Creating Automation Policies

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This section describes how to create automation policies using the automation actions in the "Restorepoint Automation" PowerPack.

Prerequisites

Before you create an automation policy using the automation actions in the "Restorepoint Automation" PowerPack, you must determine:

  • Which set of commands you want to run on a monitored device when an event occurs. There are three automation actions in the PowerPack that run the "Restorepoint: Generic Action type" action type with different commands and output formats. You can also create your own automation actions using the custom action type supplied in the PowerPack.
  • The 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 Run Book Automation section.

Creating an Automation Policy

To create an automation policy that uses the automation actions in the "Restorepoint Automation" PowerPack, perform the following steps:

  1. Go to the Automation Policy Manager page (Registry > Run Book > Automation).

  1. Click Create. The Automation Policy Editor page appears.

    An image of the Creating New Automation Policy page.

  1. 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.
    • Policy Priority. Specifies whether the policy is high-priority or default priority. These options determine how the policy is queued.
    • Organization. Select one or more organizations to associate with the automation policy. The automation policy will execute only for devices in the selected organizations (that also match the other criteria in the policy). To configure a policy to execute for all organizations , select System without specifying individual devices to align to.
    • Align With. Select Device Groups.
    • Aligned Device Groups. The "Restorepoint Devices" device group needs to be aligned. To add the device group to the Aligned Device Groups field, select the "Restorepoint Devices" device group in the Available Device Groups field and click the right arrow (>>).

    • Aligned Actions. This field includes the actions from the Restorepoint AutomationPowerPack. 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.

      You must have at least two Aligned Actions: one that runs the run book action and one that provides the output format. The actions providing the output formats are contained in the "Datacenter Automation Utilities" PowerPack, which is a prerequisite for running automations in this PowerPack.

      If you are selecting the "Difference Between Last Two Logs" or the "Restorepoint Recent Logs" collection actions, you may want to include the “Format Output as HTML” automation action, found in the Datacenter Automation Utilities PowerPack, in your automation policy.

  2. Optionally, supply values in the other fields on this page to refine when the automation will trigger.

  3. Click Save.

    You can also modify one of the automation policies included with this PowerPack. Best practice is to use the [Save As] option to create a new, renamed automation policy, instead of customizing the standard automation policies. For more information, see Customizing an Automation Policy.

    If you modify one of the included automation policies and save it with the original name, the customizations in that policy will be overwritten when you upgrade the PowerPack unless you remove the association between the automation policy and the PowerPack before upgrading.

Example Automation Configuration

The following is an example of an automation policy that uses the automation actions in the "Restorepoint Automation" PowerPack:

An image of the Automation Policy Editor page.

The policy uses the following settings:

  • Policy Name. The policy is named "Restorepoint: Run Recent Logs".
  • Policy Type. The policy runs when an event is in an active state. Active Events is selected in this field.
  • Policy State. Enabled is selected in this field. This policy is active and ready to use.
  • Organization. The policy executes for the System organization.
  • Criteria Logic. The policy is configured to execute immediately when an event matches these criteria: "Severity >= Notice, and no time has elapsed since the first occurrence, and event is NOT cleared, and all times are valid".
  • Aligned With. The policy is configured to align with devices in the selected device group.
  • Aligned Device Groups. The policy is configured to trigger for devices in the "Restorepoint Devices" device group.
  • Aligned Events. The policy is configured to trigger for All events.
  • Aligned Actions. The automation includes the following actions. This action allows you to view the output of the diagnostic commands in the Automation Log, accessed through the Skylar OneEvents page:
    • Restorepoint: Generic Action type [114]: Restorepoint: Recent Logs
    • Format HTTP Action Output [108]: Datacenter Automation: Format JSON as simple HTML

Customizing an Automation Policy

To customize an automation policy:

  1. Go to the Automation Policy Manager page (Registry > Run Book > Automation).

  1. Search for the Restorepoint Automation automation policy you want to edit and click the wrench icon () for that policy . The Automation Policy Editor page appears:

An image of the Editing Automation Policy page.

  1. Complete the following fields as needed:
  • Policy Name. Type a new name for the automation policy to avoid overwriting the default 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.
  • Policy Priority. Specifies whether the policy is high-priority or default priority. These options determine how the policy is queued.
  • Organization. Select the organization that will use this policy.

  • Aligned Actions. This field includes the actions from the Restorepoint Automation  PowerPack. You should see "Restorepoint" actions in this field. 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.

    You must have two Aligned Actions: one that runs the diagnostic or remediation commands and one that provides the output format. The actions providing the output formats are contained in the "Datacenter Automation Utilities" PowerPack, which is a prerequisite for running Restorepoint automations.

    If you are selecting the "Difference Between Last Two Logs" or the "Restorepoint Recent Logs" collection actions, you may want to include the "Format Output as HTML" automation action, found in the "Datacenter Automation Utilities" PowerPack, in your automation policy.

  1. Optionally, supply values in the other fields on the Automation Policy Editor page to refine when the automation will trigger.
  1. Click Save As.

Removing an Automation Policy from a PowerPack

After you have customized a policy from the "Restorepoint Automation" PowerPack, you might want to remove that policy from that PowerPack to prevent your changes from being overwritten if you update the PowerPack later. If you have the license key with author's privileges for a PowerPack or if you have owner or administrator privileges with your license key, you can remove content from a PowerPack.

To remove content from a PowerPack:

  1. Go to the PowerPack Manager page (System > Manage > PowerPacks).
  2. Find the "Restorepoint Automations" PowerPack. Click its wrench icon ().
  3. In the PowerPack Properties page, in the navigation bar on the left side, click Run Book Policies.
  4. In the Embedded Run Book Polices pane, locate the policy you updated, and click the bomb icon () for that policy. The policy will be removed from the PowerPack and will now appear in the bottom pane.