This
Use the following menu options to navigate the SL1 user interface:
- To view a pop-out list of menu options, click the menu icon (
). - To view a page containing all of the menu options, click the Advanced menu icon (
).
Prerequisites
Before you create an automation policy using the automation actions in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack, you will need to make the following decisions:
- Which set of commands you want to run on a monitored device when an event occurs. There are 348 automation actions in the PowerPack that build a list of commands to execute on the monitored device; each of the 348 automation actions builds a different list. This set of actions includes all actions in the PowerPack that do not have the prefix "Enrichment: Util:".
- What event criteria you want to use to determine when the automation actions will trigger, or the set of rules that an event must match before the automation is executed. This can include matching only specific event policies, event severity, associated devices, and so on. For a description of all the options that are available in Automation Policies, see the
- Where the output of the automation actions will be viewed by a user. The output is always available in the Event Actions Log page accessed through the SL1 Event Console. Optionally, you can include an additional automation action in your automation policy to send the output of the automation to an additional location. Typically, the additional location is the ticket that was generated for the event in your ticketing system. If you want to configure an Automation Policy that sends the output of the automation actions in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack to a ticketing system, you must create or have access to the following additional content that is not supplied in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack:
- A process, either automated or manual, where SL1 events are associated with tickets. Examples of this process include:
- A user clicking the life ring icon (
) in the ticket console to create a ticket in the SL1 ticketing system. - If your system has been configured so that the SL1 Event Console integrates with an external ticketing system, a user clicking the life ring icon () to request a ticket in your external ticketing system.
- An Automation Policy that is configured to automatically create tickets for events, either in SL1 or an external ticketing system.
- An automation action that sends the output from the previous automation action to the ticketing system. This action should specify that the ticket associated with the triggering event will be updated with this information.
Creating an Automation Policy
To create an automation policy that uses the automation actions in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack, perform the following steps:
- Go to the Automation Policy Manager page (Registry > Run Book > Automation).
- Click . The Automation Policy Editor page appears.
- Complete the following required fields:
- Policy Name. Enter a name for the automation policy.
- Policy Type. Select whether the automation policy will match events that are active, match when events are cleared, or run on a scheduled basis. Typically, you would select Active Events in this field.
- Policy State. Specifies whether the policy will be evaluated against the events in the system. If you want this policy to begin matching events immediately, select Enabled.
- Organization. Select the organization to scope this policy to. The automation policy will execute only for devices in the selected organization that match the other criteria in the policy. To configure a policy to execute for all devices in all organizations that match the other criteria in the policy, select System.
-
Aligned Actions. To create a valid automation policy that uses the automation actions in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack, you must configure the Aligned Actions field in the Automation Policy Editor to include multiple actions in a specific sequence. To add an action to the Aligned Actions field, select the action in the Available Actions field and click the right arrow (>>). To re-order the actions in the Aligned Actions field, select an action and use the up arrow or down arrow buttons to change that action's position in the sequence.
- An automation action from this PowerPack that builds a list of commands to execute on the monitored device. There are 348 different actions of this type. This set of actions includes all actions in the PowerPack that do not have the prefix "Enrichment: Util:".
- The "Enrichment: Util: Collect Enrichment Data" automation action. This action executes the list of commands provided by the previous action and sends the output to the next automation action in the sequence of actions.
-
The "Datacenter Automation: Format Output as HTML" automation action. This action formats the output of the "Enrichment: Util: Collect Enrichment Data" automation action in HTML format.
This formatting action is provided by the Datacenter Automation Utilities PowerPack, which must be installed.
- The "Enrichment: Util: Load HTML Work Instructions" automation action. If the library of work instructions included with the PowerPack contains a set of instructions for the event policy that triggered the event, the automation action will output that set of work instructions to HTML.
- An automation action from this PowerPack that builds a list of commands to execute on the monitored device. There are 348 different actions of this type. This set of actions includes all actions in the PowerPack that do not have the prefix "Enrichment: Util".
- The "Enrichment: Util: Collect Enrichment Data" automation action. This action executes the list of commands provided by the previous action and sends the output to the next automation action in the sequence of actions.
- The following action to format the output of the "CMS: Util: Collect Enrichment Data" automation action:
- The "Enrichment: Util: Format Command Output as HTML" automation action. This action formats the output of the "Enrichment: Util: Collect Enrichment Data" automation action in HTML format.
- An automation action that performs a request to add the output of the previous action as a work note in your ticketing system. This automation action is not supplied in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack. See the Prerequisites section for more information about the requirements for this action.
- The "Enrichment: Util: Load HTML Work Instructions" or "Enrichment: Util: Load Plaintext Work Instructions" automation action. If the library of work instructions included with the PowerPack contains a set of instructions for the event policy that triggered the event, the automation action will output that set of work instructions. Select the HTML or Plaintext action, depending on the format accepted by your ticketing system.
- An automation action that performs a request to add the output of the previous action as a work note in your ticketing system. This should be the same automation action you added in the 4th position in the sequence of automation actions. This automation action is not supplied in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack. See the Prerequisites section for more information about the requirements for this action.
- Optionally, supply values in the other fields on this page to refine when the automation will trigger. If you are configuring the automation policy to send the output of the automation actions to a ticketing system, you should ensure that the process for associating a ticket with the SL1 event occurs before this automation policy triggers. Typically, you would use the "and ticket IS created" or "and external ticket IS created" options in the Criteria Logic fields to do this.
- Click .
If you are not configuring the automation policy to send the output of the automation actions to a ticketing system, if users will view the output in the Event Actions Log page accessed through the SL1 Event Console, the automation must include four actions in the following sequence:
If you are configuring the automation policy to send the output of the automation actions to a ticketing system, the automation must include six actions in a specific sequence:
After you have configured one or more Automation Policies that use the automation actions in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack, you must configure credentials for the automation actions to use. See the Configuring Device Credentials chapter for instructions on how to do this.
Example Automation Configuration
The following is an example of an automation policy that uses the automation actions in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack:
The policy uses the following settings:
- Policy Name. The policy is named "Cisco UCS Fabric Incident Enrichment".
- Policy Type. The policy is intended to run when an unhealthy event triggers, or is in an active state. Active Events is selected in this field.
- Policy State. Enabled is selected in this field.
- Organization. The policy is intended to execute for all devices in the system, regardless of organization, so System is selected in this field.
- Criteria Logic. The output of the actions will be viewed via the SL1 Event Console,and the actions in the policy are not configured to output to a ticket. As a result, the policy is configured to execute immediately when a matching event triggers using these criteria: "Severity >= Minor, and no time has elapsed since the first occurrence, and event is NOT cleared, and all times are valid".
- Aligned Devices. The policy is configured to trigger for all devices in the system.
- Aligned Events. The actions selected for the policy collect diagnostic information about UCS Fabric components. Therefore, the policy is configured to trigger only when the following events are triggered:
- Cisco: UCS Fabric PSU Amperes has exceeded threshold
- Cisco: UCS Fabric PSU Voltage has exceeded threshold
- Cisco: UCS Fabric PSU Wattage has exceeded threshold
- Aligned Actions. Users will view the output of the automation actions in the Automation Log accessed through the SL1 Event Console. Therefore, the automation includes four actions in the following sequence:
- Enrichment: Cisco-UCS: Fabric Show Commands
- Enrichment: Util: Collect Enrichment Data
- Enrichment: Util: Format Command Output as HTML
- Enrichment: Util: Load Work Instructions
Datacenter Automation Utilities PowerPack Automation Actions
The Datacenter Automation Utilities PowerPack includes automation actions for formatting the output from the automation actions in the Datacenter Automation Pack PowerPacks and other automation PowerPacks.
The table below lists the automation actions included in the Datacenter Automation Utilities PowerPack, their output, and the automation PowerPacks that use the actions:
| Automation Action | Output | Automation PowerPack |
|---|---|---|
| Automation Utilities: Calculate Memory Size for Each Action |
Manages memory allocation with actions that are included in a single automation policy |
|
| Automation Utilities: Change Enrichment Formatting to SN Scoped |
Formats an action to plain text |
|
| Automation Utilities: Connect Enrichment Automations to SN |
Changes all the automation policies in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack from the default configuration to the standard ServiceNow configuration |
|
| Automation Utilities: Remove Automation Policies from PowerPack |
Unaligns all the automation policies in the Datacenter Advanced Enrichment Actions PowerPack to prevent any changes made to the automation policy from being overwritten when the PowerPack is updated |
|
| Datacenter Automation: Add Commands to Device Log |
Adds a device log entry that includes a list of commands for any action that executed a command on a device |
|
| Datacenter Automation: Format HTML Output for ServiceNow Scoped | Formats the output for an HTML work note in ServiceNow |
|
| Datacenter Automation: Format Output as HTML | Formats the output of an action to HTML in the device log |
|
| Datacenter: Automation Format Output for ServiceNow Non-Scoped | Formats the output for using the non-scoped version of the SL1 ServiceNow integration. |
|
| Datacenter Automation: Format Output for ServiceNow Scoped | Formats the output for using the scoped version of the SL1 ServiceNow integration. |
|
| Datacenter Automations: Update ServiceNow Incident | Adds a note to a ServiceNow incident with diagnostic information that was collected by SL1 |
|