vcf-services

UserInterfacePlugin

A UserInterfacePlugin registers a UI plugin with VCF Automation, extending the web interface with service-specific views and navigation items. The controller downloads the plugin ZIP from an OCI repository, uploads it to VCF Automation, and optionally scopes it to specific tenant organisations.

More details on building a UI plugin, including manifest format, extension points, and the Angular SDK, are available in UI Extensibility.

When to Use

• Add a service management interface (e.g. a Arcturus project browser) to the VCF Automation provider or tenant portals.
• Deliver a custom dashboard or resource management UI as part of a VCF Service.
• Control which tenants can see and use the plugin without deploying separate instances.

Spec Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
image	string	Yes	OCI image reference for the plugin ZIP artifact (e.g. registry.example.com/plugins/arcturus-ui:2.11.1)
enabled	boolean	No	Enable or disable the plugin; defaults to true
scope	ResourceScope	No	Controls which tenant organisations see the plugin
allowMultipleVersions	boolean	No	When true, multiple versions of the plugin can coexist; defaults to false

ResourceScope

scope:
  allTenants: true

When allTenants is true the plugin is visible to all tenant organisations. When false, only the organisations listed in tenants can access it.

Status Fields

Field	Type	Description
status	string	Healthy, Busy, Unhealthy, Maintenance
message	string	Human-readable status message
externalId	string	VCF Automation plugin ID (URN)
source	string	Resolved OCI source URL from which the plugin was downloaded
sha	string	SHA digest of the plugin artifact
unavailableSince	timestamp	Set when the plugin image becomes unavailable in the registry

Lifecycle

CR created
    │
    ▼
Busy - pulling plugin ZIP from OCI repository (spec.image)
    │  ↺ retries with backoff if image is unavailable
    ▼
Busy - uploading plugin to VCF Automation
    │  Validating plugin manifest and binary compatibility
    ▼
Busy - applying scope (publishing to tenants)
    │
    ▼
Healthy - plugin active, externalId and sha populated
    │
    ├─ image tag updated (new version)
    │       │
    │       ▼
    │   Busy - pulling new image, replacing plugin
    │       │  (or adding alongside if allowMultipleVersions: true)
    │       ▼
    │   Healthy
    │
    ├─ scope updated
    │       │
    │       ▼
    │   Busy - updating tenant visibility
    │       │
    │       ▼
    │   Healthy
    │
    ├─ enabled set to false
    │       │
    │       ▼
    │   Healthy - plugin disabled (hidden from portal)
    │
    └─ CR deleted
            │
            ▼
        Busy - removing plugin from VCF Automation
            │
            ▼
        CR removed

• If the OCI image becomes unreachable after a successful install, status.unavailableSince is set and the plugin continues to function with the last successfully uploaded artifact.
• Setting enabled: false hides the plugin from the portal but does not remove it; re-enabling restores visibility without re-uploading.
• Binary compatibility is validated at upload time; an incompatible plugin (wrong Angular version, missing manifest fields) causes an Unhealthy state.

Example

apiVersion: services.vcfa.broadcom.com/v2
kind: UserInterfacePlugin
metadata:
  labels:
    services.vcfa.broadcom.com/name: arcturus-ui
spec:
  image: arcturus.example.com/vcf-plugins/arcturus-ui-plugin.zip:2.11.1
  enabled: true
  allowMultipleVersions: false
  scope:
    allTenants: true

This site is open source. Improve this page.