Administration Guide › Provisioning Resources › Service Provisioning › How to Provision Services › Create Service Templates

Create Service Templates

Service provisioning is the creation of a working instance of a service that is based on a service template. A service template is the set of applications it consists of, with their associated actions, and the machine definitions that are required to host the service.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Resources, and in the Explore tree, right-click OnDemand Services, and select New Service Template.

   The Create Service Template panel opens.

2. Input a name and description for the service template and select the number of machines that are required to host the service.
3. (Optional) Specify a Service Information File to attach an endpoint template file to the service template.

   The Service Information File is the panel that appears to the user when a service is successfully provisioned. The HTML format file specifies the connection details required to access the service and any other information that is required to use the service.

   Note: For examples of service information files, review the service templates that are provided with CA Server Automation.

4. (Optional) Specify a semi-colon separated list of Tags to enable you to organize service templates into user-defined groups in the Explore tree.
5. (Optional) Select Allow Additional Applications to let the end user add dependent applications when they provision a service.

   Note: Use this option to create base templates which the end user can then build on by adding specific dependent applications. For example, create a template that provisions an application server with supporting infrastructure and allows the end user to specify any additional dependent applications.

6. (Optional) Edit the configuration and requirements for the machines that are required to provision the service:

   Note: By default, service templates automatically apply VM templates to any machines required for service provisioning. Configure Machine Templates for Service Provisioning to specify any default VM templates to use for specified operating systems. If there are no default templates and you do not select one, CA Server Automation requests an appropriate template from the vCenter VMware server.

   1. Click Details.

      The Target Machine Details panel opens displaying the default configuration for each machine.

   2. Click the tool icon to edit the configuration for a single machine.

      Note: Select multiple machines and click the right-arrows to edit multiple machine configurations.

      The Machine panel opens displaying the configuration and resource settings for the machine.

   3. (Optional) Specify a VMware vCenter Template to use.
   4. Specify the CPU and memory resources that are required for the machine and whether the machine is a cluster of machines.

      Note: For a cluster, the machine configuration settings apply to each machine in the cluster.

   5. (Optional) Specify or create a Dynamic Specification to use for VMware vCenter provisioning.
   6. Click the Disks tab to view the view and modify the disk storage configuration for a machine.

      Note: If you are modifying multiple machines, adding disks creates shared storage for the selected machines.

   7. Click the NICs tab to view and modify the network configuration for a machine.
   8. Click OK
   9. Repeat steps b through h for each machine as required, and click Close to return to the Service Template panel.
7. (Optional) If more than one application requires the same parameters, you can use global substitution variables instead of setting the parameter in each individual application. For example, if multiple applications require the same database connection and credentials, you can create substitution variables specifying the default values, and then specify the substitution variable in the individual applications.

   In the Options tab, click the Add icon to add global substitution variables:

   1. Enter the substitution variable in the Action Parameter input. Use # to start and end the variable.

      Example: #DB_URL#

   2. Enter a Description, Label, and Data Type for the variable.
   3. Enter a Default Value for the variable.

      Note: Click Value List to maintain a set of values for the variable.

   4. (Optional) Select User Editable to indicate that the end user can input a value for the action parameter during the execution of the application. Specify a Label as the prompt the end user receives when an input is required.
   5. (Optional) Select Mandatory to specify that a user input is required.
   6. Click OK.

      CA Server Automation adds the variable to the list of Options for the service template.

   7. Edit application action options in the service template as required, replacing the Default Value for an action parameter with the substitution variable.

   Note: Use the Options tab to modify configuration parameters for templates imported from AppLogic.

8. To add applications to the service template:
   1. Click + in the Applications and Service Templates tab, select Application, and click OK.
   2. Specify the machine to host the application.
   3. Select the application from the list of available defined applications and click Next.

      The Installation Actions panel opens.

   4. (Optional) Click the tool icon to edit actions for the application.

      Note: These action modifications only apply to the service template. The application definition is not modified.

   5. Click Next.

      The Confirm Application Configurations panel opens.

   6. Click Finish.

   The Create Service Template panel updates with the details of the application.

9. To provision other service templates as part of this service template:
   1. Click + in the Applications and Service Templates toolbar, select Application, and click OK.
   2. Select the service template from the list of available templates and click OK.

   The Create Service Template panel updates with the details of the service template.

10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 to add additional applications and service templates. Use the up and down arrows to specify the order in which to execute them.

    Note: To deploy multiple instances of an application to the same or different machines, repeat the addition of the application for each machine.

11. Click OK.

    CA Server Automation adds the template to the list of service templates in the Explore tree. The service template is ready for provisioning.

    Note: CA Server Automation automatically creates a reservation template for use in Reservation Manager based on the service template.