Define and Manage Profile Variables

Cluster profile variables enable you to create placeholders for parameters in profile layer configurations, which you can then populate for individual clusters during deployment. Meaning you can use a single cluster profile to deploy multiple clusters with unique requirements for security, networking, resource allocation, and so on.

When defining a cluster profile variable, you can set specific constraints on the expected values, such as format, optionality, masking, and so on, to ensure scalable, error-free cluster deployments.

tech preview

This is a Tech Preview feature currently available in the local UI. Do not use this feature in production workloads, as it is subject to change.

You can use profile variables with any number of packs, manifests, and Helm charts, but only in the scope of their parent cluster profile. If you want to create placeholders to use across different cluster profiles, consider using Palette Macros.

The following table describes the difference between profile variables and macros.

Capability	Profile Variable	Macro
Belongs to the cluster profile scope	✅	❌
Belongs to the project scope	❌	✅
Belongs to the tenant scope	❌	✅
Supports data format restrictions	✅	❌
Supports optionality restrictions	✅	❌
Supports sprig template functions	✅	✅

This guide explains how you can define and manage cluster profile variables.

Limitations

Cluster profile variables are currently available only in the local UI.
Palette does not support nesting profile variables within macros or other profile variables.
You cannot define profile variables for the pack.content and system.uri parameters because the Palette CLI populates them automatically.
Once you deploy a cluster from a profile with variables, you can neither edit nor delete the profile variables. To edit or delete them, version the cluster profile and update the variables in the new version.

When you version a cluster profile with variables, the variables are propagated to the new version. However, upon versioning, the variables in each version are independent.

Define Profile Variables

Prerequisites

The clusterProfile.create and clusterProfile.update permissions to create and update cluster profiles. Refer to Roles and Permissions for more information.
An in-progress or already created cluster profile. The cluster profile must either have the Edge Native infrastructure or be an edge-based add-on profile.

Enablement

You can define profile variables both while creating and for the already created cluster profiles. To define profile variables while creating a cluster profile, you need to be at the Profile Layers stage of cluster profile creation and start following this guide from step three.

Log in to Palette.
Navigate to the cluster profile for which you want to define profile variables.
In the upper-right corner, click Variables and, on the Profile variables pane, click Create variable.

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Alternatively, open a profile layer and, in the upper-right corner of its YAML configuration editor, select Variables, and then Create variable.
Enter the variable name in the {{.spectro.var.<variable_name>}} format. You will use this name when adding variables to layer configurations. The name must be unique within the parent cluster.
Enter a variable display name that Palette will display during cluster deployment. The display name must be unique within the parent cluster.
Optionally, enter the variable description.

Select a data format that the variable will expect. The following table describes the available data formats.

Format	Description
String	Custom text input.
Number	Any numeric type, such as integers and floating point numbers.
Boolean	`true` or `false`. Values that evaluate to `true` or `false`, such as 1 and 0, are not accepted.
Version	Version value that follows the Semantic Versioning convention, such as `x.y.z`.
IPv4	Valid representation of an IPv4 address.
IPv4 CIDR	A CIDR block of IP addresses that follow the IPv4 standard.
IPv6	Valid representation of an IPv6 address.

Optionally, configure additional data validation. The following table describes the available parameters.

Parameter	Description
Custom input validation	Whether the input is validated against a regular expression. Based on the regexp engine.
Required	Whether the input is required.
Default value	Whether the variable has a default value.
Mask value	Whether the input is masked with asterisks in the layer YAML configuration. When you export a profile with masked variables, they will be masked in the exported profile. Upon import, you will be required to provide the masked values.
Hidden	Whether the variable is hidden during cluster deployment.
Read-only	Whether the variable is editable during cluster deployment.

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If a variable is required and hidden, it must contain a default value.

Review the variable definition and behavior under Preview, and then select Create.
Navigate to the YAML configuration of the profile layer for which you want to add the variable. In the upper-right corner of its YAML configuration editor, select Variables.
Next to the variable you want to add, click the Copy to clipboard icon to copy its name.
Paste the variable in the parameter: "{{.spectro.var.variable_name}}" format and click Confirm Updates.

Alternatively, you can start typing the profile variable name with {{.spectro.var.}}, and Palette will suggest profile variables that you can autocomplete.

tip
To improve navigation, you can change the display order of variables. Select the Variables three-dot menu, then select Reorder variables, and drag and drop variables to change their display order. Finally, select Confirm order.
Repeat the steps described in this guide to define more variables and add them to the necessary cluster profile layers.

Validation

Log in to Palette.
From the left Main Menu, select Profiles and navigate to the cluster profile for which you have defined profile variables.
In the upper-right corner, click Variables and, on the Profile variables pane, check that the necessary variables are defined.
Hover over the [Count] layers pill next to the variables to review the profile layers where they are used.
Open the necessary profile layers and check that their YAML configuration contains the expected variables.

Manage Profile Variables

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Once you deploy a cluster from a profile with variables, you can neither edit nor delete the profile variables. To edit or delete them, version the cluster profile and update the variables in the new version.