Executing Workflows. Executing Workflows. Accessing Service Requests. This chapter contains the following sections:

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1 This chapter contains the following sections:, page 1 Adding Conditional Processing to Workflows, page 5 Context Workflow Mapping, page 11 Scheduling Workflows, page 13 Rolling Back Workflows, page 14 Validating Workflows, page 15 Workflow Versioning, page 16 You can choose several different ways to execute a workflow in Orchestrator. Creating a service request Using the Execute Now action Using a VM Action policy Using a trigger Accessing Service Requests You can view and generate workflow executions using service requests. 1

2 Using the Execute Now Action Note An archive option is also available for each service request. On the menu bar, choose Organization > Service Requests. Choose the Service Requests tab. Choose a service request. Click View Details. The Service Request Status pane appears. Click Close. Resubmitting a Failed/Cancelled Service Request You can resubmit a failed or cancelled service requests as well as change the inputs before resubmitting. An administrator can access the Input/Output tab, click on a service request and enter new values into a form before resubmittal. Step 7 On the menu bar, choose Organizations > Service Requests. Click on a service request. The input/output table appears. Click the Input/Output tab. The values of a particular task inside a workflow are accessible from this tab. Choose an entry from the Input/Output table. Click Edit Value. Change the value for the service request. Click Submit. Note You can also observe the same actions under the Organizations > My Approvals tab. Using the Execute Now Action You can execute a workflow using the Execute Now action. The drop-down list is accessible on the right of the interface. If you choose to provide any input(s) during the execution stage, you must add those input(s) at execution. However, if those inputs are provided when you add tasks to the workflow, then those inputs are also accepted. Using a VM Action Policy You can create custom actions by using a User VM Action policy. Custom action policies can contain one or more actions. You can also create an action label and associate a workflow to it. You can select a User Action 2

3 Using a VM Action Policy policy when you create a virtual data center (vdc). The virtual machines (VMs) created under this policy still have all of the custom actions enabled that are included in the original User Action policy. Note End user VM Action policies can be used in a VM context. The following procedure describes how to create a workflow that consists of a VM snapshot and a VM resize task. This workflow can be used as a custom action in the VMs context. Choose User VM Action Policy tab. Click Add. In the Add Policy screen, complete the following fields: Policy field Policy field Select No of Actions drop-down list The policy name. The description of the policy. Choose the number of actions associated with the policy. Click Next. In the Add Policy screen, complete the following fields: Action Label field Workflow drop-down list Authorized User Types drop-down list The label for the VM action. Choose the workflow associated with this action. Choose the user type authorized to perform this action. Step 7 Click Submit. After you create a User VM Action policy, as an administrator, you can choose this policy while creating a vdc. All VMs that belong to this vdc have the ability to use these custom actions. Note Only one User VM Action policy can be associated with a vdc. 3

4 Using a Trigger Using a Trigger Triggers are used to execute workflows based on specified conditions that must be met. Once those conditions are met, a workflow is (automatically) executed. This procedure describes how to trigger a resize if the VM memory limit is reached. Choose the Triggers tab. Click Add. In the Add Trigger: Trigger Information screen, complete the following fields: Trigger field Is Enabled check box field Frequency drop-down list Trigger Type drop-down list The name of trigger. Enables the trigger. The description of trigger. Choose the frequency at which the trigger rule is to be verified. Choose the trigger type: Stateful-This type's current state is recorded and actions are executed only when there is a change in a trigger state. Stateless- This type's trigger condition is verified at a frequency provided in the frequency field. For example, if a VM power status is monitored, a trigger would be executed when a change in the power status occurs. Click Next. In the Add Trigger: Specify Conditions screen, complete the following fields: Number of Conditions field What to Monitor drop-down list VM drop-down list Parameter drop-down list The number of conditions to check. Choose the component that is to be monitored. Choose the component entry to monitor. If a VM is being monitored, choose VM to monitor. Choose the parameter of the component to monitor. 4

5 Adding Conditional Processing to Workflows Trigger Type drop-down list Choose trigger type: Stateful-This type's current state is recorded and actions are executed only when there is a change in a trigger state. Stateless-This type's trigger condition is verified at a frequency provided in the frequency field. For example, if a VM power status is monitored, a trigger would be executed when a change in the power status occurs. Step 7 Step 8 Click Next. In the Add Trigger: Specify Workflow screen, complete the following fields: Maximum Invocations field (When Trigger State Becomes Active) Select Workflow drop-down list (When Trigger State Become Clear) Select Workflow drop-down list The number of times that the trigger is invoked. Choose the workflow to be executed when the trigger is activated. Choose the workflow to be executed when the trigger is cleared. Step 9 Click Submit. Adding Conditional Processing to Workflows Orchestrator's task library includes a set of predefined tasks that you can add to a workflow for conditional processing. You can specify conditions for the predefined tasks that are forks in the workflow. The outcome of evaluating the condition determines which branch the workflow takes. For example, a workflow condition might be to check the power status of a VM. If the VM status is powered on, the workflow takes a certain path, and if the VM is powered off, it takes a different path. The following predefined tasks are accessible in Workflow Designer for conditional processing: Start Loop --- This task can be used to begin a loop in the workflow based on the input condition. End Loop --- This task can be used to mark the end of the loop in the workflow. If Else --- This task evaluates the input condition provided. A task or set of tasks are executed if the input condition is true. If the input condition is false, another task or set of tasks are executed. 5

6 Adding an If-Else Logical Branch Conditional Task --- This task can be used to create multiple execution paths in the workflow based on the condition you specify for each task in the workflow. You can use the predefined tasks to create conditional processing constructs such as If, If-Else, nested If, Loop and Switch in your workflows. Adding an If-Else Logical Branch Step 7 Click the Workflows tab. Choose the workflow that you want add the If-Else logical branch. Double-click the workflow to open it in Workflow Designer. In the Available Tasks pane, click the Procedural Tasks folder. Click the If Else task and drag and drop it into Workflow Designer. In the Add Task (If Else) screen, complete the following fields: Task field Comment field Retry Execution checkbox Retry count drop-down list Retry Frequency drop-down list The name of the task. Comments for the task. Check the checkbox to retry ( at a later time), if the task fails. Choose the number of attempts to perform a retry. Choose the duration between the attempts at a retry. The workflow pauses until the task is retried n times until it succeeds before it can continue with the next task or completion of the workflow. Step 8 Step 9 0 Click Next. In the User Input Mapping screen, click Next. In the Task Inputs screen, complete the following fields: 6

7 Adding an If-Else Logical Branch Specify the condition field Enter the condition that will be evaluated to determine the course of the workflow. As a result of evaluating the condition the following can result: If the condition evaluates to true, the course for the workflow towards successful completion is executed. If the condition evaluates to false, the workflow will not be executed successfully. The conditions that you define must only contain the following operators: ==,!=, <, <=, >, >=,, &&, contains, startswith, endswith Below are some examples that you can use while specifying conditions: Task.OUTPUT ATTRIBUTE NAME=="2" WORKFLOW USERINPUT LABEL NAME contains "xyz" Task.OUTPUT ATTRIBUTE NAME == WORKFLOW USERINPUT LABEL NAME WORKFLOW USERINPUT LABEL NAME!= "123" In the User Output Mapping screen, click Submit. In the If-Else task icon that you created, click and drag the True connector and the False connector to more task icons. In the If-Else task icon that you created, click and drag the On Failure connector to the Completed (Failed) task icon. This link defines the logical branch of the workflow for failure. If required, you can add more task icons to this branch in the workflow. What to Do Next After you create your If-Else logical branch, you can execute the workflow. You can view and generate the workflow executions using service requests. 7

8 Adding Loops Adding Loops Step 7 Choose the Workflows tab. Choose the workflow that you want to add a loop. Double-click the workflow to open it in Workflow Designer. In the Available Tasks pane, click the Procedural Tasks folder. Click the Start Loop task and drag and drop it intoworkflow Designer. In the Add Task (Start Loop), complete the following fields: Task field Comment field Retry Execution checkbox Retry count drop-down list Retry Frequency drop-down list The name of the task. Comments for the task. Check the checkbox to retry ( at a later time), if the task fails. Choose the number of attempts to perform a retry. Choose the duration between the attempts at a retry. The workflow pauses until the task is retried n times until it succeeds before it can continue with the next task or completion of the workflow. Step 8 Step 9 0 Click Next. In the User Input Mapping screen, click Next. In the Task Inputs screen, complete the following fields: List based iteration checkbox Input for list based iteration Check the checkbox for list based iteration. The input values for list based iteration. 8

9 Adding Loops User Input to assign iterated values drop-down list Count based iteration checkbox Number of times to loop field The user input for the list based iteration. Note Cisco UCS Director contains a task output variable called START_LOOP_OUTPUT of generic text type which holds the value for each loop iteration. You cannot map this output to the next task input whose type is not generic text. Hence, you must create workflow inputs of the type you need(such as address) and map it to the Start Loop task input that you added using the User Input to assign iterated values drop-down list. Check the checkbox for loop counter based iteration. The loop counter that controls the iterations of the loop In the User Output Mapping screen, select the attributes you want to use as values from the workflow outputs. Click Submit. In the Available Tasks pane, click and drag the tasks that you want as part of the loop. Create links between the task icons in the loop using the On Success connector. Create a link between the Start task icon and the Start Loop task icon In the Available Tasks pane, click the Procedural Tasks folder. Click the End Loop task and drag and drop it intoworkflow Designer. Complete the remaining screens in the Add Task (End Loop) wizard, and click Submit. Connect the End Loop task icon to the Completed (Success) and Completed (Failed) task icons. What to Do Next After you add loops, you can execute the workflow. You can view and generate the workflow executions using service requests. 9

10 Adding Switch Operations Adding Switch Operations Note The switch construct you create can contain several execution paths for the workflow, based on the condition you specify for each task in the workflow. Step 7 Choose the Workflows tab. Choose the workflow that you want to add a loop. Double-click the workflow to open it in Workflow Designer. In the Available Tasks pane, click the Procedural Tasks folder. Click the Conditional task and drag and drop it intoworkflow Designer. In the Add Task (Conditional task) screen, complete the following fields: Task field Comment field Retry Execution checkbox Retry count drop-down list Retry Frequency drop-down list The name of the task. Comments for the task. Check the checkbox to retry ( at a later time), if the task fails. Choose the number of attempts to perform a retry. Choose the duration between the attempts at a retry. The workflow pauses until the task is retried n times until it succeeds before it can continue with the next task or completion of the workflow. Step 8 Step Click Next. In the User Input Mapping screen, click Next. In the Task Inputs screen, click the + icon to add a condition for each execution path of the workflow. For example, if your workflow had n possible execution paths, you would add n entries into the conditions table, one entry for each condition. You can click on the default entry in the table to specify the condition when the workflow takes the default execution path. In the Add Entry to screen, complete the following fields: Label field The label for the condition 10

11 Context Workflow Mapping Condition field Enter the condition that will be evaluated to determine the course of the workflow. The conditions that you define must contain the following operators: ==,!=, <, <=, >, >=,, &&, contains, startswith, endswith Below are some examples that you can use while specifying conditions: Task.OUTPUT ATTRIBUTE NAME=="2" WORKFLOW USERINPUT LABEL NAME contains "xyz" Task.OUTPUT ATTRIBUTE NAME == WORKFLOW USERINPUT LABEL NAME WORKFLOW USERINPUT LABEL NAME!= "123" Click Submit In the User Output Mapping screen, select the attributes you want to use as values from the workflow outputs. Click Submit. In the Available Tasks pane, click and drag the tasks that you want to add to the various execution paths of the workflow. Use the connectors in the Conditional task icon to link with the tasks in the execution paths. For example, use the default connector in the Conditional task icon to create links to the tasks in the default execution path. Create a links between the Start task icon and the Conditional task icon. Create links between the various execution paths in the workflow and the Completed (Success) and Completed (Failed) task icons. What to Do Next After you add the switch construct, you can execute the workflow. You can view and generate the workflow executions using service requests. using service requests. Context Workflow Mapping You can map a workflow in the form of an action and execute it in the component's context. You can execute a workflow that contains a set of tasks from within a context of a component. You do not have to browse for a required workflow in the workflow list in order to execute it. However, you can execute the workflow at the component level. For example, when you execute a workflow, that you created for a server, you can map the workflow as an action (for the server) and execute it at the server level instead of browsing for the workflow in the workflow list. 11

12 Stage 1: Create a Context Mapper Task Context workflow mapping consists of these two stages: Stage 1- Create a context mapper task and adds it to the workflow that needs to be mapped as an action. Stage 2- Adds the workflow to the content mapper list by giving it an action label. Stage 1: Create a Context Mapper Task Choose the Workflow tab. Open a workflow in Workflow Designer. Choose a Context Mapper task and drag it onto the Workflow Designer pane. Stage 2: Adding to the Workflow to the Content Mapper Choose Context Workflow Mapping. Choose a component to add to your workflow. Click Edit. In the Edit Workflow Mappings dialog box, complete the following fields: Add Workflow icon Selection Required check box Action Label field Workflow drop-down list Authorized User Types drop-down list Add additional workflows. Check the check so that an end user can select an entry of the component for the action label to show. Also, the workflows are filtered based on the component if it is checked. For example, for LUN Context workflow mapping, only the workflows which contain the LUN context mapper task is displayed. The name of the action label. Choose a workflow to execute. Choose an authorized user type. Click Submit. The workflow is added as an action to the component. 12

13 Scheduling Workflows Note When you browse through the logical unit number (LUN) components and choosing an entry under LUNs, the action becomes visible (Associate LUN to Datastore). Clicking on this action executes the workflow that you had previously mapped to this component. Scheduling Workflows You can schedule workflows for execution at a specific time. You can also modify several schedule parameters when a workflow is scheduled. Click the Workflows tab. In the Workflows pane, choose the workflow that you want to schedule. Click Schedule. In the Schedule Workflow screen, complete the following fields: Recurrence Type drop-down list The type of reexecution of the workflow. There are several types: No End -The workflow is executed continuously from the start time based on frequency type and frequency interval, without any end time. Only once-the workflow is executed only once at the start time. Fixed Number of Times-The workflow is executed n number of times as provided in the Repeat Count field continuously from the start time based on frequency type and frequency interval. End by Date-The workflow is executed continuously from the start time based on the frequency type and frequency interval until the provided end time. Start Time field Frequency Type drop-down list Frequency Interval drop-down list The time of the scheduled workflow execution. The frequency of the workflow executions. The workflow can be executed hourly, daily, weekly or monthly. Choose the interval at which the workflow needs to be executed for the frequency that you chose. If the frequency interval is four and the frequency type is daily, the workflow is executed every four days. 13

14 Rolling Back Workflows User ID field The user associated to the workflow. This is not a mandatory field. Note If you defined inputs while you created the workflow, you must provide those inputs need to be provided under the Workflow Inputs. Click Edit to edit another schedule. Note The Modify Workflow Schedule screen is identical to the Schedule Workflow dialog box. Rolling Back Workflows You can undo executed workflows by using the Workflow Rollback feature. All tasks that are part of the workflow are undone when the workflow is rolled back. Note If a workflow is rolled back it might not return to the same state as before the workflow was executed. Some tasks cannot be rolled back in their entirety. For example, storage values increased for a VM cannot be undone. On the menu bar, choose Organizations > Service Requests. Choose the Service Requests tab. Choose the service request that corresponds to the workflow that needs to be rolled back. Click Rollback Request. Check the check box next to the task(s) that you want to roll back. Click Submit. Note Right-click a service request and choose View Details to examine its undo workflow status. 14

15 Viewing Workflow Assets (Created or Modified) Viewing Workflow Assets (Created or Modified) Before you roll back your workflow you can view the details of all of the assets and resources that were used during the execution of the workflow. The assets are tracked and available through the service request's View Details option. On the menu bar, choose Organizations > Service Requests. Choose the Service Requests tab. Choose a service request to examine. Choose the View Details option. Choose the Objects Created and Modified tab. The Objects Created and Modified tab displays all of the resources that were created or modified as part of the construction of the workflow. All resources that pertaining to all of the tasks of the workflow are tracked. When you roll back a workflow, all associated resources are deleted and previously modified resource changes are undone. Click Close. Validating Workflows Orchestrator provides a mechanism for validating workflows. Validating a workflow helps identify issues with the workflow caused by incorrect flow of data from one element to the next. Workflow validation checks the data bindings and connections between elements. Common issues detected during validation are mapping mismatch, missing mandatory values for tasks, Task Handler not found and missing admin/task inputs after import or upgrade. Orchestrator enables issue detection and resolution by using a wizard-based issue resolver. When you validate a workflow, a list of issues is created along with suggestions for fixing those issues. Clicking an issue in the list prompts the user to run the issue wizard resolver. Some issues might require additional information or input from you. Other issues might be quick fixes that are resolved for you. Resolving Workflow Validation Issues 15

16 Workflow Versioning Click the Workflows tab. Choose the workflow that failed validation. Click Validate Workflow. In the Workflow Validation dialog box, double click the description under Resolution. In the Validation Errors dialog box, view the summary for the issue detected. You can complete the remaining prompts in the wizard to resolve the validation error. Workflow Versioning All Orchestrator workflows have an associated version history. You can use version history to either revert a workflow state to an earlier one or increment the version. In some scenarios you might use versioning for comparing the differences between the current state of a workflow with an earlier saved version. Versioning can be particularly useful when you need to know if a workflow is ready for production, deployment, or for any other operation. A new version item is created when a workflow version is incremented and saved. Consequent changes to the workflow do not change the current version. For example, if you create and save a workflow version X.0.0, the state of the version is saved in the Cisco UCS Director database. If any changes are made to the workflow, the changes cannot be applied to workflow version X.0.0. To save the changes, a subsequent workflow version needs to be created. The version history along with the workflow is saved in the database. Workflows can be deleted without losing their version history. Creating Workflow Versions Choose the Workflows tab. Right click the workflow and choose Create New Version. In the Create New Version screen, complete the following fields: Version Label field field The label for the version. The description for the version. Step 7 Click Submit. In Workflow Designer, complete your changes for the workflow. Click Close. The workflows report displays the incremented version of the workflow under the Version column. 16

17 Managing Workflow Versions Managing Workflow Versions Choose the Workflows tab. Right click the workflow and choose Manage Versions. In the Manage Versions screen, complete the following fields: Show latest version checkbox Set default version checkbox Check the checkbox to display the latest version of the workflow in the workflows report. For example, if the latest workflow version is X.0, it is displayed as Version X (latest) in the Versioncolumn, in the workflows report. Check the checkbox to display the chosen workflow version as the default version in the workflow report. Choose the workflow version from the workflows table below. For example, if you chose the workflow version as X.0 to be set as the default version for display, it is displayed as Version X.0 (user selected) in the Versioncolumn, in the workflows report. Click Submit. 17

18 Managing Workflow Versions 18