Using the Platform UI

Learn about administrative actions and advanced configuration options for the Platform UI.

Deploying an instance from a template

You can deploy any instance type by importing a template from Automation assets. Sharing and reusing templates can help your team achieve consistency across installations.

  1. Log in to the Platform UI.

  2. In the instances section, click Create an instance.

  3. On the Create an instance page, click any of the instance types.

  4. On the next page, click Select a template from Automation assets.

    Troubleshooting: If you click the tile and the required version of Automation assets is not installed, you get a panel with a message instructing you to create an Automation assets instance.

  5. On the Select a template page, click to select a template from the list. You get a preview of the custom resource for the asset you want to use.

  6. Click Create from asset.

  7. All available fields on the instance creation page are pre-populated with the values from the template. Edit these values as needed, then click Create. This action deploys the instance.

Creating a new template

You can edit an existing template, then import it back to Automation assets so that the new template is available to other users. Sharing and reusing templates can help your team achieve consistency across installations.

  1. Log in to the Platform UI.

  2. In the instances section, click Create an instance.

  3. On the Create an instance page, click any of the integration types.

  4. Click the tile for your desired deployment option, then click Next.

  5. Click the overflow menu (three-dot icon), then click Share as template.

  6. In the panel, add values for Name, Tags (optional), and Description, then click Share. This action imports the new template to Automation assets so it can be shared with other users.

Labeling instances

The Labels column shows the number of labels that each instance has. Click this number to open the Edit labels dialog. You can use this dialog to update, add, or delete labels (you can also add labels when you create an instance).

You can add your own, custom labels to categorize your instances. Labels are saved and offered the next time you add a label, so you can easily apply the same label to multiple instances. When you search for your label value, the instances table is filtered to show only instances with that label.

You can also label instances so that the instances are available for authoring together in an integration canvas. Make sure that the canvas that you create has a reference to this label. For more information, see Using the canvas to create instances and integrations.

Some instances also have the backup label by default. Remove this label if you are not using OADP for backup and restore. For more information, see Backing up and restoring IBM Cloud Pak for Integration.

Access control

For information on identity and access management, such as authenticating users against an existing LDAP user registry, see Identity and access management.

Advanced configuration options

Custom resource values

The following table describes the configurable parameters and default values for the custom resource.

Parameter Description Default
apiVersion The API version that identifies which schema is used for this Platform UI
kind Resource type PlatformNavigator
metadata.name Unique short name by which the Platform UI can be identified integration-quickstart
metadata.namespace Namespace (project) in which the Platform UI is installed
spec.license.accept An indication of whether the license should be accepted. Valid values are true and false. To install, this value must be set to true. false
spec.replicas Number of replica pods to run for each deployment 1
spec.version The Platform UI product version. Specify with a channel or a fully qualified version. The latest channel.
spec.tls Configures the Platform UI to use certificates that are specific to its host. For more information, see Configuring hostnames and certificates.
spec.uiHostname Configures the hostname for the Platform UI. For more information, see Configuring hostnames and certificates.
spec.nodeSelector Configures the nodes on which the pods run. Specify each nodeSelector as a key/value pair in the format nodeSelectorKey: nodeSelectorValue.
spec.labels Specifies one or more custom labels (as classification metadata) to apply to each pod that is created during deployment. Specify each label as a key/value pair in the format labelKey: labelValue. The custom labels that you specify will be merged with the default (generated) labels. If duplicate label keys are detected, the custom value overwrites the default value.
spec.annotations Specifies one or more custom annotations (as arbitrary metadata) to apply to each pod that is created during deployment. Specify each annotation as a key/value pair in the format annotationKey: annotationValue. The custom annotations that you specify will be merged with the default (generated) annotations. If duplicate annotation keys are detected, the custom value overwrites the default value.
spec.resources Defines the minimum and upper limits of resources allocated for running the container. For CPU values, specify integer, fractional (for example, 0.5), or millicore values (for example, 100m, equivalent to 0.1 core). For memory values, specify integers with one of these suffixes: E, P, T, G, M, K, or specify on eof these power-of-two equivalents: Ei, Pi, Ti, Gi, Mi, Ki.
spec.template Customizes the kubernetes resources deployed by the operator. The configuration found within this block is superimposed on the reconciled K8S resource that the operator would have generated had the template block not existed, following the logic defined for a strategic merge patch in the kubernetes documentation.
spec.loggingUrl Enables usage of a custom logging stack. Must be a fully-specified URL. For more infromation, see "Using a custom logging solution" in Installing and configuring cluster logging.
spec.observability Enables Instana monitoring links in the Platform UI. For more information, see Enabling IBM Instana monitoring.
status.conditions Returns information on the current condition of the Platform UI instance.
status.customImages Confirms whether the Platform UI instance is using a non-standard image for its front end or back end.
status.endpoints Returns the endpoints that are exposed by the Platform UI instance.
status.metadata Returns metadata for the Platform UI instance.
status.versions Returns the current version of the Platform UI instance, as well as the versions available for upgrade.

Examples

spec.nodeSelector:

Shows how to use the nodeSelector section in the Platform UI spec to configure the nodes where the deployment will run.

spec:
  nodeSelector:
    key1: value1
    key2: value2

spec.labels:

Shows how to use the labels section in the Platform UI spec to apply labels to the deployment.

spec:
  labels:
    key1: value1
    key2: value2

spec.annotations:

Shows how to use the annotations section in the Platform UI spec to apply annotations to the deployment.

spec:
  annotations:
    key1: value1
    key2: value2

spec.resources:

Shows how to use the resources section in the Platform UI spec to allocate resource requests and limits.

spec:
  resources:
    navigator:
      limits:
        cpu: '1'
        memory: 512Mi
      requests:
        cpu: '0.25'
        memory: 256Mi
    services:
      limits:
        cpu: '1'
        memory: 512Mi
      requests:
          cpu: '0.25'
          memory: 256Mi

spec.template:

Shows how to use the template section in the Platform UI spec to customize the containers.

spec:
  template:
    pod:
      containers:
        - image: placeholder
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          name: ibm-cp4i-prod-navigator
        - image: placeholder
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          name: ibm-cp4i-prod-services
      imagePullSecrets:
        - ibm-entitlement-key
        - other-key

spec.loggingUrl:

Shows how to use the loggingUrl section in the Platform UI spec to enable usage of a custom logging stack.

spec:
  loggingUrl: "https://host.apps.cluster.domain.com/kibana"

Setting the token for session timeout

You can set the length of the Platform UI session before it times out. For more information, see Keycloak configuration.