Introducing Cloudify Composer 2.3 and What to Expect Next

We are very excited to introduce Cloudify Composer version 2.3. This robust graphical interface was originally released in December of 2015 with our Cloudify 3.3 GA and has been through numerous iterations since that time. This latest release is packed with features that give users a more rich and simplified blueprint-creating experience.
Cloudify Composer is a powerful tool that allows anyone to write a TOSCA blueprint for their applications by using a simple drag-and-drop interface. There is no need to understand YAML or technical aspects of writing code. You drag a VM onto the canvas, put your database inside, give it the inputs required to connect to each service, and you have a complete model of your application.

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Of course, you can build much more complex topologies to meet the needs of your applications.
Here is a list of features and improvements we have made in version 2.3:

New Features

Upload to Manager
Users can now easily upload a modeled blueprint to their manager by entering the manager details and clicking the “Upload” button.

Node Grouping
Nodes now have the ability to be grouped together (and are color-coded) in order to ensure scaling and other workflows are executed on all nodes in a specific group.

Autosave
All blueprints are automatically saved every 10 seconds to ensure information is not lost should the user accidentally exit the application or through some other failure.

Important Improvements

Custom Types
Cloudify Composer users now have the ability to not only import new custom node types (seen on the left sidebar), but also create a custom node type relevant to their specific blueprint. The experience is much smoother and simpler.

Blueprint Import
Previous versions of Cloudify Composer required a little more finesse to upload a blueprint, with some users getting less helpful import errors. Those issues have all been resolved and users can also see the complete path to the imported file. Improvements have also been made to the import screen to make it more user-friendly.

Blueprint Validation
Before a blueprint is uploaded, it must be valid. The validation mechanism has now been modified and updated to be aligned with Cloudify’s own validation ensuring your blueprint will work as expected when uploaded to Cloudify Manager.

What’s next for Cloudify Composer?

In version 2.4, Cloudify Composer is going to make a colossal shift as it is planned to be our first Composer-as-a-Service release, managed by us. Available online, this upcoming version will simplify the initial experience with Cloudify Composer, not requiring any download or installation at all.
Below is a brief roadmap of some more features we plan to implement in the next version of Cloudify Composer:
SaaS:

• User Management
• Analytics
• Better DB and FS infrastructure and configuration

UX Improvements:

• Imports catalog
• Resources management and presentation
• General UX improvements

In The Distance
And looking even further down the road at our tentative 3.0 release:
New Features:

• Allow source tab editing to reflect changes in the topology
• Built-in blueprint catalog
• Better workflows and policies support
• Upload blueprints to Github
• Blueprint cloning
• Undo capability
• Multiple element selection
• Tenants support
• Layers

SaaS:

• Allow installing the SaaS version as “private SaaS” and manage users internally (-> Offline version support)
• New design