The Blue Planet platform is the software backbone that runs micro-services. Since each micro-service is a small, autonomous service, a platform is required to ensure cohesive communication. To run the Blue Planet platform software, you require the BP Solution platform version that is compatible with your deployment of applications (or apps), such as orchestrate UI.

For instructions on downloading and installing Blue Planet platform, orchestration, and other solutions, see your platform-specific installation guide on the Ciena portal.

For upgrade instructions, see the Blue Planet Orchestrate Upgrade on the Ciena portal.

You can customize Blue Planet by onboarding any customized definition documents into the Asset Manager. All default BP definition documents are preloaded into the server upon installation. The Asset Manager stores the standard library definitions, as well as any onboarded definitions you add. Asset Manager provides a secure interface in which to manage these assets. The definitions include service templates, resource type schemas, declarative and imperative plans (for example, scripts), and UI icons and schemas.

Blue Planet uses service templates to define the specific service offerings. These templates include standard versions provided by Ciena in the solution, or deployment-specific templates developed for or by the user. Templates provided by Ciena are onboarded automatically during installation. To onboard customized templates, select Orchestration > Onboarding > Asset Manager from the Blue Planet dashboard. For instructions on customizing service templates and onboarding, see the DevOps Exchange on the Ciena community portal.

The Blue Planet platform requires a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) with cookies enabled for the domain you are using to access the application. Ciena recommends Chrome.

Other third-party open source software is used to perform basic functions.

Resource Adapters (RA) provide a service abstraction layer for individual domains (physical network elements, virtual network functions, and cloud resources). They provide the translation from the device to the orchestrator thus allowing Blue Planet to provide a single user-interface to multiple various devices.

As part of the installation process, some RAs are automatically onboarded. Specific RAs may need to be onboarded during the initial Blue Planet installation and configuration process. To verify successful RA installation, from the Blue Planet dashboard, check Orchestration > Onboarding > Asset Manager. The RAs that get installed as part of your solution define the domain-types available to your users. RAs are available for both multi-domain service orchestration (MDSO) as well as network function virtualization orchestration (NFVO) implementations. For information on how to develop your own RAs, look for details on the RA DevOps Toolkit on blueplanet.com or the Ciena community website.

For information on specific RAs, see your RA Functional Reference Guide on the Ciena portal.

The Blue Planet core platform, platform solution, and Blue Planet apps and solutions, require that specific TCP/UDP ports are open in the firewall.

If you have a firewall between your Blue Planet server and elements shown in the following matrix, verify that the listed ports are open.