Job Template parameters and surveys

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In Ansible® a Job Template or Workflow Job Template can define a number of parameters and properties. They can be defined directly in Ansible’s template itself, or can be set to prompt on launch. Every parameter that's set to be prompted must be supplied during template launch by IBM® Runbook Automation. In the case of an Ansible Automation executed through Runbook Automation, this translates to automation parameters.

Job Templates in Ansible can accept input for the following parameters:
  • diff_mode (type: boolean)
  • extra_vars (type: string in JSON format)
  • inventory (type: integer)
  • credentials (type: integer; enumeration with labels)
  • limit (type: string)
  • verbosity (type: integer; range 0-5)
  • tags (type: string)
  • skip_tags (type: string)
Workflow Job Templates in Ansible can accept input for the following parameters:
  • extra_vars (type: string in JSON format)
  • inventory (type: integer)
Additionally, you can define any number of additional parameters to be prompted from the user through the survey. For every parameter defined in the survey an additional Automation parameter is created. These parameter names are prefixed with extraVariables. and have a schema similar to the one defined for the survey parameter. For example, if you define a survey parameter with the name age and define it as an integer with minimum value 0 and maximum value of 99, then the Automation will have a parameter called extraVariables.age of type integer, with minimum value of 0 and maximum value of 99.
Note: Float and textarea parameters are not yet supported and will not show up as independent parameters. If you have surveys using these types of survey parameters, enable the Prompt on launch flag for the Extra Variables selection in your template. That way users can specify the values using the extraVariables. parameter.

The Ansible Automation Provider will harvest the existing Job Templates and Workflow Job Templates and create matching Automations out of them. Those Automations are automatically created and kept synchronized with Ansible. They cannot be changed inside Runbook Automation. To change these Automations, directly edit the Job Template or Workflow Job Template inside Ansible. Runbook Automation will pick up the change and update the Automation referencing the asset.

If an Ansible Automation changes, make sure to update any parameter mappings made towards that Automation in your runbooks.

If a parameter is set to prompt on launch in Ansible, but also defines a value, Runbook Automation will import Ansible’s default value into the automation parameter.

During execution of Ansible Automations the Runbook Automation UI ensures that you can only pass values that conform to the parameter schemas. If you are using the API, make sure to pass the correct values by comparing your input to the parameter schemas.

Define default values in Ansible for parameters you want to prompt for. For more details on parameters, see the Ansible Documentation for Job Templates or Workflow Job Templates.