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DEx AWS AMI Instructions


The scope of this effort is for any person interested in viewing or eventually changing the OpenTravel 2.0 common model via cloud based instance of DEx. See other pages to get a better understanding of DEx. The intent is for this to work on any major cloud vendor but we need to start somewhere and are using AWS.

EC2 Option

It is a fairly simple approach to provide an AWS Machine Image (AMI) that one can pull into their own EC2 instance. The AMI has DEx installed and running along with access to a read-only copy of the common model. In a work session with DEx, you would create a project where you would define messages and services based on the model. You may also compile the resources (APIs) defined in that project to get .xsd, swagger, or OAS 3.0 output. You may take those artifacts to publish APIs. All those updates in the context of the project you set up would be stored in your EC2 instance. If you create your own AMI from that, it’s up to you. The AMI OpenTravel provides remains unchanged. A key point to understand is any EC2 costs is linked to the users’ AWS subscription. The cost of running the AMI you copy from, is on OpenTravel.
You will find the step by step instructions here. We will try to add comments and hints on this page as we get feedback. One immediate hint is if you create your own EC2 instance, choose ubuntu. That is what DEx is running on and hence the AMI created. That should not be necessary, just selecting the DEx AMI should be enough, but some have had an issue.

Workspace Option

There is also an option to run an AWS workspace. This is very similar to the EC2/AMI method above but you don’t need to mess with the set up and running of an EC2 instance, just use this virtual desktop. This is available in a few flavors. AWS supports workspaces using the concept of an Image and a Bundle. The Image is all the apps and files, including DEx, captured as an image. A Bundle defines the operating environment such as CPU, memory and disk size. While anyone can use the Image given permission, a Bundle can only be created by an AWS account ID. It is owned by the ID as it implies a cost. The instructions here are for requesting the shared Image and creating you own workspace. Please use the form below to request access to the image before starting.

The AWS instructions are extensive which sometimes makes finding what you need challenging. Start with reading Get started with WorkSpaces quick setup to get familiar with the steps but don’t use the quick setup. Your goal is to set up a custom bundle based on the shared image. However you do setup, do not select one of the default bundles. Take a look at advanced setup. Scroll down to where you launch the console or just click here.

You will of course have to log in with your AWS ID is not already.
You should see on the right of the dashboard the following choices. Of course at this point your workspace list may be empty.

Click on Images to see if the OpenTravel image has been shared with you. Note, the image is currently on us-east-1 (Virginia), you will need to point your console to there.

If yes, look a the upper right and click on Bundles to create your own bundle using the shared image. You should now be on the create bundle page. If “bundle” is not highlighted (clickable), you need to make a local copy of the image first.
Select the image and choose ActionsCopy image.
For Select destination, select the AWS Region that you want to copy the image to.
For Name of the copy, enter the new name for the copied image
For Description, enter a description for the copied image.
For Tags, it would be helpful to put in a name, value that identifies the purpose of this workspace
Now you should be able to create a bundle based off the copied image. Where possible on images, bundles and workspaces created, add Tags that define who is using this resource and for what. Your vendor management team will thank you. You may also avoid being blamed for a cost that wasn’t you as your work is tagged.

Validate you have the right image and notice the root volume size as defined in the image. Scroll down to put in a name and description then pick CPU and memory size as below. Note the name can be whatever you want it to be.

You should select Performance to support the needs of the complier. We will do some testing to see if the hardware can be smaller and do some updates to this page as we learn more. Root size was set by the image but pick a user volume size to handle some apps and the local libraries.
Now you can create a workspace!

The next page you will see it to pick a directory (like active directory, etc.). You can use the default unless your organization provides others.

You next create a user ID for the workspace. There will be a form to give a name to the workspace, your (user’s) first and last name, and an email address. You create more than one at a time if you wish. This would be a number of workspaces that use the same bundle.

The next page should look like to following. Use the dropdown on filters to say custom bundles. Select the bundle you created.

Click on next and follow the process. You can hit the defaults after this. The one item to consider is tags. For your own use I wouldn’t bother with it. If this is an AWS account for the organization, it may make sense to create a tag for your effort. This shows up on billing information if the organization wants to have visibility into the cost of this workspace versus any other workspaces.
At the end you will be back at the workspace console and see messages about the workspace getting set up. It will take 10 minutes or so. An email will be generated to the address you provided. That email will take you a screen where you will create a password for your workspace and to a page to download the workspace app.
Upon starting the app and putting in the name you assigned the workspace and the password, the workspace will initiate itself. Hint, when ready, look at the lower left corner for what looks like a groups of boxes. That will open a page with all the apps loaded including DEx. A dialogue box will open which is the DEx bash file running. It will say “close to exit”. Just let it run, closing it will close DEx. The DEx app itself will open shortly.

Next Steps

As a statement of direction, OpenTravel plans to keep updating this capability so that users may create extensions to the model (i.e. not read-only) and provide a means that those extensions remain private or become part of a workgroup for merging back into the common model. There will also be common use dev tools like collections and mock services in a common use sandbox to better understand existing APIs or work with other users on API exchanges.
There is interest from users and vendors to update DEx to be more useable and possibly a plugin to other commonly used environments like Visual Studio.

Forms

You will also have to send your AWS account ID to OpenTravel so that the DEx AMI image can be updated to share with that ID. We’re not leaving it open for just anyone to grab a copy. Request access below.

OpenTravel Access to DEx AMI or Workspace Image

Request to have your AWS Account to be added to the DEx AMI or Workspace Image share list

    Please indicate if you want access to the AMI, an AWS Workspace image or both
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