Component relationships

Relationships in topology designs define dependencies between components and also impact how a design is provisioned. For example, imported Chef components require a server in order to be provisioned. Therefore, all imported Chef components are created with an outgoing relationship to the server capability, ensuring that a server is provisioned before the Chef component.

When importing new components, you might need to define new relationships. Some relationships are created for you automatically at import time, such as the Chef component dependency on a server discussed above. If there are additional dependencies, define them manually in this tab.

Tasks

View the following information about the relationships:

• Direction - Outgoing or Incoming.
• Target or Source Component - The component icon, name, and version of the target or source component to open the Overview tab for that component.
• Display Name - The display name of the relationship.

Use the corresponding icon or button to:

• Create or Edit a relationship:
  • You cannot create or edit incoming relationships.
  • You cannot create or edit a relationship on an abstract component.
  • You can create or edit a relationship on capabilities that you create yourself, but you cannot create or edit a relationship on capability components installed with CSA.

  • Until a component is used in a design, relationships can be added and edited. After a component is used in a design, relationships can still be added and edited, but adding new required relationships (or editing an existing relationship to make it required) is not supported. When a relationship is already used in a design, only Display Name and Description edits to that relationship are allowed.
    
    Provide the following information for a relationship:

    Item	Description
    Target Component	Select the target component for the relationship from the Select Component dialog box, which provides a list of available components.
    Display Name	The name for the relationship.
    Description	The description for the relationship.
    Maximum Outgoing Relationships From Source	Enter a number to indicate the number of instances of the target component that a single instance of the source component can be connected to.
    Maximum Incoming Relationships To Target	Enter a number to indicate the number of source components that can be connected to a single instance of the target component.
    Required Relationship	Use the check box to indicate if the relationship is required when the component is used in a design. If selected, the source component will display a validation error when a relationship to the target component is not present in the design.

• Delete a relationship - Click the gear icon and select Delete. You cannot delete incoming relationships.