# Launching a product
<a name="enduser-launch"></a>

You can launch any product that appears in your AWS Service Catalog products list. 

When you launch a product, you create a provisioned product, usually an instance of the product in an CloudFormation stack. 

A provisioned product in AWS is one or more cloud resources that you manage as a single unit such as compute instances, databases, or networking components. 

**To launch a product**

1. Select the product in the AWS Service Catalog products list, then choose **Launch product**. 

1. On the launch page, enter the name for your product. Provisioned product names must start with a letter and can contain only letters, numbers, and dashes. Alternatively, you can use an auto-generated name. 

1. Choose a launch option for your product. The administrator sets constraints to launch options.

1. Choose the version of the product to launch.

   If your product has a stack set constraint, you see the **Stack Set** options section. Set the deployment options. If this product does not have a stack set constraint, AWS Service Catalog skips this step.

   If a product has parameters, you see the parameters section. Enter values for each parameter the product requires. If a product has no parameters, AWS Service Catalog skips this step.

   If you define parameter rules for the product, AWS Service Catalog displays those rules and enforces them during the provisioning process.

1. Add the tags you want to your provisioned product. Tags have a key and value that help you identify resources in your provisioned product.

   **Note**: For information about tag limits, see [AWS Service Catalog Limits](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/servicecatalog/latest/adminguide/limits.html). AWS Service Catalog automatically adds AutoTags to provisioned resources. You cannot update or change AutoTags. CloudFormation adds tags to some resources, but these do not apply toward the limit and do not appear on this page.

1. You can optionally enable event notifications to send to an Amazon SNS topic.

1. Review your data and then choose **Launch**. 

   In the Provisioned product details page, choose **Refresh** to see status message updates about resources and parameters. Note you can also choose **Create Plan** to get to the Provisioned product details page.

 At the completion of the plan, you can see a summary of the resource changes.

 If the product launches successfully, the status changes to **Available**. To see output from the launch, go to the Provisioned product details page.

# Creating a launch plan
<a name="launch-plan"></a>

Before you provision a product, AWS Service Catalog enables you to create a launch plan. The plan is a list of resource changes AWS Service Catalog will apply to the provisioned product. You can view planned resource changes and execute them when the plan is complete. You can delete, modify, or execute a launch plan. 

Creating a plan to provision a product is optional. Once you create a plan, you won't be able to execute any actions until the plan is complete.

**To create a launch plan**

1. In the left navigation menu, choose **Product**.

1. In **Products**, choose a product and then **Launch product**.

1. In **Provisioned product name**, enter or generate a name.

1. In **Product versions**, choose a version of the product.

1. Choose or enter information in the required fields. 

   Optionally, you can create and manage tags to track resources, and send notifications to an Amazon SNS topic:
   + In **Manage tags**, enter values in the **Key** and **Value** fields to create custom tags. Then choose **Add new item**. To remove tags, choose **Remove**.
   + In **Enable event notifications**, choose the **Enable** box under **Event notifications**. To create an Amazon SNS topic, choose one of the following: 
     + **Create a topic**. Enter a name for the topic.
     + **Choose a topic from your account**. In **Topic name**, choose a name.
     + **Choose a topic from another account**. In **Topic** **ARN**, enter the ARN for the topic.

1. Choose **Create plan**.
**Note**  
You can choose to cancel and not create a plan. If you proceed, you see a list of changes AWS Service Catalog will apply to the provisioned product. You’ll be able to review the changes before you execute them. To create the plan, confirm your choice and choose **Create plan** again.

1. After the plan is complete, you see **Planned resource changes**. It contains the list of changes to apply to the provisioned product. From here you can delete, modify, or execute the plan.
   + When you delete the plan, a deletion box appears. Enter **delete** and choose **Delete**.
   + When you modify the plan, the **Modify plan** page appears. You can change the product version and any of the required or optional parameters. Then choose **Update**. You can see your updated changes in **Planned resource changes**.
   + When you execute the plan, AWS Service Catalog executes the provisioned product with the planned resource changes. 
**Note**  
If your plan fails to create, you can delete or modify the plan and create it again. When you delete a plan, it deletes any provisioned product that has yet to be fully provisioned. This deletion does not terminate any previously provisioned products. 

# Launching products as stack sets in multiple accounts and Regions
<a name="launch-stacksets"></a>

AWS Service Catalog enables you to launch a product in one or more accounts and AWS Regions. To do this, administrators must apply a stack set constraint to the product with the accounts and Regions, where it can launch as a stack set. For more information, see [AWS Service Catalog Stack Set Constraints](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/servicecatalog/latest/adminguide/constraints-stackset.html) in the *AWS Service Catalog Administrator Guide*.

When you launch a product as a stack set, AWS Service Catalog by default, selects all of the accounts and Regions where that product can launch. You can remove accounts and Regions as needed. You can select the order of the Regions where you want to deploy the product while products deploy across accounts. Products deploy across accounts simultaneously.

**(Optional) Setting maximum concurrent options and failure tolerance** 

You can choose the number of accounts per Region where you want to deploy stack instances of the product at one time, using the maximum concurrent options optional parameter. You can set the number of accounts as a percentage or a range from a minimum of one to a maximum of the total number of accounts that the administrator has defined in the stack set constraint.

You can also select the number of accounts per Region in which AWS Service Catalog allows deployments to fail before AWS Service Catalog stops the deployment operation in that Region by using the failure tolerance optional parameter. You can set the number of accounts as a percentage or a range from a minimum of zero to a maximum of the total number of accounts that the administrator defined in the stack set constraint.

This tolerance value is the number of accounts per Region that fail to deploy before CloudFormation stops deployment. You can set the maximum tolerance of the total number of accounts that the administrator has defined in the stack set constraint.

**Changing provisioned product parameters**

After you launch the product, you can update the provisioned product to change the parameters of that product. 

For example, if you launch an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance as a stack set, you can update the provisioned product to select a different instance type, such as t3.micro instead of t2.micro. This action updates all of the provisioned Stack Instances with the new instance type.

**Using stack sets versus stack instances**

A stack set enables you to create stacks in AWS accounts across Regions by using a single CloudFormation template.

A stack instance refers to a stack in a target account in a Region. It associates with only one stack set.

For more information, see [Stack set concepts](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/en_us/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/stacksets-concepts.html).