Cloudify User's Guide

This guide is written for application developers and administrators. The guide provides all the information and tools needed to install, setup and leverage Cloudify for on boarding your applications to any cloud environment. It includes an overview section, getting started guide, reference documentation, APIs, configurations and other topics.

Note that this guide is specific to Cloudify developers.

• Getting Started

  This section contains a short Quick Start Guide to get you up and running with Cloudify in minutes.

  • 10-Minute Quick Start Guide - A quick start guide to help you get started with Cloudify. Start here if you're new to Cloudify.
  • 10-Minute EC2 Quick Start Guide - A quick start guide to help you get started with Cloudify on EC2. Start here if you're new to Cloudify and you want to install your application on EC2.

  Product Overview

  This section contains a comprehensive overview of how Cloudify works, how it's architected and what are its main components.

  • Cloudify - Open PaaS Stack | A Quick Introduction - Architecture overview, design principles and key features of Cloudify.

• Installation & Setup

  This section contains information about how to install Cloudify and configure for usage on various clouds.

  • Cloudify Shell Prerequisites - Lists the Cloudify installation and setup prerequisites.
  • Installing the Cloudify Shell - Explains how to install and start the Cloudify shell on your machine.
  • Post-Installation Configuration - Describes the post-installation tasks that you should complete after installing the Cloudify shell.
  • Configuring Azure - Explains how to configure Windows Azure for Cloudify.
  • Configuring EC2 - Explains how to configure Amazon EC2 for Cloudify.
  • More...
  Configuring OpenStack - Explains how to configure HP OpenStack Cloud for Cloudify.
  Configuring RackSpace - Explains how to configure RackSpace Cloud for Cloudify.
  Configuring a Traditional Data Center [BYON] - Explains how to bootstrap Cloudify and deploy applications in a distributed environment utilizing existing servers that are not in the cloud.

  Developing Recipes

  This section explains the concept and practicalities of application recipes, which are the mechanism that allows Cloudify to support any kind of middleware stack

  • Anatomy of a Recipe - An overview of the recipe framework and terminology.
  • The Application Recipe - Describes the part of the recipe that describes which application services your application requires and their interdependencies.
  • The Service Recipe - Describes the part of the recipe that describes a specific application service including its configuration, lifecycle, and its management.
  • Lifecycle Events - Describes the events in the Cloudify application and service lifecycles.
  • Recipe Parameterization - Describes how to use same recipe in different environments using parameters.
  • More...
  Extending Service Recipes - Explains how to create new recipe from existing one by overriding only the elements you wish modify.
  The Service Context API - Describes the Service Context API, which is Cloudify's API for interacting with an application service's runtime environment and context.
  The Attributes API - Describes the Attributes API, which is used for sharing information between services of the same application.
  Custom Commands - Describes the custom commands mechanism and usage.
  Probes - Describes the part of the recipe that defines probes.
  Configuring the Web Management Console - Explains how to configure the web management console to present the information generated by probe and monitoring plugins.
  SLA Requirements - Explains how to specify SLA elements per application service, e.g. initial number of instances.
  Scaling Rules - Describes the Scaling Rules mechanism and usage.

• Bootstrapping

  This section contains information about bootstrapping different cloud environments using Cloudify

  • The Bootstrapping Process - Explains the bootstrapping process.
  • Bootstrapping a Local Cloud - Explains how to bootstrap Cloudify on a local cloud.
  • Bootstrapping Azure - Explains how to bootstrap Cloudify on Windows Azure.
  • Bootstrapping EC2 - Explains how to bootstrap Cloudify on Amazon EC2.
  • Bootstrapping OpenStack - Explains how to bootstrap Cloudify on HP OpenStack Cloud.
  • More...
  Bootstrapping RackSpace - Explains how to bootstrap Cloudify on RackSpace Cloud.
  Bootstrapping a Traditional Data Center [BYON] - Explains how to bootstrap Cloudify and deploy applications in a distributed environment utilizing existing servers that are not in the cloud.

  Monitoring Your Applications

  This section explains the various aspects of monitoring your applications with Cloudify

  • Monitoring using the Web Management Console - Describes the web management console, and how explains how to use it..
  • Monitoring using the Cloudify Shell - Explains how to monitor your application using the Cloudify shell.

• Developing Cloud Drivers

  This section contains information about how to configure and develop cloud drivers that allow Cloudify to integrate with any cloud environment

  • The Cloud Driver - An overview of the cloud driver interface and its key functions.
  • Developing Custom Cloud Drivers - An overview of how to develop custom cloud drivers.
  • Tutorial - Developing a custom cloud driver using Maven - A tutorial teaching you how to develop a custom cloud driver using Maven.

  Developing Plugins and Probes

  This section contains information about developing custom monitoring plugins

  • Using Probes For Monitoring - Describes the use of monitoring probes and plugins to monitor service status, performance and availability.
  • Develop a Custom Monitoring Plugin - Describes how to develop custom monitoring plugins.

• Deploying Services & Applications

  This section contains information about deploying your applications and services to the Cloud using Cloudify

  • Deploying Applications - Explains how to deploy your applications using Cloudify.
  • Deploying on Azure - Explains how to deploy your applications on Windows Azure using Cloudify.

  Reference

  This section contains Cloudify reference topics

  • Application Descriptor Reference - A reference with all the elements of the application descriptor.
  • Service Descriptor Reference - A reference with all the elements of the service descriptor.
  • Command Line Reference - Lists the available Cloudify shell commands, and how to use them.
  • Cloudify API - Contains Cloudify JavaDoc.

• Release Notes

  This section contains a list of features, improvements, fixed issues, and known issues in Cloudify

  • Release Notes - A list of features, improvements, fixed issues, and known issues in Cloudify.

  Contributing to Cloudify

  This section contains a description of how to contribute to the Cloudify Open Source Project.

  • Contributing to the Cloudify Open Source Project - How to become a contributor to Cloudify.

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  This section contains a collection of frequently asked questions about Cloudify and it provides you with answers to them.

  • Frequently Asked Questions - Contains Frequently Asked Questions and answers.