Modeling environments for SoftLayer

To model a SoftLayer® environment, log in with a SoftLayer cloud project and specify the SoftLayer-specific information in a blueprint.

Before you begin

Configure the images for use with the blueprint designer. See Configuring SoftLayer images.
Connect to SoftLayer. See Connecting to SoftLayer.
Connect the blueprint design server to the server. See Connecting the blueprint design server to the server.
Log in to the blueprint designer.
At the top of the page, select the cloud project and region to use.

Procedure

Create the blueprint:
1. Click Blueprints.
2. Click New.
3. In the Add a New File window, specify a name for the blueprint.
4. To set the repository in which the blueprint is saved, select a project from the Project list. The project list contains the default project and a project for each team. Each project except the default project corresponds to both a team and a Git repository of the same name. The default project is not associated with a team, and blueprints that are associated with the default project cannot be shared with other users.
5. In the Type list, select Blueprint, and then click Save.
Add resources from the palette to the blueprint, such as virtual images. The palette shows resources from the currently connected cloud, which is shown at the upper right of the page. For more information on working with the blueprint designer, see Editing blueprint diagrams and Editing blueprint source code.
Optional: In the blueprint source code, in the metadata property for the resource, specify any virtual image tags. To parametrize the data, you can specify a list of values. You can also specify a series of comma-separated strings. For example, to specify a the parameterized tags blue and mysql_database, the code looks like the following example:
```
metadata:
  tags: ['blue', 'mysql_database']
```
If you do not plan to reuse the tags as parameters, the code looks like the following example:
```
metadata:
  tags: blue, mysql_database
```
Create a configuration file, and externalize properties to the file. See Editing configuration files.
In the configuration file, ensure that the core OpenStack types are mapped to SoftLayer types. The configuration file must have mapping that is similar to this code:
```
resource_registry:
  OS::Nova::Server : IBM::SoftLayer::Server
```

What to do next

Add the components of your application to the blueprint. See Deploying components with blueprints.

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