Cloudify Composer – The Next Generation of TOSCA Blueprint Modeling

Cloudify Composer’s next generation is already here with our Cloudify 4.2 release! The Composer is now tightly coupled with Cloudify releases, and you can read all about the sweet new features in our Cloudify 4.2 post.
Ever since its launch in December 2015, and through the numerous iterations it’s been through since, the robust-yet-dynamic graphical editor featured a simplified, user-friendly experience of creating TOSCA-based blueprints for application modeling.

This powerful tool implements a drag-and-drop graphical interface, allowing you to create complex topology models in just a few minutes, without requiring understanding YAML or code scripting. All you need to do is drag node components from the nodes stencil to the canvas, give them their properties and inputs, connect them to each other and you’re done. You’ve now got a complete model of your application – not just a static drawing but a full topology that includes relationships, workflows, and dynamic inputs and outputs – that has been created with just a few clicks.

Watch our upcoming Cloudify 4.2 webinar to see what the new version is capable of!   REGISTER NOW

So what’s new in Cloudify Composer?

Design

Continuing the re-design we started in Composer 4.1, this new version provides a clearer, simpler, more intuitive interface – and oh, how pretty it is!

Web application on Composer 4.2

Blueprint Upload and Unified Login

Uploading the blueprints you’ve created with Composer to a running Cloudify Manager has never been easier! The Composer has come out of the box with Cloudify Manager since version 4.1, but it required a separate login and password for Composer. Now, with the unified logins of UI and Composer in 4.2, there is no need for separate login information, so users are provided a more seamless process. Once you are happy with your blueprint, all it takes is a couple of clicks for it to be uploaded to the manager – under the right user, to the tenant of your choice – and it’s ready to be deployed and executed.

Seamless login from UI to Composer

Enhanced Features

Not only can you create your own node types to describe the components in your system, you can also use the types we have created for you in advance, representing common components and behaviors in OpenStack, AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, Docker and many more. Simply mark them in the imports catalog and watch them “automagically” appear in your Composer’s stencils. Working with too many node types? Use the Search capability, or mark the most common ones as your favorites to make sure they appear at the top of the stencil.

Adding built-in stencils is simple

Two-Way Editing

And finally, the cherry on the top –  two-way editing is here! This long awaited feature allows you to edit the TOSCA-based source code, which is created for you behind the scenes of all that dragging-and-dropping, directly from Composer. Want to copy-paste sections from other blueprints and watch them appear in your topology model? Want to use Composer to learn how to write TOSCA? Want to edit some of the scripts you are using as resources in your system? Now it can all be done in Composer. You’re never going to want to put it down!

Two-way editing in action

What’s next?

With all of this coolness, we are still working on many other improvements to make Composer even more useful. We are planning better integration between Composer and Cloudify Manager, while still keeping the tools independent Go ahead and create Blueprints just for fun and never deploy them, we won’t judge. We also have a vision of Composer allowing seamless integration between different blueprints, and thus supporting really easy service-chaining and modular work that can even be split between different users. UX improvements are always a high-priority for us as well, as providing a smooth experience is a strict guideline for us. So stick around and make sure you stay updated on what’s cooking for the Cloudify Composer.