Create services

This topic describes how to define an offering that BMC My Cloud Services Console users can choose in a service catalog when they are provisioning virtual machines (VMs).

• A service describes a function or capability that a cloud administrator makes available to users in the cloud. Application stacks, single servers, and adding a new account to a Microsoft Exchange server are all examples of services. For more general information about services, see Services overview.

• A service blueprint enables you to design, manage, and build all of the underlying components and operations that define a service. A service blueprint is required to create a requestable service. For overview information about service blueprints, see Service blueprints overview.

This topic contains the following sections:

To create system objects in BMC Server Automation

BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management uses BMC Server Automation for provisioning. You must perform the following configuration tasks in BMC Server Automation so that BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management can provision VMs and bare metal machines, and perform unattended installations of operating systems on servers:

1. Create virtual guest packages (VGPs) as objects and store them in the Depot.

    Click here for details.

   VGPs can be used to deploy:

   • • A new VMware virtual machine (VM) on a VMware vCenter server. See Creating a VGP in BMC Server Automation for a vCenter environment.
     • A new VM on a Citrix XenServer. See Creating the VGP in BMC Server Automation for Citrix XenServer.
     • A new LPAR on an IBM frame. See Creating the VGP in BMC Server Automation for IBM LPAR.
     • A new VM on a Microsoft Hyper-V. See Creating the VGP in BMC Server Automation for Hyper-V.

2. Create system packages as objects and store them in the Depot.

    Click here for details.

   In order to perform an unattended installation of an operating system, create a system package (or modify an existing package) in BMC Server Automation for each server configuration you want to install.

    Click here to see a short overview of BMC Server Automation system packages.

   A system package not only contains all the instructions needed to install an operating system over the network, it can also run jobs that install software and configure a machine for a particular purpose. Consequently, you may want to create a different system package for each type of server you want to provision rather than just creating one system package for each type of operating system you want to install. For example, you might want to create a system package for a web server running Microsoft Windows 2008 and IIS. You could create another system package for a database server running Linux 8.0 and Oracle.

   A system package uses installation files for a specific operating system. Consequently, system packages for the various types of Windows, Linux, ESX, Solaris, AIX, and HP-UX operating systems are not interchangeable. Create separate system packages for servers running different operating systems.

   Tip

   When you define a system package, you must provide many categories of information. If you are creating multiple system packages with similar settings, you may want to create one system package and copy and paste that package to create another system package, adjusting settings as necessary.

   To enable successful publishing of system packages for BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management, store the packages in the CSM_OS_Packages subfolder of the Depot folder in the navigation tree of the BMC Server Automation Console (Depot > CSM_OS_Packages): 
   
   

   To create and define a system package

   1. Using BMC Server Automation, perform these initial steps necessary to create a system package.
      The system package is created and opens in the content editor.
   2. Define the system package by specifying all of its settings.
      1. See System package panels (OS specific) for detailed instructions about supported operating systems.

      2. Review special considerations when defining system packages to determine if these instructions apply to your system package.

         Note

         When defining a system package, note the presence of the Select Property icon next to various input fields. Whenever you see this icon next to an input field, it indicates that you can insert a parameter that refers to a local property that supplies the value for the field.

   3. When entering or modifying parameters for the system packages, keep in mind these guidelines for BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management (Windows or Linux operating system):
      • Under the Basic Config tab, enter ??NAME?? in the Computer name field. When the system package is selected at provisioning time, BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management supplies the hostname of the server to be provisioned or the IP address (if configured to do so).
      • In the Local Properties tab, specify the name of the PXE datastore instance for the DATASTORE variable. Use the same format convention: CSM Datastore - <name of pod>.
   4. When you finish defining the system package, select File > Save.

   
   Special considerations when defining system packages

   Click any of the following tabs to review OS-specific considerations when defining system packages.

   BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management cannot use Linux system packages with customized kickstart entries, which are defined under the Kickstart Entries tab. Instead, you can use the 'Additional entries for the kickstart file' section of the Kickstart Entries tab to append new entries for the system package.

   When provisioning multiple network interface cards/addresses on Linux systems, add local properties to the system package using the following formats.

   Note

   Exclude the first address on the first network interface card. The first network interface card is assumed to be used for network booting.

   Address	Format
   Primary address on a network interface card, where <x> is the NIC number, beginning with 0	ETH<x>_MAC_ADDRESS ETH<x>_MAC_ADDRESS_CD ETH<x>_BOOTPROTO ETH<x>_IPADDR ETH<x>_NETMASK ETH<x>_GATEWAY
   For supplemental IP addresses on a network interface card, where <y> is the IP address, beginning with 1	ETH<x>_<Y>_IPADDR ETH<x>_<Y>_NETMASK ETH<x>_<Y>_GATEWAY

   The following example is for kickstart purposes and is added to the Additional entries for the kickstart file section. It assumes that you are provisioning for a Linux system package with more than one network interface and that the first network interface card has just one address and does not need to be covered. It also assumes that the second network interface card has two addresses on it.

   echo "DEVICE=eth1" > /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
   echo "HWADDR=??ETH1_MAC_ADDRESS_CD??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
   echo "BOOTPROTO=??ETH1_BOOTPROTO??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
   echo "ONBOOT=yes" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
   echo "IPADDR=??ETH1_IPADDR??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
   echo "NETMASK=??ETH1_NETMASK??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
   echo "GATEWAY=??ETH1_GATEWAY??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
   
   echo "DEVICE=eth1:0" > /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1:0
   echo "HWADDR=??ETH1_1_MAC_ADDRESS??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1:0
   echo "BOOTPROTO=??ETH1_BOOTPROTO??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1:0
   echo "ONBOOT=yes" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1:0
   echo "IPADDR=??ETH1_1_IPADDR??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1:0
   echo "NETMASK=??ETH1_1_NETMASK??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1:0
   echo "GATEWAY=??ETH1_1_GATEWAY??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1:0

   BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management cannot use Windows system packages with customized unattended entries, which are defined under the Unattended Entries tab. Instead, use the Additional Unattend Entries section of the Unattended Entries to replace existing or add new entries for the system package.

   Follow these steps to add the XML entries to the system package:

   1. Under Additional Unattend Entries, click the Plus sign.
   2. In the top-left panel, expand the Specialize listing, and select the Microsoft-Windows-TCPIP node.
   3. Display the node by specifying a static IP address (which the system ignores).

   4. In the Add/Replace XML Component section, paste the following XML code:

      <component xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" language="neutral" name="Microsoft-Windows-TCPIP" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" versionScope="nonSxS">WINDOWS_UNATTEND </component>

   For SUSE Linux Enterprise System (SLES) 11, 64-bit, with a DHCP IP configuration: Create a Red Hat Linux system package by defining settings for the package as described here. In addition, make the following modifications:

   • Basic Config tab — Set AutoYaST network device to eth0.

   • Post-Install Configuration tab — Add the following script:

     echo "127.0.0.1 ??HOST_NAME?? localhost.localdomain" >> /etc/hosts
     echo " * rw,user=root" > /usr/lib/rsc/exports
     /etc/init.d/rscd stop
     /etc/init.d/rscd start
     echo "DEVICE=eth1" > /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "HWADDR=??ETH1_MAC_ADDRESS_CD??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "BOOTPROTO=??ETH1_BOOTPROTO??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "ONBOOT=yes" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "STARTMODE=auto" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     

   • Local Properties tab — Add the following local properties with a property type of String:
     • ETH1_BOOTPROTO
     • ETH1_MAC_ADDRESS_CD

   For SLES 11, 64-bit, with a static IP configuration: Create a Red Hat Linux system package by defining settings for the package as described here. In addition, make the following modifications:

   • Post-Install Configuration tab — Add the following script:

     echo "127.0.0.1 ??HOST_NAME?? localhost.localdomain" >> /etc/hosts
     echo " * rw,user=root" > /usr/lib/rsc/exports
     /etc/init.d/rscd stop
     /etc/init.d/rscd start
     echo "DEVICE=eth1" > /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "HWADDR=??ETH1_MAC_ADDRESS_CD??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "BOOTPROTO=??ETH1_BOOTPROTO??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "ONBOOT=yes" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "STARTMODE=auto" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "IPADDR=ETH1_IPADDR" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "NETMASK=ETH1_NETMASK" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "GATEWAY=ETH1_GATEWAY" >> /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth1
     

   • Local Properties tab — Add the following local properties with a property type of String:
     • ETH1_BOOTPROTO
     • ETH1_GATEWAY
     • ETH1_IPADDR
     • ETH1_MAC_ADDRESS_CD
     • ETH1_NETMASK

   For Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 6.0, 64-bit, create a Red Hat Linux system package by defining settings as described here. In addition, make the following modifications:

   • Disk Partition tab — Specify the following partitions:

     Mount Point	Type	Size (MB)	Fill Unused Space
     N/A	swap	1024	false
     /	ext4	5000	false
     /boot	ext2	2048	false

   • Basic Config tab — For Kickstart network device, enter em1. Without this value, server provisioning fails.
   • Computer Settings tab — Select the following values:
     • Keyboard — us
     • Locale — English (USA english-support)
   • OS Components tab — Select Base System.
   • Network tab — Select Obtain an IP address automatically.

   • Kickstart Entries tab — Add the following additional entries for the kickstart file:

     echo "DEVICE=eth1" > /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "HWADDR=??ETH1_MAC_ADDRESS_CD??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "BOOTPROTO=??ETH1_BOOTPROTO??" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "ONBOOT=yes" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "STARTMODE=auto" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "IPADDR=ETH1_IPADDR" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "NETMASK=ETH1_NETMASK" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
     echo "GATEWAY=ETH1_GATEWAY" >> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
     

   • Post-Install Configuration tab — Enter the following values:
     • IP address — ??APP_SERVER_IP??
     • Port — 9131
     • Post-Install Script — echo "* rw,user=root" > /usr/lib/rsc/exports
   • Local Properties tab — Add the following local properties with a property type of String:
     • ETH1_BOOTPROTO
     • ETH1_GATEWAY
     • ETH1_IPADDR
     • ETH1_MAC_ADDRESS_CD
     • ETH1_NETMASK

   After you create the system package

   After creating a system package, add a Network Shell (NSH) script called CSM_Delayed_Reboot to the Depot subfolder CSM_Scripts.

   The script should look similar to the following example:

   Type 1 (Execute the script separately against each target host.)

   Script: {{sleep 60)) ((nexec $1 reboot}}

   Parameter: hostname, default value TARGET.NAME

3. Set up all the components of the BMC Server Automation provisioning system.

    Click here for details.

   BMC Server Automation uses Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE) for provisioning Windows, Linux, ESX, and ESXi servers. For details, see To configure the PXE server.

4. Run the Publish Product Catalog Job in BMC Server Automation to retrieve the list of component templates, virtual guest packages (VGP), and system packages that you have created and publish them to the Product Catalog. See Publishing the Product Catalog.

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To build service blueprints

Service blueprints define the software, hardware, and deployment options for a service in the Service Catalog. A service blueprint is required before you can create a service. For service blueprint overview information, see Service blueprints overview.

To build a service blueprint, see Creating, copying, or editing a service blueprint

After creating a service blueprint, you can use the blueprint when creating a service.

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To create new services for the Service Catalog

A service is the utility that an organization provides and is defined by its service offerings, requestable offerings, and service level targets. For example, the Calbro IT organization offers an email service, which includes gold and silver service offerings that have service level targets based on response times.

In the Service Catalog, a service must have at least one service offering and can have one or more requestable offerings.

1. From the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management Administration Console, click the vertical Workspaces menu on the left side of the window, and click Service Catalog.
2. In the Service Catalog, click Create a New Service .
3. Enter the service name.
4. For Type, select a service type.
   • Business service - Services that customers use and that shows the customer view of services, such as email or an online store.

   • Technical service - Supporting IT and infrastructure resources required to support business services that are not visible to customers, such as servers, applications, and network CIs.

     Note

     After you select the type and save the service, you cannot change the type.

5. Enter a description of the service.
6. Do one of the following:
   • To create the service offering, click Apply.
   • To create the service offering later, click Save to save your selections and close the window.

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To create a service offering

A service offering defines a level of service for a price; it combines the service (utility) and a service level target (warranty) to bring value to the customer. When you create a service level target in the Service Catalog, it does not create a record in or retrieve data from BMC Service Level Management.

1. From the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management Administration Console, click the vertical Workspaces menu on the left side of the window, and click Service Catalog.
2. From the Service Catalog, edit or create a service.
   In the Service Offering tab, a default service offering is available, which you can edit.
   
3. To add a new offering to the service, click Create a New Service Offering.
4. To create or modify the preferred settings of a service offering per user, click the Edit preferred settings icon .

5. In the General Information tab, define the service offering options described in the following table.

   Option	Description
   Default Service Offering	Enable this option to make the selected service offering the default for the service. Unless users select a different service offering, the default service offering is used.
   Name	A short, descriptive name for the service offering.
   Description	A more detailed description of the service offering.
   Service Blueprint	Specify the software and hardware to associate with the service offering by selecting one of the available blueprints.
   Reference Definition	Specify which version of the blueprint to use for this offering. Choose one of the following: Latest version—Use the latest version of the specified service blueprint. Specific Version—Use the version of the service blueprint that you select. Identified by Tag—Select the tag that is used to identify a version of a service blueprint. Because no two versions of a service blueprint can have the same tag, if the association of the tag to a version changes, your blueprint will use whichever version makes use of that tag.
   Definition	Specify how to deploy the selected service blueprint. From the list, select a definition that is available for the chosen service blueprint.

   For additional information, see the following blog entry on BMC Communities: The Pulse: Contracts and Pricing Model in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management.

6. Add a Base Customer Price to define the amount charged to the customer for the service offering. This price is displayed to the end user as the Baseline Cost in the My Cloud Services console. Though you can enter multiple customer prices per service, consider using an Instance unit of measurement for the baseline cost, which charges the end user the defined amount for each instance of the service offering. For more information, see Adding a customer price or delivery cost to an option, service, or request action.

7. Add a Base Deployment Cost to define the amount that it costs to provide the service offering. This cost is for your documentation purposes only, and is not displayed to the end user.
   You can enter one deployment cost per service. For more information, see Adding a customer price or delivery cost to an option, service, or request action.

8. Click Apply.
   This action activates the Options tab. You now also can create a requestable offering (for example, a request definition or a post-deploy action). For more information, see Creating a requestable offering.

9. Click the Options tab.
   
   You can add options to the service offering.

   • You can only select options whose Type is set to Any or Request Definition.

   • The choices for the selected option appear in the Option Choice table.

   • To create an option or option choice, click the Options Editor button .

10. To create categories for options, follow these steps.

    1. In the Selected Options view, select an option that you have added to the service offering.

    2. In the Category field, type a name for a new category.
       

    3. Click Add Category.
       The selected option appears in the new category.

    4. To move an option to a different category, select the option, and click Move Option Up or Move Option Down.
       
       If a category is empty, it is deleted.

    5. To delete a category, select it, and click Remove Category.
       The category is removed, and options in that category are moved to the Default Category.

11. To complete the remaining steps, click Show Advanced Features. (The functionality under Show Advanced Features might not always work as expected. Be sure to test any changes you make.)
    The Link Post-Deploy Offerings (shown below), Supporting Technical Services, and Service Level Targets tabs appear.
    

12. In the Link Post-Deploy Offerings tab, select the offerings that are currently associated with the global service.
    These post-deploy offerings are created in BMC Service Request Management. By default, they are associated with the global service. When you select them in the Link Post-Deploy Offerings tab, they are then associated with the current service offering. If you clear a post-deploy offering, it is no longer associated with the current service offering and links to the service offering in the global service.

13. In the Supporting Technical Services tab, link the service offering to technical services.
    

    1. In the Available Technical Services area, filter the list of technical services.
       Only the names of technical services are searched.

    2. Select a technical service.

    3. Click Add.

    4. In the Selected Technical Services table, select the technical service.
       The service offerings for the technical service appear in the Service Offerings table.

    5. Select a service offering.

       Note

       You cannot select more than one technical service offering.

14. In the Service Level Targets tab, create and modify service level targets for the selected service offering.
    

    1. Define the parameters described in the following table.
       The service level target appears in the table.

       Parameter	Description
       Name	A short, descriptive name for the service offering.
       Description	A more detailed description of the service offering.
       Type	Select the type of service level target from the following list: - Measurement - Policy - Other
       Classification	Select the classification of the service level target from the following list: - Incident Response - Availability - Capacity - SR Turn Around Time

    2. To add the target to the service offering, click New Service Level Target.

    3. To modify a target, select one, and click Edit Selected Service Level Target.

    4. Modify the target's parameters.

    5. Click Save to Selected Service Level Target.

15. Click Apply to save the current settings but not close the window, or click Save to close the Service Catalog.

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To create a requestable offering

A requestable offering is the part of a service that end users can see and request. Like a service offering, it combines a service (utility) and a service level target (warranty). But unlike with a service offering, end users can select a requestable offering. BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management includes the following types of requestable offerings:

• Request definition --- Describes the details of the service offering, including the name, description, and one-time delivery price (which is different from the service offering price that describes the ongoing maintenance price). The cloud administrator can define only one request definition for a particular service offering, and a request definition must be created for the service offering to be available in the BMC My Services Cloud Console. Request definitions can be added to packages.
• Post-deploy action --- Represents an action an end user can take on a service instance after it has been provisioned. For example, after a LAMP stack has been provisioned, the user might request a different amount of memory or CPU. Post-deploy actions are not required, and the cloud administrator can create any number of post-deploy actions per service offering. Certain restrictions apply to post-deploy actions depending on your operating system.

You can create the request definition and post-deploy action with the Service Request Designer. The Service Request Designer options are available if you click Show Advanced Features. (The functionality under Show Advanced Features might not always work as expected. Be sure to test any changes you make.) Customers familiar with Service Request Management might prefer to use Service Request Designer.

1. From the Service Catalog, edit or create a service.
2. Select a service offering.
3. To use the Requestable Offering Definition window, follow these steps:
   1. Click Create request definition. If the service offering has an existing request definition, this option is not available because only one request definition is allowed for each service offering.
      The Requestable Offering Definition window appears.
      
   2. Complete the steps described in Creating a requestable offering definition.
4. To use the Service Request Designer, follow these steps:
   1. If needed, click Show Advanced Features. (The functionality under Show Advanced Features might not always work as expected. Be sure to test any changes you make.)
   2. Click Create request definition with SRD Designer.
      If the service offering has an existing request definition, this option is not available because only one request definition is allowed for each service offering.
      
   3. Complete the steps described in Using the Service Request Designer.
5. Click Save.
   After you create a request definition, its status is automatically Online.

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To create a post-deployment action

Using a post-deploy action (also known as a Transaction Requestable Offering or TRO) you can specify which options that end-users can change on Day 2 of a deployment (to existing services). For example, you configure the service offering so that end-users can only add memory to their Apache Server after the system is provisioned.

With a post-deploy action, your options are somewhat limited. There are eight options you can select, such as Software Packages or Parameters on Day 2 of a deployment (for example, after the VM is provisioned). You create the post-deploy action with the Service Request Designer.

1. From the Service Catalog, edit or create a service.
2. Select a service offering.
3. To use the Requestable Offering Definition window, follow these steps:
   1. Click Create post-deploy action.
      The Requestable Offering Definition window appears.
      
   2. Complete the steps described in Creating a requestable offering definition.
4. To use the Service Request Designer, follow these steps:
   1. If needed, click Show Advanced Features.(The functionality under Show Advanced Features might not always work as expected. Be sure to test any changes you make.)
   2. Click Create post-deployment action with SRD Designer.
      
   3. Complete the steps described in Using the Service Request Designer.
5. After creating a post-deploy action, you can associate options with it.
   1. Within a service offering, select a post-deploy action.
      The General Information and Options tabs display information for the post-deploy action.
   2. In the Options tab, add options to the service offering.
      • You can only select options whose Type is set to Any or Transactional.
      • The choices for the selected option appear in the Option Choice table.
      • The new category is listed with the selected option. If you delete a category, the option is not removed.
      • If a category is empty, it is deleted.
6. Click Save.

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Where to go next

Configure tenants and tenant users