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Foglight Automation 5.6.3.8 - User and Reference Guide

Designing Workflows

Using the Workflow Studio, you can easily design workflows by dragging and dropping actions onto the workspace, linking them, and editing their properties or parameters.

Adding Actions

To design a workflow, drag actions to the Workspace and connect them with links.

To add an action to the Workspace:
1
With the Workflow Studio open, select an action pack from the ActionPacks pane.
2
On the Actions pane, select an action.
3
Drag and drop the action on the Workspace.
Switching Between Select and Connect Modes

There are two design modes in Workflow Studio: Select mode, and Connect mode.

•
In Select mode, you work with actions, and specify the properties of actions and links. You can drag new actions to the workspace, change the position of the actions on the workspace, and select connections.
•
In Connect mode, you can draw connections between actions.

To switch between Select and Connect modes, click Select or Connect on the toolbar.

Connecting Actions

A workflow is executed in the order specified by the configured links.

To connect actions:
1
Switch to Connect mode by clicking Connect on the toolbar.
2
Draw connections between actions by clicking on the action that occurs first (for example, Lock with Timeout), and then clicking on the next action in the sequence (for example, Sleep).
 
* 
IMPORTANT: Workflows are executed from the Start action, which is placed by default on any workflow you create or edit. Connect the Start action to the first action to execute. You cannot draw a link that ends at the Start action.
Removing Actions and Links
To remove an action or a link from a workflow:
1
Switch to Select mode (click Select on the Workflow Studio toolbar).
2
Select the action or link that you want to remove.
3
On the toolbar, click Remove, or press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Designing Branched Workflows

You can design both single-threaded and branched workflows. In single-threaded workflows, actions are executed one-by-one in a defined order. Each action has a single incoming and outgoing link.

In branched workflows, actions have two or more outgoing links. The execution flow of the branched workflows depends on the execution result of the actions.

 
* 
TIP: Consider a workflow that creates a backup copy of a virtual machine. Before copying the VM’s data, the VM needs to be shut down. When implementing this business logic in a workflow, you need to check the execution result of the ShutVM action before starting backup. If the ShutVM action has finished successfully, then the workflow starts to copy data. If the ShutVM action has failed, then the workflow does not create a copy and sends a notification to an administrator.
Figure 9. An example of a branched workflow.

After you have made the outgoing connections, you need to assign a condition to each link.

To assign conditions to links:
1
Switch to Select mode by clicking Select on the toolbar.
2
Select the link that you want to change.
3
Select its type on the Link Properties pane.
The link type is indicated by an icon near the incoming link.
The following conditions are supported:
•
Success - follow the link if the previous action executed successfully.
•
Failure - follow the link if the previous action failed.
•
Script - specify your own condition in Javascript.
 
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NOTE: Selecting Script enables the Edit Script button on the Link Properties pane. Click this button to create a script in the Edit Script window.
•
Any - follow the link regardless of the previous action’s execution result.

There are a few restrictions for linking:

•
The Success condition is automatically applied to the first link leading to an action.
•
The same condition cannot be applied to several links that lead to the same action.
•
The Any condition can be applied only if there is a single link between actions. If an action has more than one outgoing link, the Any condition cannot be applied to any of these links.
Assigning Values to Action Links

After you have connected actions, you can assign values to the incoming action links. For example, in a workflow that contains the StartVM action, you need to specify the name of a virtual machine to be started.

To view the action parameters:
•
Select the action’s incoming link.
Figure 10. The parameters appear on the Link Properties View pane, located to the right of the Workspace.
To set the initial link properties:
1
Switch to Select mode by clicking Select on the toolbar.
2
Select the link that leads to an action for which you want to customize the parameters. The link's properties appear in the Link Properties View.
 
* 
TIP: When designing branched workflows you can assign a specific value to each link that leads to an action. Imagine a workflow that notifies the system administrator about the action execution result. To design such a workflow, draw Success and Failure links to the New Email action. Then assign a “success” message to the Success link; assign a “warning” message to the Failure link.
3
Click the property that you want to customize.
4
The Parameter Mapping Wizard opens. Follow the steps of the wizard to assign values to action properties.
Parameter Mapping Wizard
Figure 11. On the Select Mapping Type page of the Parameter Mapping Wizard, select the mapping type for the link.

There are three options:

•
To set a Static Value for a parameter:
•
To set a Global Parameter:
•
To set an Action Result:
To set a Static Value for a parameter:
1
On the Select Mapping Type page, select Static Value.
2
Click Next.
3
On the Static Value page, type a value for the parameter in the box.
4
Click Finish.
To set a Global Parameter:
1
On the Select Mapping Type page, select Workflow Parameter.
2
Click Next.
3
On the Select Global Parameter page, select, add, or modify a global parameter,
You can modify the following options of a global parameter:
•
Type: select by clicking the Type cell.
•
List: select if the parameter is a list of values (for example, a list of VM names). If the parameter is a single value, do not select List.
•
Required: if the business logic of the workflow you design requires that this parameter must always be set before the workflow can be executed, select Required. Users will not be able to run the workflow without specifying the value of the Required parameters.
It may be convenient to quickly reassign various global parameters. You can do so by adding several global parameters to the list.
For more information, see Using Global Parameters.
4
When you’ve finished, click Finish.
To set an Action Result:
1
On the Select Mapping Type page, select Action Result.
2
Click Next.
3
On the Action Parameters page, select an action.
4
Click Finish.
Editing Link Parameters

You can edit link parameters that you have previously configured.

To change the type of a link parameter:
1
Switch to Select mode by clicking Select on the toolbar.
2
Select the link that leads to an action for which you want to customize parameters. The link’s properties appear in the Link Properties View.
3
Click the property that you want to customize.
The Edit Parameter Mapping window opens.
4
Click Change Mapping Type.
5
Follow the instructions of the Parameter Mapping Wizard that opens.

Using Global Parameters

Before you can run a workflow, you have to assign values to its parameters. For example, if you need to start a virtual machine with the StartVM action, you need to specify the name of the virtual machine to start.

You can assign values explicitly or use global parameters. Global parameters are placeholders for values used by actions. It is recommended to use global parameters for the most common values required by many workflows. For example, use a global parameter to specify a virtual machine name, as this value is required by every action that operates on a virtual machine.

Global parameters allow you to quickly update multiple actions. When you modify the value of a global parameter, it is automatically applied to all actions that use that global parameter.

 
* 
IMPORTANT: You will be asked to specify the values for the global parameters when you run a workflow or task. For more information, see Creating New Tasks.
Creating Global Parameters
To create a global parameters:
1
Open the Workflow Studio.
2
Switch to Select mode.
3
Select the Start action on the workflow.
Figure 12. The global parameters appear on the Properties pane.
4
Click Add Parameter on the toolbar.
The new global parameter appears in the list with the automatically generated name.
5
Click the name of the new global parameter to modify it.
6
Click the type of the new global parameter to modify it.
7
Select Required if you want the parameter to become obligatory. Users cannot execute workflows unless all required parameters are set.
8
Select List if the global parameter is a list of values (for example, a list of strings).

Setting Action Execution Options

You can specify the number of attempts and execution timeout for each action in your workflow. The following options are available:

•
Max execution attempts: specifies how many times the vFoglight Cartridge for Automation will attempt to execute an action before Workflow Failure is returned. The default value is 1.
•
Execution Rate: specifies the timeout (in seconds) for the action execution. After this timeout expires, Workflow Failure is returned. The default value is 60.
To modify the action execution parameters:
1
Switch to Select mode.
2
Select an action.
3
Customize the execution options that are displayed on the Properties pane.
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