Add Multi-Cloud Services to the Catalog

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.

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.

Specify the name for deployed instances of this component.

Select Use default naming format to use the default naming convention, or specify a customized deployed name.

Click Configure global text replacement rules to shorten your component names. See also Set up text replacement rules for service names.

Customization specs allow Commander to modify source images during deployment, greatly reducing the number of templates you must maintain to deliver a variety of services based on the same OS.

If the component is a Windows or Linux template with a customization specification, you can select a different specification for the template by selecting one from the drop-down menu. The drop-down list displays only those customization specs that currently exist on every location supported by this multi-cloud template. You can manually enter a name and create the customization spec later.

You can also assign a customization spec through a completion workflow with a Customize VM step. To avoid collisions, choose only one of these methods.

The specified customization spec must exist on all target locations at deployment time.

If the Dynamic Resource Scheduling (DRS) automation level for a cluster is set to Fully automated and VM-level DRS control is allowed, Commander temporarily disables DRS during guest OS customization for new VMs deployed into the cluster. Disabling DRS means that vSphere won't migrate a newly provisioned VM before customization is complete. A Commander event is generated when DRS is disabled, and again when it's re-enabled.

Enter user data to customize this VM during provisioning. See AWS User Data Syntax and Supported Variables for more information.

Some Marketplace AMIs have costs in addition to instance type costs. Enter an amount to represent the estimated additional annual cost of this Marketplace AMI. This field allows you to display an accurate service cost to requesters. Use the View AMI details on AWS Marketplace hyperlink to get pricing information for this AMI. The value you enter will be set for the Additional Costs custom attribute for VMs deployed from this service.

The AWS cost calculator provides an hourly cost, while Commander requires an annual cost.

Optional: Enter an AWS IAM role for this component.

Important: Commander doesn't validate IAM role names, so ensure that role names entered in Commander match those in AWS. IAM role names are not case-sensitive. The IAM role you specify must exist on every location supported by this multi-cloud template.

Using variable substitution, you can assign the IAM role based on information from the request process. Both custom attributes and Input Text Fields are supported as variables.

For example, on the Attributes tab of the blueprint, you can create a custom attribute called IAM Role. On the Form tab of the blueprint, you can add the IAM Role custom attribute form element. Then, back on the Infrastructure tab, you can click  in the IAM Role field to select variables. Select the IAM Role custom attribute:  #{target.settings.customAttribute['IAM Role']}.

You can assign an IAM role to the deployment destination rather than the catalog blueprint, if you deploy the same template (AMI) to multiple deployment destinations, or if you have a large number of catalog entries. If an IAM role is configured in both the deployment destination and the blueprint, the blueprint takes precedence.

Administrators can override the IAM role during manual deployment.

Enter an availability set name. Microsoft Azure availability sets ensure both fault tolerance and service availability. If the availability set you specify doesn't exist in the target location, it will be created. Availability set names are case-insensitive, must contain from 1 to 80 characters, and may contain letters, numbers, underscores and hyphens.

Set the default number of CPUs for this specific component.

Set the default memory requirements for this specific component.

Set the default storage requirements for this specific component. For existing disks, or disks that you add, you can change the disk size and storage tier. Enable the Locked option to stop Service Portal users from modifying a hard disk in a service request.

The disk format is taken either from the source template or from the provisioning destination. The settings in the provisioning destination override the template settings, so if you want to use the template settings, make sure to select Same format as source on the Disk Format page of the Automated Deployment Placement wizard. You must ensure that datastores are available to back all storage tiers in use.

It's not possible to: resize IDE disks, delete the base disk, or decrease the base disk size.

Set the default instance type for this specific component. Only instance types compatible with the source AMI's instance type are available for selection. If multiple AMIs are added to the multi-cloud template, only instance types that are common to all regions are available for selection.

Click Details to view more properties for the selected instance type.

Specify whether this instance type will be EBS optimized by default, if the selected instance type supports it.

EBS optimization enables additional, dedicated throughput between Amazon EC2 and Amazon EBS, and therefore improved performance for Amazon EBS volumes. Additional charges from AWS apply if you enable this option.

Assign a key pair to the instance. A key pair can be used to open an SSH session to a Linux or Solaris instance from Commander and the Service Portal. See Enable Key Pair SSH Connections to Amazon EC2 VMs to learn how to set this up.

You can choose one of the following key pair assignments for the instance:

• an existing key pair from the region
• Let System Decide: With this option, Commander automatically chooses the key pair to assign to the VM. It will choose one of the following, in the order of precedence listed below:
• a key pair that matches a key pair credential associated with the requester
• a key pair that matches a key pair credential associated with the requester's organization
• a key pair assigned to the deployment destination

Set the default storage requirements for this specific component.

The following are not supported:

• deleting the base disk
• decreasing the capacity of the base disk
• changing the encryption setting for existing disks
• adding network adapters

To add a disk, click  Add Disk. To delete a disk, click .

For each disk, you can specify the following:

Device Name: Specify the name that the block device driver for the instance will assign when mounting the volume. The name recommended by Amazon is provided; edit this value if required. Fore more information, see Block Device Mapping  in the AWS documentation.

Capacity: Specify the disk capacity, in GB.

Volume Type: Select one of the following types from the drop-down menu. Hover over the  icon for details on each type. Fore more information, see Amazon EBS Volume Types  in the AWS documentation.

• General Purpose (SSD): General purpose Solid-State Drive volume that balances price and performance for a wide variety of transactional workloads. Recommended for system boot volumes, virtual desktops, low-latency interactive apps, development and test environments.
• Provisioned IOPS (SSD): Highest-performance SSD volume designed for mission-critical applications. Best for critical business applications that require sustained IOPS performance, or more than 10,000 IOPS or 160 MiB/s of throughput per volume, such as large database workloads and EBS-optimized instances. The ratio of IOPS provisioned and the volume size requested can be a maximum of 50.
• Magnetic: Previous-generation Hard Disk Drive volumes for workloads where data is infrequently accessed. Not recommended for new applications.
• Throughput Optimized (HDD): Low-cost Hard Disk Drive volume designed for frequently accessed, throughput-intensive workloads. Best for streaming workloads requiring consistent, fast throughput at a low price, such as big data, data warehouses, and log processing. The minimum disk size for this type is 500 GB. Can't be a boot volume.
• Cold (HDD): Lowest-cost Hard Disk Drive volume designed for less frequently accessed workloads. Best for throughput-oriented storage for large amounts of data that's infrequently accessed. The minimum disk size for this type is 500 GB. Can't be a boot volume.

IOPS: If you select the Provisioned IOPS (SSD) volume type, you must specify the number of I/O operations per second (IOPS) this volume will support. Specify a number between 100 and 10,000. A maximum ratio of 50:1 is permitted between IOPS and volume size; for example, a volume with 3000 IOPS must be at least 60 GB in size. The minimum disk size for this storage type is 4 GB.

Encryption: Specify whether to encrypt the disk. Note that not all instance types support disk encryption; see Amazon EBS Encryption in the AWS documentation for the list of supported instance types.

Delete on Termination: By default, this disk will be deleted when the VM to which it's attached is terminated. If you want to preserve this disk so that it can be attached to a different VM when this VM is terminated, disable this option.

The new disk is created in the same availability zone as the instance it's attached to.

You can enable the Locked option to stop Service Portal users from modifying a hard disk in a service request.

Set the default instance type for this specific component. Only instance types compatible with the source image's instance type are available for selection. If multiple images are added to the multi-cloud template, only instance types that are common to all regions are available for selection.

Click Details to view more properties for the selected instance type.

Set the default storage resources for this service.

Select Managed Storage or Unmanaged Storage, as required.

Edit the suggested device name if required. Managed disk names must be unique in the target resource group. Unmanaged disk names must be unique within the VM. The name must contain from 1 to 64 characters, must contain only letters, numbers, hyphens, dots and underscores, and must start with a letter or number.

Limitation: Even though you can edit the name for a managed disk, the suggested name will be used.

Specify the disk capacity in GB. Note that you can't shrink existing disks, and you can't resize existing unmanaged disks.

If you selected Unmanaged Storage for the Storage Type, choose a storage tier from the drop-down list. If you selected Managed Storage for the Storage Type, select one of the following types from the drop-down list:

• SSD: Premium disks (SSD) are backed by solid-state drives and offer consistent, low-latency performance. They provide the best balance between price and performance, and are ideal for I/O-intensive applications and production workloads. Premium disks are not supported for all instance types.
• HDD: Standard disks (HDD) are backed by magnetic drives and are preferable for applications where data is accessed infrequently.

Each Azure instance type has limitations for the number and type of disks that can be added.

Set the default network zone for this component's adapters. The component will be deployed with the same number of adapters as the source AMI. If you don't specify a network zone, a network zone is assigned during provisioning.

If a network zone assigned to a service catalog component is deleted, the service is marked as corrupt and can't be requested.

Specify whether this service will have a public IP address.

By default, Create Public IP Address is selected. You can select either Static or Dynamic from the drop-down menu. If you don't want a public IP address to be assigned, select No Public IP Address.

Adds heading text to the form.

Adds explanatory text to the form.

Allows the requester to enter a value, such as a note or a password.

Important: If users will be entering 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.

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 upload files during the service request process. Uploaded files are added to the VM's local directory as configured in the completion workflow using the Copy Uploaded File workflow step. This allows for more flexibility when scripting unattended installations and additional VM configuration. The file upload functionality can be used with Chef or Puppet for enhanced VM deployment and orchestration. For more information about integrating with Chef or Puppet, see Integrate Chef with Commander or Integrate Puppet with Commander.

Allows the requester to specify the deployed component name. The Maximum Length field allows you to change the maximum number of characters (default: 50). See also Customize Naming Conventions.

Allows the requester to specify CPU count requirements for a private-cloud VM component. You can limit the number of CPUs that users can request by entering a comma-separated list of values (for example, 1,2,4).

Allows the requester to specify memory requirements for a private-cloud VM component. You can limit the amount of memory that users can request.

Allows the requester to specify storage requirements for a private-cloud VM or virtual service component. The selectable storage tier labels can be customized.

You must ensure that datastores are available to back all storage tiers in use.

Limit Selections: The Storage form element works together with the Destination form element on the Service form (see Service Request Form Elements). The Limit Selections option controls the interaction of these two elements. For example, let's say you have two destinations — the datastores on the first are assigned to storage tier 1, and the datastores on the second are all assigned to storage tier 2. Your request form contains both the Destination and Storage elements.

• If you disable Limit Selections, the selected storage tier controls what destination is used. When a requester picks Storage Tier 1 from the Storage element, Destination 1 is auto-selected. When a requester picks Storage Tier 2, the destination changes to Destination 2.
• If you enable Limit Selections, the destination drives the available tiers. When a requester picks Destination 1, only Storage Tier 1 can be selected for the Storage element. When a requester picks Destination 2, only Storage Tier 2 can be selected. Commander chooses the correct destination in this case.

Virtual services: We recommend enabling Display Storage Tier on virtual service component forms, so that the requester can choose a storage tier for each virtual service component. (The same storage tier will be used for all VMs in a virtual service.) Requesters won't be able to add extra disks. If Storage Tier isn't included on the service request form, virtual service automated deployment will choose the cheapest available configured storage that can satisfy the request.

Allowed Actions: Specify whether the requester can Add disks, Change disks, and Remove disks.

If you specify that the user can change existing disks, specify the Maximum Disk Size.

If you specify that the user can both add and change disks, specify the Maximum Disk Size and Maximum Extra Disks.

Allows the requester to specify storage requirements for a VM component.

The Storage - Azure form element works together with the Destination form element on the Service form (see Service Request Form Elements). If you add the Destination element to the Service form and enable the Limit Selections option, the storage tiers and network zones configured for the selected deployment destination are shown on the form, rather than those you configured for the Storage-AWS element and the Network element. The Limit Selections option ensures that users don't select a storage tier or network zone that's unavailable on the target destination.

Storage Types: Select Managed and/or Unmanaged as required. Due to an Azure limitation, it's only possible to change this value if you're configuring the form for a custom image with unmanaged storage.

Selectable Disk Types: If you selected Managed in the Storage Types list, you can select one or both of the following disk types:

• SSD: Premium disks (SSD) are backed by solid-state drives and offer consistent, low-latency performance. They provide the best balance between price and performance, and are ideal for I/O-intensive applications and production workloads. Premium disks are not supported for all instance types.
• HDD: Standard disks (HDD) are backed by magnetic drives and are preferable for applications where data is accessed infrequently.

Display Storage Tier: If you selected Unmanaged in the Storage Types list, you can specify whether the user can select a storage tier.

Selectable Tiers: If you selected Unmanaged in the Storage Types list, and you enabled Display Storage Tier, select storage tiers to make them available on the form.

Allowed Actions: Specify whether the requester can Add disks, Change disks and Remove disks.

If you specify that the user can add disks, specify the Maximum Disk Size and Maximum Extra Disks.

If you specify that the user can change disks, specify the Maximum Disk Size.

Allows the requester to specify storage requirements for a VM component.

The Storage-AWS form element works together with the Destination form element on the Service form (see Service Request Form Elements). If you add the Destination element to the Service form and enable the Limit Selections option, the storage tiers and network zones configured for the selected deployment destination are shown on the form, rather than those you configured for the Storage-AWS element and the Network element. The Limit Selections option ensures that users don't select a storage tier or network zone that's unavailable on the target destination.

Selectable Disk Types:

• General Purpose (SSD) - Recommended for system boot volumes, virtual desktops, small- to medium-sized databases and development/test environments.
• Provisioned IOPS (SSD) - Recommended for critical business applications that require sustained performance above 3000 IOPS (number of I/O operations per second), and for large database workloads. Best for EBS optimized instances. Consistently performs at the IOPS level you specify. When requesters select this option, they must specify a value for IOPS.
• Magnetic - Recommended for cold workloads where data is infrequently accessed and scenarios where the lowest storage cost is important.
• Throughput Optimized (HDD): Low-cost Hard Disk Drive volume designed for frequently accessed, throughput-intensive workloads. Best for streaming workloads requiring consistent, fast throughput at a low price, such as big data, data warehouses, and log processing. The minimum disk size for this type is 500 GB. Can't be a boot volume.
• Cold (HDD): Lowest-cost Hard Disk Drive volume designed for less frequently accessed workloads. Best for throughput-oriented storage for large amounts of data that's infrequently accessed. The minimum disk size for this type is 500 GB. Can't be a boot volume.

Allowed Actions: Specify whether the requester can Add disks, Change disks, and Remove disks.

If the user can add disks:

• Specify the Maximum Disk Size and Maximum Extra Disks.
• Specify whether new disks will be encrypted by default with the Encryption option.
• Specify whether new disks will be deleted on termination by default with the Delete on Termination option.

If the user can change disks:

• Specify the Maximum Disk Size.
• Specify whether new disks will be encrypted by default with the Encryption option.
• Specify whether new disks will be deleted on termination by default with the Delete on Termination option.

Allows the requester to specify the instance type for the VM.

Select the instance types that users requesting this service will be able to choose. Only instance types compatible with the source image's instance type are available for selection. If multiple images are added to the multi-cloud template, only instance types that are common to all regions are available for selection.

If you have configured automated deployment, the instance types you select must be available in the target region.

Allows the requester to specify the instance type for the VM.

Select the instance types that users requesting this service will be able to choose. Only instance types compatible with the source AMI's instance type are available for selection. If existing disks are encrypted, only instance types with encryption support are available for selection. If multiple AMIs are added to the multi-cloud template, only instance types that are common to all regions are available for selection.

If you have configured automated deployment, the instance types you select must be available in the target region.

If the selected instance type supports it, this form element allows the requester to configure the instance type as EBS Optimized.

Allows the requester to change or add network adapters for a VM component by choosing a network zone. The initial number of network adapters shown on the form matches the number of NICs on the source template.

When this element is on the form:

• Automatically deployed VMs can only be assigned to networks in the listed network zones, so you must assign network zones.
• If multiple destinations are available to a user, with different networks configured for each destination, you must also add the Destination form element to the Service form (see Service Request Form Elements). If a requester wants to select a network zone that's not available on the default destination, they need to be able to select another destination.

Selectable Zones: Choose one or more network zones that users may select.

Allowed Actions: Select the actions that requesters can perform with respect to network selection:

• Add adapter: Network zones are not shown on the form if you select this option; adapters are labeled Adapter 1, Adapter 2, and so on, and Commander assigns the network of the first NIC of the deployed VM to all added adapters.
• Change network zone
• Add adapter and change network zone

Allows the requester to assign a key pair to the instance. A key pair can be used to open an SSH session to a Linux or Solaris instance from Commander and the Service Portal. See Enable Key Pair SSH Connections to Amazon EC2 VMs to learn how to set this up.

You can choose one of the following key pair assignments for the instance:

• an existing key pair from the region
• Let System Decide: With this option, Commander automatically chooses the key pair to assign to the VM. It will choose one of the following, in the order of precedence listed below:
• a key pair that matches a key pair credential associated with the requester
• a key pair that matches a key pair credential associated with the requester's organization
• a key pair assigned to the deployment destination

Allows the requester to specify credentials for a Generalized Azure image. Generalized templates contain no built-in authentication information, as opposed to Specialized templates, which have preconfigured credentials. Because Commander is unable to determined whether a template is Generalized or Specialized, this form element is available for both types of template.

• The use of Generalized templates is highly recommended by Microsoft.
• If credentials are not supplied for a Generalized template, either on the Resources tab or through this form element, credentials must be specified during manual deployment. To prevent automated deployment failures, ensure that credentials are specified.
• Public images are always generalized (prepared), and always require credentials.

The password must be between 8 and 123 characters and must contain three of the following: a lowercase character, an uppercase character, a number and a special character.

Requesters can override the credentials you specify.

If credentials assigned to a service catalog component are deleted, the service is marked as corrupt and can't be requested.

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.

Allows the requester to specify Puppet classes for a VM component. This form element appears only if a Puppet server is integrated with Commander. If a Puppet environment was selected on the Puppet tab, only classes found in the specified environment can be selected on the form. See Integrate Puppet with Commander for details.

Assign classes to nodes indirectly by assigning groups to nodes, rather than directly assigning classes to nodes. If you use the Configure Puppet workflow step to assign classes and variables to a node, Commander creates a group with the same name as the node and pins the node to the group. A parent group named "Commander" is also created to contain these groups.

Allows the requester to specify Puppet groups for a VM component. This form element appears only if a Puppet server is integrated with Commander. If a Puppet environment was selected on the Puppet tab, only groups found in the specified environment can be selected on the form. See Integrate Puppet with Commander for details.

Allows the requester to configure a Chef run-list for a VM component. This form element appears only if a Chef server is integrated with Commander. See Optional: Allow users to set a Chef run-list on the request form for details.

The Chef Run-List form element can't co-exist with either the Chef Recipes or the Chef Roles form element.

Allows the requester to specify Chef recipes for a VM component. This form element appears only if a Chef server is integrated with Commander. See Integrate Chef with Commander for details.

The Chef Run-List form element can't co-exist with either the Chef Recipes or the Chef Roles form element.

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.

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.