As of v0.9, StackEngine now includes a number of automation features that allow you to quickly and automatically deploy Docker container applications.
After installing StackEngine for the first time, you may want to try out the key features listed below, to help familiarize yourself with the product.
Setup user accounts for team members – When you initially log into StackEngine, you created a primary user account for yourself. You can easily create accounts for other team members, by selecting “Settings” in the upper right part of the UI, then “Manage Users”. You can add as many team members as you need. When creating a user, assign them a role of Admin (can add other users) or Member through the group function. You can create as many users as you need.
Setup Team Members with StackEngine
Start with Components – Components are the elemental building blocks for your applications. A number of predefined components are included out-of-the-box, including some common Docker components, like Redis, Ubuntu 14.04 and Busybox. A component points to a specific image, in a Docker repository, as it includes the name of the image and the tag, such as latest. Note the Docker public registry is already configured for you. So you can add additional components for other public images located there. If you wish to pull any private images that you might have, simply define your Registry, under the Registries Tab. Then you can create Docker components for any images that you want to pull. This will be an important, as you may want to use them when creating your first application.
Add Public and Private Images
Compose an Application – If Components are like elements, then Applications are like molecules. When creating your first application, all your available Components will be listed on the right side of the drag and drop interface. To get to this screen, select “Applications” on the left nav, then “New Application”, add a name for the app and a description and save. Once the app is created you can select “Edit” to start the application construction. At this point, simply drag in your components and configure them as needed. When you are done configuring each Component, select Apply. Note, you can always edit the configuration of any Component by double clicking on it. You can also edit the entire Application by selecting “Advanced Edit”. This will expose the YAML that the app is based on. You can edit the YAML directly, plus you can copy and paste YAMLs as needed.
Compose Docker Applications with Drag and Drop
Define your Resource Pools – Resource Pools are collections of hosts. Many users segment their infrastructure into pools such as dev, QA and prod. To get started, select “Resource Pools” on the left nav. You can name your Resource Pools anything you like. These will be used in the next step, as the place where you deploy your app. Create as many pools as you need. Note – a host can only be assigned to one resource pool at a time. Once your pools are created, head over to “Hosts”. Select the Hosts that you want to assign into your pools, as in the screenshot below.
Create Resource Pools
Deploy the Application into a Resource Pool – Head back over to Applications. From there, you can select any of your configured apps. Use the green Launch button to deploy and automatically schedule your app in a chosen resource pool.
Deploy Docker Application
Following these basic steps will help you easily get started with StackEngine. If you get stuck, just click on the help icon in the lower left part of the screen. Also, we love to hear about real-life use cases, so feel free to drop us a line and tell us about your Docker project.
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