Jelastic Dashboard Guide

Note: This document is based on Jelastic version 4.8.

The following guide will provide you with the basic information on Jelastic dashboard usage and will help you to get acquainted with the possibilities it provides.

To start with, you can check out the quick overview presentation below to get insights on the main functionality, available through the Jelastic intuitive UI:

Hopefully you have already created an account at Jelastic Cloud (otherwise, do not waste the time and register a new one in a few simple steps). For the further detailed exploration, simply access your dashboard with the help of our Jelastic site or by using the direct link (http://app.{hoster_domain}/), sign in with your credentials and go on.

1. Click Create environment in the upper left corner of the dashboard.

2. The Environment topology dialog box will be opened, where you can fully customize your environment settings.

The full possibilities of this window are described in the Setting Up Environment article.

After finishing configurations, type name for your environment and click the Create button.

3. All of your environments will be listed in the upper pane of the admin panel, along with the following information within columns:

• Region
• Open in browser
• Settings
• Clone environment
• Change environment topology
• Delete environment

• Start/Stop

1. Hover over the region icon to instantly display its label (name). Clicking on it will open the Migration section of the Settings frame below.

Click on triangle before environment name within the upper frame to reveal drop-down menu with the list of selected application servers, databases and other instances. You can also expand any of them in just the same way, to access separate containers and contexts with the deployed applications.

Hover over a particular instance or container to see the pop-up icons with different functions.

Use these icons to perform the following actions:

• Click the Open in browser option to open the application server, database, balancer, VPS node, Docker container or application context in a new browser tab.

• In order to Restart node, select the same-named option and confirm your decision. In just the same way this can be done for a set of the same-type nodes.

• Select the Config option to open the Configuration Manager tab, where you can change the node’s settings by means of uploading and modifying files.

• Select the Log option to view the log files for a separate node or for the set of the same-type ones. Log files list can differ depending on the selected instance.

• Select the Statistics option to track the data on CPU, RAM, Network I/O and Disk space consumption for a separate node or a set of nodes in a real time.
  

• Some nodes can also have optional buttons, such as Add-ons (for installing available pluggable modules) and Add project (for deploying apps via GIT/SVN).

  In particular, Windows-based nodes are supplied with a number of specific options, that are grouped under the Remote desktop list, namely:

  • Open in browser provides access to the node’s admin interface via Guacamole RDP tool (don’t confuse it with the already described same-named option for the whole environment)
  • Reset RDP password allows to restore password for your remote desktop connection
  • Info reveals a short tip on establishing RDP connection to your IIS node

  • the last, direct link string, can be used for connecting to the server’s remote desktop via local client

  

  In addition, the IIS application server has a unique Publish info  list, which contains Info on direct apps deployment from Visual Studio IDE and the corresponding link.

  Also, the Delete button is available for all deployed applications, allowing you to easily remove them from application server.

• Other possible options are hidden within the drop-down list, that can be accessed by means of clicking the Additional button (the one with gear icon), for example: Info, Reset password, attached internal and external IP addresses, etc.

When hovering over a separate node, you’ll see one more Set Alias icon. It allows you to set an alternative name for your node instead of the default Node ID label (e.g. to define master and slave servers in a DB cluster). The same thing can be done with the environment name, wherein its domain name will remain the same.

Next to the Create environment option, you can find the Import button. It allows to upload .json, .jps or .cs file in order to create new environment (or modify the already existing one with an add-on) according to the settings, declared in it.

• Local File - select the locally stored file (via the Browse button), that should be uploaded and executed on a Platform

  

• URL - type in or paste a direct link to the required manifest file

  

• JSON - the in-built JSON editor can be used to insert and edit your code before the deployment, or even to declare your package from the scratch manually

  

Upon clicking on the last Marketplace option at the top dashboard panel, you’ll access a separate frame with the Aps, Add-ons and Containers sections inside.

• The first Apps tab provides access to the list of preconfigured packaged applications.

  

  Locate the desired package (using the categorized list or search box) and click Install in order to automatically create an appropriate environment and deploy the chosen application to it.

• Within the Add-ons section, you can find a number of modules, which can be installed on top of the existing environment to modify it and get the advanced functionality.

  

• Choosing the Containers suboption will open the panel, where you can find and subsequently deploy the desired Docker image through one of the available tabs:
  • Quick Start contains a set of the most popular templates (however, this tab is optional, so its availability depends on your hosting provider’s settings)
  • Search allows to find the required template within the official Docker Registry Hub
  • Custom section provides the ability to add your own template from a custom registry

  • Favorites tab lists solutions you’ve previously marked as favorite (with the gold star in the top right plank corner) to quickly access them

  

The Deployment Manager is used to upload application packages and subsequently deploy them to an application server of your running environment.

1. Click the Upload button to access the Upload archive dialog box. Using it you can browse to the desired local file or specify a URL (http://, https:// or ftp://) in the appropriate tab.

Fill in the Comment field if required and then click Upload.

2. Select the uploaded file and click the Deploy to button to see the list of suitable environments. Choose the one you would like to deploy your application to.

• for Java/PHP/.NET - type the context name to the special field
• for Ruby - choose out of the proposed variants

• for Python and Node.js - a single predefined deployment path is used, thus specifying your custom contexts for these programming languages is not available

Click Deploy to initiate the process itself.

In our Deployment Guide you can find a number of links to the instructions on different apps deployment, according to the programming languages they have been written in.

The Tasks panel is placed at the very bottom of the dashboard and contains live and historical data on the tasks that Jelastic engine is doing or has already done.

• when the action has taken place
• what has been performed

• result of this action (i.e. Success if everything is OK or an error description if some problem occurred)

Task panel tracks all global processes (like Creating environment, Adding node(s) or Deploying context), as well as the subsequent changes and actions performed in the File manager (Creating file, Renaming file, Uploading file etc).

Click the Settings button at the top-right corner of the dashboard in order to access a few more configurations, which are applied to the whole account.

You’ll see two sections available here: SSH Keychain and Collaboration.

• SSH Keychain - here you can find general information on the SSH protocol usage at Jelasic and several useful links to our documentation with instructions for both private and public SSH keys. The same-named subsections can be found within the menu to the left.

  The Private one gives you the possibility to add the pre-generated private SSH keys to your Jelastic account. Subsequently, they can be used for authentication at your private GIT/SVN repositories, allowing to work with the remote secured projects directly from the Jelastic dashboard.

  More info: GIT/SVN Authentication via SSH

  The Public subsection allows binding of a public SSH key to your account, required for getting the ability to securely access and manage your containers via this protocol.

  More info:
  • SSH Overview

  • SSH Access

• The Collaboration option includes two items - Account Management and Shared with Me. Here, the first one allows you to share certain activities with other accounts by means of creating and configuring your own collaboration, while the second one is intended for managing the already shared with you accounts.

  More info: Account Collaboration

Depending on your account type (trial or billing) you’ll see either the Upgrade trial account or Balance button at the top of the dashboard panel.

1. If you are a trial user, you can see the Upgrade trial account button. Click it to open a drop-down menu with the following options: Upgrade trial account, Learn about trial limitations, Learn about pricing and See statistics on recent resource usage.

• Use the Upgrade trial account option to get a fully functional account with no limitations.
  

  More info: Billing system

• The Learn about trial limitations button will open the information about your account limits, provided software stacks and tariffs.
  

  More info: Quotas System

• Click on Learn about pricing to be redirected to the hoster's page with information about pricing.
  

  More info: Pricing System

• Select the See statistics on recent resource usage option to open your Billing history.

2. If you are a billing user, you can click the Balance button to see such options as: your Balance, Refresh balance, Refill balance, Configure auto-refill, Payment methods, Quotas & pricing, Billing history, View invoices.

• Balance shows your general current balance and its components: cash and bonus. By clicking on this option you can open the tab of balance refilling.

• Refresh balance option allows you to see the changes of your balance while working in the dashboard.

• Click on Refill balance to submit the payment.

• Using the Configure auto-refill item you can set Auto refill of the balance by choosing one of the options: Weekly, Monthly or when Balance is less than specified sum.

• Payment methods option gives you an opportunity to choose your default payment method or add the new one.

• Click on the Quotas & pricing item to see the information frame with a set of tabs about Jelastic pricing and account limitations. In addition, depending on your hosting provider’s settings, you may also see the additional tab with details on the available environment regions here.

• Billing history shows your spends for the specified period, which can be arranged by such intervals as hour, day, week and month. Data shown is grouped within environments. After choosing the necessary environment you’ll see the list of nodes it consists of, with information on each node’s Name, its resources consumption (Reserved/Dynamic Cloudlets, paid Storage and Traffic) and total Cost for using this node.

• Click on the View invoices option to see the invoices which should be paid.  

• Search box
• Help (Contact support, Docs, API docs, Video, Go to community, Show Jelastic tutorial)

• Email address (Change password, Language, Sign out)

1. If you have any questions on using our platform, you can use the How do I..? search box. Simply enter the question you are interested in and you'll be redirected to the list of appropriate Jelastic documents which may help you.

2. The Help drop-down menu gives you access to the Contact support, Docs, API docs, Jelastic CLI, Video, Go to community and Show Jelastic tutorial options.

• Contact support is a hyperlink to your hoster's Support page (sometimes available only for billing users)

• The Docs option is a hyperlink to the Jelastic Devs Documentation
• The API docs option is a hyperlink to the Jelastic API Documentation

• The Video option is a hyperlink to the Jelastic Youtube Channel
• The Jelastic CLI option is a hyperlink to the Jelastic CLI Overview

• The Go to community option links to the Jelastic online community

• The Show Jelastic tutorial button calls a short overview of the main Platform benefits and guides through the step-by-step instruction for beginners, showing how to get started with Jelastic

3. The last option is your Login (email address). Click on it to open the drop-down list with the following options: Change password, Language and Signout.

• Click Change password to open the same-named dialog box. Fill in the required fields (Current password, New password and Confirm password) and confirm your entries with the Change password button.
• Use the Language option to change localization of the dashboard interface.

• Click Sign out to leave the dashboard.

Now you know all of the basic dashboard possibilities and hopefully won’t have any problems in using it. If you still have additional questions, please contact the Support team of your hosting provider or refer to our technical experts at Stackoverflow.