7.4

Figure 3‑6. Bind a Software Property to the IP address of a machine
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.
When you design blueprints with multiple machines and applications, you might have properties you need
from one machine to finish an application installation on another. For example, if you are building a Web
server you might need the host name of the database server before you can install the application and
instantiate database tables. If you map an explicit dependency, your database server starts provisioning
when your Web server finishes provisioning.
Note Software components must have an ordered dependency in the blueprint. Unordered software
components can cause blueprint provisioning to fail. If there is no actual order dependency for the
software components, you can satisfy the blueprint ordering requirement by adding a faux dependency
between the software components.
To map a dependency on your design canvas, you draw a line from the dependent component to the
component you are depending on. When you are finished, the component you want to build second has
an arrow pointing to the component you want to build first. For example, in the Controlling the Build Order
by Mapping Dependencies figure, the dependent machine is not provisioned until the primary machine is
built. Alternatively, you can configure both machines to provision simultaneously but draw a dependency
between the software components.
Configuring vRealize Automation
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