Valid since:
XL Deploy 8.5.0
XL Release 8.5.0
XL JetPack 8.5.0

XebiaLabs offers blueprints to help you create declarative YAML files that simplify the infrastructure provisioning and application deployment process. You can use blueprints to get started with the cloud by following examples that show best practices for provisioning a cloud-based infrastructure and deploying your applications to it.

A blueprint guides you through a process that automatically generates YAML files for your applications and infrastructure. The blueprint asks a short series of questions about your application and the type of environment it requires, and the XebiaLabs Command Line Interface (XL CLI) uses your answers to generate YAML files that define configuration items and releases, plus special files that manage sensitive data such as passwords.

You can use blueprints to:

  • Move from on-premises to the cloud: You want to move your application from an on-premises infrastructure to the cloud. You can use a blueprint to generate YAML files that provide a starting point for your cloud deployment process.
  • Manage cloud configurations “as code”: You already run an application in the cloud and need a better way to manage configuration of your cloud instances. By defining the configuration in YAML files and checking them in alongside code in your repository, you can better control configuration specifications and maintain modifications over time.
  • Support audit requirements: Your company auditor wants to verify that changes to your infrastructure have been properly tracked over time. You can simplify this tracking by providing the commit history of the YAML file that defines the infrastructure.

Get started with DevOps as Code features

Blueprints are part of the XebiaLabs DevOps as Code feature set, so before you begin using them you need to get your DevOps as Code infrastructure up and running. Then, take some time to familiarize yourself with how to work with the XebiaLabs YAML file format.

How blueprints work

Watch: This 3-minute video presents the basics of how blueprints work.

Here’s how a blueprint works:

  1. You use the XL CLI blueprint command to select a blueprint.
  2. The XL CLI walks you through questions specific to the selected blueprint.
  3. The blueprint generates a set of folders and files that you can store with your code, including declarative YAML files, that are specific to the choices you made when running the blueprint.
  4. You make any modifications or improvements in the YAML files.
  5. You use the XL CLI to apply the YAML files, enabling you to provision cloud resources, deploy applications, and manage your release pipeline.

Available XebiaLabs blueprints

XebiaLabs has created several blueprints to help you get started with common infrastructure provisioning, application deployment, and release orchestration scenarios. Each blueprint is stored in a GitHub repository and is accompanied by a Markdown readme file that describes:

  • An introduction describing the blueprint
  • Usage syntax
  • Tools and technologies including the target infrastructures, tools, and application or framework types
  • Prerequisites and other information you’ll need on hand to run the blueprint
  • Expected output from running the blueprint
  • Tips and tricks
  • Specific instructions for running the blueprint and applying the files

See the curated list of XebiaLabs blueprints that are currently available.

Blueprints repository

By default, the XL CLI is configured to access the XebiaLabs public blueprint repository provided in the XebiaLabs public software distribution site. This location includes the public blueprints developed by XebiaLabs and the URL to access it is defined in the ~/.xebialabs/config.yaml file.

  • For version 8.6.x: The URL is defined in the config.yaml file as
  • For version 8.5.x: You must update the URL in the config.yaml to point to

With this configuration in place, if you are utilizing the XebiaLabs-provided blueprints provided in this repository, you can run the xl blueprint command and select from one of these publicly-available blueprints.

You can also choose to establish your own blueprints repository, storing them in an accessible location and configuring the XL CLI to point to that repository.

For more information about blueprint repository options, see Managing a blueprint repository.

Run a blueprint

You select and run a blueprint using the following command:

xl blueprint

For each type of blueprint, the XL CLI prompts you to provide details specific to the type of blueprint you are using. For example, the details can include a name for the group of instances you will deploy, your credentials, the region to deploy to, instance sizes to use, and so on. Executing the blueprint command will generate YAML files that you can apply to:

  1. Create the necessary configuration items for your deployment
  2. Create the relationships between these configuration items
  3. Apply defaults based on best practices
  4. Create a release orchestration template that you can use to manage your deployment pipeline.

Here is an example of how to run the docker/simple-demo-app blueprint:

  1. From a terminal window, type:
     xl blueprint
  2. Select a blueprint.
     ? Choose a blueprint:  [Use arrows to move, type to filter]
     > docker/simple-demo-app
  3. Each blueprint has a unique set of questions applicable to the type of infrastructure you are provisioning. In this example, the docker/simple-demo-app blueprint is selected.

     $ xl blueprint
     ? Choose a blueprint: docker/simple-demo-app               
     ? What is the Application name? MyTestApp
     ? At what port should the application be exposed in the container? 80
     ? At what port should the container port be mapped in the host? 8181
     ? What is the Docker Image (repo and path) for the Backend service? xebialabsunsupported/rest-o-rant-api
     ? What is the Docker Image (repo and path) for the Frontend service? xebialabsunsupported/rest-o-rant-web
  4. Once you have answered all of the questions, press Enter to run the blueprint and generate folders and files with the details you provided.

     ? Confirm to generate blueprint files? Yes
     [file] Blueprint output file 'xebialabs/values.xlvals' generated successfully
     [file] Blueprint output file 'xebialabs/secrets.xlvals' generated successfully
     [file] Blueprint output file 'xebialabs/.gitignore' generated successfully
     [file] Blueprint output file 'xebialabs/xld-environment.yaml' generated successfully
     [file] Blueprint output file 'xebialabs/xld-docker-apps.yaml' generated successfully
     [file] Blueprint output file 'xebialabs/xlr-pipeline.yaml' generated successfully
     [file] Blueprint output file 'xebialabs.yaml' generated successfully
  5. Inspect the generated files. Although several folders and files are generated, including multiple YAML files, a single file called xebialabs.yaml brings it all together, listing multiple YAML files and the order in which they will be executed.

  6. You can adjust or customize specific details using the YAML files and then use the XL CLI apply command to apply the specifications. To apply the xebialabs.yaml file:
     xl apply -f xebialabs.yaml
  7. See the results of applying the xebialabs.yaml file.

    • Navigate to:

      A template you can use to orchestrate your releases was created as well as and other settings depending on the blueprint.

    • Navigate to:

      Configuration items (CIs) and settings specific to your infrastructure and applications were created within the Applications, Environments, Infrastructure and Configuration nodes.

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