Requesting resources from a cloud with a topology

You can use a topology as the basis for a resource request from a cloud. The cloud provides software instances to match the topology.

Before you begin

Model the resources that you want to request from the cloud in a topology as described in Modeling cloud resources in topologies.

About this task

There are two ways to use a topology to request cloud resources:

You can send the request directly to the cloud. Use this method if you want to request the resources a single time.
You can publish the request to Rational® Build Forge® as a project. Use this method if you want to request the resources repeatedly or as part of an automated task. For an example of this method, see Example: Using cloud resources in automated tasks.

The steps below describe sending the request directly to the cloud. For information about publishing the request to Rational Build Forge, see Publishing a workflow to Rational Build Forge.

Procedure

Open the topology in the topology editor and verify that it represents one or more resources to request from the cloud.
Save the topology.
At the top of the Topology Status view, expand the Publish Topology list and click IBM® SmartCloud Enterprise.
In the Publish Topology Wizard window, specify a name for the cloud request and either accept the connection information from the topology or provide different connection information.
Click Next.
Read and accept the license agreements for the software in the cloud images, and if you agree, click I agree.
To request the cloud resources, click Finish.

Results

The cloud provisions the resources, and when the resources are ready, they appear in the Cloud Explorer view under Instances.