Boxify¶

Synopsis¶

This modules envelopes all the major needs of the users in creating and as well as managing the box. This topic is to discuss about how to use this module, and about various functions in using boxify.

Help Command¶

The help command guides the users in handling this module, in order to handle and perform various functions of a box. It lists outs the alternative parameters, and highlights the syntax for various functions of using and modifying a box. The syntax for help option under the boxify module is shown below,

ptconfigure Boxify help

The syntax for declaring the help command is not case sensitive which is an added advantage. The following screenshot visualize you about the help command under boxify.

kevell@corp:/# ptconfigure Boxify help
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 This command provides a generic Box Management wrapper around all of the Box Providers (Cloud and Otherwise) so that we have a
 generic way to create and destroy boxes.

 Boxify, boxify

       - install-generic-autopilots
       Install the generic Boxify autopilot templates for a Tiny or Medium (Current Default) set of Environments
       example: ptconfigure boxify install-generic-autopilots
       example: ptconfigure boxify install-generic-autopilots
                   --yes
                   --guess # will set --destination-dir=*this dir +*build/config/ptconfigure/boxify/autopilots/
                   --template-group=tiny
                   --destination-dir=*path-to-destination*

       - box-add
       Installs a Box through a cloud provider
       example: ptconfigure boxify box-add --environment-name="*environment*"
           --server-prefix="my-app"
           --provider="DigitalOcean" // DigitalOcean, Rackspace, VSphere
           --image-id="3101045" // DO=3101045 , RAX=ffd597d6-2cc4-4b43-b8f4-b1006715b84e
           --size-id="66" // DO = 66, RAX = 2
           --region-id="2" // DO = 2, RAX = LON
           --box-amount=1 // An Integer number of boxes to create
           --force-name="a-box-name" // optional, will override other options for name creation. may cause a conflict if creating more than 1 box.
           --parallax // optional, when adding more than one box, if the provider supports it we can execute all requests in parallel

       - box-remove
       Removes a Box from the papyrus
       example: ptconfigure boxify box-remove --environment-name="staging" --environment-version="5.0" --provider="apt-get"

       - box-destroy
       Removes a Box from both papyrus and the cloud provider
       example: ptconfigure boxify box-destroy --environment-name="staging"
           --destroy-all-boxes
           --destroy

       - list-papyrus
       List all servers in papyrus, or those of a particular environment
       example: ptconfigure boxify list-papyrus --yes
       example: ptconfigure boxify list-papyrus --yes --environment-name="staging"


------------------------------
End Help
******************************

Various functions of boxify¶

This topics describes about the various functions of boxify under this module, as listed below

Install generic autopilots
Adding box
Removing box
Destroying a box
list

Install generic autopilots¶

This function aims at installing applicable autopilots to a tiny or medium set of environments. This can be implemented by applying the command as given below,

ptconfigure boxify install-generic-autopilots
            --yes
            --guess # will set --destination-dir=*this dir +*build/config/ptconfigure/boxify/autopilots/
            --template-group=tiny
            --destination-dir=*path-to-destination*

As depicted in the above mentioned syntax the user have to specify the following fields in order to install the generic autopilots.

destination directory
template-group

Adding box¶

This function aims at adding a box through a cloud provider, simply by using the following command,

example: ptconfigure boxify box-add --environment-name="*environment*"
    --server-prefix="my-app"
    --provider="DigitalOcean" // DigitalOcean, Rackspace, VSphere
    --image-id="3101045" // DO=3101045 , RAX=ffd597d6-2cc4-4b43-b8f4-b1006715b84e
    --size-id="66" // DO = 66, RAX = 2
    --region-id="2" // DO = 2, RAX = LON
    --box-amount=1 // An Integer number of boxes to create
    --force-name="a-box-name" // optional, will override other options for name creation. may cause a conflict if creating more than 1 box.
    --parallax // optional, when adding more than one box, if the provider supports it we can execute all requests in parallel

The user have to specify the following fields as depicted in the above command,

environment name
server prefix
provider
image id
box amount (Should be an integer value to denote the number of boxes to be added)
Force name (box name)
parallax (It is optional, it can be used when adding more than one box.)

Removing box¶

This function aims at removing a box from the papyrus. This can be implemented by using the command below,

ptconfigure boxify box-remove --environment-name="staging" --environment-version="5.0" --provider="apt-get"

The user have to specify the following fields as depicted in the above command,

environment name
environment version
provider

Destroying a box¶

This function aims at removing a box from the papyrus. This function can be implemented simply by using the following command,

ptconfigure boxify box-destroy --environment-name="staging"
    --destroy-all-boxes
    --destroy

The above mentioned command is used for destroying all boxes of an particular environment.

List¶

The major objective of this function is to list out all the servers of a particular papyrus or in an environment. The syntax for listing all servers is shown as below,

ptconfigure boxify list-papyrus --yes --environment-name="staging"

The above mentioned command will list out papyrus of an specified environment.

Alternative Parameters¶

The alternative parameters for this module, either of which can be used in declaration is,

Boxify
boxify

Benefits¶

The syntax used in help and other operations of box are not case-sensitive.
It is well-to-do in both Cent OS and as well as in Ubuntu.
All the major functions of managing a box gets wrapped under this single module.