Component Variables

Components support the use of variables, which are user definable containers that store values used during deployment. The purpose of component variables is to make parts of the component accessible and configurable external to the component. For example, a component may have a variable named installPath that is overridden on a per host basis that defines where to install each component.

The value of the component variable can be a reference to other component variables, including variables that are defined by the component's container. When a nested component is added to a container component, the HTML user interface verifies that the referenced variable is defined within the container. If the variable is not defined within the container component, the HTML user interface automatically adds the referenced variable to the container's variable list. As an example, it is typical for simple components to define their installPath variable to have the value of the container component's installPath variable. In this example, the syntax of the referenced variable is :[container:installPath]. For more information on variable substitution, see Chapter 16, Configuration Generation in N1 Service Provisioning System 4.1 Reference Guide.

Component variables are evaluated and assigned a value at the time the component is deployed. They can be used to define host names, IP addresses, paths, or any other piece of information that is required to implement a deployment.