If an environment and component instances are defined, you can specify the different combinations of component instances that you want to provision. Configuration is performed through the environment diagram: a graphical representation of what component instances are available for each of the components in a given environment.
After you have set the component instances to the desired states, you can click a button to "provision" the environment; this makes that particular combination of component instances live. With a single click, you can execute the various configuration actions that are needed to bring multiple components to the states needed for a specific test environment. All virtual assets associated with the environment will be redeployed so sequence responders and other data will be reset to their initial state.
Multiple environment configurations can be defined and saved from a single environment "template." For example, you might want to configure and provision the environment with component A set to "Virtual - Expected Response Times and Data" and component B set to "Virtual - Errors." After you finish running tests against this environment, you might then want to modify it to have component A set to "Virtual - Expected Data, Delayed Response" and component B set to "Actual Asset."
CTP provides a REST service that allows you to provision environment instances from an automated script. For details, see API for Automated Provisioning.
