Service Component Properties

For more advanced configuration of the properties on a component, including the ability to add or delete properties, use the Edit Component menu. For more information, see Edit a service component.

Properties for service components are user-defined properties that you may want to create in the following situations:

• When a service component receives its value from a subscriber option. For example, you may wish to receive the number of CPUs for a server after its value has been specified in the Marketplace Portal. To do this, create a property (for example, NCPU) on the server service component and create a subscriber option property (for example, NCPU). Finally, use a target binding, as described in Sequenced design subscriber options, to push the value from the subscriber option to the server NCPU property.
• When an action that runs on a service component or its associated resource offering expects a property value with a given name and value to exist on the service component. For example, an action may need to retrieve an IP address that is stored on a server service component.
• When you want to create a property mapping between components in a design, where the property of a component obtains its value from the property of another component in a design. For example, a software application tier service component may need to know the service component ID of a server group. You can create a property on the server group service component called SVC_COMPONENT_ID, which has a token value of [TOKEN:SVC_COMPONENT_ID]. You would also create a property on the software application tier service component whose value contains a property mapping to the server group property (SVC_COMPONENT_ID). The property value is then pulled by the software application tier from that SVC_COMPONENT_ID property on the server group. This use of service component properties to pull a value from another service component property is called a property mapping. Another type of relationship between properties is called a target binding. For more information about target bindings, see Sequenced design subscriber options.

• When you want to expose a property value in the Marketplace Portal. The property value can be explicitly defined on the service component, or may be set as the result of an action execution (for example, a HOSTNAME property might be set on a server service component as part of deploying the server).

Tasks

Service component properties are managed using the Properties panel and the Edit Component menu in the Designer tab.

• View — Select the service component whose properties you want to view. The Properties pane opens on the right and displays the properties of the selected component. A property that is set as a measurable property is displayed with its unit in parenthesis. The component type and the palette to which the component belongs are displayed at the top of the Properties pane. Click the View References link under a property to view references to this property from other service component properties and subscriber option properties. See View service component property references.

• Edit — Select the service component whose properties you want to edit. The Properties pane opens on the right and displays the properties of the selected component. You can edit the values of any property and click Save to persist the changes.

• Select Token — Choose a token for string properties that are not mapped. Choose the Select Token option, and select from the list of available tokens. See Tokens for a description of the tokens.
• Map properties — Create a mapping between the properties of components in a design. For more information, see Property mapping
• Add, edit, or delete list items — Add, edit, or delete list items for list properties. Use the Edit Component menu to add list properties.
• Configure advanced settings — Add, edit, delete, or modify properties of a service component, configure lifecycle actions, and configure resource offerings. For more information, see Edit a service component.