Systems and topology overview#
HCL™ Launch includes several systems, including a server and one or more agents. You can configure multiple topologies, including ones that use high availability, containerized servers running in HCL Cloud Private, disaster recovery, and the blueprint designer, to meet your needs.
The following system topologies, including diagrams, are shown. For explanation of the system components, see the Description of systems.
- Core topology
- #blueprint_design
- Multi-region topology
- High-availability clustered topologies
- Disaster recovery topologies
- Default ports
- Description of systems
Core topology#
The core installation of HCL Launch includes a server, agents, and a license server. Clients access the server through web browsers, the REST API, or the command-line client. Agents can be installed on cloud environments, virtual machines (VMs), containers, or physical systems; the agents are shown on cloud systems in the following diagrams, but they can be installed on many different systems.
With this topology, the server can create environments on clouds that use virtual system patterns (VSPs), such as IBM Cloud Orchestrator and IBM PureApplication® System. To create environments on other clouds such as Amazon Web Services, SoftLayer®, VMware vCenter, and Microsoft™ Azure, you must install the blueprint design server and at least one engine, as described in the blueprint design topologies.
To install the core components, see Installing HCL Launch.
Multi-region topology#
If your environment has multiple security zones that are divided by firewalls, you can use agent relays to connect agents to the server through the firewalls. For example, if your HCL Launch server is within a firewall, but your target environments are outside the firewall, the agents on those target environments cannot connect directly to the server. In this case, you install an agent relay outside the firewall to allow the agents to connect to the server through the firewall, as shown in the following diagram.
To install and configure an agent relay, see Installing agent relays.
High-availability clustered topologies#
High-availability topologies use multiple servers. These servers can all be running at the same time to share the load (as in a clustered topology), or they can be waiting for another server to fail (as in a cold standby topology). The following diagram shows a clustered topology in which a load balancer distributes connections to three servers. Users connect directly to the load balancer, which sends them to an active server. Agents connect via HTTP and HTTPS to the load balancer; however, the agents connect via JMS directly to the servers. The servers store their files on a shared database and file system.
To configure a cluster of servers, see Setting up clusters of servers.
You can also cluster blueprint design servers and engines. In this case, you install one or more blueprint design servers and engines, and set them each to access the same database and shared file system. Similarly, a load balancer distributes traffic to the blueprint design servers and engines. The following diagram shows a clustered topology with three engines and three blueprint design servers, connecting to one or more non-OpenStack clouds:
To connect to OpenStack-based clouds, the topology is different because the Heat engines are installed via the OpenStack server, not via HCL Launch:
To configure a cluster of blueprint design servers and engines, see Setting up clusters of blueprint design servers and Setting up clusters of engines.
Disaster recovery topologies#
One way to prepare for disaster recovery is to have a cold standby system, including a stopped server and a replicated copy of the database and file system. The following diagram shows a simple topology with a cold standby server and related resources on standby.
To configure a cold standby system for the server, see Adding cold standby servers.
You can also configure a disaster recovery system for the blueprint design server and engine. The following diagram shows a disaster recovery topology for the blueprint design server and Heat engine where the cold standby servers are located in a different data center. In this diagram, the shared systems and services should be configured for high availability.
To configure disaster recovery for the blueprint designer, see Configuring disaster recovery for the blueprint design server.
Default ports#
The following diagram shows the default port numbers that HCL Launch uses for communication. Most of these ports can change depending on your choices at installation time. The following diagram is only a summary of the defaults.
For more information about ports, see System requirements and performance considerations.
Description of systems#
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HCL™ Launch server
The HCL™ Launch server stores components, processes, and other elements with which you model automated application deployments. You run automated deployments from the server.
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Web browsers
Web browsers are the main way that users interact with the server and blueprint designer. The HCL™ Launch browser-based GUI is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) that maintains much of its functionality in the browser. Clients interact with RESTful (representational state transfer) services on the server as needed.
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Command-line client
The command-line client provides access to the server through the command line. It can automate functions on the server, such as creating components and applications, and provides most of the features that are found in the browser-based GUI. The command-line client is also built on top of RESTful services. See Command-line client (CLI) reference.
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REST API
The REST API provides access to the server through HTTP. Like the command-line client, it can automate functions on the server, such as creating components and applications.
The server and the blueprint design server have separate REST APIs. Each command in the server REST API has an equivalent command in the command-line client; however, commands in the blueprint design server API do not have command-line equivalents. See Extending product function.
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Agents
The agents run processes on target systems. Agents can run on physical computers, virtual systems, or cloud systems. See Agents.
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Agent relays
An agent relay is a communication proxy for agents that are located behind a firewall or in another network location. See Agent relays.
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Keystone Identity Service
This service provides authentication tokens to the OpenStack system. The blueprint design server requires it. If you do not have a Keystone service, you can use one that is provided with the Heat engine.
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Clouds
The clouds host virtual resources. When you create environments with blueprints, the server or engine provisions resources on the target clouds. For information about supported clouds, see Integrating with cloud systems.
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CodeStation
CodeStation stores component versions and artifacts. It is part of the HCL™ Launch server.
Parent topic: Overview of HCL Launch