Environment profiles overview
An environment profile provides a configuration for use when deploying a pattern.
Environment profiles group related deployment configuration, like virtual machine names, IP address assignment, and cloud groups. Deploying patterns with environment profiles enables deployments across tiers from a single pattern.
- Defining the operational environments, for example development, test, or quality assurance.
- Defining virtual machine naming conventions within the operational environment.
- Specifying whether Cloud Pak System Software or the pattern deployer provides the IP address on the deployment.
- Segmenting the clouds, and IP groups within the clouds, to specific environments.
- Assigning aliases to the cloud resources such as clouds and IP groups.
- Assigning sections within the clouds to specific users or groups.
- Defining a specific time zone for use in deployments.
Environment profiles provide an option to deploy a pattern to a specified cloud group. You can define profile information for the cloud, IP group, and IP address at a part level in an environment profile. You can select specific IP groups for each cloud and provide aliases to the cloud and IP groups to better describe the environment at deployment time. You can use the same pattern and deploy in different environments without changing the pattern.
With environment profiles, you can also group multiple clouds to be used in the deployment. Using environment profiles, you can deploy a pattern to multiple cloud groups of the same hypervisor type. Environment profiles are platform-specific, so Cloud Pak System Software filters out appropriate clouds. The virtual machine name syntax is also specific to the cloud.
You might deploy a pattern to multiple IBM® PowerVM® cloud groups, for example. But you cannot deploy a single pattern to a PowerVM cloud group.