XPRESSO

LaaS Instances and Domains

The LaaS-NG Topology Orchestrator enables multiple labs to be consolidated into a single, web-accessible resource which relies on automation to accelerate testing, reduce manual effort and maximize lab equipment utilization.

LaaS-NG is used to create on-the-fly network topologies with both physical and virtual hardware to represent or describe Cisco platforms. LaaS-NG brings up the nodes in the topology, creates network connections among nodes and establishes console access to each node.

About LaaS Instances and Domains

If your Group has LaaS-NG overlaying your Lab and resources, register the LaaS Instance and the Domain with XPRESSO. This enables the communication path between XPRESSO and LaaS-NG for testbed and resource management such as leveraging LaaS resources for running automated tests, and/or reservations.

A LaaS Instance can have more than one Domain. A Group can only be associated to one LaaS Instance at a time but may be associated with all the Domains within that LaaS Instance.

To add LaaS Instances and Domains for your Group, the Group Admin makes a formal request to System Admin. The System Administrator is responsible for configuring LaaS Instances in XPRESSO. See the "Requesting a LaaS Instance" sub-topic below for details.

LaaS-NG in XPRESSO

LaaS-NG orchestrates dynamic testbeds in XPRESSO by taking away the burden of having to create physical testbeds for each and every test and at the same time, enhance effective resource usage. Key traits include:

  • LaaS lets you manage your testbeds autonomously providing just-in-time resource reservations when needed.

  • LaaS lets you orchestrate/build the testbed for your test execution using the topology layout of your choice.

  • LaaS tears down these temporary testbeds once the Job execution is completed, releasing the lab resources for re-use even when the test is still running.

See "LaaS Testbed Support" for additional information about how LaaS can be utilized in XPRESSO and other LaaS Testbed attributes.

Who Manages LaaS Instances and Domains?

Managing a LaaS Instance and associate Domains is a shared responsibility:

  • The LaaS Resources are managed by the LaaS Lab IT Specialist assigned to manage the Lab where the groups hardware/resources are located (may be a member of an XPRESSO Group but not required). They are the point-of-contact to determine the information required to have an new LaaS Instance registered in XPRESSO.

  • XPRESSO Group Admins manage the LaaS Instances and Domain for their Group and can perform the following operations with them: Request a new LaaS instance | Disable | Enable | Delete the LaaS association the Group.

  • The XPRESSO System Admin is responsible for configuring the LaaS Instances, Domains and association of the Groups to the Domains. If the requested LaaS Instance and Domain is already configured in XPRESSO, the System Admin simply associates the Group to the existing Instance and Domain. See the "To Determine which LaaS Instances are Registered to your Group" procedure below to determine if a LaaS Instance has been registered to your Group.

Requesting a LaaS Instance

If a LaaS Instance is not registered to your Group, the Group Administrator initiates the request to have their group associated to given LaaS instance and Domain to the System Administrator. The System Admin will follow up with the Group Admin to get more LaaS onboarding information such as LaaS-NG instance URL and Domain URL to be associated with the Group and any subsequent information such as port and user access details to configuration the LaaS Instance & Domain in XPRESSO before being able to do the association of the Group.

To Request a LaaS Instance:

  1. From the Main Navigation Bar, choose Settings, Contacts & Help→Group Management to open the Group Membership page.

  2. Click the My Groups menu if required. The My Group page displays all the Groups you currently belong to.

  3. Click on the Group of interest that you want to request the LaaS Instance for.

  4. Click the Guest→LaaS menu from the Left menu bar. Two results may occur:

    1. If no LaaS Instances are currently assigned to the Group, a message appears indicating this.
    2. If LaaS Instances are assigned to the Group, the list of registered LaaS Instances appears.

  5. Click the Request LaaS Instance button located on the top-right of the form. The Request LaaS for group Name_of_selected_Group appears.

  6. Configure all parameters on the form:

  • LaaS Instance URL:

    NOTE:
    If your LaaS instance does not use a HTTPS connection, make sure you access XPRESSO using HTTP. This will ensure error-free LaaS operations. If you intend to use HTTPS connections for XPRESSO, make sure to use HTTPS in your LaaS install OR do not use LaaS with XPRESSO.

  • LaaS Domain Name: You can associate more than one LaaS-NG domain (particular to one instance) to a Group.

  • Message: Any additional details that may assist the System Administrator.

  1. Click the Send Request button. Repeat the above steps to request multiple LaaS Instances/Domains. Once requested, the System Administrator will contact you regarding further onboarding questions and enable LaaS-NG for your Group.

When the LaaS Domain registry is completed by the System Admin, the topology in a given LaaS Domain is associated with a working Group. You can then associate one or more topologies within a registered LaaS Domain when you create a Job. See "Creating Jobs" for information about how to choose topologies within a given LaaS Domain.

Determining which LaaS Instances are Registered to your Group

Groups can be associated with one or more LaaS-NG domains (particular to one instance).

To Determine which LaaS Instances are Registered to your Group:

Complete steps 1 thru 4 in the above procedure to determine or see:

  1. If any LaaS Instances are currently assigned to the Group. If not, complete the "To Request a LaaS Instance" procedure above to start the process to add a new LaaS instance and Domain.
  2. A list of registered LaaS Instances assigned to the Group. If your Group has multiple LaaS Instances, the Group Admin can Disable/Enable the Instance as required to suit your operational requirements. Only one LaaS instance can be assigned to a Group at one time.

LaaS and Topologies

Once a LaaS domain is registered to your group, you can start creating your topologies in XPRESSO using the LaaS Canvas (LaaS Editor). The topologies you create will be used to generate LaaS Testbeds.

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