5 Managing Resources Using the Visual Object Editor

In Compute Classic, you can create a large number of various types of resources. Apart from multiple instances and the associated storage volumes, you can also create numerous networking objects such as IP networks, vNICsets, security rules, access control lists, IP reservations and so on. Each instance can be associated with multiple objects. For example a single instance might be associated with multiple storage volumes, might have multiple IP addresses, and it might be added to multiple IP networks, as well as to the shared network. You can use the REST API, CLI, and the web console to view your instances and other resources and to get detailed information about each object. However, when you want to understand how certain objects relate to each other, or if you want a holistic picture of a large number of resources in your account, you might find it easier to grasp this information if it’s provided in a visual or graphical format. This is where the visual object editor comes in.

About the Visual Object Editor

The visual object editor provides you a graphical layout of the instances, storage volumes, and networking objects in your site. When you view the objects in the visual object editor, you can clearly identify relationships between instances and associated resources such as storage volumes and networking objects. You can also move objects around to customize the layout, apply a filter to view selected objects, and view details of objects or update them.

Objects Displayed in the Visual Object Editor

Here’s the list of objects that are displayed by the visual object editor:

• Instances

• Storage volumes

• IP networks

• IP network exchanges

• vNICsets

• Access control lists

• Security Rules for IP networks

• Security Protocols for IP networks

• IP address prefix sets

• Public IP addresses on the shared network that are associated with instances and IP reservations

• Public IP addresses and cloud IP addresses on IP networks

• VPN connections

The display also uses connecting lines to indicate relationships between objects. For example, connecting lines are used to indicate instance interfaces on the shared network or the public Internet, storage volumes attached to instances, IP networks added to IP network exchanges and so on.

Accessing the Visual Object Editor

To get to the visual object editor:

1. Sign in to the Compute Classic console. If your domain spans multiple sites, select the appropriate site. To change the site, click the Site menu near the top of the page.

2. Click Visualization in the top right corner.

The Visualization page is displayed. You can view objects in your account or create new objects. Right-click objects to see the available options for each object. Click the menu for options to refresh, save, or reset your view, or to show or hide filtered objects.

The palette on the left displays, in different sections, the objects that you can create. You can expand and close these sections based on your requirement.

Note:

If you create or modify objects outside the visual object editor, by using the web console, REST API, or the CLI, then you must refresh the visual object editor to display those changes.

Viewing Objects Using the Visual Object Editor

Here’s how you can use the visual object editor to find out more about individual objects or groups of objects:

• View information about all your resources in a single pane

  The visual object editor makes it easy for you to see details of all your resources by moving your mouse over any object. Some object types have a status icon to indicate whether they are ready or in an error state.

  Connections between objects are indicated by dotted or solid lines. Solid lines are used to indicate connections where data is transferred, for example from an instance to a storage volume or from an instance to an IP network.

  When an object is connected to a specified target, but the target doesn’t currently exist, a floating connection is shown. For example, if an IP network is added to an IP network exchange, and the specified IP network exchange is later deleted, then the IP network shows a floating connecting line.

  Tip:

  When you’re done viewing information about an object, you can use the Esc key to close the tool tip.

• View details of each object

  When you hover over an object, details of that object are displayed. For some object types, such as instances and storage volumes, you can view details of the object. To do this, right click an object and select the appropriate option. The page with detailed information about that object is displayed.

• Zoom in for details, zoom out to get the big picture

  You can use the zoom buttons to change the level of magnification of your view. If there are a lot of objects in your account, you can zoom out to see many objects in a single page without scrolling. On the other hand, if you need to view details, you can zoom in to one section of the layout.

• Maximize your view

  From the menu, select Maximise or Hide Palette to increase the size of the visual object editor. When you use the Maximise option, it hides the header and footer of the Compute Classic web console and displays the editor on the entire available space. To restore the header and footer, select Minimise.

  When you don’t want to add an object, From the menu, select Hide Palette to hide the palette so that the visual object editor is displayed in the entire available space. To display the palette again, use select Show Palette.

• Filter your view

  You can use the Category and the Show menus to select one or more objects that you want to view, and either hide or gray out other items. You can also right click an object to add it to or remove it from the set of objects to be displayed. Objects directly associated with the selected objects aren’t filtered out. This enables you to focus on the relationships of selected objects with associated objects. For example, if you set the filter to display a specific instance, you can view storage volumes and networking objects associated with that instance, without being distracted by other resources that aren’t associated with the selected instance.

  Tip:

  To view two connected objects and filter out other objects, click and hold the mouse button on the connecting line between the objects. Other objects are grayed out and the two objects connected by the line are shown. To hide all other connecting lines, click and hold the Alt key and then click and hold the mouse button on the connecting line.

• Customize your layout

  In the default layout, objects that are associated with other objects are shown in the top pane, while unassociated objects are shown in the bottom pane.

  Two panels run across the layout from end to end. The top panel represents the shared network. Instances that have an interface on the shared network are connected to this panel. The second horizontal panel represents the Internet. Instances that have access to and from the Internet using a public IP address are connected to this panel.

  You can change the layout to organize and group objects as you require.

  • Select objects and move them around to create a better layout. Note that you can’t move the panels representing the shared network and the Internet to the left or right as these objects span the width of the layout. You can move these objects only upward or downward.

  • Press Shift and click to select multiple objects. You can also click and drag the mouse to select a group of objects.

    Note:

    If your selection includes either of the panels representing the shared network or the Internet, you won’t be able to move the selection to the left or right. You can only move the selected objects upward or downward. To move objects to the left or right, ensure that you don’t select the panels representing the shared network or the Internet.

  • Make your layout more compact by stacking objects. When objects are stacked, you can move your mouse over any of the stacked objects to see its properties. Objects automatically move to the front of the stack when you mouse over them, and revert to their original position when you move the mouse away.

  • Move selected objects to the back or bring them to the front. This is useful if you want to view a specific object when you’ve stacked objects. To move an object to the back or front of a stack, right click the object and select the appropriate option.

  • Save your changes, so that you see the customized layout next time you load the Visualization page. You can also save the layout. All others domain users can view the saved layout.

    To make your layout easily available for your reference at any time:

    • From the menu, select Save As Image to save your layout as an image in the JPEG or PNG file format. This makes your layout easily available for your reference at any time.

    • From the menu, select Save as to save your layout. You can save this layout as the default layout, overwrite an existing layout, or save the layout with a new name. And when you’re done, if you don’t like the revised layout, you can opt to revert to the default layout and delete the saved layout.

      Select the Save the preferences check box to view and save multiple views of the same data. This allows you to zoom in to specific sections of the layout and save just that part of the layout along with your viewing preferences. You can save the viewing preferences that you have set while customizing your layout, such as zoom ratio, the values you have selected in the Category and the Show menus, and values entered in the search box. If you don’t select the Save the preferences check box, your viewing preferences are not saved and the preferences are not changed when you reload a layout.

      After saving a layout, you can load it and switch between the different layouts that you have saved.

Creating and Updating Objects Using the Visual Object Editor

Here’s how you can use the visual object editor to create and manage objects.

• Create objects

  Select an object from the palette on the left and drag and drop it on to the canvas in the center pane. A dialog box opens. Enter the required information and click Create to create the object.

  Tip:

  If you don’t want to create the object, you can press the Esc key or click Cancel to exit the dialog box.

• Create connections between objects

  For some objects, such as IP networks, IP exchanges, storage volumes or instances, there’s a yellow highlight on the object’s icon and a plus sign appears when you hover over the object’s icon. This indicates that you can create a connection from this object to a corresponding object by dragging your mouse to the target object. For example, you can add an IP network to an IP exchange by hovering over the required IP network till the plus sign appears, and then dragging the mouse to the required IP exchange. The connection is created and a connecting line joins the two objects.

• Reassign existing connections

  You can also change connections between objects by clicking a connecting point and dragging it to a new object. For example, if you want to change the IP exchange that an IP network is added to, you can drag the connecting point of that IP network from the current IP exchange to another IP exchange. Not all types of connections can be reassigned in the visual object editor. For objects where a connection can be reassigned, the cursor changes to a plus sign when you hover over the connecting point.

  Note:

  Connections that can be created or reassigned by using the drag-and-drop operation can’t be specified or modified in the Create or Update dialog box of the corresponding object. For example, to add an IP network to an IP network exchange, use the drag-and-drop operation. In the visual object editor, you can’t create or modify connections, such as from an IP network exchange to an IP network, by using the Create IP Network or Update IP Network dialog box.

• Update objects

  You can update some object types, such as IP networks, IP network exchanges, access control list, vNICset, security rules for IP network, security protocol for IP network, IP address prefix sets, and IP reservations. Right click the object and select Update.

  Tip:

  When you right click an object, if the menu doesn’t display the Update option, it means that you can’t update that type of object in the visual object editor.

  When a connection can be reassigned by using the drag-and-drop operation, it can’t be specified in the Create or Update dialog box of the corresponding object.

• Create storage snapshots and storage snapshot schedules

  You can right click a storage volume and select the option to create a storage snapshot or a storage snapshot schedule.

• Delete objects and connections

  Right click an object or a connecting line to delete the object or the connection between objects.

  Note:

  The delete operation isn’t allowed for all object types or all connections. When you right click an object or a connecting line, if the menu doesn’t display the Delete option, it means that you can’t delete that type of object in the visual object editor.