Customers
The Customer entity is the foundation of the multi-tenancy model in Klarity ImageFactory. It represents an organization or a business unit that uses the platform to manage its golden images. Every resource created in ImageFactory, from cloud accounts to image templates, is scoped to a specific customer.
This isolation ensures that data and configurations remain private and secure between different organizations using the same ImageFactory instance.
Customer Properties
A customer profile contains several key attributes that define its identity and operational status.
- Name: A unique identifier for the customer within the platform.
- Organization Name: The formal name of the organization or department.
- Active Status: A boolean flag indicating whether the customer can currently use the platform. Inactive customers can't trigger new builds or access their resources.
- Contract: A detailed configuration that defines what the customer is allowed to do, including supported cloud providers and resource limits.
The Multi-Tenancy Model
ImageFactory uses a strict multi-tenancy architecture. This means that while multiple customers share the same underlying infrastructure and API, their data is logically separated.
- Resource Isolation: Templates, components, and images belonging to one customer are never visible to another.
- Credential Security: Cloud account credentials are encrypted and stored securely, accessible only by the build engine when performing tasks for that specific customer.
- Role-Based Access: Users are assigned to customers, and their permissions are restricted to the resources owned by those customers.
Contracts and Limits
The Contract object is the most critical part of a customer's configuration. It acts as a set of guardrails and permissions.
Supported Providers and Scopes
The contract specifies which cloud providers the customer can use. For each provider, it also defines the allowed scopes. For example, a customer might be permitted to use AWS in standard regions but not in AWS China.
OS Family Restrictions
Contracts can limit the types of operating systems a customer can build. This is often used to align with the organization's supported OS list or licensing agreements. Common OS families include RHEL, Ubuntu, and Windows.
Resource Quotas
To ensure platform stability and manage costs, ImageFactory enforces soft limits on resources. These limits are defined within the contract.
| Resource Type | Default Soft Limit |
|---|---|
| Cloud Accounts per Provider | 3 accounts |
| Templates per Provider per OS Family | 5 templates |
If a customer needs to exceed these limits, an administrator must update their contract configuration.
Customer Statistics and Monitoring
ImageFactory provides detailed statistics to help customers and administrators monitor usage and compliance.
Account Statistics
The platform tracks the number of active cloud accounts per provider. This helps in understanding the distribution of images across different cloud environments.
Build Statistics
Build stats are aggregated by OS family and provider. This data shows which operating systems are most frequently used and identifies trends in image creation. It also tracks the success and failure rates of builds, providing insights into the health of the image pipeline.
EOL Tracking
One of the most valuable features for customers is the tracking of End-of-Life (EOL) dates for their images. ImageFactory monitors the EOL status of the base distributions used in templates. If a template is based on an OS version that's approaching its EOL date, the platform flags it, allowing the customer to plan a migration to a newer version.
Compliance Overview
Customers can view an aggregated compliance score across all their images. This score is based on the results of security scans and hardening scripts applied during the build process. It provides a high-level view of the organization's security posture.
Managing Customer Profiles
Administrators can manage customer profiles through the internal API or the administrative interface. This includes onboarding new customers, updating contract details, and deactivating accounts when necessary.
When a new customer is onboarded, they typically start with the default soft limits. As their needs grow, administrators can adjust these limits to accommodate more cloud accounts or a wider variety of image templates. This flexibility allows ImageFactory to scale alongside the organization's cloud infrastructure requirements.