Service Instances

A service instance is a management cluster that IEF uses to manage edge nodes and deliver applications. IEF supports two types of service instances: Professional and Platinum.

Professional (default): All users share the same management cluster. Professional service instances allow you to manage nodes, devices, and containerized applications.
Platinum: Users need to create their own platinum service instances and then exclusively use those management clusters. Platinum service instances allow you to manage large-scale nodes and deliver higher performance. In addition to the functions provided by the professional service instance, functions such as batch job and application governance are supported by platinum service instances.

Table 1 lists the differences between the two editions.

**Table 1** Functions provided by the two editions
Function	Description	Professional Edition	Platinum Edition
Edge node management	Registers and manages edge nodes.	√	√
End device management	Registers end devices and binds an end device to an edge node.	√	√
Containerized application management	Delivers containerized applications to an edge node.	√	√
Edge-cloud message routing	Provides an edge-cloud message channel and supports edge-cloud message forwarding.	√	√
Multi-network access	Supports access to IEF through Internet, VPN, and Direct Connect.	√	√
Monitoring and O&M	Supports monitoring and O&M.	√	√
Batch job management	Creates and updates containerized applications in batches, and registers and updates edge nodes in batches.	√	√
Edge node group	Creates edge node groups. Multiple edge nodes with the same attributes (such as the hardware architecture) can form an edge node group for unified management.	×	√
Multi-instance	Supports multiple containerized application instances.	×	√
Exclusive clusters	Supports exclusive management plane clusters.	×	√
Application mesh	Supports service discovery and application traffic governance, such as load balancing.	×	√
Add-ons	Supports add-on management.	√	√
Kubernetes native API openness	Supports operating Kubernetes clusters of a service instance through kubectl.	×	√

Constraints

In-place capacity expansion of service instances is not supported. Therefore, edge nodes or applications that exceed the service instance quota can be managed only by creating service instances. Plan and create service instances of the proper scale in advance based on your service requirements.

Creating a Platinum Service Instance

Log in to the IEF console.
In the navigation pane, choose Dashboard. On the page displayed on the right, click Create Platinum Service Instance in the upper right corner of the page.
Configure parameters.
- Region: Select the region where the service instance is deployed. Instances can only be used in the region specified when they are created. Select a region close to you for lower network latency and faster access.
- Instance Name: Enter the instance name.
- Access Type: Internet and Direct Connect are available. For details about how to connect edge nodes to IEF through Direct Connect, see Connecting Edge Nodes to IEF Through Direct Connect or VPN.
- Edge Nodes: The number of edge nodes that can be managed by the service instance. Currently, 50, 200, and 1,000 nodes can be selected.
- Access Bandwidth: If Access Type is set to Internet, select 5 Mbit/s, 10 Mbit/s, or 30 Mbit/s depending on the number of edge nodes. If Access Type is set to Direct Connect, the bandwidth is determined by the Direct Connect service.
- Advanced Settings: Multi-AZ deployment is supported. If this option is enabled, platinum service instances can be deployed in multiple AZs to facilitate disaster recovery. However, the cluster performance is decreased.
Click Next.
Confirm the order details, and click Create.

It takes 20–30 minutes to create a service instance. You can view the service instance status in the service instance list.

You can view the information about the platinum service instance on the Dashboard page.

Figure 1 Viewing details of an instance

Switching an Instance

Log in to the IEF console.
In the navigation pane, choose Dashboard. On the page displayed on the right, click Switch Instance in the upper middle of the page.

Figure 2 Switching an instance
Under the target instance, click Select Instance.