Cisco UCS Director Application Container Guide, Release 6.6

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Book Title

Cisco UCS Director Application Container Guide, Release 6.6

Chapter Title

Managing Application Containers

Results

Updated:
November 18, 2019

Chapter: Managing Application Containers

Managing Application Containers

This chapter contains the following sections:

Managing Application Containers

As an administrator, you can perform the following management actions on application containers:

  • Add VMs

  • Open Console

  • Clone Template

  • Manage Container Power

  • Delete Containers

  • View Reports

Viewing Container Actions

Actions available to apply to a container are context-sensitive. You can use the action icons at the top of the Application Containers page or the More Actions drop-down list to perform these actions.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Step 2

On the Application Containers page, click Application Containers.

Step 3

Choose a container to display all of the available actions.

Note 

To enable a self-service user to perform actions on a container, give self-service users permission by checking Enable Self-Service when creating the container template.

Adding VMs


Note

You cannot add VMs to the container through the Add VMs to Container workflow. You can add VMs only by clicking Add VMs or by using the API.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Step 2

On the Application Containers page, click Application Containers.

Step 3

Choose an application container.

Step 4

From the More Actions drop-down list, choose Add VMs.

Step 5

On the Add VMs screen, expand the virtual machines list and click Add.

Define the virtual machine in one of the following ways:

  • Use a VM image and manually set the parameters. See Step 6.

  • Use a template defined in the application profile. See Step 7.
Step 6

On the Add Entry to Virtual Machines screen, leave the Use Predefined Template check box unchecked and complete the following fields:

Name Description
Network drop-down list

Choose the network (tier) on which you want to add the VM.

VM Name field

Enter the name you want to assign to the VM.

During application container deployment, you can update the prefix from what is defined in the application profile.

Provision new VM using Content Library VM Template check box

Check to view and choose a VM template from the content library VM templates. If unchecked, you have to choose VM template from VM image templates.

Content Library VM Template field

This field appears only when the Provision new VM using Content Library VM Template check box is checked. Click Select to view a list of available VM templates. Check the check box of the template that you want to use and click Select.

VM Image list

This field appears only when the Provision new VM using Content Library VM Template check box is unchecked. Click Select and check the VM image that you want to use.

You define these VMs in the vCenter for your cluster.

Use Linked Clone check box

This check box is enabled only when you choose a VM template with a snapshot. Check this box to deploy new VMs using linked clone feature which enables them to be provisioned faster and storage efficient.

Windows License Pool drop-down list

Choose a Windows license version for the image, from the list of licenses that gets populated based on licenses defined in the OS License tab (Policies > Service Delivery > OS License).

This field appears in one of the following conditions:

  • When the Provision VM using Content Library Template check box is checked. The chosen Windows license version will be considered for the image only when the selected content library VM template has the Windows OS.

  • When a windows image is chosen in the VM Image drop-down list .

Snapshot field

This field appears only when the Use Linked Clone check box is checked. Click Select to choose a snapshot that need to be used to provision a new VM using linked clone feature.

Number of vCPUs drop-down list

Choose the number of virtual CPUs for the VM.

Memory (MB) drop-down list

Choose the size of the VM memory.

Disk Size (GB) field

Enter the size of the VM disk.

If you enter zero, the VM uses the disk size defined in the image.

Select DRS Rule list

Click Select, check a distributed resource scheduler (DRS) rule (also called an affinity rule) that you want to use, and then click Select.

Select Storage DRS Rule list

Click Select, check a storage distributed resource scheduler (DRS) rule that you want to use, and then click Select.

Note 

This field appears only if you chose a DRS rule from Select DRS Rule.

VM Password Sharing Option drop-down list

Choose the password sharing policy for this VM.

Default is to not share the root password.

Network Adapter Type drop-down list

Choose the network adapter for the VM.

Initial Quantity drop-down list

Choose the number of VMs to create on application startup.

Skip to Step 8.

Step 7

On the Add Entry to Virtual Machines screen, check the Use Predefined Template check box and complete the following fields:

Name Description
Network drop-down list

Choose the network (tier) on which you want to add the VM.

VM Name drop-down list

Choose the name of the VM as defined in the application profile.

Select DRS Rule list

Click Select, check a DRS rule (also called an affinity rule) that you want to use, and then click Select.

No Of Instances drop-down list

Choose the number of VM instances to provision.

The drop-down list limits your choices so as not to exceed the maximum number of VMs defined in the application profile.

Step 8

Click Submit.

Step 9

To add more VMs, repeat this procedure starting with Step 5.

Step 10

After you finish adding VMs, on the Add VMs screen, click Submit.

Deleting VMs from an Application Container

Before you begin

  • Create and deploy an existing application container with one or more VMs.

  • Power off the VMs that you want to delete.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Step 2

Choose an application container.

Step 3

From the More Actions drop-down list, choose Decommission Container.

Step 4

From the list of VMs, click the rows with the VMs that you want to delete.

Note 
The list shows only VMs that are powered off.
Step 5

Click Submit.

The VM is deleted from the selected container.

Accessing a VM Console

Before you begin

You must enable proper console access rights on individual VMs that you want to access using VNC. See Enabling VNC Console Access.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Step 2

On the Application Containers page, click Application Containers.

Step 3

Choose an application container.

Step 4

From the More Actions drop-down list, choose Open Console.

Step 5

On the Access VM Console screen, from the Select VM drop-down list, choose a VM.

Step 6

Click Submit.

A console of the selected VM opens in a new browser window.
Note 

For automatic configuration of a VNC console on a container, you must provide permission by checking the Enable VNC Based Console Access check box when you create the application container template.

Enabling VNC Console Access

You can enable console access on an individual VM.

Procedure
Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, click VMs.

Step 3

Click the row with the VM for which to enable console access.

Step 4

From the More Actions drop-down list, choose Configure VNC.

Step 5

On the Configure VNC Request screen, from the Key Board Mapping drop-down list, choose a mapping.

Step 6

Click Submit.

Cloning an Existing Container

As an administrator you can clone an existing container. Cloning transfers all of the settings and configuration data from the VMs that are contained in the original container.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Step 2

On the Application Containers page, click Application Containers.

Step 3

Choose an application container.

Step 4

Click Clone Container and complete the following fields:

Name Description

Container Name field

Enter the name of the container.

Container Label field

Enter a unique container label.

Tenant list

Click Select, check the tenant that you want to use, and then click Select.

Step 5

Click Submit.

Managing Container Power

Administrators have the ability to disable and enable the power to containers.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Step 2

On the Application Containers page, click Application Containers.

Step 3

Choose an application container.

Step 4

Click Power On Container or Power Off Container.

Step 5

From the list, select the VMs to power on or off.

Step 6

Click Submit.

Viewing Application Containers

To view application containers in Cisco UCS Director, choose Policies > Application Containers.

Procedure

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Application containers use a color scheme to identify the container's status:

  • Green—All VMs and bare metal servers (BMs) are powered on, including the gateway (GW) if the container configuration includes a GW.

  • Yellow—Any of the requested BMs are still in progress/failed or any of the application VMs are down.

  • Blue—Container provisioning is in progress.

  • Grey—VMs and BMs are not present in the container.

  • Red—All VMs and BMs, including the GW, are powered off.

Deleting Application Containers

When you delete a container, you also delete the resources that are provisioned for that container. When the delete container action is initiated, Cisco UCS Director rolls back the application container setup. A service request is created, reflecting the rollback status.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Step 2

On the Application Containers page, click Application Containers.

Step 3

Choose an application container.

Step 4

From the More Actions drop-down list, choose Delete Container.

Note 

If you choose to delete an application container with associated L4-L7 services, you are prompted to confirm that you want to delete all resources provisioned for the container.

Step 5

If prompted, and if you want to delete the L4-L7 services with the container, click Submit.

A notice appears confirming that a service request was generated.

Step 6

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 7

On the Service Requests page, click Service Requests.

Step 8

Click the row with the deletion service request.

Step 9

Click View Details.

Viewing Reports

You can generate summary reports, a detailed report with credentials, and a detailed report without credentials for each container.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Step 2

On the Application Containers page, click Application Containers.

Step 3

Choose an application container.
Step 4

Click View Reports.

Step 5

On the View Container Reports screen, from the Select Report Type drop-down list, choose the report you want to view.

Reports "with Credentials" show passwords in plain text. Reports "without Credentials" hide passwords in the report.

Reports for Administrators contain policy information not given in reports for Self-Service Users.
Step 6

Click Submit.

The report displays the ID of the Service Request used to create the application container in the report header.

Viewing Application Container Information

The application container dashboard displays complete information for the application container. There are various pages you can view for a selected application container.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policies > Application Containers.

Step 2

On the Application Containers page, click Application Containers.

Step 3

Choose an application container.

Step 4

Click View Details.

Step 5

You can view the following information:

Page

Description

Summary

  • Overview—Displays a summary of the application container, such as: container name and ID; if DR is enabled; group name; application profile; application container template used; if there are managed network services; number of tiers, VMs, and BMs; and resource pool.

  • Resource Limits—Displays a summary of the available resources and limits for resources, such as: CPUs; memory; datastore size; network throughput; and servers.

Virtual Machines

Displays details about the VMs provisioned for the application container, such as: VM ID, name, and type; status; IP address; guest OS; and the time when the VM was provisioned.

Note 

Specific naming conventions are followed for VM names for the following actions:

  • Application provisioning for private network—<VM name specified during container creation time><index of VMs per tier>

  • Adding VMs to an APIC container—<VM name specified in Add VM action><index of VMs per tier>

Bare Metals

Displays details about bare metals, such as the bare metal name, OS type, IP address, and Service Request (SR) ID.

Bare metals are physical servers provisioned as part of the application container.

Tier Mapping

Displays information about the tiers, such as: the VMs and BMs in each tier; resource name and type; and IP address.

Tiers correspond to the networks that you defined when you created the application container template. Tiers in a typical application include web, application, and database. The tiers contain VMs and BMs.

L4 L7 Services

Displays information about L4-L7 services, such as: Service Request (SR) ID; service name; primary IP address; service type; device type; consumer and provider tiers; load balancer VIP and SNIP; service chain flag and type; protocol; port; and if SSL is enabled.

Note 

You can drill down the service name to view the list of real servers.

Contracts

Displays the information about the contracts that define the rule for communication in multi-tier applications, such as: contract; source container and network; and destination container and network.

Note 

You can drill down each contract to view the security rules.

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