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How to Use the Service Catalog Demo

This guide demonstrates the complete service delivery workflow through two user perspectives: requesting services through the catalog and managing them through Infrahub. You'll see how automated provisioning transforms service requests into fully configured network services.

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Prerequisites​

Before starting, ensure you have:

  • Completed the installation guide
  • Both services running:
    • Service Catalog at http://localhost:8501
    • Infrahub at http://localhost:8000

Understanding the workflow​

The demo simulates a typical enterprise service delivery process:

  1. Service Request: Customer/engineer requests a service through self-service portal
  2. Automatic Processing: Infrahub generates proposed changes with allocated resources
  3. Review & Approval: Network architect reviews and approves the implementation
  4. Resource Allocation: System automatically provisions VLANs, IPs, and configurations
  5. Service Delivery: Customer receives access details for their new service
  6. Automated Deployment: Semaphore runs Ansible playbooks to fetch generated configurations from Infrahub and deploy them to network devices
Blog posthttps://opsmill.com/blog/how-to-turn-your-source-of-truth-into-a-service-factory/

Step 1: Request a new service (service engineer role)​

Understanding the service catalog interface​

The Service Catalog provides a simplified, user-friendly interface for requesting network services without requiring deep technical knowledge.

Create a dedicated internet service request​

  1. Access the Service Catalog

    • Open your browser to http://localhost:8501
    • You'll see the main dashboard with available service types

  2. Navigate to Service Creation

    • Click on the "🔌 Dedicated Internet" card from the home page
    • Or use the sidebar navigation to go to "Dedicated Internet"

  3. Fill Out the Service Request Form

    The form presents user-friendly options that hide technical complexity:

    • Service Identifier: Choose a unique name (for example: "DI-DEMO-001")

    • Account Reference: Customer or project identifier

    • Location: Select a site within a location (for example: "Paris 1", "Brussels 1", "New York 1", "Dallas 1")

    • Bandwidth: Choose from human-readable options:

      • "Ten Gigabits" (10 Gbps)
      • "One Gigabit" (1 Gbps)
      • "Hundred Megabits" (100 Mbps)

    • IP Package: Select based on customer needs:

      • "Small" (6 usable IPs)
      • "Medium" (14 usable IPs)
      • "Large" (30 usable IPs)

  4. Submit the Request

    • Click "Submit" to create the service request
    • The system creates a new branch in Infrahub for this change

Streamlit Form

What Happens Behind the Scenes

When you submit the request:

  1. A new git branch is created in Infrahub
  2. The service object is created with "draft" status
  3. A generator is triggered to allocate resources
  4. A "Proposed Change" is created for review

Track your service requests​

  1. View All Requests

    • Select "Service Requests" under "Service catalog" in the sidebar
    • You'll see a table of all service requests with their current status

  2. Monitor Request Progress

    The table shows key information:

    • Service ID: Your unique identifier
    • Status: Current state (Draft, In Delivery, Active)
    • Location: Where the service will be deployed
    • Bandwidth & IP Package: Technical specifications
    • Account: Customer reference

  3. Understanding Status Progression

    • Draft: Initial request submitted, awaiting processing
    • In Delivery: Resources allocated, implementation in progress
    • Active: Service fully provisioned and operational

In this example, DI-1001 is active, and its assets list the VLAN, gateway IP address, prefix and dedicated interfaces that the generator allocated.

Service Requests

Why Two Interfaces?

The Service Catalog provides a simplified view for business users, while Infrahub offers detailed technical views for network engineers. This separation allows each role to work with appropriate tools.

Step 2: Review infrastructure state (network architect role)​

Understanding Infrahub's role​

Infrahub serves as the "source of truth" for your network infrastructure, maintaining detailed models of:

  • Physical locations and equipment
  • Network configurations and relationships
  • Service allocations and dependencies
  • Change history and version control

Access the Infrahub interface​

  1. Log into Infrahub

    • Navigate to http://localhost:8000
    • Username: admin
    • Password: infrahub

  2. Explore the Infrastructure Model

    The left sidebar organizes infrastructure data by category:

    Location

    • Countries, metros, and sites
    • Geographic hierarchy for service placement

    Device Management

    • Devices (switches, routers, servers)
    • Interfaces and connections
    • Hardware specifications

    IPAM (IP Address Management)

    • IP prefixes and addresses
    • VLANs and L2 domains
    • Resource pools for allocation

    Services

    • Service definitions and instances
    • Resource assignments
    • Customer relationships

  3. Examine Site Details

    • Click Location > Site to see all sites
    • Select a site (for example: "Paris 1")
    • Review the site's components:
      • Associated devices and their roles
      • Current VLAN assignments
      • Available resource pools
      • Existing services

Site View

Infrastructure as Code Benefits

By modeling infrastructure in Infrahub:

  • All changes are version-controlled
  • Relationships between components are maintained
  • Resource conflicts are automatically prevented
  • Changes can be tested before implementation

Review and approve service implementation​

  1. Access Proposed Changes

    • Navigate to Proposed Changes in the left sidebar
    • You'll see the service request you created earlier
    • Each request creates a separate branch for safe testing

  2. Examine the Automated Provisioning

    Click on your service request to see detailed tabs:

    Overview Tab

    • Summary of the proposed change
    • Author and timestamp information
    • Current status and available actions

    Checks Tab

    • Automated validation results
    • Generator execution status (should show success)
    • The Gold outage guard result (should pass, because a service order sets no device out of service)
    • Any constraint violations or conflicts

    Data Tab

    • Original service request data
    • Your form inputs (location, bandwidth, etc.)
    • Service metadata and relationships

  3. Review Resource Allocation

    • Click "Refresh Diff" to see what the generator created
    • Examine the provisioned resources:

    VLAN Assignment

    New VLAN: vlan__DI-DEMO-001
    ID: 142 (allocated from pool)
    Role: customer
    Status: active

    IP Prefix Allocation

    New Prefix: 10.0.42.0/28
    Gateway: 10.0.42.1
    Usable IPs: 10.0.42.2 - 10.0.42.14

    Interface Configuration

    Switch Port: ge-0/0/5 on core-switch-1
    Speed: 1000 Mbps
    VLAN: 142 (untagged)
    Status: active

    Router Interface

    Interface: vlan_142 on edge-router-1
    IP Address: 10.0.42.1/28
    Status: active

  4. Approve the Implementation

    • Return to the "Overview" tab
    • Review the summary of changes
    • Click "Merge" to approve and implement
    • The branch merges into main, making changes live

Proposed Change

Approval Workflow Benefits

This review process provides:

  • Safety: Changes tested in isolation before going live
  • Visibility: Full resource allocation visible before approval
  • Audit Trail: Complete history of who approved what and when
  • Rollback: Ability to revert changes if issues arise

Step 3: Verify service delivery​

Confirm active service​

  1. Check Service Status

    • Return to the Service Catalog (http://localhost:8501)
    • Navigate to "Service Requests"
    • Your service should now show "Active" status

  2. Review Allocated Resources

    • In Infrahub, navigate to the service under Services > Dedicated Internet
    • Click on your service to see all allocated components
    • Verify relationships to VLANs, interfaces, and IP addresses

  3. Understand the Customer Experience

    At this point, a real customer would receive:

    • Connection Details: Switch port and patch panel location
    • IP Configuration: Gateway IP, subnet mask, and usable IP range
    • VLAN Information: VLAN ID for their traffic
    • Support Contacts: Who to contact for service issues

Step 4: Deploy the configurations​

After the proposed change is merged, you can use Semaphore to deploy the generated configurations to network devices.

Access the Semaphore UI​

  1. Open Semaphore

    • Navigate to http://localhost:3000
    • Username: admin
    • Password: semaphore

  2. Locate the Deployment Task

    • Find the deployment project in the Semaphore dashboard
    • The project is configured with the deploy.yml playbook and the dynamic Infrahub inventory

Run the deployment playbook​

  1. Start a Task Run

    • Click "Run" to launch the deployment playbook
    • Semaphore uses the dynamic inventory plugin to query Infrahub for all devices and their attributes

  2. Monitor Real-Time Output

    • Watch the live output as Ansible connects to each device
    • The playbook fetches the startup-config artifact from Infrahub for each device
    • Configurations are saved locally (and in a real environment, pushed to devices)

  3. Verify Deployment Success

    • Check that all tasks complete with "ok" or "changed" status
    • Review the output for any errors or skipped hosts
    • Confirm that configuration files were generated for each device
What the Playbook Does

The deploy.yml playbook performs two tasks per device:

  1. Fetch configuration artifact: uses the opsmill.infrahub.artifact_fetch module to retrieve the startup-config artifact from Infrahub
  2. Save configuration: writes the configuration to a local file for deployment
Workflow complete

You have:

  1. ✅ Requested a service through the self-service portal
  2. ✅ Reviewed the automated resource allocation
  3. ✅ Approved the implementation as a network architect
  4. ✅ Delivered a fully configured network service
  5. ✅ Deployed configurations to network devices via Semaphore

The generator allocated every resource, and Semaphore deployed the configuration that Infrahub generated.

Step 5: Check the business impact of a change (optional)​

With the seeded data from Step 6 of the installation, the portal also shows which services have no other path during a planned change, and Infrahub blocks a plan that leaves a Gold service without one. Follow Plan maintenance that keeps Gold services in service to run it end to end. To view which Gold services depend on a single device, follow Find the Gold services that depend on a single device.

Key takeaways​

Business benefits​

  • Speed: The portal order, the generator and the deployment run without manual configuration steps
  • Consistency: Every service of the same type is built from the same generator, so its configuration uses the same rules
  • Self-service: A requester orders a service from a form, without knowing which VLAN, prefix or port it needs
  • Visibility: Each change is a proposed change with a diff, and each allocated resource is linked to its service

Technical benefits​

  • Resource management: VLANs and prefixes come from resource pools, so two services cannot receive the same one
  • Version control: Every change is made on a branch and reviewed before it merges
  • Validation: Checks run on each proposed change, and Infrahub does not merge a change whose checks have failed
  • Integration: The portal, the generator and Ansible all read the same data through the Infrahub API

Next steps​

Now that you understand the user experience:

  • Explore the developer walkthrough to understand the technical implementation
  • Learn how business impact links customers and commitments to the network
  • Try creating additional service types or modifying existing ones
  • Consider how similar patterns could apply to your organization's services