The process of provisioning a VPC is similar to purchasing a computer from an online retailer. To buy a computer from the retailer, users first configure their desired machine by configuring the available resources (such as processor, RAM, disk). When finished, they check the price and click Add To Cart. The retailer verifies the resources are available and adds the computer to a shopping cart. Their shopping cart then contains a single computer with the specifications the user set up in the configuration page. If they want a second computer, they repeat the process.

A VPC contains many resources and typically many reservations. During the create VPC process, users "build" their VPC by specifying their desired resource requirements for reservations that represent different items such as compute storage and network resources. Once the VPC is configured, Viewpoint verifies the resources are available and asks Moab how much that VPC would cost. If the VPC is available, users can add this VPC to their shopping cart (assuming billing is enabled). After checkout, they then have a single VPC configured how they want it.

Explanations for the following child elements offer details on configuring the <provision> element in the vpcs.xml file:

• <pages> - An element that contains the page layout, describes navigation between pages, specifies which components belong to which sections on which pages, and specifies page validation.
• <components> - An element describing each component and their attributes, as well as any inter-component rules.
• <queue> - An element describing what information is stored in the request queue and how to display such to the user. Configuring the Create VPC Queue Element offers information unique to creating the VPC form while Configuring the Queue Element offers more general <queue> element information.
• <request> - An element describing the way the mshow -a request is sent to Moab and how to map the various components and variables to the corresponding mshow -a request.
• <vpc> - An element describing the way the mschedctl -c command is created and what values to use for that command.