Deploy an Edge Application Instance

Updated

Introduction

This article describes how to deploy an Edge Application (App) Instance to one or more edge nodes.

Deploying an app instance is the process of creating a specific running instance of an edge application on an edge device (sometimes known as “instantiation”).

Each deployed app instance runs in its own environment, allowing multiple instances of the same application or different applications to run concurrently on the same edge device without interference.

After an app is deployed, the edge application instance can be managed through ZEDEDA Cloud. This includes monitoring its performance, scaling the instance, updating or patching the application, and managing its lifecycle (starting, stopping, or deleting the instance).



This is a series of articles. You will likely follow them in this order.

  1. Edge Application Overview
  2. Manage an Edge App Image 
  3. Manage an Edge Application
  4. Deploy an Application Instance - You are here!
  5. Manage an Edge Application Instance
  6. Use the ZEDEDA CLI to Manage an Edge Application Instance

Prerequisites 

Access the Edge App Instance Wizard

To deploy an edge app instance, you must first access the Edge App Wizard. From there, you can follow the Wizard's prompts to complete your deployment. The Wizard can be accessed within the ZEDEDA GUI in the following ways:

  • The Dashboard's Quick Links widget.
  • Edge App Instances List View:
    1. Click on Edge App Instances in the left panel.
    2. Click on the + button in the upper right corner.
  • Marketplace Card View:
    1. Hover over Marketplace and click Edge Apps.
    2. Use the Deploy icon on an Edge App card.
  • Marketplace Edge Application detail view:
    1. Hover over Marketplace and click Edge Apps.
    2. Select an edge app card.
    3. Click the Deploy button, on the upper right corner.

Configure Edge App & Edge Nodes

  1. Specify the Edge App name if not auto populated.
  2. Select your Project from the drop down. 
  3. If you onboarded a single edge node:
    • Select the edge node where you want to deploy the app instance.
  4. If you created an edge node cluster: 
    • Toggle Deploy Edge Nodes Cluster.
    • Select the Cluster Name where you want to deploy the app instance.
  5. The Drives, Resources, and Edge Nodes from the selected project are displayed. 
  6. Click Next.

Configure the Edge App Instance Identity

  1. Enter a Name for your Edge App Instance. This value can't be changed later.
  2. Enter a Title for your Edge App Instance. This value is for flexibility. You can change it at any time. 
  3. Enter a Description. You can use this to help other admins understand the purpose of the app instance or any important details about the Edge App Instance.
  4. Enable Logs Access to collect and access logs generated by the Edge App Instance. 
  5. Configure Staggered Start Delay in Seconds, Minutes, or Hours to make sure that your instances start at different intervals rather than all at once. 
  6. Enable VMM Overhead per instance when deploying the app. This allows you to fine-tune memory allocation based on the specific edge device's resources and the requirements of that deployment (versus when creating an edge app, which is more of a default global setting for the app). 
  7. Select or enter Tags to help you group and identify instances based on specific criteria. For example: environment, such as production or testing.
  8. Click Next. 

Configure Adapters & Networks

Single edge node

If you selected a single edge node from the List of Edge Nodes from the Selected Project during the Configure Edge App & Edge Nodes step, complete the following steps.

  1. The Network Adapter Name and Firewall Rules are auto populated. 
  2. Select a Network Instance that you configured to specify how the adapter port will connect to local networks or external resources. 
  3. Select an IO Adapter Bundle to facilitate the types of input/output capabilities for your edge application instance.
  4. Click Next.

Multiple edge nodes

If you selected multiple edge nodes from the List of Edge Nodes from the Selected Project during the Configure Edge App & Edge Nodes step, complete the following steps. 

  1. The Network Adapter Name and Firewall Rules are auto populated. 
  2. Select a Network Instance Assignment Method to specify how the adapter ports will connect to local networks or external resources. 
    • Default: Automatically assigns a network instance to each edge node.
    • Tag: Assigns network instances based on predefined tags.
    • Custom: Allows for manual specification of network instance matching criteria.
  3. Match Network Instance Tag: Specify a tag that network instances must have to be considered for assignment.
  4. If you select Custom for your Network Instance Assignment Method, you can configure the following items.
    1. Network Instance Name Prefix: Enter a prefix for network instance names.
    2. Network Instance Title Prefix: Enter a prefix for network instance titles.
    3. Tags: Name/value pairs that enable you to categorize resources or target specific groups of edge nodes, such as "location:us-west".  
      1. Enter a key, such as location.
      2. Enter a value, such as us-west.
      3. Click the plus sign (+).
    4. Kind: Select from Local (for L2 network instances) or Switch (for L3 network instances).
    5. Port:
      • None: No specific port selection.
      • Logical Port Name: Associates a name with a network port. This ties in with the logical port name defined in the hardware model json file for the edge node. A name like "shopfloor" might make sense for the downstream port to the plant, and "enterprise" might make sense for an upstream port. The mapping of those to different models of devices might be different, but the application deployment doesn't need to know whether it is eth1 on one device and eth3 on another. 
      • Port Tag Name: Specify a tag name for the port.
      • Uplink: Groups together all management-type ports.
    6. Addressing:
      • None: No specific addressing configuration.
      • V4: Configure IPv4 addressing.
      • V6: Configure IPv6 addressing.
    7. Default Edge Node Network Instance:
      • Yes: If no other network instance matches, the default network instance for the edge node will be used.
      • No: The default network instance will not be used if no other matches are found.
    8. IP Configuration:
      • Auto: Automatically assign IP addresses (for example, DHCP).
      • Manual: Manually enter IP address details.
  5. Click Next.

Next Steps

  1. Edge Application Overview
  2. Manage an Edge App Image 
  3. Manage an Edge Application
  4. Deploy an Application Instance - You are here!
  5. Manage an Edge Application Instance
  6. Use the ZEDEDA CLI to Manage an Edge Application Instance
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