7.4

n
Understanding Nested Blueprint Behavior
You can reuse blueprints by nesting them in another blueprint as a component. You nest blueprints
for reuse and modularity control in machine provisioning, but there are specific rules and
considerations when you work with nested blueprints.
n
Using Machine Components and Software Components When Assembling a Blueprint
You deliver Software components by placing them on top of supported machine components when
you assemble blueprints.
n
Creating Property Bindings Between Blueprint Components
In several deployment scenarios, a component needs the property value of another component to
customize itself. You can bind properties of XaaS, machines, Software, and custom properties to
other properties in a blueprint.
n
Creating Dependencies and Controlling the Order of Provisioning
If you need information from one of your blueprint components to complete the provisioning of
another component, you can draw an explicit dependency on the design canvas to stagger
provisioning so the dependent component is not provisioned prematurely. Explicit dependencies
control the build order of a deployment and trigger dependent updates during a scale in or scale out
operation. Software components are required to be ordered in a blueprint.
Understanding Nested Blueprint Behavior
You can reuse blueprints by nesting them in another blueprint as a component. You nest blueprints for
reuse and modularity control in machine provisioning, but there are specific rules and considerations
when you work with nested blueprints.
A blueprint that contains one or more nested blueprints is called an outer blueprint. When you add a
blueprint component to the design canvas while creating or editing another blueprint, the blueprint
component is called a nested blueprint and the container blueprint to which it is added is called the outer
blueprint.
Using nested blueprints presents considerations that are not always obvious. It is important to understand
the rules and considerations to make the best use of your machine provisioning capabilities.
General Rules and Considerations for Nesting Blueprints
n
As a best practice to minimize blueprint complexity, limit blueprints to three levels deep, with the top-
level blueprint serving as one of the three levels.
n
If a user is entitled to the outer blueprint, that user is entitled to its nested blueprints.
n
You can apply an approval policy to a blueprint. When approved, the blueprint catalog item and all its
components, including nested blueprints, are provisioned. You can also apply different approval
policies to different components. All the approval policies must be approved before the requested
blueprint is provisioned.
Configuring vRealize Automation
VMware, Inc. 515