System Utils SyncPack Release Notes, version 1.1.3

The "System Utils" SyncPack is a Standard SyncPack that contains applications, configuration objects, and steps used for a variety of PowerFlow utilities.

Version 1.1.3 of this SyncPack includes updates to the "Timed Removal" and "PowerFlow Control Tower HealthCheck" applications. This version of the SyncPack is included with PowerFlow Platform version 2.4.0.

For more information about this SyncPack, see the "Default SyncPacks" topic in the Managing Synchronization PowerPacks chapter of the SL1 PowerFlow Platform manual.

Features

The following features were included in this release of the SyncPack:

You can remove Dex Server sessions by enabling the remove_dex_sessions option on the Configuration pane for the "Timed Removal" application.
The "PowerFlow Control Tower Healthcheck" application supports using SSH keys for collecting data from a PowerFlow node. You must select the use_ssh_key option on the Configuration pane for the HealthCheck application to use the ssh_key variable that is defined in the aligned configuration object.

This SyncPack includes the following PowerFlow applications:

Integration Service Backup. Creates a backup file of the Couchbase database used by PowerFlow and sends the file to a remote location.
Integration Service Restore. Restores a Couchbase backup file that was created up with the "Integration Service Backup" application.
PowerFlow Control Tower HealthCheck. Queries PowerFlow, gathers health data about the system, and displays the data in the PowerFlow System Health widget on the PowerFlow Control Tower page.
PowerFlow System Diagnostics. Displays a report of platform diagnostics for the services used by PowerFlow.
Read SL1 RBA Queue and Retry PowerFlow Applications. Pulls and retries any failed Run Book Actions that failed because PowerFlow was not available. Requires Base Steps SyncPack version 1.3.2 or later.
Run PowerFlow Application and Remove It from SL1 RBA Queue. Runs the PowerFlow application and removes it from the Run Book Action queue. This application is triggered by the "Read SL1 RBA Queue and Retry PowerFlow Applications" and does not need to be configured.
Timed Removal. Removes logs from Couchbase on a regular schedule.

This SyncPack includes the following configuration objects:

IS - System Backup Configuration Example. Contains the structure needed for the "Integration Service Backup" and "Integration Service Restore" PowerFlow applications.
PF - System Diagnostic Configuration Example. Contains the structure needed for the "PowerFlow System Diagnostics" application.
PF Control Tower Configuration Example. Contains the structure needed for the "PowerFlow Control Tower HealthCheck" application.
RBA retry Configuration Example. Contains the structure needed for Run Book Action retries. Includes variables for the SL1 system from which the data will be read, the number of rows to be read from the SL1 Run Book Action queue in every run, and the generate_report variable to create a report about triggered PowerFlow applications.

You should do a Save As with the example configuration objects, above, to make a new configuration object that you can customize for your specific PowerFlow system. You cannot use an example configuration object to run PowerFlow applications.

This SyncPack also includes the following steps, which are used in the four PowerFlow applications listed above:

Collect IS diagnostics
Create Integration Service Backup
Diagnostic reporter
PowerFlow Failover Actions Reporter
Process PowerFlow System Health Status Data
Pull And Process Failover Actions from SL1
Query an IS Node
Query Application Logs and Remove
Query IS Manager node
Restore Couchbase From Backup
Set Template Data for the next step

To view release notes and manuals for all versions of the SL1 PowerFlow Platform, see SL1 PowerFlow Platform Documentation. To view release notes and manuals for PowerFlow SyncPacks, see SL1 PowerFlow SyncPack Documentation.

Known Issues

This version of the SyncPack has the following known issue:

After restoring a backup that contains installed SyncPacks , the SyncPacks page in the PowerFlow user interface will show that the versions of the restored SyncPacks were installed successfully, but their virtual environments might not be in place. This issue will be addressed in a future release of this SyncPack and the PowerFlow Platform.

To address this issue, perform one of the following actions to make sure that the environments for the SyncPacks are recreated successfully:

Force the syncpacks_steprunner service to restart, using the following command:

docker service update --force syncpacks_steprunner
Execute the following powerflowcontrol (pfctl) cluster or node action:

reinstall_syncpack_venv
Reinstall the SyncPacks in place using the PowerFlow user interface.

Prerequisites for the SyncPack

Version 1.1.3 of this SyncPack requires:

PowerFlow Platform version 2.2.0 or later
"Base Steps" SyncPack version 1.4.2 or later

ScienceLogic highly recommends that you disable all firewall session-limiting policies. Firewalls will drop HTTPS requests, which results in data loss.

Installing the SyncPack

A SyncPack file has the .whl file extension type. You can download the SyncPack file from the ScienceLogic Support site.

To locate and download the SyncPack:

Go to the ScienceLogic Support site at https://support.sciencelogic.com/s/.
Click the Product Downloads tab and select PowerPacks.
In the Search PowerPacks field, search for this SyncPack and select it from the search results. The Release Version page appears.
On the Files tab, click the down arrow next to the SyncPack version that you want to install, and select Show File Details. The Release File Details page appears.
Click the Download File button to download the .zip file containing the SyncPack.

After you download a SyncPack, you can import it to the PowerFlow platform using the PowerFlow user interface.

To import a SyncPack in the PowerFlow user interface:

On the SyncPacks page, click Import SyncPack. The Import SyncPack page appears.
Click Browse and select the .whl file for the SyncPack you want to install. You can also drag and drop a .whl file to the Import SyncPack page.
Click Import. PowerFlow registers and uploads the SyncPack. The SyncPack is added to the SyncPacks page.

You cannot edit the content package in a SyncPack published by ScienceLogic. You must make a copy of a ScienceLogic SyncPack and save your changes to the new SyncPack to prevent overwriting any information in the original SyncPack when upgrading.

To activate and install a SyncPack in the PowerFlow user interface:

On the SyncPacks page, click the Actions button () for the SyncPack you want to install and select Activate & Install. The Activate & Install SyncPack modal appears.

If you try to activate and install a SyncPack that is already activated and installed, you can choose to "force" installation across all the nodes in the PowerFlow system.

If you do not see the PowerPack that you want to install, click the Filter icon () on the SyncPacks page and select Toggle Inactive SyncPacks to see a list of the imported PowerPacks.

Click Yes to confirm the activation and installation. When the SyncPack is activated, the SyncPacks page displays a green check mark icon for that SyncPack. If the activation or installation failed, then a red exclamation mark icon appears.
For more information about the activation and installation process, click the check mark icon or the exclamation mark icon in the Activated column for that SyncPack. For a successful installation, the "Activate & Install SyncPack" PowerFlow application appears, and you can view the Step Log for the steps. For a failed installation, the Error Logs window appears.
If you have other versions of the same SyncPack on your PowerFlow system, you can click the Actions button () for that SyncPack and select Change active version to activate a different version other than the version that is currently running.