Components

Each component binds to a single provider for fulfillment automation. The component lifecycle provisioning is delegated to the providers.

Use the Components area in topology designs to import, create, and configure components. Codar provides a number of out-of-the-box components you can use for creating topology designs.

Concrete components

Concrete components are the most common components that you will interact with.

• Concrete components can contain properties, relationships, and operations.
• Concrete components can express support for capabilities, such as server, application server, database server, and web server, and can also support characteristics.
• Concrete components can be included in a design.

Abstract components

Abstract components provide a base type for other components and can be the target of relationships configured on a component.

• Abstract components can contain properties and relationships.
• Abstract components cannot express support for capabilities or characteristics.
• Abstract components cannot be included in a design.

Capability components

A capability component is used in a partial design and only contains properties or relationships. For example, a capability component might contain the properties required for an application server. It is associated with a concrete component that supports the capability. When a concrete component supports a capability, the concrete component inherits the capability's relationships and must provide property mappings from the concrete component properties to the capability properties.

• Capabilities can be the target of relationships configured on a component.
• Capabilities can be included in a design, but for such a design to be successfully provisioned, another design must exist that contains a concrete component supporting the capability.

Tasks

You can perform the following tasks in this area:

• Search for components. Enter your search string in the Search field.
• Select how to view components. Select to view: By Palette, By Tag, or By Provider Type. Click an item in the left pane to see its components displayed in the right pane.
• Manage tags. When you are in the By Tag view, click the Manage Component Tags icon in the lower left pane. Tags are labels that provide a structure for organizing and grouping related items. A component can be assigned to multiple tags.
• Manage palettes. When you are in the By Palette view, click the Manage Palette icon in the lower left pane. See Palettes.
• Navigate to component details. Select a component in the list to see more information about it.
• Import components. See Import components.

• Create a topology component. Click Create and provide the following information:

  Display Name - Type a unique display name for the component.

  Description - Type a description of the component.

  Version - Type a version number for the component.

  Functional Type - Select a functional type for the component. The functional type can be Abstract, Concrete, or Capability. See the descriptions in the Concepts section above for more information about the functional types.

  Provider Type - Select a provider type for the component.

  Image - Select an image that will display for the component.

  Tags - Select one or more tags that will include the component. Tags are user-defined, color-coded labels and images used to provide a structure for organizing and grouping topology components.

Best practices

If you have a large number of components, use tags to organize them into meaningful groups.