The Challenge: Demo Environment Gridlock
Setting up effective cloud demos often hits a roadblock: acquiring, managing, and resetting API keys for tenant environments (like Zscaler ZPA/ZIA/CC, etc.). Manually handling these credentials is:
Time-Consuming: Teams waste valuable time requesting, configuring, and cleaning up keys.
Inconsistent: Demo environments vary, leading to unreliable presentations.
Risky: Poorly managed keys pose security threats and can leave sensitive configurations exposed.
Scalability Nightmare: Ad-hoc requests don't scale for frequent demos, labs, or events.
The Solution: Demostar - Your Centralized API Credential Hub
Demostar automates the entire lifecycle of API credentials for your demo environments, ensuring they are always ready, secure, and consistently configured.
Think of it like an efficient resource management system – perhaps like a well-run rental service: you need a specific tool (an API key), you check it out, use it, and return it. The system ensures it's properly prepared for the next user. Demostar applies this principle to your critical demo credentials.
How Demostar Works: Automated Credential Lifecycle Management
Centralized Credential Pools (Vaults):
Securely import and organize tenant credentials into vaults.
Group credentials logically (by user, team, lab, event, product) for easy access and management.
Assign granular Access Control Lists (ACLs) to govern who can use which pool.
Programmatic Check-Out & Check-In:
Check-Out: Users or automated processes request credentials from a designated pool. Demostar reserves an available tenant, can generate temporary/secondary API keys, and optionally applies pre-configurations for a "ready-to-demo" state.
Check-In: After use, the credential "returns" to the vault. Demostar triggers automated cleanup processes: resetting API keys (protecting the master key), removing temporary users/configurations, and wiping leftover data.
Automated Tenant Preparation & Maintenance:
Standardization: Ensure every demo starts from a known, clean state (factory default or custom template).
Pre-configuration: Automatically apply specific settings, rules, or sample data required for different demo scenarios upon check-out.
Ongoing Health: Schedule maintenance tasks or trigger workflows based on time, events, or manual intervention to keep tenants healthy and updated between uses.
Seamless Integration with Your Workflows
API-Driven: Integrate Demostar's check-out/check-in functions directly into your existing automation scripts, CI/CD pipelines, or demo platforms ("Recipes").
Recipe Integration Example: If a demo recipe requires tenant credentials and none are provided manually, it can automatically request ("rent") a ready-to-use credential set from a specified Demostar vault.
Security and Resilience at the Core
Master Key Stewardship: Demostar securely manages master API keys, never exposing them directly for temporary use.
Ephemeral Access: Credentials issued for demos are often temporary and revocable, minimizing risk.
Automated Remediation: If a key is compromised or a tenant environment fails a health check, Demostar can automatically remove it from circulation and provision a spare, ensuring demo continuity.
Why Demostar Matters: Unlock Demo Velocity & Consistency
By automating credential management, Demostar delivers significant benefits:
✅ Accelerates Demo Setup: Radically reduce the time and effort needed to prepare demo environments.
🔒 Enhances Security: Minimize risks associated with manual key handling and leftover configurations.
🔄 Ensures Consistency: Guarantee every demo starts from a reliable, predefined state.
⚙️ Reduces Operational Overhead: Free up valuable technical resources from tedious manual tasks.
📈 Improves Scalability: Easily manage credentials for numerous users, demos, and events.
Stop wrestling with API keys. Let Demostar handle the credentials, so your team can focus on delivering compelling demos.
