Just-in-time targets

There are two methods for creating Application Deployment targets:

• You can create them prior to deployment by using the tools on the Targets screen (as described earlier in this section).
• You can create them when you deploy an application. This is called “just-in-time” target creation.

Just-in-time targets are useful when you want to delegate the allocation and/or selection of target resources. Just-in-time targets enable you to focus on the definition of the application and not on where it will be deployed. By using just-in-time targets and HPE Operations Orchestration (HPE OO) flows, you can externalize resource decisions and interface with 3rd-party allocation and scheduling tools.

Application Deployment populates just-in-time targets by using an HPE OO flow that you provide. In most cases, this flow will choose a set of existing managed servers and assign them to the new target. In other cases, the flow will contain all the logic required to select a server, perform any necessary actions on that server, and deliver it to SA so that it can become a valid managed server.

After you create a just-in-time target, you can manage that target using the procedures described under Managing targets.

Prerequisites

Before you can create just-in-time targets, you must do the following things:

1. Configure SA to integrate with HPE OO.

2. Define an HPE OO flow that accepts the following parameters:

   Parameter	Description
   host	Host name or IP address of the SA core server.
   username	Name of the SA user who will be creating the new target (this is needed to ensure that server allocation is constrained by this SA user’s permissions).
   environment	ID of the environment that will cApplication Deployment contain the new target.
   target	ID of the new target to which the flow will add servers.
   tierCounts	A delimited string containing the tier and server count parameters. The format is tier,count;tier,count... The tier is the ID of the tier to which the flow will add the server. The count is the number of servers in the new (cloned or created from scratch) target.

3. Specify this HPE OO flow as the Just-In-Time Targets flow on the Administration screen in the Application Deployment user interface.

To create a just-in-time target, you must have Edit permission for the environment where the target will reside.

Creating a just-in-time target

To create a just-in-time target:

1. Select the Deployment button in the lower left corner.
2. Select the version of the application that you want to deploy. For more information, see Deploying a specific version.
3. Click Advanced Target Selector to the right of the Select Target drop-down list. The Advanced Target Selection dialog opens.
4. Select Just-In-Time Target.
5. Click Continue. The Create New Just-In-Time Target dialog opens. In this dialog, specify the following information:

   1. Name – type the name of the target.

   2. Location – select the environment or target group where the target will reside.

   3. Based On

      • Select Version to create the target with the same tiers that the version you are deploying contains.
      • This creates a true “on demand” target from scratch by choosing tiers based on the version.
      • Select Target to create the target by making a copy of an existing target.
        
        This creates a “cloned” target that uses another target’s tier structure as a template. This is useful if you need to “flex up” resources at certain times—for example, if you have an online store, you might want to add more capacity during the holiday shopping season.
   4. If you selected Target in the previous step, select the existing target from the drop-down list.
   5. In the table, specify the number of servers that will be included in each tier (double-click the value in the New Size column).
6. Click Create. Application Deployment creates the new target and calls the Just-In-Time Targets flow to populate the target with servers. This flow is specified on the Administration page (see Administer application settings).
   
   If Application Deployment is unable to create the target, it will provide an error message.
7. Click Close to return to the Deployment screen.
   
   Your new target is now automatically selected. Click Start Job to initiate the deployment.