Description

Provides an overview of the menu options available in the UI. This article is designed to provide an overview of the key changes and point you to articles that may help you get started.

Introduction to the UI

The UI provides a comprehensive approach to managing your Cloud assets and includes a number of important key features, including:

  • The UI allows you to manage all Geographic Regions and Locations from a single interface, rather than just providing support for a single Geographic Region. You can access and manage all of your assets in different Geographic Regions from one single URL. 
    • NOTE: Although the UI can support all Geographic Regions, there is still a separate instance of the UI running in each Geographic Region, allowing you to connect to a URL closest to you for ideal performance. For more details on how to identify the various URLs, see the SUPPORT AND ADDITIONAL URLS: Links to FTPS, VPN, Monitoring, API and other UI instances section below.
  • The UI makes it easy to view Cloud Servers and other assets across different data center locations, providing multiple dashboards with different information depending on the context. An overview of the main menu items and key dashboards is provided below.
  • We have a comprehensive documentation site at https://docs.mcp-services.net which can be used in conjunction with the UI. All UI functionality is documented only on this site.
    • NOTE: The site also includes Developer Documentation for those looking to integrate with CloudControl.
  • The capabilities formerly provided by the separate Cloud Backup Portal have been integrated into the UI and are available through the Cloud Backup menu item. A detailed description of these functions is beyond the scope of this article, but for more details on these capabilities, see Cloud Backup - Introduction.

Logging In to the UI

In order to login to the UI, navigate to the login screen. Enter your Username and Password in the respective fields, then click Login.

If you have forgotten your password, you can click the "Forgot your Password?" link to reset the password, or see this article:

  • How to Initiate a Password Reset Using the Forgot Password Function
    • Note: Your password must meet the complexity requirements:
      • Minimum length of 8 characters
      • Maximum length of 75 characters
      • Must contain at least one uppercase letter
      • Must contain at least one lowercase letter
      • Must contain at least one number
      • Must contain at least one non-alphanumeric character. 
        • Acceptable non-alphanumeric characters are: -+!=#_.*&?$@^%(){}[] <>:;"
      • Password cannot begin or end with a space.

Overview of Menu Options

This section will review the functionality of the menu options available at the top of the UI.

Compute Menu

The Compute menu contains links to the major functions available to you which will allow you to manage your Cloud resources.

Cloud Resources

Home Dashboard: Viewing and Managing All Geographic Regions and Locations

When you first log into the UI, the system will present you with the Home Page for your Home Geographic Region. This includes a summary of the available data center locations and what assets you have deployed within them. This option is also accessible at any time by clicking on the Home option on the "Compute" menu. Complete details on how to navigate the options on this screen are available at Navigating the Home Page

The new Region drop-down menu allows you to select a different Geographic Region to access international data centers. Simply click on the Region dropdown menu directly below the Compute menu and select the desired Region to view the assets in that Geographic Region. More details on this functionality are available at How to Manage Cloud Assets in Different Geographic Regions Using the Administrative UI.

Clicking on a data center location on the Home Page will bring you to a new Data Center Dashboard screen that provides a view of all of the Cloud Network Domains (MCP 2.0) or Cloud Networks (MCP 1.0) in that data center location, along with the status of the data center and its Hardware Specifications. For more details on this screen, see Navigating the Data Center Dashboard

From the Data Center Dashboard above, click on your Network Domain or Cloud Network to get to the Network Domain Dashboard (MCP 2.0) or Network Dashboard (MCP 1.0), which provides a listing of the servers and network configuration associated with that Network Domain or Cloud Network. From this screen, you can click on "+" icon to expand each section and view / manage your assets.  For more details on this screen, see Navigating the Network Domain Dashboard in a MCP 2.0 Data Center or Navigating the Network Dashboard in a MCP 1.0 Data Center, depending on the data center type.

Searching within your Cloud environment

The Server / Network / Tag Search bar allows you to search for Servers, Networks, Network Domains, VLANs or Tag Keys by Name, or by full private, primary IP address:

Note: Hover your mouse over the question mark icon  for more information:

Virtual Networks and Servers: Quick Access to your Cloud Servers

It is not necessary to go through all of the above steps to view and manage servers in a specific location. Clicking on the Virtual Networks and Servers option on the "Compute" menu will take you to the Virtual Networks and Servers Dashboard that allows you to view and manage Network Domains (MCP 2.0), Cloud Networks (MCP 1.0), and associated Cloud Servers you have deployed in the Geographic Region you have selected. For details on this feature, see Navigating the Virtual Networks and Servers Dashboard.

This view is designed to provide easy access to servers and server functions. In this dashboard, any secondary IPv4 addresses and VLAN connections are not included as a column - they are available through a tooltip when hovering over the Primary IPv4. The VLANs and Severs view of the Network Domain Dashboard described above may be a better fit if you need a view as to which Cloud Servers are connected to which VLAN.

Manage Tag Keys: Managing which Keys are available for Tagging

This function allows Primary Administrators and Sub-Administrators with the "Tag" role to manage tagging functions accessible to other users. For details on this specific function, see How to Create a Tag Key for your Organization. For an overview of our Tagging implementation, see Introduction to Tagging, Tag Keys and Tag Values.

Images

Images and Applications: Quick Path to Server Deployments

Clicking on the Images and Applications option on the "Compute" menu takes you directly into the new functionality for deploying servers and managing images. A complete overview of these functions is available at Navigating the Images and Applications Dashboard

Note the process for server deployment is described in How to Deploy a Cloud Server from a Guest OS Customization Image. Several new functions to support server deployments are available within this section, including the ability to deploy multiple servers from a single image and the ability to choose the Network Adapter used by the NICs on the Cloud Server:

Supported Operating Systems

Clicking on the Supported Operating Systems option on the "Compute" menu takes you to a page which contains a matrix of all of the Operating Systems that are supported by CloudControl. A complete overview of this page is available at Navigating the Supported Operating Systems Dashboard

Client Image Export History

Clicking on the Client Image Export History option will direct you to a historical listing of all Client Image Exports. For a full overview, see: Introduction to the Client Image Export History Dashboard

FTPS OVF Packages

Clicking on the FTPS OVF Packages option will direct you to a page which displays all of OVF packages in your client FTPS account. For a full overview, see: How to Export a Client Image to an OVF Package

Reports

Download Reports: Access to Reporting Functions

Clicking on the Reports option on the "Compute" menu takes you directly to the reporting functionality, However, two important notes:

  1. The "End Date" is included in the reports generated from the UI.
  2. Reports are still specific to a given Geographic Region. Make sure you're navigated to the Geographic Region for which you wish to view a report.

Accounts and Support

Support and Additional URLs: Links to FTPS, VPN, Monitoring, API and other UI instances

Clicking on the Support and Additional URLs option on the "Compute" menu provides a page with links to all of the relevant URLs. Most importantly, the "CloudControl in other Regions" section provides links to the UI instance in each Geographic Region. Although any instance can provide you with access to all Regions, you should use the URL in the "closest" region (from a network perspective) to your browsing location for best performance. For additional details, see Support and Additional URLs.

Account Management: Functions for User and Organization Management

Sub-Administrators can manage their password and phone number.

Primary Administrators have access to a wide range of functions, including:

Cloud Backup Menu
 

Cloud Backup Servers 

The Cloud Backup service offers backup and recovery for all Compute-as-a-Service (CaaS), Managed Hosting and on-premise servers. The Cloud Backup service is provisioned using the Cloud API, the CaaS Admin UI or the Cloud Backup Service Portal. See Cloud Backup - Introduction

Cloud Backup Job History

This report provides a report on the list of most recent cloud backup jobs, along with additional information on the status and completion history of the job. SeHow to Create a Backup Job History Report

DRS Menu

DRS Consistency Groups

DRS (Disaster Recovery Services) for Cloud is a feature that enables real-time replication of the Cloud Servers and their associated local disk content between two data center locations in the same Geographic Region. See Introduction to DRS for Cloud

Important Note

This feature is not currently available for Public Cloud. As such, this menu item may not appear in the UI for your Organization.


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