How to Initially Set Up Communication with the Cloud

This task describes the initial steps required for setting up communication with the cloud.

For an overview, see Initial Cloud Settings Overview.

1. Create an account with a cloud provider

   1. Sign up and create an account for using cloud provider services .

   2. Obtain the following cloud credentials:

      1. Amazon EC2 - Access Key, Secret Key, and Account Number
      2. Microsoft Azure - Subscription ID and Certificate File

   Note: ALM only integrates with Microsoft Azure and Amazon EC2 cloud accounts.

2. Define cloud communication from the ALM server to your cloud provider

   If your organization uses a proxy server for communicating with an outside network, define the proxy settings in the Cloud Network Settings dialog box. For task details, see How to Set Up Cloud Network Settings.
   

3. Define communication for a cloud-based load generator

   For task details, see How to Set Up Cloud Network Settings.

4. Define security settings on the cloud provider side for Amazon EC2 cloud accounts

   1. From your cloud provider console, create a security group. The ports defined for communicating with the cloud-based load generator must be opened. For details on the security group rules, see the ALM Lab Management Troubleshooting Guide.

      For details about security groups, see the documentation provided by your cloud provider.

   2. Create a key pair.

   3. If you plan on working with elastic IP addresses, allocate elastic IP addresses and make sure they are opened on your organization's firewall for outgoing communication.

5. Define security settings on the cloud provider side for Microsoft Azure cloud accounts

   1. You must increase your JDK’s strength to Unlimited. Download the appropriate version of the Java Cryptography Extension from java.sun.com. Replace the local_policy.jar, and US_export_policy.jar files in the JRE. The jar files are located by default in <ALM installation directory>\java\jre\lib\security.

   2. Create Windows Azure service certificates in Personal Information Exchange (.pfx) format for use in ALM.
   3. Create Windows Azure management certificates in X.509 (.cer) format and upload them to Azure.