Overview of Application Systems on System Diagrams
Using System Designer, you can design application systems by composing them from applications defined on the application diagram and systems defined on system diagrams. An application system defines a specific configuration of these applications and systems as members. This configuration describes how these applications and systems should be connected and provides the capability to override settings if needed. A system also describes which member endpoints, if any, are exposed as proxy endpoints, making it possible to reuse the system in other systems. This configuration of a system is applied to its members upon deployment.
For example, you can design two systems composed from the same applications but are configured differently: one for Internet access and one for intranet access. You can then define and evaluate deployment definitions for each system.
Note
At deployment, all configuration of a system is resolved and only the connected application endpoints with any overridden application settings remain. A system and its proxy endpoints do not exist as tangible entities in the eventual deployment of the system, and therefore, do not appear as entities in the deployment report. For more information about proxy endpoints, see Exposure of Members in Application Systems and Evaluating System Deployment with Deployment Designer.
When designing systems in System Designer, you can accomplish the following tasks:
Design a system by adding application or system members.
Configure communication pathways between members.
View settings, constraints, definitions, and other properties of members.
Override settings on applications as needed and overridable on their underlying definitions.
View operations on Web service provider endpoints.
Expose behavior of member endpoints selectively outside the system.
After designing a system, you can define and evaluate deployment to a specific target logical datacenter for the system.
For more information, see Overview of System Designer.
Designing Systems on System Diagrams
A system diagram represents a system definition to which you can add applications or other systems. To begin designing a system, you can create a system diagram either from applications on the application diagram in your solution or add a blank or existing system diagram to your solution. For more information, see How to: Create System Diagrams and How to: Add System Diagrams to Solutions.
Note
Before you can create a system diagram containing specific applications, the solution must contain an application diagram that defines those applications. If the solution does not contain an application diagram, adding a system diagram to a solution adds a blank application diagram. For more information, see How to: Create Application Diagrams or How to: Add Application Diagrams to Solutions.
Once the system diagram is created, you can add uses of applications defined on the application diagram and uses of other systems defined in the solution. On a system diagram, the system definition you are designing appears as the outermost gray container shape. Shapes of members appear within the gray container shape as rectangles with colors and icons representing their types. Application colors typically match the colors of logical server types that can host them.
Adding a use of an application or system definition to the system diagram creates a member of that system. You can compose a system as required with any subset of applications or systems and with multiple uses of the same application or system if needed. Within a system, you can connect and configure members as required for that system. There is no requirement that you configure and connect applications as they appear on the application diagram.
In the simplest scenario, you can design a system that contains a single configured use of an application. However, you can add multiple uses of the same application or system if you plan to deploy a member more than once within the system. Each application type comes preconfigured with default settings. However, some of these settings can be designated as overridable. Within a system, each use of an application or system is distinct and can be configured and connected differently from other uses in that system, in other systems, and its underlying definition. You can also copy and paste members within the same system definition or from other system definitions to create new members, which you can then connect or reconfigure as needed.
You can specify custom settings for the system that you are designing. If you plan to reuse the system in another system, you also can also selectively expose endpoints on members of the system so that you can connect them outside the system. For more information, see Overview of System Designer.
Next Steps
After designing a system, you can define and evaluate deployment definitions for the system against a target logical datacenter. Each deployment definition describes deployment for the system to a specific target logical datacenter. You can use Deployment Designer to create, define, and validate a deployment diagram that describes how applications deploy to a target logical datacenter. For more information, see Evaluating System Deployment with Deployment Designer.
See Also
Tasks
Walkthrough: Designing Application Systems