Deploying virtual application patterns in a multisystem environment

After you create a virtual application pattern, you can provision and deploy it to the cloud. You can deploy a virtual application pattern multiple times and each deployment is a running virtual application instance on the cloud infrastructure. These steps are specific to virtual application patterns that are deployed in a multisystem environment.

1. Click Patterns > Virtual Application Patterns.
2. Click Deploy in the Actions column for the pattern that you want to deploy, or select the pattern that you want to deploy and click Deploy on the toolbar.

On the Configure tab:

3. Edit the name for the deployment, if needed. This name displays on the Instances page after the pattern deploys.
4. Select the environment profile that you want to use for the deployment.
   • If the Deployment type for the selected environment profile is set to Single cloud:
     • Select a Cloud Group and an IP Group.
       Note: You can also set the IP group for each virtual machine on the Distribute pane. You cannot change the Cloud Group for the deployment after you configure it on this pane.
     • The deployment is limited to a single cloud group.
   • If the Deployment type for the selected environment profile is set to Multi cloud, you select the cloud group and IP group for the deployment later, on the Distribute pane.
5. Set the priority for the deployment.
   Note: For more information about deployment priorities, see the Related tasks.
6. If more than one operating system is supported for the pattern, select the Operating system family.
   If you chose a Windows image, enter the product key and password for the operating system. Specifying an invalid product key will result in errors with the deployment.

   Important: You must use a product key from a volume license.
7. Select the Base image to use for the deployment.
   Note: Only images with an operating system that is supported by the pattern are displayed in the list.
8. Optional: If you want to set up SSH access to the deployment, click SSH Key.
   1. To set up SSH access, use one of the following options to set the public key:
      • To generate a key automatically, click Generate. Click Download to save the private key file to a secure location. The default name is id_rsa.txt.

        The system does not keep a copy of the private key. If you do not download the private key, you cannot access the virtual machine, unless you generate a new key pair. You can also copy and paste the public key into a text file to save the key. Then, you can reuse the same key pair for another deployment. When you have the private key, make sure that it has the correct permissions (chmod 0400 id_rsa.txt). By default, the SSH client does not use a private key file that provides open permission for all users.

      • To use an existing SSH public key, open the public key file in a text editor and copy and paste it into the SSH Key field.
        Important: Do not use cat, less, or more to copy and paste from a command shell. The copy and paste operation adds spaces to the key that prevent you from accessing the virtual machine.

      The SSH key provides access to the virtual machines in the cloud group for troubleshooting and maintenance purposes. See the topic, "Configuring SSH key-based access", for details about SSH key-based access to virtual machines.

   2. Click OK.
9. Modify the deployment schedule as needed:
   • Choose Start now, or choose Start later and select a date and time for the deployment to start.
   • Choose Run indefinitely, or choose Run until and select a date and time for the deployment to end.
10. Modify the component attributes as needed.

    The attributes that display in the pattern configuration column are attributes from the components in the pattern that are not locked from editing. You can modify existing values or set values that were not specified during pattern creation. Be sure that all required fields have values. Components that have a blue dot next to the name contain required attributes that must be set before the pattern is deployed.

11. When you are finished configuring all of the fields on the Configure tab:
    • If you chose an environment profile that does not have the IP addresses provided by field set to Pattern Deployer and you do not want to modify the placement, click Quick Deploy. If you choose this option, the deployment process starts. You do not need to complete any of the subsequent steps.
    • If you chose an environment profile that has the IP addresses provided by field set to Pattern Deployer, or you want to modify the placement, click Prepare to Deploy.

On the Distribute tab:

The virtual machines in the deployment are placed in cloud groups across the multisystem environment by the system.

12. Optional: To modify the placement of the virtual machines, drag the virtual machines to different cloud groups.

    If you modify the placement of the virtual machines, the new placement is validated to ensure that the necessary resources and artifacts are available in the selected cloud group. If there is a problem with the placement, a message is displayed. Resolve the issue with the placement before you continue.

    For example, if this message displays when you modify the placement: CWZKS7002E Insufficient memory to place the pattern, move the virtual machine to a different cloud group with sufficient memory resources for the pattern.
13. Optional: To edit the network or volume settings for a virtual machine, move the mouse pointer over the virtual machine icon and click the pencil icon.
    1. On the IP Groups tab, you can modify the IP group for each of the NICs in the virtual machine. The IP groups that are listed are those that are associated with the environment profile that you chose for the deployment.
    2. If you are deploying the IBM Spectrum Scale Pattern, you can modify the volumes for the virtual machine on the Volumes tab.
    3. Click OK when you are finished updating the settings.
14. When you are finished modifying the settings, click Deploy.