Turbonomic Actions processing

Turbonomic Actions creates a new Change Request (CR) in ServiceNow when Turbonomic generates an action on a Configuration Item (CI) that you manage in ServiceNow.

Turbonomic is a platform that you can use to keep your applications running and healthy, with access to the resources they need. It measures access to resources in terms of Risk Index. The higher this index for a resource, the more heavily the resource is used. Therefore, the delay for consumers of that resource is greater, as is the risk to the QoS of your applications. However, if the index is too low, it indicates that the resources are underutilized. This under-utilization might be an opportunity to save on cost by consolidating more workloads on fewer hosts.

When changes to the Risk Index indicate your environment is moving out of a healthy state, Turbonomic generates actions to address the issues before they become a problem.

Turbonomic Actions integrates this analysis with your ServiceNow workflows. It turns an action in Turbonomic into a CR in ServiceNow. When you approve the CR, this integration directs Turbonomic to execute the action at the appropriate time. You can also set up the workflow so Turbonomic executes the action and returns the results.

The following processing flow applies to a generated CR:

1. Turbonomic generates an action.

   The Turbonomic product analyzes your environment to track the availability of resources that your applications need to maintain their QoS. When Turbonomic recognizes an issue, it generates an action to correct the issue.

2. Turbonomic sends the action to Turbonomic Actions in ServiceNow.

   An administrator configures Turbonomic so that it knows which entities you are managing in ServiceNow. If an action is recommended for one of those entities, it sends the action to Turbonomic Actions.

3. Turbonomic Actions creates a Change Request (CR).

   When it receives an action, Turbonomic Actions opens a new CR in the appropriate ServiceNow workflow.

4. Your enterprise reviews and approves or rejects the CR.

   After you approve the CR, it goes into the Scheduled state.

   If you reject the CR, it goes into the Canceled state.

   Note:

   The CR model must include a transition to the Scheduled state. Turbonomic Actions uses this state as a trigger to pass that action over to Turbonomic for execution. Furthermore, once you approve an action and the Scheduled state is passed back to Turbonomic, canceling the CR in ServiceNow does not have any effect. Although the Service Now UI allows you to cancel a previously approved CR, Turbonomic does not allow approved actions to be canceled.

5. Turbonomic Actions passes the CR state back to Turbonomic.

   If the CR is approved and moves into the Scheduled state, Turbonomic executes the action. If you configured this action to have a maintenance window in Turbonomic, it waits until the scheduled time to execute the action.

   If the CR is rejected and moves into the Canceled state, Turbonomic removes the action from its list of pending actions.

6. Turbonomic Actions logs the CR result.

   Turbonomic returns the action status back to Turbonomic Actions.

   For an approved CR, Turbonomic returns the result of action execution. The result can be:

   • Succeeded – Turbonomic executed the action successfully.

   • Failed – Turbonomic tried to execute the action but it failed for some reason. For example, network issues might keep Turbonomic from executing the action.

   • Missed – If the change is no longer valid, Turbonomic does not execute the action. For example, assume a change to add memory to a VM. If the application no longer needs that extra memory, Turbonomic does not execute the action even though you approved it.

   For all of these action results, Turbonomic removes the action from its list of pending actions.

   For the CR, Turbonomic Actions closes the CR and logs the result in an ServiceNow. For a failed or a missed action, Turbonomic does not try to execute the same CR again. If the same conditions arise again, that can cause Turbonomic to generate a new instance of that action. The new action begins this process flow from the beginning.

7. Your enterprise reviews the action status and completes the workflow.