6.9 Pico Manager

Owned by Jenni Wallin
Last updated: May 11, 2023 by Former user (Deleted)
6 min read

The Pico Manager configuration contains a list of hosts that run Pico instances.

From the Pico Manager, it is possible to deny hosts of Pico instances (pico hosts) access to the system. You can also register groups of EC/ECSAs, which can make configuration easier as the workflows, or workflow groups, can then address the configured groups instead of specific EC/ECSAs.

Note!

When using STR, you are not required to add Pico hosts or Pico instances. Provided that the value of the property pico.rcp.server.host is set to its default value or that the value can be found in the address attribute of the container, EC/ECSA, and SCs are implicitly added via the STR.

If pico.rcp.server.host does not match with any of the container addresses you can grant access to the system by:

  • Adding the missing address in the container attribute additional-addresses in the STR.
  • Setting the Platform property mz.pico.skip-registration-check to true. This will grant access to any Pico host.
  • Adding a new Pico host in the Pico Manager.

Note!

Concerning Pico Manager used in the web desktop.

When using the Pico Manager on the Desktop in your browser, if you add EC/ECSAs from the web interface and you are working on the Desktop at the same time, the Pico Manager is not updated directly. This may cause synchronization errors and you then cannot save your configurations from the Pico Manager. To avoid this, work in the Pico Manager either from the web interface or on the Desktop.

By default, instances of Desktop and mzsh always have access to the system and you do not need to register these on Pico hosts. You can change this behavior by setting the Platform property mz.dynamicconnections.

  • true - Instances always have access
  • false - Instances must be registered on Pico hosts for access

The Platform must be restarted for the change to become effective.

To open the Pico Manager, click on the Tools button in the upper left part of the Desktop, and then select Pico Manager from the menu. 


The Pico Manager

Different Views Depending on Static or Dynamic Environment

The Pico Manager displays different views for the Pico and Group registration, depending on, if you are using a Static or Dynamic environment.

The Static mode view is automatically displayed if you are using STR to define picos. The Dynamic mode view is displayed if you are using Kubernetes. 

ModeDescription
Static

In the Static mode, STR is used to define ECs or ECSAs, which are an internal function of the system.

Dynamic

This enables Dynamic EC prefixes. For Dynamic mode, you must use external third-party orchestration, e.g. Kubernetes.

When you select this mode, STR and some mzsh commands are disabled in this setting, since the configuration of Picos are done externally.

The Pico Tab

Use the Pico tab to manage Pico hosts and Pico instances.

The IP address and hostname of the containers that are defined in the STR are added automatically. These entries also contain the pico instances that are defined in each respective container.

In Dynamic mode, the only available picos are desktop and command line.

SettingDescription

Hostname

The IP address or hostname of the Pico client.

IPv6 addresses will be displayed with long notation even if they have been entered with short notation.

Access

Indicates access to the  system.

Adding New Pico hosts and Instances

 

When adding a New Pico host in static mode, you must also Add a New Pico Instance.

  1. This dialog contains the following settings

  2. Add New Pico Host, and define the settings below.

    SettingDescription

    Hostname

    Enter the IP address or hostname of the pico host. If using an IPv6 address, you can select to enter the address with either long or short notation, and the system then displays the addresses with long notation.

    For further information about IPv6 addresses, see 1.6 IPv6 in the System Administrator's Guide.

    Deny Access

    This prevents the host from connecting to the system. Changes take effect the next time a pico client on the host tries to connect to the system.

    Instances

    A list of the pico instances that you have added. Pico instances implicitly added via the STR are displayed in italics.


  3. Add New Pico Instance, and define all the settings below. At least one Pico instance needs to be added.

    SettingDescription
    NameDefine a name for the new pico
    TypeSelect the type of instance you need. Available types are commandline, desktop, ec, ecsa or sc.


  4. If you want to add additional Pico Hosts, repeat from point 2 above.

  5. When you have created all the Pico Hosts you want to have, click the Close button.

EC Groups Tab

Use the EC Groups tab to create EC groups.

In Static mode, you can add available ECs, and ECSAs to an existing group both via the Pico Manager and the pico-groups attribute in the STR. For further information about the pico-groups, see the 2.4 Managing Pico Configurations in the System Administrator's Guide. For information about adding ECs, and ECSAs to a group via the Pico Manager, see below.

In Dynamic mode, the EC group issued to define a prefix name for the EC, no IP or Pico is involved. See further down below.

The Pico Manager - EC Groups tab

The EC Groups tab contains the following columns:

ColumnDescription
Group

Displays the name of registered groups. These groups can be selected when you configure ECs/ECSAs in the Execution tab in the workflow properties, or in the workflow group configuration. See 3.1.8 Workflow Properties for further information.

MembersDisplays the names of the ECs/ECSAs that have been added to the group via the Pico Manager, or implicitly via STR. The latter is displayed in italics.
Type

Displays whether the EC Group contains EC or ECSA. This is correspondence to the selection made to the radio button when adding a new EC Group.

Adding Static EC Groups

To create an EC group:

  1. In the EC Groups tab, click on Add New. The Add EC Groups dialog opens.

    The Pico Manager - EC Groups tab, using static EC mode 

  2. This dialog contains the following settings:

    SettingDescription
    Group NameThe name of the group
    EC/ECSA

    These radio buttons determine if the group will contain ECs, ECSAs

    Note!

    You can only add one ECSA per group.

    Execution ContextThe ECs or ECSAs that are included in the group

     

  3. Select if the group is to contain ECs or ECSAs by clicking the corresponding radio button.

  4. If you want to add all pico instances via the STR, you can now save the configuration, and skip the remaining steps.

  5. Click the Add button. The Add Execution Context dialog opens.

  6. Click the Execution Context drop-down-list and select one of the EC/ECSAs that you want to add, and click the Add button. The selected EC/ECSA is now added to the Execution Context section in the Add EC Groups dialog.

  7. Repeat step 7 for all the ECs/ECSAs that you want to add, and then close the dialog by clicking the Close button.

  8. When you are satisfied with your group configuration, click the Add button in the Add EC Groups dialog. The group is now added to the EC Groups tab in the Pico Manager configuration.

  9. If you want to add additional groups, alter the configurations in Add EC Groups and click the Add button for each group.

  10. When you have created all the groups you want to have, click the Close button.

  11. Click the Save button in the Pico Manager configuration.

The configured groups are now available in Execution tab of Workflow Properties. See 3.1.8 Workflow Properties for further information. 

Adding Dynamic EC Groups

To create a dynamic EC group:

In the EC Groups tab, click the Add button. The Add EC Groups dialog opens.


Note!

  • The dynamic EC group is only setting prefix names, no IP is involved. The prefix is used in Kubernetes for name matching.
  • Even if this is an EC group, it must still be used for single-mode ECs or ECSAs, i.e. you should scale to one EC pod in that case.
  • If ECSA is indicated, it is only used by one Pod, i.e. it cannot be scaled to anything other than one Pod.
  • For EC or ECSA functionality, you must also define template="mz.standard-ecsa" or template="mz.standard-ec" in the configmap YAML files, see /wiki/spaces/MD82/pages/3783071.


 
  The Pico Manager - EC Groups tab, using Dynamic EC mode

  1. This dialog contains the following settings:

    SettingDescription
    Group NameThe name of the group
    EC/ECSAThese radio buttons will be used to indicate a prefix indexed EC or a single ECSA.
    EC Template Name

    The name must be the same in the Statefulset yaml file for the EC or ECSA. The workflow members are automatically indexed. For instance, this can be seen in the Execution Manager, see 6.7 Execution Manager.

    Note

    Do not try to use * (wildcards), when defining ECs. The wildcards displayed in the list are set for the ECs automatically.


     

  2. Enter the Group Name and the Prefix to be used for the Workflow group.

  3. Click the Add button. The new Prefix is now added.

  4. Repeat step 3 to add more groups, if needed.

  5. When you have created all the groups you want to have, click the Close button.

  6. Click the Save button in the Pico Manager configuration.

The configured groups are now available in Execution tab of Workflow Properties or the Execution Contexts in the Autostart Workflow. See 3.1.8 Workflow Properties or 3.3 Autostart Workflow  for further information.


Next:

6.10 Pico Viewer