Valid since:
XL Deploy 5.5.0

Removed in:
XL Deploy 6.0.0

XL Deploy provisioning example (XL Deploy 5.5.x)

This topic provides a step-by-step example that will help you get started with the XL Deploy provisioning feature. This example shows how to provision a cloud-based environment running Apache Tomcat. This example assumes you are using a Unix-based operating system.

Note: A version of this topic is available for XL Deploy 6.0.0 and later.

Step 1 Start XL Deploy

Follow the instructions to install XL Deploy 5.5.0 or later. Note that Java Development Kit (JDK) 8 is required.

If XL Deploy is already installed, start the XL Deploy server.

Step 2 Create a blueprint

A blueprint is a logical grouping of provisioning packages. A provisioning package describes the infrastructure items that should be created and the details of the environment to which infrastructure items will be associated. To create a new blueprint:

  1. Click Repository in the top bar.
  2. Right-click Blueprints and select New > upm > Blueprint.
  3. In the Name box, enter PetclinicEnvBlueprint.
  4. Click Save.

Step 3 Create a provisioning package

To create a new provisioning package:

  1. Right-click PetclinicEnvBlueprint and select New > ProvisioningPackage.
  2. In the Name box, enter 1.0.
  3. Click Save.

Step 4 Create provisionables and templates

A provisioning package consists of provisionables, which are virtual machine specifications, and templates for configuration items (CIs).

Create an instance specification

To create a new provisionable, right-click the 1.0 provisioning package and select New > aws > ec2.InstanceSpec. This will create a specification for an Amazon EC2 instance. Enter the following properties:

Property Value Description
Name tomcat-instance-spec The name of the CI
Cardinality 1 The number of instances to create (default is 1)
AWS AMI ID Your AWS AMI ID (for example, ami-d91be1ae) The ID of the AMI where Puppet is installed
Region The EC2 region of the AMI (for example, eu-west-1) The EC2 region, which must be valid for the AMI that you selected
AWS Security Group default The security group of the AMI
Instance Type m1.small The size of the instance
AWS key pair name Your AWS key name Name of your EC2 SSH key pair. If you do not have an AWS key name, log in to the Amazon EC2 console, create a new key, and download it to your local machine.

Sample aws.ec2.InstanceSpec CI

Create an SSH host template

Right-click the 1.0 provisioning package and select template > overthere.SshHost. Enter the following properties:

Property Value Description
Name tomcat-host The name of the CI
Operating System UNIX Operating system of the virtual machine
Connection Type SUDO Puppet requires a SUDO connection
Address {{%publicHostname%}} This is a placeholder that will be resolved from the provisioned
Username ubuntu User name for the EC2 machine
Private Key File SSH_DIRECTORY/{{%keyName%}}.pem The location of the SSH key on your local machine to use when connecting to the EC2 instance. SSH_DIRECTORY is the directory where you store your SSH keys; for example, Users/yourusername/.ssh
SUDO username root The user name to use for SUDO operations (this property is located on the Advanced tab

Sample template.overthere.SshHost CI

Create a Tomcat server template

Next, right-click the tomcat-host CI that you just created and select New > tomcat.Server. Enter the following properties:

Property Value Description
Name tomcat-server The name of the CI
Home /opt/apache-tomcat Puppet will install Tomcat in this directory
Start Command sh bin/startup.sh The command that will start Tomcat
Stop Command sh bin/shutdown.sh The command that will stop Tomcat

Sample template.tomcat.Server CI

Create a Tomcat virtual host template

Finally, right-click the tomcat-server CI that you just created and select New > tomcat.VirtualHost. Enter the following properties:

Property Value Description
Name tomcat-vh The name of the CI

Now you will have the following CIs under Blueprints:

Blueprint CIs

Step 5 Bind the SSH host template to the instance spec

To bind the tomcat-host template to the tomcat-instance-spec provisionable:

  1. Double-click tomcat-instance-spec to open it.
  2. Under Bound Templates, select Blueprints/PetclinicEnvBlueprint/1.0/tomcat-host and click Right arrow button to move it to the Members list.
  3. Click Save.

Add SSH host template to instance spec

Step 6 Add the Puppet provisioner

To add Puppet as a provisioner:

  1. Right-click tomcat-instance-spec and select provisioner.Manifest to create a new Puppet manifest.
  2. In the Name box, enter install-tomcat.
  3. Select tomcat-host from the Host list.
  4. Under Artifact, upload a Puppet manifest file that will install Tomcat.
  5. Click Save.

Sample provisioner.Manifest

Add modules to the provisioner

Add Puppet modules to the provisioner:

  1. Right-click the install-tomcat CI that you just created and select New > provisioner.ModuleSpec.
  2. In the Name box and the Module Name box, enter puppetlabs-tomcat.
  3. Click Save.
  4. Repeat this process to create a provisioner.ModuleSpec CI for puppetlabs-java.

Now you will have the following CIs under Blueprints:

Blueprint CIs

Step 7 Create the AWS provider

Create a new provider for Amazon Web Services (AWS):

  1. Right-click Providers and select New > aws > ec2.Cloud.
  2. In the Name box, enter xl-aws-provider.
  3. Enter your AWS credentials in the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key boxes.
  4. Click Save.

Sample aws.ec2.Cloud

Step 8 Create a provisioning environment

Create an environment where the provisioning package will be provisioned:

  1. Right-click ProvisioningEnvironments and select New > upm > ProvisioningEnvironment.
  2. In the Name box, enter environment-creator.
  3. Under Providers, select Providers/xl-aws-provider and click Right arrow button to move it to the Members list.
  4. Click Save.

Sample upm.ProvisioningEnvironment

Step 9 Perform provisioning

To provision the environment:

  1. Click Provisioning in the top bar.
  2. Under Blueprints, select PetclinicEnvBlueprint and drag it to the left side of the Provisioning Workspace.

  3. Under Provisioning Environments, select environment-creator and drag it to the right side of the Provisioning Workspace.

    Initial mapping

  4. There will be one error, because you did not specify the XL Deploy environment where the overthere.SshHost CI based on the bound template should be assigned. To fix this error, click Provisioning Properties.

  5. In the Environment Name box, enter petclinic.

    Provisioning properties

  6. Click OK.

  7. Click Execute to perform the provisioning.

    Provisioning in progress