Cloud Operator

Could Admin

User with the cloud admin privileges. Default user 'admin' and password of 'xabiquo' is a cloud admin (unless changed on install)

Enterprise Admin

Enterprise Admin

No default user defined

Standard User

User

Default user for Abiquo username 'user' and default password of 'xabiquo'. Consumer of resources (your client)

Customer

n/a

Customer technical resources assigned to POC/Trial

Abiquo

n/a

Abiquo Platform and Customer Success Team engineer

Customers wish to leverage existing virtualized infrastructure. Abiquo can manage a pool of IT resources (servers, networking, etc.) that are in the same physical location in the same Local Area Network (LAN).

Abiquo installed and running.

Must be logged into Abiquo as the Cloud Operator and have network access to the resources.

A new Abiquo datacenter is created with resources managed by Abiquo.

Note: You can create public cloud regions that will share the same remote services. 

Use Case 1.2

Define logical racks and VLAN network requirements

Description

Abiquo enables the Cloud Operator to group physical servers into logical racks. The cloud operator determines the groupings of physical servers. For examples, some data centers would group servers with similar specifications together and provide those resources with a certain service level to end users. Racks must be added to a physical datacenter to begin adding physical hypervisors to the physical infrastructure.

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo management server
• Physical datacenter created

Requires

Naming convention for racks and network tag range

Steps

Expected results

The rack will be available in the datacenter to add hypervisors to the physical infrastructure.

Comments

• Abiquo management server
• Physical datacenter created

Use Case 1.4

Acquire the physical infrastructure

Description

Customers will use Abiquo to manage the physical infrastructure. That infrastructure needs to be acquired by Abiquo so that it can be managed and so that the resources can be consumed.

Pre-requisites

Abiquo installed and running. Physical infrastructure (e.g. hypervisors) is running and user credentials are available.

Requires

Must be logged into Abiquo as the Cloud Operator and have network access to the resources.

Steps

Expected results

Physical resources are managed by Abiquo and are available to be consumed by virtual datacenters.

Comments

The platform automatically detects clusters.

Use Case 1.5

Define the Data Center Utilization rules

Description

Customers need the ability to define Utilization rules for the data center. Performance based load balancing rules will always look for a physical host with the most resources available. Progressive load balancing will continue to fill up each server with virtual machines until it reaches the percentage capacity defined by the customer. Once capacity is reached Abiquo will begin to fill the next server.

Pre-requisites

Abiquo installed and running.

Requires

Must be logged into Abiquo as the Cloud Operator and have network access to the resources

Steps

Expected results

A utilization business rule will defined for the data center

Comments

Use Case 1.6

Create public IPs for consumption by cloud tenants

Description

Abiquo uses the public IP management function to offer virtual datacenter users the opportunity to use available public IPs in their virtual infrastructure

Pre-requisites

• Virtual datacenters
• Public IPs or IP ranges purchased from an ISP

Requires

• Name for Public IP Network
• Public IP Netmask
• Public IP Address start
• Public IP Gateway

Steps

Expected results

Users of the datacenter will be able to obtain public IPs for their virtual datacenters.
*Note: External networks are functionally the same as public networks but they belong to a single enteprise and they DO NOT get accounted for billing purposes. External networks can also use an external DHCP server (as Unmanaged networks) and be set as defaults for VMs at Enterprise and VDC level. Public networks can be set as the default at virtual datacenter level.

Comments

Use Case 1.7

Capture existing VMs and support a phased deployment

Description

Abiquo customers can leverage existing hardware and existing VMs. Abiquo allows customers to phase in the deployment. After you add a physial machine to Abiquo, you can scan it for existing VMs. Abiquo highlights existing VMs that it does not manage with a warning symbol () and you can later capture these VMs to manage them with Abiquo. This functionality allows customers to phase in the deployment of Abiquo

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo Management Server
• Physical Datacenter, Rack and Discovered server

Requires

Existing hypervisor server with VMs that were not created by Abiquo.

Steps

1. Create virtual datacenters for the host hypervisor type and appropriate networks for the VMs
2. In Infrastructure view, select the host and press the retrieve VMs button to scan for VMs
3. Select a VM that is not managed by Abiquo
4. Click the Capture VM button.

See: Import and Capture Virtual Machines for more information.

Expected results

When you capture a VM to add it to Abiquo, it is almost identical to a VM that you can create in Abiquo. You can also save a copy of the VM disks as a VM template in the Catalogue. This is called an Instance template, and it can be useful if you wish to destroy and recreate the VM from the initial template.

Comments

See: Import and Capture Virtual Machines

Use Case 1.8

Create public cloud regions

Description

Customers wish to offer convenient public cloud services with the same easy user interface. Your trial Abiquo monolithic server can manage one datacenter and multiple public cloud regions.

Pre-requisites

Abiquo installed and running.

Requires

Must be logged into Abiquo as the Cloud Operator and have network access to the resources.

Steps

Expected results

Abiquo creates new public cloud region(s) and resources can managed by Abiquo.

Comments

New public cloud regions are named first with the name that the user enters, and then with this name and a suffix of _1, _2, for example, AWS, AWS_1, AWS_2, and so on.

Use Case 1.9

Add public cloud credentials

Description

Abiquo enables the Cloud Operator or Tenant Administrator to enter their public cloud credentials.

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo management server
• Abiquo public cloud region created

• Log in as the cloud operator or the tenant administrator

Requires

Public cloud credentials, see Obtain public cloud credentials

Steps

Expected results

The credentials will be added to the tenant's account

Comments

Use Case 2.1

Create a global service catalogue with a remote template repository

Description

A Remote Template Repository can provide VM templates that are ready to download. These VM templates use the OVF standard. A Remote Template Repository contains an index of VM Templates. This index can be published on the Internet for public access or on the Intranet of your company for controlled and secured access. This system allows VM template creators to share their templates with many Abiquo users.

Pre-requisites

Internet access

Requires

20G of space on an NFS storage

Steps

Expected results

Templates can be downloaded from the Remote Repository to the datacenter's local repository.

Comments 

There are many ways to make VM templates available to users in the Apps library (Catalogue). See Use Case 2.2.

Use Case 2.2

Leverage existing VM templates by importing into the catalogue

Description

Some customers have built standard VM templates for inclusion in a global catalogue. These templates allow customers to enforce standards across their datacenters.

Pre-requisites

An established Apps library (Catalogue).

Requires

20 GB of space on the NFS repository storage. Abiquo imports OVAs created in VMware. The OVA should contain a single virtual system and the disk format should be compatible with Abiquo. See Template Compatibility Table

Steps

Expected results

The template will be uploaded to your Apps library (Catalogue) and you can use it to deploy VMs within a virtual appliance.

• To share the template with all other enterprises, edit it and go to Scopes, and select the "Global scope". See Share VM templates.
• Note: Your Appliance Manager remote service must be correctly configured to allow disk uploads.
• Browser upload uses HTTP protocols and larger disk files may require a different process.
• To add OVA parameters to all VMs created from a template, add them as Variables. See Deploy a VM from an OVA with parameters.
• For more details about guest setup configuration, see Guest setup

Comments

For more details about how to add templates, see Add Virtual Machine Templates to Abiquo

Use Case 2.3

Create a cache of approved VM templates in public cloud

Description

A public cloud provider may offer thousands of Vm templates in each region. There are no guarantees that these VM templates are appropriate and safe for your users. You can create a cache with a selection of approved VM templates that can be made available to your users on a self-service basis.

Pre-requisites

• Public cloud region created
• Cloud provider credentials added

Requires

• User logged in as Cloud Operator or Enterprise Administrator
• Provider ID of approved templates in public cloud

Steps

Expected results

Abiquo caches the details of the VM Templates to make them available to users on a self-service basis

Comments

You can now customize (e.g. add an icon) and share the template as required.

You can also export correctly prepared VM templates from your the Apps library to public cloud.

Use Case 3.1

Create a reseller and an enterprise for a cloud tenant to consume cloud resources

Description

In the Abiquo platform an enterprise can be created to make logical deployment resources available to cloud tenants. The following example depicts a sample enterprise hierarchy.

• ACME Hosting {root level – Reseller (corporate or service provider level)}
  
  1. Local Bank {Enterprise}
  2. Wernham Hogg {Enterprise}
  3. Dundler Mifflin {Enterprise}

You can manage reseller customers and their credentials in a tenant hierarchy. Your customers will be able to access their billing data on the Dashboard.

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo Management Server
• Physical Infrastructure Deployed

Requires

Enterprise Name

Steps

Expected results

After you create users, the enterprises will be available for logins, resource allocation, and for the customer to login to via the customer portal.

Comments

The administrator can switch to use an enterprise by clicking the switch enterprise button on the list in the Home view. See Abiquo Cloud Reseller Guide

Use Case 3.2

Define resource allocation limits for an enterprise

Description

The hard and soft limits offer the Cloud Operator a way to limit the amount of physical resources that an enterprise will be able to consume. This is very useful to avoid common problems in cloud platforms, such as resource over allocation or an enterprise using resources belonging to others, or even preventing DoS attacks. These limits will also help System Administrators to anticipate user needs and anticipate resource demands.
The exact meaning of these limits is:

• Hard Limit: The maximum amount of virtual resources (CPU, RAM, Local Hard Disk, External Storage, Repository, VLANs, Public IPs) that an enterprise will be allowed to consume.
• Soft Limit: A limit that is always less than the Hard Limit that is used to alert users. When an enterprise reaches the soft limit, an alert will be shown to users to inform that they are reaching the resource allocation limits for their enterprise.

Hard and Soft Limits are used by the Resource Scheduler in order to decide if a user can deploy a virtual appliance or not.

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo Management Server
• Enterprise created

Requires

Limits set based on business agreement with enterprise holder

Steps

Expected results

The platform will create an event for administrators if the users approach their Soft Limit and enterprise users will not be able to deploy VMs past the Hard Limits.

Comments

Use Case 3.3

Delegate administration of an enterprise

Description

The Enterprise Administrator can manage configurations at the enterprise level and provide access to standard users within the enterprise. Typically, this role is assigned to people who are responsible for administration of Cloud services for a specific group.

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo Management Server
• An Enterprise

Requires

User details including email for the person who will use this account

Steps

Expected results

An Enterprise Admin will be available. This user can manage template libraries and users for the enterprise.

To enable the user to access more Abiquo features, you may wish to clone the Enterprise Admin role and add more privileges. See Manage Roles

Comments

Use Case 3.4

Define enterprise business policy

Description

Business policies are used to help manage where enterprise tenants can deploy. The policies include

• Limits – Resource limits manage overall allocation that can be consumed by the enterprise
• Permissions – Define the allowed datacenters and public cloud regions where the enterprise can deploy
• Reservations - Reserve hosts for specific enterprises, and optionally allow the enterprises to use reserved hosts only
• Restrictions - E.g. Do not allow two enterprises to deploy on the same host

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo Management Server
• Enterprise created

Requires

Limits set based on business agreement with Enterprise holder

Steps

Expected results

The reserved hardware is only available to the users in the enterprise that has been allocated the reservation of the hardware.

Comments

Note that you can also set a 'Load Level' Datacenter allocation rule to oversubscribe the resource (i.e. 200% CPU = double the amount of physical CPUs)

Reserve hardware BEFORE the enterprise deploys in the cloud.

You can also restrict users by role for specific providers or virtual datacenters. E.g. allow read only access to AWS. See Control access with VDC roles

Use Case 4.1

Create a virtual data center from the resource cloud

Description

A Virtual Datacenter is an abstraction of a physical datacenter that offers the same capabilities (such as network infrastructure, external storage system, backup, security, etc) with the added advantages of cloud computing:

• Virtualization
• Pay-as-you-go billing
• Quick scalability
• Technology and hardware abstraction.

This gives cloud users the opportunity to run their applications in a more economical and flexible way. A virtual datacenter offers the classical datacenter infrastructure, as a service.
A virtual datacenter groups resources such as VMs, and public IP addresses, and load balancers that will be attached to VMs within virtual appliances.

Note: you may choose to bill your customers by virtual datacenter, and as such, you may prefer that your administrators create the virtual datacenters for your customers, or automate their creation.

Pre-requisites

Physical infrastructure added to Abiquo

Requires

Steps

Expected results

A virtual datacenter for the enterprise will be available for virtual appliances to be created and deployed within.

Comments

 Abiquo gives you a lot of control at VDC level, for example:

• You can restrict user access to a selected list of VDCs
• You can create specific roles to restrict user privileges in selected VDCs
• You can create default networks and firewalls for VDCs

See Manage Virtual Datacenters

Use Case 4.3

Create private networks

Description

Abiquo uses the private IP management function to offer virtual datacenter users the opportunity to use different private IP ranges and networks in their virtual infrastructure

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo Management Server
• Network Infrastructure

Requires

• Name for Private IP Network
• Private IP Netmask
• Private IP Gateway

Steps

Expected results

A specified private IP range is now available for the specific enterprise/virtual datacenter

Comments

NOTE: Private IP addresses are usually created by Enterprise Admin within an enterprise. This is not a function of the System Administrator.

• You can assign IP addresses to VMs in private networks using DHCP, Guest setup, or using SDN (Abiquo and NSX-T)

Use Case 4.4

Reserve public IPs or use external IPs

Description

Virtual datacenters within each enterprise has can purchase or reserve public IP addresses to be used on their VMs. External IPs can be made available to the enterprise without the need for users to reserve them.

Pre-requisites

The public/external IP addresses shown in the public/external IP list contains the IP addresses configured in the Infrastructure view. The administrator must add an existing network (with its tag) to Abiquo. See Manage Public Networks and Manage External Networks.

Requires

• Abiquo Management Server
• Network Infrastructure
• IP subnet and IP address range allocated for external or public consumption (external to Abiquo)
• IP Netmask
• IP Gateway

Steps

Expected results

When a user creates a VM on the virtual appliance screen and configures the VM, there are Public IPs available to use.

Comments

Use Case 4.5

Onboard the existing virtual infrastructure from public cloud

Description

Customers will use Abiquo to manage virtual infrastructure in the public cloud. The tenant administrator can acquire the existing virtual infrastructure so that it can be managed by Abiquo

Pre-requisites

Abiquo installed and running. Public cloud regions are created and valid public cloud credentials have been entered.

Requires

Must be logged into Abiquo as the Tenant Administrator

Steps

Expected results

Imported virtual infrastructure is now managed by Abiquo and is available to virtual datacenter users.

Comments

Changes made directly in the provider can be updated in Abiquo by clicking the synchronize button beside the virtual datacenter name in the VDC list.

Abiquo will import the following (as supported by the provider):

• resource groups
• availability zones
• virtual datacenters
• virtual datacenter networks
• public IPs
• firewalls
• load balancers
• virtual machines
• templates used to create VMs

Use Case 4.6

Define allocation limits for the virtual datacenter

Description

Tenant administrators can define allocation limits to restrict resources available to cloud users in the virtual datacenter. These allocation limits complement the limits set by cloud operators for the tenant. When users reach the soft limit, a warning message can be displayed. When users reach the hard limit, their action will be blocked. In public cloud the external storage limit is not used.

Pre-requisites

Abiquo installed and running.

Requires

Must be logged into Abiquo as the Tenant Administrator

Steps

Expected results

A set of allocation limits will be defined for the virtual datacenter.

Comments

Use Case 4.7

Obtain floating public IPs from the cloud provider

Description

Tenant administrators can obtain public IPs from certain cloud providers and make them available to users in their enterprises. These IPs may be called floating IPs in Abiquo because they are not attached to an Abiquo network. They may be called by different names in different providers, for example, in AWS, they are called Elastic IPs. Note that some cloud providers may charge for public IPs as soon as you obtain them from the provider. As part of an evaluation, you may wish to perform this action AFTER you create a VM and just before you launch it, in order to reduce costs.

Pre-requisites

• Virtual datacenters in public cloud regions with support for floating public IPs
• VM created to use the public IP address

Requires

Steps

1. In the V. Datacenters list, click on the name of a virtual datacenter in public cloud
2. Go to Network → Public
3. Click on the round arrow synchronize button to obtain any existing public IP addresses
4. Click on the + button to obtain a new floating IP address
5. Click on the Add to virtual datacenter link
6. If you have created a VM, then you can now edit its configuration and add the IP address. Or you can remove the IP address from the virtual datacenter and delete it from Abiquo.

Expected results

A public IP will be created and can be added to the virtual datacenter and VM as required. As in private cloud you can also obtain a public IP from within the VM configuration.

Comments

• As part of an evaluation, you may wish to perform this action AFTER you create a VM and just before you launch it, in order to reduce costs.
• Remember to delete your public IPs after you have finished using them. In any case, Abiquo will remind you about unused public IPs on a dashboard widget!
• Some cloud provider configurations use public IPs as part of the VDC configuration, for example, to enable automatic NAT. You cannot manually delete these IP addresses, so remember to delete unused VPCs.
• You can create budgets with alert notifications for your public cloud accounts. See Manage Budgets

Use Case 4.8

Create Enterprise Users

Description

Enterprise users are able to log in via the enterprise's management console and deploy virtual resources.
The enterprise user role is the one with the least privileges. This role can manage (create/modify/delete) a group's virtual infrastructure. Typically, this role is assigned to someone who uses the cloud service each day for virtual provisioning.

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo Management Server
• Enterprise created

Requires

Enterprise user Name and Email address

Steps

Expected results

An Enterprise user is created and they can log in and deploy VMs in the selected enterprise.

Comments

Use Case 4.9

Create Custom User Roles

Description

The Abiquo installation creates 3 default roles each configured with a set of pre-defined privileges. For some deployments additional roles will be required to support the desired models for system administration.

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo Management Server
• Enterprise created

Requires

Enterprise user Name and Email address

Steps

Expected results

A custom role is created and a user who is assigned the new role is restricted by the selected privileges.

Comments

You can also create a scope for a user. One function of a scope is to restrict administrator roles to certain enterprises and datacenters. Typically you would have one scope per enterprise for the cloud users. If an administrator will manage users and VM templates for multiple enterprises, then their scope should include all of these enterprises. See Manage Scopes

Use Case 5.1

Create virtual appliances

Description

A virtual appliance is simply a group of one or more related virtual machines that can be used to offer a service. Each virtual machine is an independently installable run-time entity comprising an operating system, applications and other application-specific data. Note that a default virtual appliance will be created in each virtual datacenter.

Pre-requisites

At least one virtual datacenter has been created.

Requires

Steps

Expected results

A virtual appliance is created with a VM template available from the Apps library (Catalogue).

Comments

Use Case 5.2

Deploy and undeploy a virtual appliance

Description

Enterprise users should be able to to manage their virtual appliances. They can easily deploy and undeploy their virtual appliances.

Pre-requisites

Requires

A virtual appliance has already been created

Steps

Expected results

Comments

Use Case 5.3

Reconfigure a VM

Description

Enterprise users should have the ability to modify their VMs.

Pre-requisites

Requires

A virtual appliance has already been deployed. If the VM and its operating system do not support hot reconfigure, then power off the VM before you modify it

Steps

Expected results

 The platform will reconfigure your VM

Comments

Use Case 6.1

Create virtual storage volumes in public cloud

Description

You can create storage volumes and attach them to a VM to extend usable disk space capacity. These volumes are usually persistent, so you can reuse them after you detach them and even after you destroy the VM.

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo Management server
• Public cloud configuration

Requires

Volume name and size of volume

Steps

Expected results

The volume is now available to be attached to a virtual machine before or after it is deployed.

Comments

Use Case 6.2

Export a VM template from a private cloud datacenter

Description

The cloud platform can support multiple datacenters and public cloud regions, with different technologies and service levels.
The VM template mobility feature enables VM templates to be moved between datacenters and public cloud regions.

Pre-requisites

A cloud environment with a datacenter plus a public cloud region (or another datacenter)

Requires

• Abiquo Server
• V2V Services in datacenter (for conversion)
• Two private cloud datacenters or one private cloud datacenter and a public cloud region
  
  • Check tenant is allowed to use the physical datacenter and the public cloud region
  • For public cloud region, you will need a compatible template and you must prepare it according to provider instructions (see VM Template Mobility)

Steps

Expected results

A compatible VM template can be exported (copied) to another private cloud datacenter or a public cloud region

Comments

See VM Template Mobility

Use Case 7.1

Access the running VM via the Abiquo platform

Description

Customers should be able to access VMs deployed by the cloud management application

Pre-requisites

A virtual appliance that is successfully deployed and powered on

Requires

• Network connectivity between browser and hypervisor
  
  • Console is through the hypervisor, not directly to the VM
• Remote access password set in the VM from the VM template, or with guest setup, and/or user SSH public key. See Guest setup

Steps

Expected results

A console window will open and the user is presented with the login to the VM

Comments

• The console window is displayed using the Guacamole client or WebMKS
• For more details, see Configure Remote Access to Virtual Machines

Use Case 7.2

Validate Co-existence with existing management tools

Description

Customers that already use hypervisor management tools such as VMware's vCenter want to ensure that the cloud management application will seamlessly coexist with the existing tools. For example, when using vCenter hosts, if a VM is moved by vMotion, then Abiquo will recognise the move. If you are using vCenter clusters as hosts, then Abiquo does not need to recognise the moves because the VMs are effectively on the same host.

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo installed and configured
• Existing tools to manage the hypervisor hosts. 
  
  • E.g. VMware vCenter managing ESXi

Requires

VM running on hypervisor hosts

Steps

Deploy VMs using Abiquo and Hypervisor management tools
Review the results in both the Abiquo console and the management tool.
Exact tests and the steps to perform them will depend on the deployed infrastructure, for example, using vMotion in vCenter

Expected results

Abiquo co-exists with the management tool with no adverse affects.

Comments

For more details of the vMotion example, see How to make VMware vMotion work with Abiquo

Use Case 8.1

Cloud users can access the Abiquo Platform and consume physical resources on a self-service basis

Description

Customers want to use a self-service model in order to speed up the provisioning of applications/services and improve the efficiency of the IT operation

Pre-requisites

Running Abiquo Platform with enterprise and virtual datacenter created

Requires

Resources available to the enterprise (customer)

Steps

1. Log in to the platform as an enterprise user
2. Create a virtual appliance within an existing virtual datacenter using VM templates available from the Apps library (Catalogue)
3. Deploy the virtual appliance
4. Review the virtual appliance configuration. E.g. networking, hard disk

Expected results

A customer user can deploy a virtual appliance and consume physical resources that have been made available to them.

Comments

You can also save virtual appliance configurations as blueprints, so cloud users can also create these configurations using self-service. See Manage Virtual Appliance Specs

Use Case 8.2

Cloud users can monitor their VMs

Description

Users can monitor their VMs and retrieve metrics

Pre-requisites

• Abiquo monitoring server configured by systems administrator
• Running Abiquo platform with enterprise and virtual datacenter and virtual appliance
• Deployed VMs that are powered on

Requires

Monitoring privileges (by default these are assigned to the user)

Steps

1. Log in to the platform as a cloud user
2. Open the configuration of a deployed VM
3. Mark the checkbox to Fetch metrics
4. Select the metrics you wish to retrieve
5. Save the VM configuration
6. Open the Monitoring view and after a short time, the metrics should display

Expected results

A customer user can retrieve and display metrics to monitor the performance of their VM

Comments

The following features can also use metrics to drive actions in the platform:

• Alert notifications
• Autoscaling
• Action plans

Use Case 9.1

Integrate the cloud management platform with a customer portal

Description

Hosting providers may want to integrate the Cloud Management Platform (CMP) with an existing system such as an existing customer portal or provisioning system. This will provide administrators or customers access to the Abiquo functionality through a familiar interface

Pre-requisites

Familiarization with the Abiquo REST API

Requires

• Abiquo Cloud Management Platform
• Abiquo API documentation

Steps

Exact steps will depend on the existing application. Please read the API documentation and discuss with the Abiquo Sales Engineer

Expected results

Abiquo functionality can be integrated into an existing portal or ITSM system using the REST API

Comments

• See The Abiquo API
• You can also integrate with a workflow system or CMDB using the Abiquo Workflow Feature

Use Case 9.2

Extract billing or chargeback data from the cloud Platform

Description

Hosting providers offering a cloud service will want to charge customers for resources that have been reserved or consumed. Abiquo meters usage data and you can import it into your billing system.

Pre-requisites

Abiquo database supports accounting/metering of system usages by default. For details, see Abiquo Accounting Services Integration

Requires

Abiquo Cloud Platform with consumption data.

Steps

You can use database scripts and Excel sheets to view accounting data. Alternatively you can create or use Abiquo 'billing connector' to extract this data. See Abiquo Billing Integration

Expected results

Accounting data can be extracted from Abiquo and viewed in Excel (CSV) and/or imported into an existing billing system.

Comments

• Abiquo also imports cost and usage data from public cloud. See Display cloud provider billing data
• Abiquo Reports also include accounting data (requires a Reports Server)

Use Case 9.3

Integrate the Cloud Platform with an existing LDAP/AD or OpenID user source

Description

An LDAP or AD user source may already exist and will be the preferred repository for user accounts of the cloud management platform (CMP). The CMP will be able to authenticate against the LDAP/AD user source and create the appropriate users. You can also configure Abiquo to authenticate using SAML.

Pre-requisites

An existing LDAP or AD user source and an account that is able to logon and view user data

Requires

LDAP directory information including

• Hostname/IP of directory server
• Server port
• Base DN of the user store
• User DN Pattern
• LDAP attribute that will map to Abiquo Enterprise (e.g. Company or Department).

Steps

Expected results

A user can log in to Abiquo using the credentials that already exist in the Abiquo/LDAP source.

Comments

• LDAP and Active Directory Integration
• Abiquo OpenID Connect Integration
• SAML Integration

Public cloud region with reseller credential or standard credentials, and pricing credentials. See Obtain public cloud credentials

Expected results

The billing data will display on the dashboard

Comments

• Users may have to wait for the platform to obtain billing data from the provider
• If necessary, request the generation of billing data on the Enterprise Credentials tab
• You can configure budgets that trigger alerts based on billing data. See Manage Budgets

Use Case 10.2

Configure cost codes on VM templates

Description

Hosting providers may need to track the licenses used by VMs (e.g. Microsoft Windows licensing), or may wish to offer cloud services based on a per VM pricing model. You can also assign cost codes to hardware profiles. Note that Abiquo can also onboard prices of basic Linux templates from public cloud providers.

Pre-requisites

N/A

Requires

A working Cloud Management Platform (CMP) and populated Apps library (Catalogue)

Steps

Expected results

A virtual image or hardware profile can be tracked for licensing or chargeback purposes.

Comments

See Pricing View

Use Case 10.3

Use collectd plugin to push custom metrics

Description

Users may wish to view custom performance data for a VM. Users can install and configure collectd to gather this data. Users can then install the Abiquo collectd plugin to push the data to the Abiquo API. You can provide VM templates with collectd and the Abiquo collectd plugin already installed to your cloud users

Pre-requisites

• Deployed VM(s)
• User has added collectd as an OAuth application in Abiquo. See Authentication
• Following the instructions at Use collectd plugin for custom metrics
  
  • Collectd is installed and running on the VM(s)
  • Abiquo collectd plugin is installed and running on the VM(s).

Requires

Privilege allowing the user to push own metrics must be assigned to the collectd OAuth application

Steps

1. User should configure collectd to gather the metrics they wish to display in Abiquo
   
   • By default, all collectd metrics will be pushed by the Abiquo plugin
2. Open the VM configuration
3. Select Fetch metrics
4. Open the Monitoring view for the VM or virtual appliance

Expected results

The user should be able to view the metrics gathered by collectd in Abiquo

Comments

Use Case 11.1

Create security group

Description

Abiquo tenant administrators can create firewalls that are security groups, in public cloud (e.g. AWS) or private cloud (using the VMware NSX integration)

Pre-requisites

• Virtual Datacenter
  
  • In public cloud this can be onboarded and synchronized
• Private cloud
  
  • Abiquo VMware NSX integration
  • Devices created for the enterprise in the cloud location
• Public cloud
  
  • Credentials for public cloud provider with firewall support, for example, AWS

Requires

• Logged in as cloud admin using this enterprise, or tenant admin

Steps

Expected results

Each firewall is created with the appropriate security group policies.

As always, check your provider documentation for specific information about security group functionality. And see Manage Firewalls

Comments

Note: cloud users will require appropriate privileges to use firewalls

Use Case 11.2

Create web servers

Description

Create two basic web servers that will be load balanced

Pre-requisites

• Virtual Datacenter  
  
  • In public cloud this can be onboarded; All public cloud virtual datacenters must be synchronized
• Private cloud
  
  • Security group (firewall) if using Abiquo VMware NSX integration or other firewall and load balancer integration
• Public cloud
  
  • Security group (firewall) if using public cloud provider with firewall support, for example, AWS

Requires

• Linux template added to the Abiquo Apps library (Catalogue)
• SSH public key added to Abiquo user account
• Pre-purchase of two public IP addresses

Steps

1. Use a Linux template to create two VMs (AWS instances)

2. Assign a private IP to each VM that is in the same availability zone (determined by private network)

3. Assign a public IP to each VM

4. If your cloud provider supports firewalls, assign the firewall you created earlier to the VM

5. Deploy the VM

6. Log in using SSH and perform the following actions on both instances:

   echo  "Displaying content from VM 1" > index.html  python -mSimpleHTTPServer

   For VM 2, change the text string to "Displaying content from VM 2"

Expected results

This command will start a HTTP server listening on port 8000

Comments

Use Case 11.3

Create load balancer

Description

Abiquo can create load balancers in public cloud providers such as AWS and also in private cloud using VMware NSX

Pre-requisites

Public cloud credentials added. Where appropriate (NSX and AWS) firewalls created, firewall rules created for SSH and the appropriate load balancer protocol. Firewalls are synchronized.

Requires

Steps

Expected results

Once complete you'll be able to go to the load balancer's public IP address and retrieve the index files from the web servers.