Key Concepts¶

A glossary of the core terminology used throughout RosettaHub. For the platform overview, architecture, and value proposition, see The Platform.

Access Interfaces¶

The RosettaHub platform can be accessed through multiple interfaces:

Interface	Description
RosettaHub Console	Interactive web frontend (Web Console)
APIs	RESTful web services for programmatic access
CLIs	Command-line interface for scripting and DevOps workflows
SDKs	Python, Java, and JavaScript client libraries
MCP Servers	AI-powered Model Context Protocol servers

RosettaCloud Concepts¶

The building blocks of multi-cloud resource unification. For full details, see RosettaCloud.

Concept	Description
Formation	A cloud-agnostic Infrastructure-as-Code recipe that describes the resources needed for a deployment. Formations work across all supported clouds without modification.
Session	The running instance of a formation. Launching a formation creates a session that tracks the lifecycle of all provisioned resources.
Machine	A cloud compute instance running within a session. Lifecycle actions (start, stop, hibernate, snapshot) operate at the machine level.
Image	A machine image (AMI, managed image, or equivalent) used as the base for launching instances. Images can be shared across teams and clouds.
Cloud Key	A credential that maps to a cloud provider identity (AWS IAM key, Azure Service Principal, GCP Service Account, or Alibaba Cloud AccessKey). Cloud Keys authorize resource launches.
Key Pair	An SSH key pair used to connect to running instances. Distinct from Cloud Keys.
Storage	Object, file, or block storage resources. Storages can be attached across cloud boundaries -- for example, an AWS S3 bucket mounted on a GCP machine.

Formation Types¶

Formation Type	Description
Machine Formation	A single cloud instance
Machine Pool	Multiple identical instances managed as a group
Virtual Lab	A remote desktop environment for interactive work
EMR / Dataproc Cluster	Spark and Hadoop clusters for big-data workloads
HPC Cluster	High-performance computing clusters for parallel computation

Session and Machine Lifecycle¶

When you launch a formation:

A Session is created, representing the active deployment.
One or more Machines are provisioned within that session.
Lifecycle actions (start, stop, hibernate, terminate) apply to individual machines.
Budget checks and policy rules are enforced before the launch reaches the cloud provider.

RosettaBox Concepts¶

The building blocks of governance unification. For full details, see RosettaBox.

Concept	Description
Organization	The top-level governance container. Holds users, cloud accounts, projects, budgets, and policies. Supports nested sub-organizations for departments or teams.
Project	A logical grouping of resources and users within an organization, used to track costs and enforce access boundaries.
User	A person with an assigned role and permissions. Roles control what resources a user can see, launch, and administer.
Cloud Account	A connection to a cloud provider account (AWS account, Azure subscription, GCP project, or Alibaba Cloud account). Credentials are stored securely and assigned to specific organizations.
Pool	A grouping of cloud accounts for bulk management -- for example, a Production Pool, a Development Pool, or a Regional Pool (EMEA, US, APAC).
Budget	A spending limit applied to a cloud account, project, or organization. Budgets gate resource launches: if a launch would exceed the budget, it is blocked.
Policy	A governance rule that controls what can be launched, by whom, and under what conditions. Policies enforce instance-type restrictions, region constraints, tagging requirements, and compliance standards.
Compliance	Audit and regulatory controls that ensure cloud usage conforms to organizational or regulatory requirements. Compliance rules integrate with budgets and policies.
Cost Tracking	Real-time and historical cost visibility across all connected cloud accounts, broken down by organization, project, user, or resource.

Resource Hierarchy¶

graph TD
    Org["Organization"]

    subgraph ops ["RosettaBox (RosettaBox)"]
        SubOrg["Sub-Organization"]
        Users["Users\n(roles + permissions)"]
        Projects["Projects\n(budgets + policies)"]
        CA["Cloud Accounts\n(cost tracking)"]
    end

    subgraph mc ["RosettaCloud (Resources)"]
        Formations["Formations"]
        Sessions["Sessions"]
        Machines["Machines"]
        Images["Images"]
        Storages["Storages"]
    end

    Org --> SubOrg
    SubOrg --> Users
    SubOrg --> Projects
    SubOrg --> CA
    Formations --> Sessions
    Sessions --> Machines

    style Org fill:#e8eaf6,stroke:#283593,color:#000
    style ops fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1565c0,color:#000
    style mc fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#e65100,color:#000

Cross-Cutting Concepts¶

These concepts span both RosettaCloud and RosettaBox.

Concept	Description
Actions	Operations performed on resources: Launch, Start, Stop, Clone, Share, Snapshot, Delete. Actions are available from context menus, toolbar buttons, and keyboard shortcuts.
Sharing	Any resource (formation, image, session) can be shared via URL. Recipients open the link and get an identical view, enabling reproducible environments and collaborative workflows.
Marketplaces	Curated catalogs of pre-built formations, images, and configurations. Organizations can publish internal marketplaces; RosettaHub maintains a public marketplace of community contributions.
Cross-Cloud Operations	First-class support for operations that span providers -- for example, mounting AWS S3 storage on a GCP machine, or cloning an image from Azure to AWS.
Perspectives	Saved dashboard layouts that organize views for a specific workflow. See Perspectives.
Views	Content panels within a perspective -- artifact lists, dashboards, embedded URLs, or custom HTML. See Views.