Application Containers
Application containers are a templatized approach to provision the applications for end users. Each application container is a collection of VMware and HyperV virtual machines (VMs) and bare metal servers (BMs). The application container has an internal private network that is based on rules specified by the administrator. An application container can have one or more VMs and BMs, and can be secured by a fencing gateway (for example, a Virtual Secure Gateway) to the external or public cloud.
Cisco UCS Director supports the application containers and enables you to define container templates with one or more networks and VMs or BMs. When an application container is created from a template, Cisco UCS Director automatically deploys the VMs or BMs and configures the networks and any application services. Cisco UCS Director also automatically configures virtual and physical switches for Layer 2 changes.
When you want to configure Cisco UCS Director to provision the applications, create one or more application container templates with the appropriate policies, workflows, and templates. The application container template determines how the application is provisioned for the end user. It can define some or all of the following:
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Physical server or virtual machine
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Amount of reserved storage
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Maximum available CPU
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Maximum available memory
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Version of operating system
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Range of VLANs
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Gateway or firewall, if desired
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Load balancer, if desired
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Required approvals, if desired
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Access Control List (ACL) rules or other L3 services, if desired
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Costs associated with the application container, if desired
Cisco UCS Director supports multiple types of application containers. The type of application container that you want to implement depends upon your deployment configuration. The steps required to configure the application container depend upon which type you plan to implement.