Custom components include both non-virtual assets (such as a phone) and tasks that modify existing assets (such as the installation of a database instance on an existing server). Custom components are different from VM and virtual service components: once a request for a custom component is completed, the custom component isn't displayed or tracked in Commander or the Service Portal.
Creating custom component types allows you to add the same custom component to multiple Service Catalog entries, as well as centrally manage the cost and currency of these components.
You can edit a listed service at any time — select it in the list and click Edit.
Access: | Configuration > Self-Service > Catalog tab |
Available to: | Commander Roles of Superuser and Enterprise Admin |
- Do one of the following:
- To add a new service, click Add Service.
- To copy an existing service, click the Copy link on a listed service.
This option reduces some configuration time because much of the configuration is copied.
- To add a component to an existing service, click the Edit link on a listed service.
- On the Service Description page, set the following display options for the service, then click Next:
- Name — The service name to display in the service catalog.
This name is used as the label for the service portion of the Request New Service form. Choose a distinctive service name to help requesters fill out the form.
- Description — An optional description of the service to display in the Service Catalog.
Along with the service name, the service description is used in Service Catalog searches, so a good description can help users find service catalog entries.
- Icon — An icon to identify the service.
To add a custom icon, click Manage Icons. See Manage icons for the service catalog for more details.
- Categories — An identifying category to help users find this service in a long list.
To add a category, click Manage Categories. See Manage Service Catalog categories for more details.
- If the service-level form elements such as Quantity and Expiry Date don't make sense for this service, you can hide the service portion of the service request form by clearing the Display service form when this service is requested checkbox.
- Name — The service name to display in the service catalog.
- Do one of the following:
- To add a new custom component type to the service, click Add > New Component Type. In the Create New Component Type dialog, provide a name, a description, annual cost, and currency, then click Add to Service.
- To add an existing custom component type to the service, click Add and select the component type from the drop-down menu.
If more than five custom component types already exist, you must select Custom Type from the drop-down menu, and in the Select Custom Component Type dialog, select a component from the list.
The added components are listed under the Component Blueprints.
- Repeat the step above for each additional component you want to add.
- For each custom component, a blueprint page is added, displaying the following tabs.
Infrastructure
Sets default infrastructure information.
Field
Description
Name
The name that will be displayed for the component in the Service Catalog and as the label for the Component section of the Request New Service form. A user sees the component name when viewing service details and when completing a service request form.
Choose a distinctive component name to help requesters fill out the form.
Description
Optional: Customize the description for this component that will appear in the Service Catalog. A user sees the component description when viewing service details and when completing a service request form.
Annual Cost
The preconfigured annual cost is displayed. You can change it in the Manage Custom Component Types dialog.
Completion Workflow
Completion workflows allow you to specify actions to be carried out after deployment. If you have set up one or more component-level completion workflows, you can select one from this menu.
- Click Add Workflow to create a new workflow.
- Click Edit Workflow to edit the currently selected workflow. Note that when you edit the workflow using this link, you're editing the workflow for all of the components or services it's assigned to.
AttributesYou can assign metadata to the service component with custom attributes and groups.
Set custom attributes and their default values for this specific component. On the Form tab, you can allow requesters to set values for custom attributes. If you don't specify a default value, no default is set for the component. If you add an attribute on the Form tab, the default value you set on the Attributes tab is presented to the requester as the default value.
To be able to add a custom attribute for this component on the request form, you must add the custom attribute on the Attributes tab first.
Click Add Attributes to select from the list of existing custom attributes. In the Add Attributes dialog, only custom attributes applicable to the current component type are displayed, plus all Form attributes. You can click Create New Attribute to create a new attribute.
If you need to edit existing custom attributes, click Manage Attributes to go to the Custom Attributes page, where you can add and edit custom attributes; when finished, just click your browser's Back button to return to the Attributes tab.
If you add list-type custom attributes that are interrelated, the attributes are displayed in the order of parent to child to grandchild (if applicable), and your selection of a default value for the parent affects the selectable values for the sublist attribute. For more information, see Create Relationships Between Attributes Used on Forms.
Set the default groups for this specific component. You can assign the following group types:
If you don't specify a value, the default group is assumed; each component must belong to a group of each type. It's possible to assign groups in other ways, such as through policy; see Order of precedence for assigning groups to requested services for information on which group assignment takes precedence. For more information on groups, see Manage Service Groups.
- Click Add Groups to select one or more group types and click OK. Next, on the Attributes tab, select a group from the relevant drop-down menu.
- If you need to add or edit groups, click Manage Groups; when finished, click your browser's Back button to return to the Attributes tab.
FormCustomizes the form users see when they request this specific component.
Adding elements to the Form tab allows requesters to change the default settings you configured on the other tabs. If you leave the Form tab blank, requesters won't see a Component form; they will see only the Service-level form that's configured for the new service request form. For more information, see Create New Service Requests.
If a user requests changes from the default settings configured in the service catalog, these changes are displayed in approval emails, on the approval landing page, and in the Request Details dialog.
Form Element
Description
Header
Adds heading text to the form.
Text
Adds explanatory text to the form.
Allows the requester to enter a value, such as a note or a password.
Important: If users will enter a password on the request form, enable Hide User Input. When this option is enabled:
- Asterisks (*) are displayed for this field value in the Request Details dialog, emails, and landing pages.
- The password is stored, encrypted, in the Commander database.
- The plain-text password can be accessed through the approval workflow variable
#{request.services[x].components[x].settings.inputField['field name']}. For example, if you set the Display Label for the Input Text Field to "Password", you would access the password in an approval workflow script with the variable#{request.services[1].components[1].settings.inputField['Password']}. - If a request containing a password is copied, the password is blanked out.
Dynamic List
Allows the requester to select options from lists that are updated in real time from an external source. If the lists can depend on other form elements, the selection of one form element can dictate the available choices for another list. For more information, see Add Dynamic Lists to Forms. Allows the requester to specify custom attribute values for a component.
If you added custom attributes on the Attributes tab, or if custom attributes were assigned to the source template or VM, these attributes appear under Attributes.
Click a custom attribute to add it to the form.
If the attribute is a list-type attribute and configured to apply only to forms, you can enable Select Multiple to allow users to select multiple values for this attribute. For more information, see Form custom attributes.
If you add a custom attribute to the Form tab and add the same attribute to the Service form (see Create New Service Requests), the value specified on the Service form takes precedence.
When you have completed configuring the added components, click Next to continue editing the service catalog entry.
- On the Deployment page, specify deployment options for the entire service, then click Next.
If your service only includes one or more custom components, many of these options won't be present.
- Deploy Service As — Choose one of the following options:
- Virtual Service — The service will be deployed as a vApp; you can manage the service as a whole after the service request has been completed, but Service Portal users will still be able to see and manage individual VMs within the vApp.
- Individual Components — The service will be deployed as individual VMs.
When creating a service that contains a single virtual service component, choose Individual Components. Otherwise, the service will be deployed as a virtual service within a virtual service.
- Deployed Name — If you deploy the service as a virtual service, you can specify a customized name for deployed instances of the service. Select Use default naming format to use the default virtual service naming convention, or specify a customized deployed name.
Click Configure global text replacement rules to shorten your service names. See also Set up text replacement rules for service names.
- Deployment/Startup Order or Deployment Order — Applies only to VM and virtual service components. Some components in a multi-tier service may require other components to be started and running before they can start.
- If you deploy the service as a virtual service, you specify both the order in which the components are deployed and the order in which the components are started.
- If you deploy the service as individual components, you specify the order in which the components are deployed. The reverse order is used for shutdown.
There is a 120 second delay between startup and shutdown of each component. There is no delay for deployment, but components are deployed serially, not in parallel.
An administrator can override the deployment order by manually deploying components in a different order. It's also possible for Commander and Service Portal users with permissions can edit the start order for a deployed vApp.
- Completion Workflow — If you have set up one or more service-level completion workflows, you can select one from the drop-down. Completion workflows allow you to specify actions to be carried out after deployment.
- Click Add Workflow to create a new workflow.
- Click Edit Workflow to edit the workflow that's currently selected in the drop-down list. Note that when you edit the workflow using this link, you're editing the workflow for all of the components or services it's assigned to.
- Start Deployed Components — By default, VMs are powered on during deployment. If you want to deploy VMs in this service in a powered-off state, clear this option.
When this option isn't enabled and a customization spec is assigned to a component in the service, if the VM is migrated to a different datastore before its first power on, the customization spec won't run.
- Deploy Service As — Choose one of the following options:
- On the Placement page, you can configure placement attributes to define the Intelligent Placement requirements for the service.
When you assign a placement attribute value to a published service, you're identifying the requirements of that published service to help ensure that services are deployed to the best destination. For more information, see Configure Placement Attributes.
To configure placement attributes:
- Click Edit Placement Attributes.
- In the Edit Placement Attributes dialog, in the Not Required section, select an attribute value that's provided by this destination and click Add to move it to the Required section.
- Click OK to close the Edit Placement Attributes dialog.
The placement attribute values you've assigned to this service are displayed on the Placement page.
- For a placement attribute with selectable values, use the Up and Down arrow buttons to order the attribute values by preference if necessary. For example, if a service can be deployed on either private or public cloud, but private cloud is preferable, make sure the Private Cloud attribute value is first in the list.
You can click Create Placement Attributes to create a new placement attribute. For more information, see Create placement attributes.
- On the Visibility page, select one of the following options to set which users and groups can request this service, then click Next:
- Do not publish — The service is in the catalog but isn't available for selection (temporarily disabled). See also Permanently remove services from the Service Catalog.
- Publish - Global — The service is available to all organizations, users and groups.
Publish - Specific organizations, users and groups — The service is available to the specified organizations, users and groups. If you select this option, you can assign a single service to both organizations and users/groups.
- On the Organizations tab, select an organization from the drop-down menu. On the Users/Groups tab, enter the username or email address for one or more users or groups.
When an organization member requests this service, the deployed service will automatically be assigned to the organization, with the requester as primary owner.
- On the Organizations tab, select an organization from the drop-down menu. On the Users/Groups tab, enter the username or email address for one or more users or groups.
- On the Summary page, review the service's configuration details.
If necessary, go back to the appropriate pages and make changes.
- Click Finish when you're done.
After a service is added to the Service Catalog, you can click Show Details to quickly view information about it.
