Virtualization
Virtualization covers virtual infrastructure such as clusters and virtual machines.
The following object types describe the core elements of Virtualization in Site Planner. Each object type can be managed through the UI and can be found under the Virtualization menu. APIs to manage the objects are also available.
Virtual Machines (VM)
Virtual Machines are instances of compute resources that can run workloads. Like Devices, each VM can be assigned a functional role to describe its usage.
Virtual Machines can be populated with resource allocation such as vCPU, memory (GB), and disk space (GB).
Clusters
Clusters are groups of physical resources that VMs can be assigned to. Clusters require a type and can be assigned to groups.
Clusters (or a Cluster Group) might ultimately be used to model a Virtual Infrastructure cloud (see Virtual Infrastructure).
Cluster Groups
Cluster Groups can be used to organize clusters into logical categories.
Cluster Types
Cluster Types describe technologies or processes by which clusters are formed.
Virtual Infrastructures
Represents a particular technology or brand of virtual software infrastructure, for example, OpenShift®.
Virtual Infrastructure Types
Software-based infrastructure distributed across the physical infrastructure layer; for example, an OpenShift/OpenStack cluster.
Each Virtual Infrastructure instance is composed of a Cluster (or ClusterGroup) of Devices to represent the physical layer it is running on.
Managed Entities
A managed entity is an application or other software that runs at the network application layer of the site. Managed entities provide capabilities for network operation.
The lifecycle of managed entities is directly managed by IBM® Cloud Pak for Network Automation. Managed entities are directly integrated with automation features such as build or teardown.
To create a managed entity, create an assembly descriptor that describes the managed entity. When you build the assembly descriptor, an assembly is created to represent the application. The assembly is taken through a lifecycle to install, configure, and start components that are automated.
The managed entity type determines which assembly descriptor to use when the assembly is created. The properties and managed entity components are passed as property values to create the assembly instance.
For subsequent builds of the assembly, the properties are passed again in an upgrade request on the assembly instance. To tear down the assembly, the assembly is uninstalled and taken through the reverse lifecycle to uninstall.
APIs to work with managed entities are also available.
Managed Entity Types
Represents a Managed Entity technology that can be instantiated.
Each Managed Entity Type is associated with a descriptor, which represents the topology template for an instance of this type. This template describes the composition of the service, including relationships between components, policies, and variable properties to be configured per instance.
Managed Entity Components
Represent nested components of a Managed Entity. Components are modelled as part of the Managed Entity but can be disabled or enabled individually, allowing the user to activate components of a service over time.
The Assembly Descriptor, associated to a Managed Entity Type, determines if a Managed Entity has components. It also determines how a component impacts the lifecycle of the entity in question. For example, a eNB service may be designed to support DUs and CUs as components.Virtual machine interfaces
Virtual machine interfaces represent interfaces that are assigned to virtual machine instances. They do not contain any physical property such as physical type. You cannot attach cables to this interface.