To get started, simply click the + Add Instance button in the upper right of the Provisioning → Instances section. A modal will display allowing the catalog to be searched. Once an item is selected it is just a matter of following the steps through the wizard.
TIP: The instance catalog can be customized via role based access control thereby restricting access to non sanctioned catalog items, as well as added to via the Provisioning → Library section. It is completely customizable.
The next step will ask for a Group and Cloud to be selected. The Group is an abstract representation that can contain multiple cloud integrations. These cloud integrations can also be in multiple groups and is also useful for using role based access control to restrict provisioning access and set retainment policies. If the environment is new and these do not yet exist, refer to the Getting Started and configure at least one group and cloud integration first. The wizard continues by allowing us to choose a name for the instance as well as an environment.
NOTE: Currently the Environment option is mostly useful for presenting the user with informative metadata around the instance when coming back to it later.
Moving on, it is now time to configure the Instance. Depending on the option that was chosen and the Instance Configuration that is chosen fields will change. This can include cloud specific fields (i.e. Datastore for Vmware or Network). There will also be options like initial username. Some of these fields are optional and will be represented as such.
Configuration options provided in this screen are very powerful. An example is Mysql where a Master/Slave or Master/Master layout can be selected. These configurations will automatically deploy two MySQL vms or containers and link them together to provide replication. These types of configurations exist for a wide range of instance types and are optimized for high performance and scale. It is even possible to provision entire sharded Mongo clusters.
In the Automation step one can easily select a post provisioning workflow to run ( see more on Tasks and Workflows), assign a load balancer, or even configure the backup job that gets created. The Lifecycle fields allow a user to set a shutdown or expiration timeframe for an instance. The lifecycle fields are blank by default, however pre-populated fixed and user-configurable timeframes can be set by adding expiration and shutdown policies in groups and clouds. More info can be found on lifecycle and naming policies in the Policies section.
Now that the steps are completed for provisioning the selected instance type, simply review your selections, add additional copies in the Options section, and complete. The instance will automatically show up in the instances list and its provisioning state will be represented. Depending on what was provisioned this step can range from seconds to minutes (typically a container configuration will be rather quick if the instance type has previously been provisioned before.)
Provisioning Process Status Bar
During provisioning, a provisioning status bar appears in the instance detail page. The status bar display the current provisioning step as well as an eta for completion. Please note the eta timeframes are based of estimates initially and become more accurate over time.
Each provisioning process step is detailed in the Instance History tab, including the steps, start date and timestamp, user, eta/duration, progress bar, and error outputs. The provisioning info remain in the history tab for the life of the instance.
The status bar and history tab details will also present for future instance actions, such as reconfiguring/resizing and executing workflows.
When provisioning is completed successfully, the status will change to running, all instance details will populate, and the resource utilization chart will begin to populate. If the remote console connection test is successfully, the console tab will also appear.
Hint: If provisioning is taking longer than expected, or the status bar is stuck on :01, this typically means the instance cannot communicate with the appliance via the appliance url (Admin - Settings), and while the vm may be up and powered on, Morpheus has not heard back from the instance. Please verify the instance can resolve the appliance url and can reach it over 443 and 80. More info can be found in the troubleshooting section.
