Jakob Gottlieb SvendsenSystem Center Orchestrator 2012 Runbook Design 101

Who am I• Jakob Gottlieb Svendsen - @JakobGSvendsen• Profession

• Chief Developer, Coretech A/S, System Center Gold Partner• Titles

• System Center Cloud and Data Center Management MVP• Windows Azure Pack / SMA• Orchestrator + Extensions for SCSM + SCOM• VBScript / PowerShell / VB.NET / C#.NET

• Communities• Co-Founder of the Danish PowerShell User Group (www.psug.dk)• Moderator on Microsoft TechNet Forums

• Author• Service Manager 2012 Unleashed (contributing author – Release June 2014)• Mastering System Center Orchestrator 2012 – 3 day workshop• Windows Azure Pack - SMA Workshop/course (in development)• Advanced SCOM management pack design/development Workshop/course (in development)

Agenda• Introduction to Orchestrator• Runbook Planning• Runbook Design• Best Practices• Logging• Stage Tracking

Introduction

Orchestrator Concepts

Create Incident Create Checkpoint Start Maint Mode

Shut Down VM

E-mail on error Update on success

Invoke Web Services

Compare Values

Send e-mail

Query Database

Run .NetScript

Clone Linux VM

Return Data

Check Schedule

Activities Runbooks DatabusExecutes a task Collection of Activities Published Data from Activities

Get Data Source Create Recovery Point

UpdateService Request

Integration Packs• Solution or Application specific

• Provide ready-built defined activities• Packaged and Deployed• Brings version control to activities

• Microsoft and Partner provided• All major enterprise management products• HP, IBM, CA, BMC, EMC

• Build your own with the Integration Toolkit!• Leverage the Community ecosystem

Basic Example - Deploy Web site

Create Folder Copy Content Create Web Site Test Web Site

BASIC RUNBOOK

Demo

Runbook Planning

When to Automate Activities ?Easy to Automate Occurs Often

Visible to Customers High Risk Breaches SLA

Often

Time Consuming

Identify the best processes• Is the process optimized and standardized?• Is SCO the right tool?• Development Cost vs. Manual Process• Ports & Permissions?

Scenario 1 – Basic TaskAutomate “manual” task1 time every monthTakes 20 minutes to do 1 week to build runbook

20 minutes x 12 months = 4 hours per year40 hours / 4 hours = 10 years

Scenario 2 – Incident RemediationAutomate “Service Stopped” alerts1 alert every day1st line receives and forward (5 mins)2nd line RDP and fix (15 mins)1 week to build runbook

20 minutes x 365 days = 121 hours per year40 hours / 20 minutes = 120 days = 4 months

Customer Request / DreamInvent “Skynet”

The runbook will monitor this system for new objects, then it will… and if it is like that it will… then it will integrate with… and pass data into…

…We don’t think it will take more than 14-18 months to build the solution.

…By the way, we have never used Orchestrator before

Runbook Design

DESIGN GUIDE – BEST PRACTICE

Demo

Design GuideFolder and runbook structureNaming conventionVariablesLibrary of standard runbooks

Rename activitiesUse link labels & colors

SuccessWarning / Failed“Could be”

Left to right

WATCH OUT!

Demo

Watch out!• Success might not equal to your expectation• No Loops in Links – Only on activity level• Multiple Results (Multi-value published data)• Library runbooks might be in use!

LoggingDon’ts

• Text File

• Event log (except SCOM monitors)

• Platform Event

• Built-in “Activity Specific Logging”

Do’s

• Custom Database

• IP for Standard Logging (codeplex)

• SCSM – Action Log

• Make your own IP using the Wizard

LOGGING!Demo

Build Modules• Does one task• Easier to develop and test• Can be used in multiple scenarios• Do not use when handling a lot of executions

• Adds a delay of a couple of seconds per execution.

MODULESDemo

Fail-Over• Infrastructure

• Multiple Runbook Servers• Runbook

• Design to support failover• Resume at the correct stage (staging)

State Tracking• Integration Pack for Standard Logging• Custom Database• Service Manager

STATE TRACKINGDemo

System Center Orchestrator R2• Windows Server 2012 R2 Support• Service Management Automation

• Windows Azure Pack• Runbook Workers

• System Center Integration Pack for Microsoft SharePoint

Summary• Start small / simple

• Planning makes development much faster!

• Use Service Manager for staging support

Please evaluate the session before you leave