lamp: basic 2-tier non-scalable WEB application
• LampX4: scalable Lamp
• LampCluster: scalable Lamp cluster

The CA AppLogic® release also includes the following preconfigured Windows-based infrastructure templates (based on Windows 2003 Server):

• WISA: simple 2-tier non-scalable WEB application (Windows/IIS/SQL/ASP.NET)
• WISAx4: simple 2-tier scalable WEB application (Windows/IIS/SQL/ASP.NET)

Note: You can create windows-based appliances on your CA AppLogic® grid, but they are not included with CA AppLogic®.

The CA AppLogic® release also includes the following ready-made pre-installed application templates:

• TWiki: web-based collaboration platform
• SugarCRM: customer relationship management system
• WS_API: CA AppLogic® web service API

The applications are ready to run, requiring only network settings to be configured.

Note: The Aldo ci and Aldo ai commands are no longer supported in CA AppLogic® 3.x. To import catalogs and applications into your grid (that is, system_ms that is shipped with CA AppLogic®), copy the catalog/application to your grid's impex volume and use the cat import and app import CA AppLogic® commands.

Backbone Fabric Controller (BFC)

You use the Backbone Fabric Controller (BFC) to install and upgrade grids (instead of ALD). The BFC contains a simple-to-use web-based GUI application that you use to create and manage all of your CA AppLogic® grids within a single backbone. The BFC automatically downloads the latest CA AppLogic® releases and hotfixes.