Custom Resources

Custom Resources are used to define and manage IT resources and services that are not associated with cloud accounts supported by Commander. These can include both virtual and physical objects such as VMs and services from unsupported cloud platforms, physical servers, network devices, and any organizational assets that require visibility.

Custom Resources are configured through the Commander REST API and are visible as inventory items in the Admin Portal from the Inventory > Custom Resources view. You can also make them visible to Service Portal users who have been assigned ownership of the resource, or who have the Show All permission. For information on assigning ownership to Custom Resources, see Set Resource Ownership.

For information on adding, modifying, and removing Custom Resources, see the /custom-resources/ REST endpoint in the Commander API documentation.

Command workflows on Custom Resources

You can use the following types of command workflows with Custom Resources:

  • A scheduled workflow that routinely fetches information from the Custom Resource's source data. This provides an updated representation of the Custom Resource displayed in Commander.
  • A command workflow that performs actions on the Custom Resources. For example, if you have a Custom Resource that represents a physical server that has reached its end-of-life, you can use a command workflow to access your organization’s database and mark the server as expired.

For more information on configuring and running command workflows, see Workflow Steps Reference and Run command workflows.

Custom Resources in the Service Catalog

You can add custom components to the Service Catalog that represent resources users may want to request. This can enable Service Portal users to request new Custom Resources.

  1. Create a custom component type. For more information, see Add Custom Components to Services.

    For step 2 of Add Custom Components to Services, enter a name that will represent the Custom Resource in the Service Catalog. For example, to enable Service Portal users to submit requests for oVirt virtual machines, enter "oVirt VM" in the Name field.

  2. Add a service to the catalog. For more information, see Add services that users can request. On the Component Blueprints page, select the custom component type you created above.
  3. On the Component Blueprints page, configure a completion workflow for the custom component.

    This completion workflow is responsible for provisioning the Custom Resource on the remote system.